Just because your husband is all bruised up is no reason to stay at home. There a whole big mountain out there.


Glad to see we're on the same page here......







Aparrantly, this is the big day for Kirstie. Time to put up or shut up as it were....







Yeah, I'm tuff....







So, I know it's sort of a crap pic, and I've photoshopped the snot out of it to make it look a bit cooler....but it's a freaking 6 foot drop being hit by a chick that was scared to ride any wood at all only a month ago.


Here...compare this old shot:








...which was taken at the same spot in the trail two years ago, to this new and improved model of Kirstie...







OK, you've passed.



NEXT!!!

Ahhhh, back home again. Time to put those newfound skills to the real test.


Yup, looks good....




Oooooh....a bit shaky, but not bad. Way to fight it out, bro.







Very nice.








Good job!!!






DOH!!





Oh well, it's probably not broken or anythingg. Just hideously sprained.


You can probably just coast across this little log. See.... Kirstie did it.







Pffft, there's nothing wrong with it. Stiff upper lip and all that, old chap.





Oh yeah, now you're back in the groove.






Hmmmmm...well maybe it IS broken. Lets go have a look, shall we?




Epilogue: It's a gnarly sprain, but he's already back on his feet. Looks sorta cute all helpless like that in the chair though....and a real purty mouth.

Good ole Harper Mtn. The ramp sort of sums it up really...






A great place to ramp up the skills ---hehe heheh--- getit?







Things got a bit Helter Skelter later on.....






..and Kirstie did it!!(this will be a lot more amazing to our British friends who know Kirstie and her paranoid fear of anything high up and/or made of wood).





After a bit of a break, we went over to Rose for a run. Same old same old over there, but really stinking hot today. Mike got the difing board dialled, but Kirstie was a bit spent from her breakthroughs earlier in the day.






Yup, classic Kamloops summer.

Holy stereotypes.....but the pictures don't lie. There were 6 (six) cop cars at the Timmy Ho's in 100 Mile House. Too funny. Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself here. It's the last day in the Puddle, so we went out to Desous to hit some bigger lines.


'



And hit them we did. Kirstie sarted to really open it up today. This is part of a natural 6-pack on Double-O Soo.





I think Mike felt that he had to step it up too.





OK, I did too. It's a pretty good line for flow. Actually, we did it twice.






...and we hung out at the top of the mountain for a while too.







Barb took them down So Long, which drops a few grand vert into the Fraser Canyon.

Going down?






The scenery just sucks on this one.






See what I mean?







Final pitch is a gully run with about 40 turns in it.






All good things must come to an end, however, so we said g'bye to all our pals in the Puddle and headed sout to Kamloops for...


Campfire ....






...and S'mores!

Today we ride bikes.....at least after we recover from all the booze in the hot tub last night.



Barb keeps the concept of original sin alive and well. How fitting considering the name of hte trail (keep reading, you'll get it).



Snakes




Ladders

Mike gets into the skinny stuff on Snakes and Ladders.
















"I'm walking on sunshine! Whoaa - ooooh!"








For the second run we went to some stuff I haven't seen before, namely a trail called "Bush Invader." Sort of ironic that I haven't been there before....


Barb seemed to be the star today.





A nice composite shot of me on a wooden berm. Shots by Mike.





Same stunt, different angle, shot by Barb.







Here's Barb, flying through space. It looks like you're suspended in the air when you ride it, too.





Hot Chick...







...hmmmmmmmmm.....not so hot.

It's been a couple of years since Kirstie was here as the first representative of the British invasion which has since engulfed me. She has finally returned with a new surname, a spouse, and a huge can 'o whup ass. We decided to head out really early to Wiliams Lake, as it's a big drive.



There were a couple of stops on the way. If you ever need a cowboy hat, here's the spot.







Luckily, it's a gorgeous drive. Even Harley seemed to enjoy it.









Anyway, we finally rolled in to the Puddle in time for a couple of laps of the newly rebuilt Hillbilly.





Kirstie is back!






She's not only jumping, she's also riding wood with confidence. It's amazing what a couple of years will do to a person.






It was a long day, but we were just getting settled into a rhythm. More riding to come...

As they say, all good things must come to an end, and so it is with the Brits tor of 2005. Just as weel, as the white man carnage was getting a bit out of control.


Cracked ribs, bad sprains and possible fracture of the ankles, and a good laceration on the shin.


Jedi




Fractured toe.



Stouph





Fractured metacarpal (hand bon)


Stu




Various bleeding shins.


(everybody, but this is Barb)





Good times...good times. With just enough left in 'em for a lap of Seymour.


