Slocan

Rilor – Day 4

Posted on by Smoke

Last day at Rilor.  What a pack of rogues, eh?

No wonder I can’t tell them apart.  I wonder if Tilo ever gets them confused?  He’s busy riding this rock line anyway.

Kelli (and jr), loving it.

One thing about being preggers…it gets sorta busy in there.  Gotta go again, eh Kelli?

We were heading over to play on Powerslave today, and on the way we couldn’t resist hitting up a little bit of Highballer.

Powerslave is Riley’s signature trail.  No airs, but lots of spectacular curvy woodwork, and all against a setting of old growth forest.

Check out those stringers.  Sooooo curvy…

Pushing back up past the forest giants for another run.

Kelli again, loving being back in the hometown.

I am Doug.  I am a good dog.  I a—SQUIRREL!!!

A little Disney reference for ya.  Back to riding. We did a long descent down Illuminati and then onto the lower Nelson trails, ending up with this little drop into a gravel pit at the bottom.

After a great day on the trails of Nelson, Lemon Creek, and Winfield, it was back to the lodge to wind up the trip.  Yes Riley, you need to get past the fire to open the bottle.

Nice dirt jumper arm.

Prost!

Or more appropriately, “Trinksprüche!”

That was a good week, and a great crew.  If you want to try the ultimate expert level mtn bike trip, then you gotta look into Rilor Wilderness.  Maybe spend a few days with me on the way, though.

Kelli and Darren’s dog got his own toast, so to speak.  Good boy…

Tilo, Judith, and the boys, in their own words.

Rilor – Day 3

Posted on by Smoke

Ahhh yes, the helicopter.  I just can’t get enough of these things.

Plus it’s a nice day for it.  Well…it’s actually snowing at the top, so I’ll just let everyone else go first.  No point in hanging around in the alpine if it’s cold, eh?

Bye Kelly!  We’ll miss you!

And there go the bikes…

The West Arm of Kootenay Lake.

Capt Serious, so happy to be here.

Our destination is the top of BaldFace.  This sure beats the usual approach of an hour up the gravel road and another 40 minutes of hike a bike to Cherry Tops.  An 8 minute flight with views of the mountains (and illegal crops dotting the mountainsides) is far more preferable.

Surfs up, yo.

OK, we’re ready to drop in now.

Darren, what did you do to our nice blue skies?

Riley, showing some Viking like disregard for the climate.  Red heads are weird.

Mama Tillman, again with shot of the day.  Damn girl, you’ve got the photogenic thing figured out.

Another random Tillman.  Hot bike, but cold hands.

Dad on the steeps of the Meadow Trail.

There’s been a lot of work on the trails up there this year.  Much improved over last time I rode it.  Here we are back at the creek, having a snack and preparing for the climb up to Shannon Pass.

Shannon Pass was the usual collection of shit eating grins.  One of my favourite Kootenay trails for sure.

Of course, that wasn’t enough for the boys, so I took Dad over to NRG to meet some locals that were having a post Triple Crown BBQ.   Damn, does everyone around here have red hair?

DOUBLE RAINBOW!!!

As is usual with mountain bike groups, we had a sausage party.

Nerds.

Rilor – Day 2

Posted on by Smoke

Ok, it’s time for our first full day, and we get to start out with me driving the truck while everyone else gets to warm up on Idaho Peak.  Ah well, it’s not really my favourite anyway.

I’d rather ride someplace with a bit of a view, like this nice washroom up near Meadow Creek.  I also missed out on the first trail up here, Deception Creek.   It would appear to be a fast and flowy singletrack.  At least the road was fun, with some freshly installed decommission trenches to negotiate.

The 3rd lap was Mineshaft, and this one is a true gem.  If I had to compare it to anything,it would be Cypress on the North Shore, but way more plush and longer to boot.

It had a little bit of everything, except maybe it could have used a big move or two.  Not that it really needs it, it’s just that it has every other kind of riding as you go down.

Kelly riding one of the creek crossings…

Mama Tillman out in the open with the mighty Purcell Mtns in the background.

Pops, not to be outdone.

I don’t get to see a lot of the boys on the trail.  These guys RIP.  Seriously, they’re not far off of World Cup pace out there. I noticed Riley sweating to keep pace, and he knows these trails.  The boys were riding blind at full speed.  Here’s a rare shot of Andreas.

An even rarer shot of the Ginja Ninja himself, Riley.

We ran out of safety margin to hit the Monster (too bad, but no biggie), so we raced back to the Slocan for some sunset shots on Tunnel Vision.  Another shot of Andreas railing the berms.

Oops, cut Michael’s head off…

Or was that Andi?  Or is this Michael.  Dang it, all ze Germans look the same to me…

Well, this one is blurry enough that I just can’t tell.  Probably Basti.  He’s not even related.

Ahh, this would be Toni, catching the last rays of the day.

Nice day, but tomorrow promises to be bigger and better.  Is that jet fuel I smell?