Silent But Deadly

Another long lost acquaintance from the coast called up for an Okanagan adventure.  This time it was Isaac of Shuttlewhore fame who came along.  We last saw Isaac on one of those notorious Disneyland rides.

He also brought along some friends.  Keiko, who is a fairly mellow rider, and Don, who is basically amazing.

Don, who barely speaks, rode everything in sight.  Consider that he only rides a few times a year, and you’ll understand today’s title a bit better.  Oh….that’s Keiko in the next pic somewhere.

Isaac dropping in on Cat’s Ass.

There’s Don. 

We got into some refurbished stuff today.  No pics, as it’s not open yet, but there’s a ton of trails that were taken out by the fire back in 2003 that are almost restored.  There should be some fine “new” riding in Kelowna this fall.

No trip to Gillard is complete without a run on Boss Hog.

Yeah, someone has some intensity.

Don was going too fast for focus.

Always good to hang out with the old crew.  Especially when they buy you dinner at a nice bistro.   Awesome to see you guys again, I hope to have you back this fall.

Dynomite – Day 5

Did yesterday really happen?  Yes, it did.  Now get up and do it again.

That’s right….ride, eat, sleep, repeat.  Now we’re off to Gillard for some more.

As an added bonus, we checked out French Johnny’s latest work.  The boys have been out in force resurrecting old trails that have been out of action since before the big fire of 2003.

There’s also all the usual fave’s, like this one on Rub-Her-Down.

Oh, and the Boss Hog wall ride.

Lush…

We even managed a Kerplop, and the sun made an appearance or two.

I think the crew may be getting their fill.  We only managed a few runs today, and then we were beat.

Just as well, as we had a premiere of the latest Radical Films release, Revolve, to go check out.

There were a few hundred in attendance, and we made the keeners do pushups for prizes.

Not a bad turnout, considering it was the first day of Silverstar being open.

Later we went out for beers with Spuds.

He’s with stupid….

Bellvue Fire

While we were working on the trails at Gillard, we heard some thunder.  After I crossed the lake, I noticed this:

Only a few miles above the main riding area in Gillard.  This fire blew up to 7 hectares in only an hour or so.  It is seriously dry out there this year.

The crews got on it right away, and we got a bit of cooler and wetter weather, so it’s contained and almost out now, but it’s a good reminder to play it extra smart out there.  For a few minutes we were worried that we’d wasted a day of effort fixing up our trails.