Panama




Funny how hard CBC can feel when you're that beat down.




Mark



It's still a great ride though, and tough to pass up when you only get here once a year.


Barb




Panama(?)




Jedi




Jedi




The new Corkscrew trail is finally open, and although only a couple of the boys were feeling like riding that far today, the ones that did made the most of it. Synchro has really made a gorgeous addition to Seymour with this one, and the log gap is an instant classic.



Stouph



Two weeks just isn't enough time for you guys, let alone 9 days. I can hardly wait 'till you come back. It had better be sooner than the next time I see Chaz on a pink bike.....

There's been a lot of discussion about "how far we done clumb up" on Eagle. Well, have a map and figure it out for yourself. Not much by Tour de France standards, so far as I can tell.



It does sort of suck though.







Whatever, it's all worth it. We did the first climb pretty quick, in around 45 minutes or so. Our guest bitc----I mean superstar, Geoff Gulevich, led the pack all the way up.







We decided it would be in everyones best interest to try out Fat Bastard. It's sort of like CBC without any of those pesky ealy lines around everything. Oh yeah, and it has a bunch of wicked airs in it, too.



Ed




More unbelievable woodwork here than you can shake an ---uh-- stick at..



Stouph




Pierre




Rollercoaster drops, what a swell idea.



Stouph (?)




That was the warmup, the second climbn is right after, and it really is easier than the first one. A bit over half as far, and bit over half as high. Check the map....



The summit is sure a welcome sight though.








I hada bit of revenge to take care of with Massage Therapy, as I broke my finger there with the Hicks last month. So I simply rode the hell out of it and didn't take too many pics. That trail is the best, and so is Manhandler, the 3 Little Pigs, and Mistress. Again, it's more core than the Shore, you just have to get there first.



Pierre




The biggest log ride I've ever done is on Mistress.


Panama and Barb




Plus another lakeside trail finish. Now if we only knew what happened to Gully later....

You knew it would have to happen sooner or later. My first breakdown with a full crew. Not bad. Four years of trips and this is the first time I've had a full crew stranded on the trans-Canada at 1 AM.



Oops.


Massive thanks to Tim at Huckwagon for coming through when it mattered the most. It's good to have a crew at your back. Also to Norlang for replacing my fuel pump by noon.







As a result, I had to do some chores for Tim while the rest of the gang went up Fromme with Barb. So I wasn't there to witness Jedi throwing down on Diggers Cliff.




Jedi



Jedi had a big day. He also managed to clean the Ridiculator. Looks like ai missed a big session on the Circus.









Jedi




Do you like skinnies? Paul does....








Again, on Upper Oil Can.


Paul




Mark got in a few licks onthe pole himself.






The swivel totter also got a good workout from the Limey crew.



Paul




Paul




Don't forget the airs.....llike Sideshow.



Ed



More skinny stuff....








...and the obligatory shot of Ed looking like an idiot.








Get some sleep, boys. Bit of climbing tomorrow.

Ahhh yes. Harper Mtn. My faaaaaaaavourite. The best flow is here, and it's a bonus when you camp half way up the mountian in that youget to ride out of camp first thing in the morning.



There's a couple of new additions this year, mostly wood to wood moves.


Ed



They really make nice ladders around here.


Barb




Barb's new pedals are working really well. She's always smiling.


Barb's shin




Some of the newer lines are multi use. Skinnies and hucks.....






Look out Mark! I think you made him angry.








Skip




Barb




Tysun (the Mini-Pig)




Sunset Roncil. What's a Ron-Cil? Well, all I know is that it does exactly what it says on the tin, and Canada seems to have a lot of them.



Ed




With everyone riding Specialized on this tour, it was only fitting that we rode the spiral.


Pierre




Now, why couldn't we run into these gnarly birds yesterday? Heartbreaker.....indeed.



Gnarly birds

Time to head out of the sunny Okanagan. The bugs were freaking the boys out a little too much anyway.






Up to Kamloops for the crew. We went to the Ranch after fixing up the bikes. The Ranch is the first municipal bike park in the world. It's pretty rad. A bit more hardtail oriented than A-Line, but you get the idea. Once the trannies get beat down, it will be better. they're kind of short. We didin't spend much time there as it was just too hot for mad-dogs and Englishmen.



Instead we went to Rose Hill for a few laps of the famous gully.


So much fun stuff here, like wall rides.


Skip




In case you were wondering, there were a few more riders on the tour than what you've been seeing in the pics. Here's Pierre, who rode virtually no stunts last year, dropping the Diving Board.


