Corn Stars – Day 5

Posted on May 30, 2007 by Smoke

That hangover came to full fruition this morning, but I wasn’t going to let the kids jam out on this one. I was as alert as a pair of Great Horned Owls this morning, even if our Corn Stars were of the temperment of Weeps today (that’s a Farley Mowat reference that you’ll just have to look up).

Kobau is one of my favourite hidden gems, and today was as perfect a day as you could ask for.

Gotta love that view from the top, especially as it’s a ridiculously long haul to get there. We managed to spot our first bear of hte trip on this one, clowsely followed by the second. They were really shy, so no pics. Sorry, you’ll have to be content with those owls.

Teh top of the ride is full on Star Wars quality forest speeder action, and the occasional Shore style log ride.

As this is rarely ridden, old school natural logs are the order of the day.

The lower reaches are all open sage and grassland. Not exactly natural state with all the cattle here, but still unique enough that they will probably be part of a National Park soon.

I can see why.

It’s difficult to get the scale of how large this hillside really is.

No matter how long you ride, it seems lilke the valley gets further away.

How many bikes do you see in this pic?

How about here?

As always, Barb is the poster girl.

I still haven’t caught the pic that I’m looking for here. One day I’ll get it.

This one is close, but not quite it. I guess this means I have to go back again to get the shot I want.

Uh oh…..

Cows. And they’re not getting out of the way.

Too stupid to run. Barb didn’t care either. The ruts caused by last years heavy rains have filled in with dust, and it’s a riot to surf on. As you read this, it’s raining here, so the dust should have settled, but 34C on the last day of May is nearly unheard of (*historical temperature records were set all over BC this week).

Moo…

Still going down, but we’re almost there.

We finished the day with a barbeque at Rancho Relaxo and a full moon. What a way t
o kill a hangover.

Wade Simmons Tour – Day 13

Posted on July 21, 2006 by Smoke

****Yeah yeah…I know. I’m tardy. Look, I’ve been busy and I promise that it will be worth it. We now rejoin our regularly scheduled blog already in progress….***

Well, here we are, the hottest day of the year. Lets go ride the high desert to celebrate, shall we?

Kobau on a hot day……this is at about 6000′ and it’s about 30C out.

Group shot.

This ride is a bit of a bummer…..

It’s only because the trail is so rutted out due to the 20 or 30 riders it sees every year.

Un petit drop….

Here Wade shows us why he gets paid to be a model. Gosh, he’s so stylish.

How do you spell “rickety” again?

Another drop, not quite so petite this time.

Ahhhh, back out in the open. We’ve dropped about 1500′ already, and it still looks like we’re at the top.

We had a little detour for our friend, Mr Rattlesnake.

OK, everybody who has sore fingers from hanging on to the brake levers grasp their hands in agony.

I think we might be finally getting close to the bottom.

poser….

Girl poser….

More ragin’ through the sage. It looks like you can just bash through those things, doesn’t it?

Luke will tell you otherwise. They are somewhat unforgiving.

So what’s the perfect end to a huge singletrack DH when it’s 42C (110F) out? Yeah, swimming and diving in the river with some cold ones.

The Legend of Greyballs — Last Day

Posted on May 23, 2005 by Smoke

I get off, on ’57 Chevys….

The bodywork was super cool on this car. All molded in, 3-d flames.

The last day and we paid a visit to Keremeos. Check out this panorama and see if you can spot any promising lines.

We figured one out, and got on our way. It’s a pretty epic shuttle. It takes 45 minutes, and the road is rough enough that the MX boys (and girls) can have a good time on it.

…and so can the Porsche guys. Seems that our man here just won the big race for top-fuel Harley-Davidson drag bikes up in Ashcroft and decided to end his weekend painting in the alpine.

Sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction….