Seymour

Riding the Shore

Posted on by Smoke

OK, so I don’ t have any new pics for ya. I’m sorry. Didn’t have the correct USB for the Santo’s Crew to download their shots from yesterday. Which is really too bad ’cause we got some cool ones. Oh well. I’ll get those in a week or so.

Eric’s mob got in a little late on Wednesday nite, courtesy of the new rules instituted by US Customs. Mass hysteria at airports across North America.

Whatever.

So instead of getting in some bonus rounds on Weds nite, we loaded up the BBQ for a tailgate party atop West Vancouver and watched the fireworks. Cool.

Got up early on Thursday and put the bikes together while Barb cooked us up some breakfast burritos. Then we charged Seymour. Nothing outrageous to report, just a lot of fun riding. CBC, Corkscrew, Pingu, Pangor, secret lower Seymour stuff, another on CBC, Ned’s and out. Two runs. Anton had huck of the day on the six foot log drop on Ned’s. He got the full height on his hardtail but wrecked his Psylo in the process. Fried the lock out knob so that the compression spiked on every hit.

Ooops.

Barb let him ride the Pink Peeler out, so all was well.

Have fun at Shandro’s camp this week, boys.

Mountain Biking North Vancouver

Posted on by Smoke

OK, so here’s the big update with pics I promised ya. First up, the TeamUglyStick guys.

This is Tony pulling out a bridge on Pangor. These guys looked the most hardcore ut of all the Yankees so far this year, and they were also the most XC of the bunch. Appearances, eh? Tony looks a lot like a smaller Jesse James (Monster Garage).

This is a pic of this huge bug we found on one of the climbs. Apparently they are naturally occurring, but this is the first one I’ve seen in thirty two years.

And Jason styling CBC. I told him that the trails got smooth in places. Here’s proof.

Then we have a ton of stuff from the Newfies. John, John, Mark, and Evelyn. EVelyn and John both got hurt, but I dragged them off to Rancho Relaxo anyway for some serious R&R.

This is the back way to Rancho. Kind of twisty.

Assorted wildlife on the way. No John, only the purple ones are wild.

Of course, the van can get pretty boring. Maybe you’d better just have a nap.

Then there is the riding. It’s OK.

So is the jumping.

And the scenery.

And the stunts….which are not always so OK.

Back on the Shore, it’s time to get reacquainted with the big stuff. This is Diggers Cliff. All 23′ of it.

Of course, the size of the trees make it look kind of small.

And then the Eurotrash show up and it all looks big again. One of these little guys was riding big logs clipped in with his seat jacked and those little semislick tires. What a freak. Check out Cedric Ravanel results at the Grouse Mtn World Cup for an idea of his lifestyle.

Speaking of World Cup, Barb did all right, considering she’s hardly raced in two years. She had some trouble in training, but pulled out some fantastic sections in her race run. Shandro summed it up well.

“It’s just hard to pin it all the way down when you haven’t done it in a while, but I had a great time and didn’t embarass myself.”

Special congrats to Trevor Porter (17th), Stewart Hilder (33rd), and Danica Schroeter (12th) who all posted career high finishes in downhill. And to all the Canadians, for that matter.

That’s all for now, I’ll have more soon.

Mountain Biking Seymour

Posted on by Smoke

July 2nd.

Yesterday was, Yay Canada!!! Evelyn and John King and John B came out today. Unfortunately we didin’t make it too far before Evelyn crashed off a small jump and really racked it up. Luckily we have a good hospital nearby, but I had no idea youcold get THAT hurt on such a small drop. Can you spell lacerated liver? At least it’s OK now, but Ev will have to take it easy for a few weeks. After we got her settled, John B and I went up and finished the ride from where we evacuated John and Ev.

Always great.

The So-Cal crew showed up at my house around ten for beer and company until 1 am, when we ran out of liquor.

July 3rd.

So-Cal Day! Jack, Jim Clarke, Jimmy, and Aimee made the return trip. First we had to go to the airport to get their bikes out of customs. After about ten hours of wanking on phone lines, it only took ten minutes to get the bikes back. I hate beureaucracy.

The usual Seymour run in the morning (CBC Corcscrew Pingu Boogieman) and then after lunch we hit Neds and the river. Jack pulled the deadman float in the river for the refresher. A fine end to the day at The Raven for beers and eats and we put another one away.

July 4th.

Yay USA!!

What better way to celebrate than a couple of runs on Cypress with the So Cal crew. Scott from the Bay area came out as well. We hit Mystery Downhill to start, then we did a Pre-Reaper, Blind Skier, Paul Hogan’s Firehose, and the fabulous and new Family Man.

Lunch was a quick sandwich at Safeway, and we did another Seymour run via Pangor. I have never seen Jack so tired. Funny how he actually rides a bit better when he’s sleepy. Scott, that sucka for punishment, had to do more, and the Team UglyStick guys showed up just in time for a high speed Seymour dash at dusk.

That’s four North Shore runs in one day.

Sleepy…..so very sleepy.

July 5th.

Brad McGee wins the Prologue

Big day with Team UglyStick. We did an epic Seymour loop on a bunch of oldschool trails that I could tell you about, but then I’d have to kill you. It took about five hours to get back to the house,where we drank lots of beer and cooked up a load of steaks. Gotta love that Mad Cow Disease. Mmmmmmmmmmm……..cheap meat.

July 6th.

Sent the uglyStick boys out with a cross country ride, NorthShore style. That means climbing up to do the same trails. We hit up the C***Buster for a change of flava today. God I love that trail. Anyway, the rest of John Kings group came out today, and Evelyn is out of the hospital, so we did the usual Seymour stuff. We also helped with the trail maintenance day on CBC and then hit the Raven for a pint and some pizza. On the final lap of the day, John King went down and tweaked his knee. Ouch. Here’s hoping it’s not too bad. Knees are so hard to diagnose.

And that’s it. You are up to date and I am off to the Okanagan for a pile of desert freeriding.