Pierre




Mark has an injured shoulder, so he's been taking it pretty easy, but Rose was just too much temptation.


Mark




...and this stylish devil is the man usually behind the camera.


Smoke




We sessioned this hip until nearly sunset. It was awesome.


Stu




Even Paul got in on the action, and he never jumps.



Paul




Ed, riding the pony.








Ed




Finally, Jedi had to throw down the Rose road gap.



Jedi




Which got the ball rolling for Stu to hit it.



Stu





Stu landed in a forty foot manual. Sweet.



Stu





Jedi's tire mark




Then it was up to Harper for a campout, fire, and S'mores.

Today was another day of popped cherries for all of us. For some strange reason, I've never ridden Gilliard in K-Town before. Today was high time I remedied that situation.



I think you may have seen this gap before. The general consensus was that the landing is just too roached to be practical now, but personally I don't care how cherry the landing looks. I'm sure that some punk will be hitting tomorrow on a hardtail but whatever. You can have that thing.





Anyway, on to Ker-Plop. Origianlly cut by my man Vince, this trail has gone through an evolution of sorts, especially following the big fires from a few years ago. It's got a lot of rocky terrain, but also a lot of big linked moves. Like this fence gap.


Barb



Or this series of stepdowns callled the 3 Bears.


Ed





Skip



As the trail gets going, there are more and more technical lines like this skinny section that alternate with little gaps and hits.


Barb



There's also some great constructions. This stepdown is the 8 foot culmination of a long ladder with a four foot stepdown to elelvated landing that crosses a swamp.


Barb



Stouph



The last line on this trail is a combo of several skinny lines that drop you onto a road over another barbwire fence.


Stouph



Jedi




Those little combo moves were just a warmup for the main event. Lick-Her Sore is essentially one big continous linked stunt. It starts pretty mellow, with some nice skinny to skinny lines....


Jedi




...that go into ladder ramps.....


Paul




...that kick you to tranny...

Ed




Several more brain twisting stunts later it gets a bit bigger. Get over a couple of rocks, ride a sick high skinny....


Stu




...step down 10+ feet to a step up wooden lip gap, then rail the wooden berm to another 10 foot stepdown to wood lander.



Panama




I shit you not. After that, it's constant skinny line to tranny to skinny line, etc. You need your speed from the previous landing to line up the next move, every time. Finish off with a serious tetter across a gully and take a deep breath.


Stu




Now there's some uphill to be had. Short though, as Boss Hog is only about 300m up the road. This has been shot to death recently, but no surprise. Step up turtle back stunts are pretty neato.


Stu



The ramp into this sucka is fun all by itself.


There's a bunch of killer rock drops in there as well, and then one monster sized rockface to roll down.


Stu



The last move is this crazy berm/wall to rail around.



Panama




Jedi



After all that heat, it was time for the beach, and some well earned frosty ones.








Ed likes to have things stuffed in him.






After another gourmet meal, it was time for the nightly Northern Light show.






Yeah, Canada.....

Day 3, and the crew is just getting warmed up. A little re-match with the Arawana trail today. I happen to really like this trail, and so do the mosquitos. However, you have to have a good tolerance for flat landings to really enjoy this one. Poor Pete (the builder), he got roundly cursed all day for his penchant for stupid trannies. Well, I guess the local bike shop likes him, but he really needs to learn how to make good landings.




He does great things with skinny logs though.





This is where I got stung by wasps. Note to self, dont stand right on the nest, even if it is a good angle.







This used to seem really hard. Now it gets nailed on sight by nearly everyone.







Barb on a natural line.





Skip really benefitted from his trip out here this winter. He went from the back of the pack last year to right up front this year.





Marvellous Ed was on a mission today. His mission? To do all the really dumb lines. Here he is on an 8 foot "dorp to falt."






Paul, in his natural element. The skinnier, the better.







Bud Height. The big wood to wood. Just about the entire crew hit it today. I used to fake this shot with Photoshop to make it look cool. Now everyone just nails it on sight.







Poster shot of Skip.





Marvellous, on another skinny "dorp to falt."






...and I quote, "That looks impossible. Wanna see it done?"







It lands you in a small gap almost immediately. It's really stupid, and loads of fun to watch Ed pile into the bushes from.


Right around the corner, Paul proves that he can hit the air when necessary.

This is a wicked little road gap. I finally did it after looking at it for a couple of years. Pretty easy, but another stupid little micro tranny. Jedi shows us how its done.

Not to be outdone, Barb puts her stamp on it.





And the big stupid drop award goes to....






