Chocolate Feet – Day 1

A mellow start to the tour is in order. Of the crew showing up today, only Mike has been here before. As the boys in Penticton were doing a trail cleanup on the Bog, we headed down there.

Deano quickly established himself as the keaner in the group.

Kev is a bit quieter, but I get the impression he just needs to get his bearings and he’ll be a force later in the trip.

As you can see, Summer has finally decided to make an appearance.

We cleaned up some garbage on our first lap, and we also fixed the ramp over this erratic boulder. Mike found his mojo on top of this one.

Deanon and Mike dropping in…

We randomly ran into Wally and Stu, a couple of locals who’ve done a ton of trail work around here over the years.

That was good enough to get Deano in the air on the Skybridge gap.

Rob was taking it easy on the first lap, but we found him some skinnies to get him on track.

Round two and we got into the area that the locals cleared of all the deadfall from the winter.

With all the skinnies on Code 4, Mike started to really catch fire.

Deano was already well ablaze.

I have several shots of Rob like this one. This just happens to be the best version. Nice form.

And turn and kick….

..and pivot and bounce.

Mike gets stuck…

Well hellooooooooooo. A young rattler. Unfortunately, this snake bit a young girl who didn’t see it in time. Hoopefully she’s alright. I’m sure she’s not feeling her finest right now.

Third lap was the full distance from top to bottom. We found a few DJ’s down lower for a brief session.

And the traditional dip in the lake. Still a little cold there, but should be a lot warmer in a day or two.

Oh,a nd it looks like my neighbour got a new ride. That is a ’67 Chevelle 427 SS car. Not quite stock ori
ginal (she’s got a shift kit and some fancy shoes), but I like ’em better this way.

Let Them Eat Cake – Day 3

Today would be the big day. The middle of the Long Weekend means we go to Naramata to check out the Beer Run. Tis is when we found out that the upper part of Arawana has been logged.

Bummer……

Oh well, it needed work anyway. The lower section is still buff.

Also in the crew today is our pal Peenut from the Puddle. it’s good having the young guns throw down. It really brings the group vibe together.

Colin also showed up with his lovely wife. Colin also pushed the envelope (as per usual). Colin only knows two speeds: flat out and crashing halt. Lucky for him, he stuck to flat out almost all day.

Oh, and ANOTHER celebrity joined the ranks for this one. The inimitable Cory LeClerc threw down this giant SH-CACK! for us. Ironically, I think that was the smoothest I’ve ever seen it done.

Unfortuntately I don’t have any pics of his fabulous lady friend that he brought up. Karen rode with us last year, and she’s gotten faster than ever. I love how this country makes chicks such rad riders.

Oh, and this next one would be former Canadian DH champ Brant Lyon. He’s been off the bike for a couple of years, so he’s just getting it back together. Which means that he’s still riding at a superhuman level compared to the rest of us.

Peenut gets the biggest air of the week. A solid 50′ from lip to lander.

Colin wasn’t too far off that mark.

Tippie was happy to just be alive. He managed to come down with a cold that he proceeded to give to everyone else.

Uh oh. Bridge out.

While we’re dropping names, Noel was along for another adventure. Here he is swearing at me for taking pictures instead of helping with bikes.

OK, time for a beer and a swim.

And a gopher snake.

Lap two was the Rusty Muffler. Check out this sequence of Colin trying out his other gear.

Tippie was amused.

Dan was freaking out. He’s a pro shooter from the UK who moved out here to make his fortune. He couldn’t believe that the Okanagan hasn’t been shot yet, and was running hither and yon snapping epic panoramas at every turn. I fully expect him to be back soon. Actually, I can hardly wait to see his shots from this trip.

In his words, “I only need five or six good shots for a story, and I must have shot a hundred in the past two days.”

Gratuitious bike porn.

We had a little impromtu shower for the fat chick–uhh, I mean the pregnant ladies in the crew. Barb and Sarah got some serious goodies. The hit of the night was the moose hide moccasins from a friend of ours in the NWT. We have to do some checking, but they may be fromt he same village as Bretts grandmother. Pretty cool.

Laura has had enough. She’s only been riding for something like 8 weeks, and somehow she’s fallen in with a fast crowd of riders that have been at it for decades. Welcome to the family….

I’m OK, You’re OK

Early season is finally here. This is going to be remembered as one of the longest winters in memory. I heard that the Rusty Muffler was only a short walk through the snow before it became rideable, so I grabbed the K-town loc’s and headed over for a mission.

Oh yeah, that was a LONG winter, wasn’t it Rich?

Rob on his first teeter of hte year (no, he didn’t clean it. Look close…).

Justin sandbagged us all. He’s been charging the low elevation trails for weeks, and is in pretty good early season form.

Rob is pretty competetive though, and kept his stoke on till the end.

Alright, bring on 2008!