Retallack Ride Guide – 3

Posted on August 25, 2011September 16, 2011 by Smoke

Who wants to ride in a helicopter?

Of course you do. That highest peak in the previous shot would be Toad Mountain, also known as the top of Powerslave. Which would be Riley McIntosh’s 3 year building program to make a trail from the high point above Nelson right into town.

Eamonn got so excited his shirt fell off.

Dude, get off the phone….

See that beach down by the orange bridge? Remember that, it’ll come in handy later…

Wait! I left my phone in the heli! Ahhhh….never mind.

Yeaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh boyeeeeeeeeeeeee!

The view that inspires.

The pause that refreshes (please do not try this with your own Powerslave. We are professionals…).

And now for some awe inspiring shots. enjoy…

Heeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrreeeeee’s MASON!

Love the intensity on Joel’s face. Too bad I didn’t have video of this. It was an impressive drift.

Shawn’s style ain’t so shabby either.

The rest of the ride went a ton faster once we got rid of the TV guy. So you don’t get to see any pics of the rest of the ride. Just this one of us at the top of Morning Mountain, about to drop in on 90 minutes of continuous downhill action.

There….remember that beach I was talking about? Well, here it is and there’s Toad…wayyyyyyy up there.

Also, a topless dancing Eamonn….

The boys clearly had a good time out there, and cut loose a bit on the beach after to celebrate. I couldn’t join in (somebody had to drive), but I at least got to record the events for posterity.

Possibly my favourite shot of the summer so far.

Riley’s house…

All that celebrating has consequences.

The lodge had a killer meal waiting for us, and as it was the last night for the Ride Guide the boys let loose a bit.

Much to the amusement of the crews from Sacred Rides and NRG in attendance.

“Let’s hear it for RETALLACK!”

Retallack Ride Guide – 2

Posted on August 24, 2011September 16, 2011 by Smoke

Day two saw us looking into some of the other options the lodge has to offer. For instance, Joel tries out the complimentary lobotomy service

Kris plays with some of the full size Tonka toys….

I kid…I kid. We took the morning to try out the Monster today. It looks like it will probably be too dry to really have a good run, but what the hey. We have a TV camera and blubird skies.

Kev, get off the freakin’ phone. We’re on top of a mountain in the Kootenays, what is so important? Actually, Eamonn was the worst offender at this. Kev just got the better shot.

Strangely enough, Eamonn was riding some made for TV lines instead of gabbin’ on the phone.

A stereotyped rock star shot of the Adidas lenses.

Mason practices his throat punches.

More poser scenery with Landry.

How about we ride? Last time I did this trail was 2001. It’s actually gotten a bit easier.

At least, that’s what I told Joel.

Easy, right?

With the dry weather, traction was NOT ideal. Here’s a rare shot of Eamonn 3 pointing the gnarly exposure of the “Doobie Time” steeps.

I tried the “Stoopid Steeps” down lower and rode a good 30 feet with both wheels locked before I laid it down. Last time I had no real trouble with that line, but it was much wetter then. The rest of the trail is still in surprisingly good shape. Worth the trip.

Also worth the trip….5 dollar hamburgers in Kaslo.

After lunch we went back to the lodge and sessioned the new trail Riley has been working on. It doesn’t have a name yet, but it’s what we in the trade like to call, a “gooder.”

Check out how deep the Brown Pow is on this.

Some more slashed berms and Brown Pow face shots…

Retallack Ride Guide – 1

Posted on August 23, 2011September 16, 2011 by Smoke

Hey! We’re back with our old pals from the Ride Guide.

On deck is a story about backcountry lodges, and as luck would have it I’m doing some work guiding for Retallack Lodge.

I’m not the host this time. Our pal from NSMB.com and Rocky Mountain team mate Eamonn got the duties on this round.

We spent most of our first day playing around on Idaho Peak, above New Denver.

The Wakefield trail is an old classic, and I mean old. It’s part of a network of mule train access roads for the old mines. Here’s Mason Mashon carving around the upper entrance to the old Wakefield Mine.

Eamonn getting a beauty shot at the entrance to the trail.

On the other side of the mountain, there’s a wealth of old mining roads that the locals have spent many seasons clearing out and connecting with bits of singletrack. There’s not much in the way of built up trail, but there are occasional hits. Here’s a bit of a session that Kris and “You Like This” creator Kevin Landry threw down.

Down lower, in the dark forest, it’s all about steeps and hard, shithook corners.

Mason had the edge with his oddball 24″ front wheel setup (no, not really. Do you have to be so gullible? It’s just lens distortion…).

One out of the trees, it’s actually a very nice summer’s day.

We took a bit of a break in Sandon for some background shots. While Josh got some work done, we just hung out on the bus.

There’d better not be a fire. I don’t think these guys have much of a department.

After a long day, another epic BC sunset, courtesy of the over the shoulder quick snap technique.

Although I did stop to get this shot of a cow moose. It was getting pretty dark, so sorry about the grainy factor. She seems to be hanging around, maybe I’ll get another crack at a better pic later.

Bush Pilot Biking

Savage mountain bike adventures in the heart of the freeride capital of the universe: British Columbia, Canada.

Retallack

Retallack Ride Guide – 3

Retallack Ride Guide – 2

Retallack Ride Guide – 1