Welcome to the end of Week One. The ladies are, to coin a phrase, pooped and have declined the ride out to Wildhorse Canyon. So it’s just us boys today.

The Wildhorse runs through Okanagan Mtn. Park and is where the major fires of 2003 had their biggest impact.

Here’s a little comparison for you….

It’s kind of neat to ride in here now. For the first couple of years after the fire you couldn’t go in here, as it was too dangerous with all the falling trees, and the trail was nearly impossible to find.

Now you can see the canyon better with no tree cover, and it still qualifies as pristine. Fire is part of the natural order of things up here.

This is about the only flat piece of ground in the valley that doesn’t have a Starbucks or Tim Hortons on it.

The only bummer is that the southern approach is still pretty rough. The fire burned so hot that it not only burned the trees, it also burned the soil and in some areas created a natural furnace that sucked all the remaining sand out, then heated up the underlying rock until it exploded.

So we just did an out and back on the northern section.

It’s OK, I guess. That LA smog is worse today though.

And now for a few cover shots. Hey…all you pro photographers that I used to know! Why aren’t you getting this?

Welcome to Commando Bay. Although no-one seemed interested in going that way…

Richard declines to get his stitches wet.

Ogopogo.

And now for some artsy crap.

OK, so I went swimming and no-one else did. At least Holly went for a swim as part of her rest day schedule. You guys totally missed out on one of the best parts of the Okanagan. Ah well, mad dogs and Englishmen or something like that.

I mean really, who expects Welsh lakes to be warm in September (or anytime for that matter)?

So the same, but in reverse.

Actually, looking at the map I’d decided to try some singletrack near the end. It looked like about a 400′ climb and a nicer finish so…

..we went for it.

What could go wrong?

OK,so it’s a bit more climbing than I expected. The sun is going down now.

Ask Rob how he feels…

Yup, there’s that smog again. And some forest fire smoke from Oregon.

A rare moment of DH from near the finish.

There was some moderately rad descending at least. Rob (in spite of his haggard appearance) was loving the tech.

Holy pink sunsets.

Yup, in spite of the grueling finish, it was still worth it in my books. Kind of funny that this is the official “Bike Route” through the park though. It’s off the scale for gnar for a couple of miles.

Your map is ready, sirs.
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