naramata

Newlywed or….? – Day 2

Posted on by Smoke

Awesome, these kids are fit.  And strangely well rested for people on their honeymoon.  Well, they HAVE been together for 7 years, so I guess they’re not as anxious as some might be.

Today, I’m finally going to get to climb up to the top of the Naramata trails.  They didn’t believe me that it’s 1000m up, but then again the Okanagan is totally deceiving in that way.

Yup, all smiles, but we are still at the beginning.

No rain last night, but the heat has yet to kick in.  It was perfect out today for a big climb.  Around 20C and the ground was still a bit moist.

OK, so no more pics of the climb, because it got very difficult and we started to hurt.  It was a bit over 2.5 hours for us to get up to the reservoir.  Here’s Mark on the descent.  No, he’s not smiling…yet.

Louise is always smiling, so that’s not really fair.

By this point, both of them were in total heaven.  Check out that ‘singletrack’.  And this would be one of our more popular lines to ride out here, too.

“The best descent we’ve ever experienced,” was the verdict.  I love hearing comments like that.  After a brief wine tasting at Laughing Stock, we went for a quick swim to cool off.

Another solid day.  Mark and Louise may not have a ton of technical singletrack experience, but they are certainly fit and capable, so tomorrow we’ll tackle Rock Oven before they move on to the Kootenays.

Canada Day

Posted on by Smoke

Yay!  It’s gonna rain!

Thanks to Andrew from Brodie for bringing some more wet weather.  Oh well, the end of the rainy season is truly in sight.  There’s only a day or two of wet left

Yeah, it’s July.  I know.  Try to pretend like it’s sunny or something.

OK, it was a totally rad ride.  I’m just playing ya.  I mean, it did pour rain at the end but the conditions were amazing.


© Andrew Summers 2010

Just as the rain hit, we dropped in to Laughing Stock winery, a first for me.  Nice grape juice, and cool vibe.

They are just like us.

UFB 2 – Round 2

Posted on by Smoke

Yes, he really does eat those things for breakfast.

Hey Hylands!  Get a helmet on that kid!  I can’t believe how rad Kainoa is on a runbike and he’s not even 2 yet.  I’m jealous.

OK, back to rad girlies on mountain bikes.  I took Sarah, Nicole, and Tippie (he’s sorta girly…) down some of the classic Naramata All Mtn. lines this morning.  Sarah needed to reset on some mellower terrain after yesterday’s scorpion, and this is the place.

This rock face is about the gnarliest thing on the trail, and it was perfect for getting that monkey off her back.  Although I did have to turn the camera off for it.

Brett-gnar dropping to flat.

Sarah and Nicole again.  Nicole had a brand spanking new Trek for this ride, and she giggled the whole way down.

Sweet views.  The landscape is nice too.

Last drop on Jack and Jill.  The pic doesn’t show much, but this is a totally rad line.  Steep, then steeper, then gap, then berm.  You’ll just have to come out yourself sometime to see it.

Whoa!  I look good in orange.

Brett would have too, but he went with green today.

The girls ripping the gully walls.

Oh no, we have to pedal 7 kms on the KVR, and there’s rain coming.

The view from the RaceFace cockpit as we drop into the final part of the ride.

Round two and we met up with Andrew, Brant, Sheila, and some more Kelowna locals for a Beer Run in the rain.  Sarah just needed some wet weather to get her back on track (reminded her of home I guess), because we all had a SICK lap.  The wood was ultra slick, and there were some sketchy sideways moments.  Especially when we got kicked off the cannon fade away jump and got the sick unintentional whips laid out.

Here’s Sheila dropping in to Ivy League.

Ooooh…a good one of Brett, Tipping into a turn.

The crew…

The view…

And a few… Rocky Mtns. that is.

Good fun with the families.  We’ll be doing this again soon.