penticton

Return of the Jedi Council — Part III

Posted on by Smoke

Day 3, and the crew is just getting warmed up. A little re-match with the Arawana trail today. I happen to really like this trail, and so do the mosquitos. However, you have to have a good tolerance for flat landings to really enjoy this one. Poor Pete (the builder), he got roundly cursed all day for his penchant for stupid trannies. Well, I guess the local bike shop likes him, but he really needs to learn how to make good landings.

He does great things with skinny logs though.

This is where I got stung by wasps. Note to self, dont stand right on the nest, even if it is a good angle.

This used to seem really hard. Now it gets nailed on sight by nearly everyone.

Barb on a natural line.

Skip really benefitted from his trip out here this winter. He went from the back of the pack last year to right up front this year.

Marvellous Ed was on a mission today. His mission? To do all the really dumb lines. Here he is on an 8 foot “dorp to falt.”

Paul, in his natural element. The skinnier, the better.

Bud Height. The big wood to wood. Just about the entire crew hit it today. I used to fake this shot with Photoshop to make it look cool. Now everyone just nails it on sight.

Poster shot of Skip.

Marvellous, on another skinny “dorp to falt.”

…and I quote, “That looks impossible. Wanna see it done?”

It lands you in a small gap almost immediately. It’s really stupid, and loads of fun to watch Ed pile into the bushes from.

Right around the corner, Paul proves that he can hit the air when necessary.

This is a wicked little road gap. I finally did it after looking at it for a couple of years. Pretty easy, but another stupid little micro tranny. Jedi shows us how its done.

Not to be outdone, Barb puts her stamp on it.

And the big stupid drop award goes to….

…no one. The jump immediatley after the flat landing from 25′ up is uber stupid and makes a potentially good move ridiculous. Oh well, maybe another time.

Here’s Jedi leading a train across the barbwire funbox gap. Where’s that train?

Well, Ed paid the piper for his earlier antics by face planting the first step up. There’s video of this, but you’ll have to wait months for it. Sorry, but I’m sort of busy to be editing video.

We still had enough in the tank for another half lap, so we cracked off a quickie of the fast part, and then hit the beach for some well earned swims and beer.

Ahhhh, beer at sunset. What will tomorrow bring I wonder?

More weirdness. I am sure. Ed, you slut.

Return of the Jedi Council — Part I

Posted on by Smoke

Welcome to Canada, eh? What a bunch of loonies…..Tony, Ed, Panama, Pierre, Paul, Stu, Stouph, Mark, and Skip. Thanks for showing up at midnight. At least traffic is light.

Just like last year, we put all the bikes together that night. Bedtime? How does 3 am sound?

We decided to make an early start to the day. As usual, we came across an accident on the highway. This time, a happy ending. The 78 year old rider of this motorcycle walked away from the scene with minor scrapes, and Barb got a job offer from the Princeton Ambulance station.

Bladder break!

Maybe this canyon just scared the piss out of them.

We rolled into Penticton around noon, and took some lunch bbefore heading up to the Peat bog for some warm up laps. Here’s Skip getting reacquainted with a teeter.

Stu goes big on the Knuckleduster.

Skip again, same drop with a different perspective.

Barb got inspired to put the boys in their place.

Skip, mocking death.

Barb, on the Knucklduster road drop.

Stouph gaps a bridge in the sun.

Get that front wheel down, Ed.

Skip at sunset.

Last run of the day. Beleive it or not, this was the lamest trail of the trip.

Get ready, ’cause if that’s lame, then the rest of the tour should be legendary……

That Guy Again? How About Eagle?

Posted on by Smoke

Technically, Eagle isn’t the North Shore. In reality, it’s way more core than the Shore. Peter taggedalong so Stefan had someonw to converse with in his native tongue.

Ooli came with us today for the hike. It’s a solid 40 minutes up to the top of the first trail, 4 Lost Souls.

….and what an epic trail it is.

P-Dub drops in. This is just a taste of things to come.

Stefan hits one of the bigger ones. The whole trail consists of 5-8′ booters and some wall rides. So sweet.

Wall…..

…to wall…..

…good….

…times.

If you look carefully, you can see that it’s sunny and gorgeous downtown. Pete was of the opinion that the clouds were going to “swirl around us.” Yeah, I’ve got your miracle ticket right here, hippy.

It freakin’ pissed on us. Hail, rain, lightning, you name it.

Oh well, it’s not like Massage Therapy is an easy trail to begin with.

Still, it was mega fun. I’m going back next week I think.