TKO

Salad Doggers – 9

Posted on by Smoke

Last day, and summer has once again given up the ghost.  We had a good run…

Yeah, we’re off to Kobau again today.   At least it’s only high overcast, so we can still benefit from a bit of a view.  Also, the wood was mostly dry ( a few retardedly slick sections, but overall not too bad), so we could hit up a few choice lines.

A few locals came with us today too, like Jason, Sheila, Andrew, and French Johnny.  Here’s Jason on one of the big log rides.  Ewan blew a few fuses on this one.  Not only was it big, but it was still wet enough to be very exciting.

The foresty part only lasts a little while, and then we’re out in the sage for the rest of the descent.

Conditions were, as usual on Cawston Ck., prime.  Only a little bit of dust, and very fast and very grippy.

Then Andrew got a little too excited.  Don’t worry, it’s only a flesh wound.  Actually, it was not a big deal.  We covered it up with some bandages, but it’s really only a scratch.  Nice and clean, cause it was his top cap.

Proof for the boys that we really are in a desert.

Little tiny riders.

More little tiny riders.  I like how the sage messes with digital cameras.  They seem to struggle with the detail, giving you this cool texture in the pics.

Yay Chevy!  Our shuttle driver in training.

Round two and … DOH!  OK, there goes the perfect season.  We’ve gone all year without going to the hospital (well, I did, but it was on a day off so I don’t count it), and then Steve wrecked it.

Bummer.  It’s not even that big, but it went deep.  He caught a random stick on a flat part of the trail at the very beginning, and it wedged one end into the ground and the other end into his shin.  The worst luck.

Oh well, we were close enough to the top that we were able to send him back with Barb and bundle him off to the hospital.  See?  There’s Steve…way down there.

We miss you Steve.

Not really.  TKO keeps you damn busy.  Not much time to think about other people.  You’re busy enough dodging gnarly boulders and such.

Jason on one of the steepest lines in the whole valley. Nice riding.  That part is tricky.

Dude…

Wanna see a gross close up of the wound?

Click here…

Well, that was another really fun trip.  Hope to see these kids again.

Shock Monkey Okanagan – Day 3

Posted on by Smoke

Welcome to Canada’s only desert. 

Sure is green…

Yeah, June-uary keeps on giving around here.  Although we have been snowed on in July on this ride, so torrential rain is not that big of a deal, right? 

Andrew and Brant came out with the saws today, so we did a bit of refurb on Cawston Creek Trail.  It really needed it.

Besides clearing some major deadfall, we also rebuilt this jump.

Note the size of that saw.  That’s no farm saw.  That’s over 100cc’s of Husky on there.

Kind of forced Jay to work for this one.

We also fixed the entrance to this log.

One plank, coming right up.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to outwit the weather with our good deeds.

It just socked right in while we were building. 

Not that the riding was bad or anything.

Actually, it doesn’t really get any better than this.

It also meant that for round 2 on TKO, that we were looking for some serious wet.  It was only about +3 at the top, and windy.  I wasn’t sure, but I had a hunch that the conditions were going to be prime, and I wasn’t disappointed.  The best run down the top half of TKO for myself, and Brant, AND Andrew that we’ve ever had.

Even the 2nd half, which can be a nasty sketchfest, was pretty damn good.

The Aussies were definitely feeling the steep though.  It was a bit of a stretch for them at times.  Here’s Jay trying to stretch out over the back wheel.

..and Gen stretches her legs.

A big bummer to report in that some friends of ours lost their home in a mudslide in Oliver this week.  I’ll be heading down to help them muck out in July, so I’ll post up some pics when I get a chance.

On the happier side, Happy Anniversary to my parents!  Now quit spending my inheritance.

May Long – Day 2

Posted on by Smoke

 

Do you think we’ll need a chainsaw?  Nahhh, leave it at the bottom…

Oops.

Well, it’s only an extra 40 minutes of driving to go get it.  What have we learned, Dorothy?

John gets excited when he sees big wood.  There were some random tourists watching this scenario unfold, too.  Good times.

Oh right.  The May Long Weekend.  Fresh snow, should have brought the boards.

I P’d a frog…

I didn’t run the first lap down the Cawston side.  It was Barb’s turn, so I drove.  I got to ride lap 2 on TKO.  Unfortunately, winter was hard this year (contrary to what you hear on the news).  Lots of trees down, and lots of snow.  We had to hike down a considerable distance.

At least the lower part was in prime shape.

This zone is super sketchy when it’s dry, so a bit of moisture made it ultra tacky.

As usual, I get the best shots of French Jonny.

We ran into some of the Penticton locals on the 1st lap, and Kurt jumped in for lap 2 with us, showing us how to do it on light gear.  Then again, I was on my Altitude so I guess that made for two of us idjits running big mountains on little bikes.

Smile!

Even with lots of snow and downed trees, that ride is still one of the best. And spring storms make for epic light.

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