...no one. The jump immediatley after the flat landing from 25' up is uber stupid and makes a potentially good move ridiculous. Oh well, maybe another time.





Here's Jedi leading a train across the barbwire funbox gap. Where's that train?






Well, Ed paid the piper for his earlier antics by face planting the first step up. There's video of this, but you'll have to wait months for it. Sorry, but I'm sort of busy to be editing video.






We still had enough in the tank for another half lap, so we cracked off a quickie of the fast part, and then hit the beach for some well earned swims and beer.







Ahhhh, beer at sunset. What will tomorrow bring I wonder?







More weirdness. I am sure. Ed, you slut.

Today we hit up Powers Creek in Westbank. I've never ridden there before, but thanks to the magic of hte NSMB.com bulletin boards I was able to meet up with Diddler, who has been a very busy boy building new stunts on Powers.



The trail starts pretty mellow. With a bit of rain threatening, and the wet summer we've been having it felt a lot like north van. Some really cool stunts started us off, including a spiral ramp and lots of little step downs.







There's a metric ton of skinny stuff, and most of it is completely overbuilt. Really solid work here. One stunt was called Cock-Knocker, and Ed found out why in a big hurry. His only words as he rolled onthe ground clutching at his nether region were, "I hope the next one isn't called 'Anal Breach.' "






There's also some nice natural lines to be had.








Diddler is a machinist by trade, so there is also a lot of unique metal additions to the trails.







Also, if you like wall rides, well.....







...this is your kind of place.










Or maybe you prefer massive air? Jedi gets some on Shenanigans.







I mnanaged to get to the front of the pack on Monster Amigo. Yes, I am freaking out in that shot.




Barb had a bit more style on it.





A massive session was had all day. If you want to check out Powers Creek, just stop in at Outbound Cycle in Westbank. They are more than happy to show you around the trails.


After several beers at the local pub, we retired to Summerland for beers, the hot tub, and dinner.





I think we need a bigger hot tub or fewer men next year.

Welcome to Canada, eh? What a bunch of loonies.....Tony, Ed, Panama, Pierre, Paul, Stu, Stouph, Mark, and Skip. Thanks for showing up at midnight. At least traffic is light.





Just like last year, we put all the bikes together that night. Bedtime? How does 3 am sound?



We decided to make an early start to the day. As usual, we came across an accident on the highway. This time, a happy ending. The 78 year old rider of this motorcycle walked away from the scene with minor scrapes, and Barb got a job offer from the Princeton Ambulance station.





Bladder break!





Maybe this canyon just scared the piss out of them.




We rolled into Penticton around noon, and took some lunch bbefore heading up to the Peat bog for some warm up laps. Here's Skip getting reacquainted with a teeter.







Stu goes big on the Knuckleduster.







Skip again, same drop with a different perspective.





Barb got inspired to put the boys in their place.





Skip, mocking death.






Barb, on the Knucklduster road drop.





Stouph gaps a bridge in the sun.






Get that front wheel down, Ed.





Skip at sunset.







Last run of the day. Beleive it or not, this was the lamest trail of the trip.




Get ready, 'cause if that's lame, then the rest of the tour should be legendary......

The final event in the North Shore Ripper Series was the Triple Crown. It wasn't a race, it was a "Poker Ride." Yeah, right. For the uninitianated, the Triple Crown is a little North Shore tradition whereby you ride all three mountains in a day. For the Ripper series, it was formalized (slightly). The format for this run was simple. Stations all across the Shore where you collect playing cards to make a poker hand. The stations were as follows:


Old Buck at the base of Seymour
The top of CBC trail
The water tower at the base of Fromme (and lunch and blackjack)
The 6th switchback on Fromme
Cleveland Dam
The 5th switchback on Cypress
Dizzy Cycles on Lonsdale


It's something that I've tried in the past, but have never successfully completed. In fact, it's been over ten years since I've tried. Wanna know why? Here's a hint......







64 km, and around 2000m of vert (that's about 6600' for you foreign types). As if that wasn't painful enough, something made me do it on a single-spped, which I didn't even have built up until the evening before. It's really just an excuse to not win, but whatever....it's more entertaining for you to see me suffer.





James knows what I'm talking about. See, here he is at the pre-ride strategy meeting.







What's he laughing at?








"Better you than me." You might just be right there, James.


The ride started well. The first climb up Seymour shares nearly identical stats to the legendary Alpe d'Huez climb. To make it more interesting, and to encourage a little suffering, myself and a few other like minded individuals put up $120 for a Lumpy Memorial Prime for the first rider to the top of CBC. The honour went to Stu, JF, and someone else ( I didn't hear who). In the true spirit of the event, the cash went to the NSMBA for the good works that those folks are doing.






