WSFE – Day 5

Ahh yes, time for “Cooking with the Stars.” What’s on for breakfast, Holmes?

It had better be good. We’re up Goldmember today. Another huge lap to line up. Mike looks concerned about the steeps…

Ahh, those trees are soft. Just run into ’em if you gotta. Or just boost over ’em. Whatever works for you….

Ian with a backpack. That’s a bit more Whistler….

Holt got out for the ride AGAIN. After riding the Koots for over a decade, we finally put it together for some rides and here we are riding every day.

Niclas with a perfect Mary Lou Retton dismount.

OK, sorta rough shots and they really don’t show it, but I managed to get the Burl Ives log clean from the start. I was pretty stoked on this one. Steeper and gnarlier than you’d think.

George and Jeff rode around the log and had a tough enough time just hanging on to the pooter. It’s so dry up here right now.

No problem. Lunch at a lake.

Round two I bailed again to get food (and recover the pack that I left at the lake). everyone else hit Slabalanche, which was probably the best trail we hit for the local stuff. It usually involves a harsh climb, so it doesn’t get much summer traffic. We lucked out and got an open gate.

Can’t tell you much about the ride, except that everyone seemed to have a great time without me….(sniff!)….

Ahhh, I rode it a couple of springs ago. It’s pretty sweet, lots of wicked rock faces and nicer woodwork than lots of other trails.

Oh, and it ends at a lake.

And there were steaks afterwards…

And drinking games…

And Danika joined us…..

Whew!! Sort of makes up for yesterdays lack of pics. Alright, tomorrow is Danika’s first freeride rip since she almost broke her neck at Worlds last year. Will she remember how to ride?

More AC/BC

No visit to the Shore would be complete without a ride on Fromme. Besides, the boys haven’t much of a chance to prove their worthiness yet.

Proven…

We hit up the usual, Upper OilCan, Sideshow/Air Supply, Espresso, Lower Crippler lap.

Some stuff was pretty slick today, but the amount of work done on Fromme this summer is really good, and the trails are looking excellent. We even got some sun towards the end of the ride. Oh, and check out that “grip tape” on the log. Purple anodized Mag 21 brake arches. Sweet.

The constant repetition of skinny log to rockface on this lap made an impression. After the fourth or fifth one, everyonehad a chance to slide down one.

We managed to get back to Seymour for one more hot lap before calling it a day, and the Aussies managed to impress me one last time by going swimming at the end. Even by Canadain standards, that water is pretty cold. And on a day when we had an oil spill around the corner too (I didn’t know this at the time).

Thanks for coming out. I had a great couple of days riding, and the free t-shirt (Rollin’ on 26, top left) made it even better.

ReReturn of the Jedi – Last Day

This is it…that end of the road for another year. Let’s take a moment to reflect whilst driving down a lonely road on a grey summer morning…..

Photo:Tony Doyle

Awwww, hell with that. Let’s go bang a lap on Seymour.

Photo:Tony Doyle

Not much has changed up here. It’s a bit rougher than the first time this crew rode it, but bascially the same.

Photo:Tony Doyle

About the only thing that was different was that the boys are TOTALLY THRASHED FROM THE BEST TOUR WE EVER PUT ON FOR THEM.

Photo:Tony Doyle

Just sayin…..

Photo:Tony Doyle

See, the idea was that we would go over to the Toonie Drop to give Tony a chance to wail off a huge cliff to cap off the trip, but even though we got through 2 weeks of intense trails without a serious injury, the crew was simply too beat up to deal with anything bigger than the PileDriver.

Photo:Tony Doyle

And even at that, only a couple of dudes hit it up.

Photo:Tony Doyle

So that’s it. This was supposed to be the last Jedi Council Canada trip, but after pulling out the stops like we did, I think there may be another in the future. Not to mention the new young guns that have yet to see the rest of what BC has to offer.

Oh, and after everyone left I found out about a whole pile of stuff that we missed which is right up the Jedi Alley.

We’ll leave you with these shots from our lovely hostess, Jill from the Riding Fool Hostel.
Photo: Jill Banting

Photo: Jill Banting

Photo: Jill Banting

Photo: Jill Banting

Photo: Jill Banting

Photo: Jill Banting

Many thanks to the many people that helped us out on this tour, especially:

Riding Fool Hostel
Mt Washington Bike Park
Mountain City Cycles (Get a freekin website, eh?)
Stubz, and his parents