gillard

Shock Monkey Okanagan – Day 5

Posted on by Smoke

Day 5?  really?!  Well, I guess we’d better hit up Gillard then.

We did the usual warmup stuff in Gillard, then it was time to try some steep techgnar.  Dr. No is needing some lovin’.

That got he juices flowin’.   After that we headed down to Boss Hog for a session on some slightly bigger stuff.  Props to Jay for getting the ball rolling, but…

…shot of the day goes to Gen for overshooting the opener on the Hog.

Simon gets an honourable mention for not landing on me.

Jay has got the berms figured out now.  They’re easy when it’s not raining.

Ah, good times.  We banged out a few runs here before we called it a day.  What’s more important is that the rain is holding off.

Junior, learning to ride at Gillard. 

I’m bored of driving.  I think I’ll rake this picture of myself with a very serious expression.  Seriously, don’t piss me off.

Oh wait, here they come. I’ll just run over and play with the macro setting.

…and a little sender down Dirty Sanchez and we’re spent.

Time for some appies at the Eldorado.

This is the creepy dude watching us from the deck above.  Does he have ANY clothes on?

Chevy, don’t look.  Here’ check out the fish instead.

Oh great, it’s his naked girlfriend instead. Gross.  I’m outta here…

Casino Royale Rebuild

Posted on by Smoke

I’ve really been off the back for trail work this year.  Apparently it’s a normal part of becoming a parent, and I’ll be able to put a lot more time in again in a year or two, but for now it’s sort of sad how little I’ve been able to get done this season.

At least I’m out there a little bit.  Brant and Andrew (and lots of other folks) have been out a lot resurrecting all the old Gillard trails that were destroyed in the fire of 2003.

They have already re-opened Casino Royale, and now we’re out clearing Lower Casino, which I didn’t even know existed.  It’s pretty hard to find in places, but there’s a bunch of old decrepit stunts to follow.  Andrew is able cut some new lines that are pretty clear, too.

Well, until you hit this swamp.  This is when Ryan showed up to show us the way, as he worked on the old trail way back in the day.

Ummm…where is that trail, again?

OK, so we’ve got a bit of work ahead of us.  Still, with just a handful of MTBco members out today, we got a good third or more of the line cleared and some nice features rebuilt.

Next year….that’s gonna be a great line.

Ride Guide – Day 2

Posted on by Smoke

Day 2, and it’s time to go bigger.  Really.

Leroy and Trev came out again, and Casey Groves and Ryan Mckenna also tagged along to represent the Kelowna scene.

Casey needs a date.  See what he’s doing to that bar of his?

I don’t know if Boyko was impressed with Gillard (horrified would be a more appropriate word), but the Cory, our cameraman, seemed to think it was going well.

Ryan biffed this drop two years ago, and hasn’t hit it since.  It’s kind of a gnarly one to have a monkey on your back for.

Bye bye, monkey.

That seemed to get everyone stoked and relaxed.  They spent the rest of the day stylin’ out this wall/hip combo.

Too bad they were here this week.  The old Casino Royale got resurrected a few days after the Guide was here, but that’s another story…