More Banana Bread

Nicole and Al are back, and a little over 4 months after having a little girl are ready to shred.  Oh, and they’re engaged, too, so ‘Congratulations!’

Also, Elton John is playing a show in Prince George this summer, so in honour of that here’s a pic of a fabulous bridge.  Yay rainbows!

As Nic has been off the bike for a while, I took Al and her down High Pony to start.  It’s fun and straightforward, a great place to get your stoke back.

Nic seems to be one of those women who become better riders after becoming a mom.  This isn’t a terribly difficult move, but it does look really weird as you ride up to it.  She nailed it no problem on sight.

After a great first run, we stepped it up slightly for a second lap on Drops A Lot, where we promptly ran into 3 bears.  Momma took off, but I got shots of the two little ones.

As proof that Nic is riding exceptionally well, I didn’t get any shots of the drops or gaps on the trail, as we non-stopped the whole line until this wood gap.

Which was no big deal, she just wasn’t set up the first run in. so she went back and nailed it.

Cliched flower huck shot.

…and a couple more angles on the same jump.

We also had a fast round #3 on the Beer Run, and totally shredded it high speed.   That’s almost 10K’ on the day.

And for a change we had nice sunny weather, but not too hot.

Just right for a nice family visit on the beach with our friends.

Pretty sweet day, and a nice total for trails.  We’ll be doing a couple more days with Nic and Al and a bunch more old friends in a few days.  It’s Al’s 40th birthday, so we gotta take care of him in style.

Kate and Hamish – Day 1

Talk about yer mixed nuts…  Kate is an XC rider from London, and Hamish is another one of those Jedi Council types from Hertfordshire.  This could be challenging keeping them both satisfied.  We’ll see how things go in Naramata first.

So far so good.  Kate keeps the wheels on the ground, but can deal with just about anything and is fit enough to go all day.

Meanwhile, Hamish is not fazed by anything.

For a Herts rider, this is nothing.

Your affable hosts hang out on the beach between runs.

Round two, and it’s a bit more about Kate as we go for a slightly more pedally flavour on High Pony.

No Hamish, you can’t go bowling.

She’s all smiles, it must be OK…

There’s always a couple of hits around to keep Hamish happy.

Hamish and I got a a bonus lap in on the Beer Run, so that he could exercise his demons (not a typo, they needed some fresh air).  I don’t know where Tony finds these guys, but this one can seriously ride.

These are some fairly hefty moves that are kind of sketchy at best, and he nailed them all on sight.

I think tomorrow we’ll hit up Powers Creek and McDougall, and give Hamish a bit more of a workout.

Shock Monkey Okanagan – Day 2

Our man Gabe took a day off from his busy schedule to ride some more rain with us in Naramata.  Oh, and also to show us his dance moves.  He’s got some pretty hot party moves, that boy.

Don’t let that sunny bit there confuse you, it was wet again today.

Well, Okanagan wet, not coastal wet, but still…

…we made up for it in other ways.

That’s pretty green for a desert, eh?

AARRRRRGGGGHHHH!

Had to call it after two runs.  Gabe’s party moves were too much for us, we needed some drinks.

So we beelined it for a winery.

Yeah, we’re kind of a big deal.

So they fed us a half dozen sips of grape juice.

And some of us had a hard time with that.  I always thought that Aussies knew how to hold their liquor.  Hmph.

Trouble was a bruin, I tells ya.