Finally got to see the Ride Guide Okanagan Episode that we shot last year. Took a while to track down an online edition, but here it is courtesy of some mobile app that I found.
[jwplayer mediaid=”2844″]
kelowna
Manfest! – 3
Yep, that’s one broken arm alright. Good thing you’re a dentist. Imagine if you needed your hands for work…
So, the deluge continues. Unlike the North Shore, this area is not really built around wet weather. The wood and rock here is deadly slick, which makes the riding in these pics doubly impressive.
We’re at Gillard this morning. A few quick laps to see if we can get the stoke flowing today.
The crew seems to be enjoying themselves. In case you didn’t figure it out, I’m one of the younger guys in this bunch. There’s a couple of 20-ish year olds, but most of these guys are in the their 40’s or even 50’s.
And they’re sending this stuff blind…in the rain.
Makes ya think, eh whippersnappers?
Dr. No is rad enough in the dry.
In the wet?
Well, not everyone was nailing it.
Check it out, you can even see the raindrops in this one.
Hey cuz. Those BMX skills never quite go away, do they?
This was one of the best sessions I’ve seen here. Lots of the crew stepping up on Boss Hog.
I also didn’t even consider this rockface in the rain, but then again I can just come back when it’s dry. Most of these guys won’t get back here again.
Sick drop.
Slicker wall. Actually, it was the mucky bit after the wall that was taking guys out.
Traditional passed out in the van shot.
That was it for a lot of the crew. The weather was just too much. I have a feeling that the early departures will be regretting their choice, though. This seems to be a group that knows how to hold a grudge.
The afternoon laps were just a handful of survivors. We went back over to Powers to hit some of the older trails and some stuff we didn’t get to see yesterday.
Shiny wet. With leaves.
And then, when you thought it just might clear up, the skies darken and the heavens open up:
Yeah, that really was the end of it. Awesome couple of days riding with this bunch, and it’s hard to award a Princess when over half the crew splits early, but there ya are.
And I’m out. Make up yer own story for this.
Salad Doggers – 3
After a great rest yesterday, it was time to try some more bike riding. I must admit, I was a little depressed with the way summer seems to have ended after such a brief showing this year. Only 8 weeks of hot weather, and now we’re right back to cool and wet. So lets go to the alpine!
Little White is the high point in the immediate area. at 7120’, it’s almost 6000’ above the lake. It’s also a very long approach, with a long drive around the back and a bit of a gruel to carry up around the back.
Not too bad, actually. About an hour, of which half is fairly easy, and the hard half has some decent views. And some fresh snow.
Once you’re up though, you’re on top of the world.
Can you see the bear? I think he was as surprised as we were.
We sat and watched him run away. It was good, because he stuck to the route we were following quite nicely. Took the guesswork out.
Some nice alpine singletrack.
There’s my house. See?
First snowball fight of the season.
The first part of the descent is pure freeride. The trail appears and disappears until you get to treeline, and you end up riding on these cool rock outcroppings through the tundra.
When you enter the forest, it turns into an old doubletrack (an old telegraph line actually) that goes through this hall of mirrors. Imagine Whistler’s B-Line trail covered in loam…for an hour.
Mark does his best Blair Witch Project face for us…
A little shot from the hip during the descent.
Not really the most photo worthy trail, but lots of fun to scream down at full speed. Very loamy and smooth, a nice change from Whistler for the boys.
Half way down, and we take a break at the Bellevue Ck. trestle.
We traversed on the KVR for a while to get to an old trail into a canyon. It rarely sees any traffic at all, and is very dark and surprisingly wet. It felt a lot like Squamish, right down to the mossy rocks and cedar trees.
There is also this crazy section that was painted red during the fire of 2003. The retardant that the bombers dropped has set, and the colours are bizarre.
Johnny “I hate hopping trees” Cote, has had enough at this point.
A great addition to the local inventory. We dropped 6900’ (2100m) over 20 miles (32km). Here’s some more mapness for ya.
Click on the map to see it in a new window… 
Or check out Little White in Google Earth (you may have to right-click and ‘Save as…’):