Things got a bit weirder on the descent. I passed a lot of lost riders, and a few looking tired already. I was listening to a mix of old hippy tunes and Clutch (don't ever try climbing Seymour listening to She's So Heavy. It sucks) and kind of zoned out. I picked up thses fat old guys on heavy bikes around then.






The Knee Knacker race was going in the other direction, so traffic was pretty funny. hurt hikers going east, and suffering bikers going west. Lunch was again provided by the fabulous Dave's on Esplanade (go see him. He's awesome). RB was dealing blackjack for bonus cards at the table. I was one of the rare few who managed to beat him. For the record, I saw him cheat, but I don't think he did it on purpose (psssst....RB.....the dealer STAYS on 17).

The Fromme climb was the usual suffering. I got to the 6th with a minimum of walking, and felt alright. The descent got interesting. I never ride the Executioner, and today was no exception. First I ran into these guys.









We traded off on the lead for a bit, and I tried to scoop them on a line that I used to ride. Which now has a house with guard dogs in the middle of it.



Ooops








If you look closely, you will see a rope in that shot. Seriously off line for the first time today. Some really cool singletrack though. If you look in those shots check out how loamy the trail is.






Anyway, we recovered quickly, but I know that I hurt myself a bit climbing out of the canyon.




Then it gets really blurry. I went up the stairs in West Van, across to the Cypress Rd., and blew my legs out at the upper lookout. Oh well, it's close enough to walk up.
At parking lot 5, I managed to put back a sammy and a beer, and then it was back on the bike. Mystery DH to Millstream Rd, across the Dam again, down McKay and Mosquito Creeks, and back to the shop.






Elapsed time, about 7:45. It was awesome. Thanks for putting on a good show, I hope it works out for next year.

Normally, I don't let the rain bug me. Normally, I get a few dry days to ride in the month of June. At least we totally slayed Fromme yesterday.


Everyone was feeling a bit flat this morning anyway, and it didn't help that the sky was totally black. It really added a freaky vibe to the ride.

It wasn't long before we realized that the trails were getting really sketchy.

This was about half a second before meltdown for Ed. Luckily, he bent his forks instead of getting really hurt, but that was pretty much it for today.

A couple of runs and we pulled the plug. besides, we had to get to Whistler. Kona was putting on their annual product release party at Whistler, and these guys were all on their way there. I just sort of schmoozed into the buffet when we got there.

Thanks for dinner, eh?

What a rousing way to start the American hoilday. A Tour stage with an American in yellow, and Hendrix ripping up the anthem.



And a houseful of 'Mericans to boot.


Alright, time to get into the big stuff. Today we go to Fromme. I know Jimmie has been thinking about Diggers Cliff all year. Let's see how he did, shall we?






That seemed to inspire the rest of the crew today. I think we pretty much cleaned Upper Oil Can today. Everybody really got off on Big Smooth.










Old Pete has been doing lots of patchup work too. The entrances to all the big stuff are getting really nice and it helps in keeping a good flow going.










Jimmie is at it again.





Barb had to make sure that she got a round in too. Ryan chased Jimmie off the drop with a headcam and got a sweet shot. When he gets that to me I'll put it up.






After this the camera died, so I put it away for 7th and Espresso.


And the late run on Seymour.


Big, big day.

Yup, more of them. Chip and Charles from Mock Orange Bikes, and Mike, Farris, Ed, and Andrew from Franklin St. Bikes. All in North Carolina.


...AND, Jim, Jimmy and Ryan from Pasadena. Big gang today.



Oh, and they all RIP. Yeee-haaaaaa.....



Charles, in his Super Dave Osborne helmet.





Ryan transferred the So-Cal BMX skills onto Seymour in solid fashion.






Still, he got into the local groove pretty quickly too.





Chip was on a mission today. He had a little epiphany a few years back on a wet day and has been a changed man ever since.










Anybody wanna buy a used bike?






...and I quote, "I've got a quarter for anyone who rides this log!"







Well, allow me to retort:



[Cartman Voice]See how shiny it is and how cool it looks in my hand? Don't you miss it? I know I sure would if I ever lost this quarter, but I don't because I have it and you don't.[/Cartman Voice]


Ahhhh....good times. Enjoy the alpenglow.

In honour of our nations 138th birthday, I have a video for you. It's about 20 MB if you are into those sorts of statistics.



****Right Click and Save As****



Have a good one.