Singletrack Stampedin’ – Day 1

Alright, let’s get this show on the road.  Thanks to Monica and Ryders Eyewear for stylin’ out the ladies…

Also gotta thank Sirel for helping load bikes, shuttling the van, and just generally being eye candy for the riders this weekend. 

If you crank up this song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=QwxYiVXYyVs#t=18s), this next pic is just so much better…

OK, on to the riding.  We are in town today.  Although my favourite breakfast joint is closed, there were a zillion pancake breakfasts for Stampede, so we hit up one of those and then we kind of…uh…poached the parade.  It wasn’t quite started yet, and we accidentally drove down the middle of the route.  Well, what are ya gonna do, stop a van full of chicks that ride like this?

So fun to see Annie again.  She’s obviously still shredding hard.  So is our new friend Leanne.

So if you take a line of girls and send them off this jump like so:

Then if the first one sorta crashes you end up with this:

Luckily, nobody got seriously mangled.  Although our English Rose did get a pretty gnarly raspberry…

That was our cue to take a break, and head on over to the westside for some Snakes and Ladders…and cows.

I missed a great action shot here.  Suffice to say, we could tell it’s still springtime from the actions of the bull.

Alright, on to more riding.  Aja was killin’ it as always.

Monica and all the other girls weren’t exactly slacking off either.

Had to do a bit of a photo sesh on the sky berms.  That zone is a ton of fun.   The best layout of government funds I’ve seen in a long time.

Get up there Leanne!

I love this next one of Aja.  Check the angle of the head.  THAT’S anticipating the turn.

Lindsey is here on assignment for NSMB.com, and I got the impression that she doesn’t ride as much as the rest of the group.  No problem, she’s game to shred all of it, and with a big camera in the pack that’s not exactly easy.

Annie might have a "wee bum," but those are some big hips she’s showing there…

The last part of the new Snakes n’ Ladders line is the steeps into the canyon.  Hard to shoot in here, but here’s a taste…

You’ll just have to go there and see for yourself, I guess.

Was that a good day ladies?

Good, because it ain’t over yet.  Time to go to Let Her Buck!

Yep, we’re partying at the Saloon tonight.  Them city girls dress up real purdy, don’t they?

I was the DD tonight, but trying to dance to the band in cowboy boots in a sea of crushed beer cans made it seem like I’d had a few.  Now I know why comboys walk that way.  Those boots are tippy…

…and those girls are all on stage.  Nice work.

That was a long day, and tomorrow looks hot.  Good thing we bugged out at a reasonable hour, because we gotta go to Farwell in the morning….

Singletrack Stampedin’ – Prologue

Giddyup….it’s only been just over a month and I’m going back to the Puddle…and it just happens to be Stampede.  Yikes.

Reminds me of the old 15th Anniversary Cove Bikes shirt.  Anyone still got one?  Send me a pic if you do.

Save a  horse, ride a bike.

This weekend is a return of Monica’s Singletrack Ladies crew.  I’m here a bit early, so I lined up with a few locals to check out the Crash ‘n Pass at the track. 

More fun than a hootenanny in a tornado. 

We never did see who won, but they had fun going in circles and smashing in to each other. 

Afterwards the kids took a little ride back down to town.

Not bad for 20".

Met up with the girls out at the lake, and we had a couple of beers under the northern lights. 

Not too late though.  We had an agenda for tomorrow…