Ahhhh yes......Day 2. I think we may have been up late last night. Aimee had to one eye it to bed....



She looked a little worse for wear the morning, as did we all.



Oh well, at least it was sunny out.



The bluebird skies inpired us all to hit everything in sight.







Even Barb, with a huge hangover, was hitting up the moves.



Sven is getting the North Shore cobwebs out.



Andrew drops in on his new Brodie Devo.



Whatever, that's old hat for Barb.



A bit of a possee.



I said POSSEE.



Still, it makes you wanna get in the van, doesn't it?

Round 2 we went for the longer lines. They twist around more, takes longer.




Sara is a bit newer to the sport, but she was still railing the ramps and proving that yes...whe is a good sport.



Good thing thse Shore skills are stilll sharp, eh Sven?



Dorothy on her first berm ride.



All these folks pushing their skills and stepping up their game gve me the inspiration I've been lacking to hit the Monster Amigo on the new rig. Finally....the monkey is off the back. Damn, if that isn't one of the nicest hits around.



Good times....good times.

Happy Birthday Canada. Well almost.

Check out the wheels on Barb's bike. We finally got the beast finished. Some urban camo for all you military types....



Along with our Brit friends, Sven and Dorothy from the Shore have come up for a visit on this rainy Friday. They've never ridden the Okanagan, so a little Peat Bog session was the order of the day.



It's so Shore-like, what with the teeters and all.



Skinny logs too.





OK, so maybe the step downs are a little different here.





Oh, who's this handsome devil? Yeah, not too many pics of me out there. Thanks for the shot, Barb,



Zak throwing some style into it.



Here's Dorothy learning to shred the sand.



We had a third lap planned, but the weather had other ideas and we got seriously rained out on this one. Besides, we had to get back to my place before the MudBunnies got there.



Oh yeah, it's gonna be one of THOSE weekends....

Well, not that many of them. Wa has decided to take a year long leave of absence from Mother Brittania and kick around BC for a bit. He's just arrived with one other DP, so we went out to hit the local singletrack.



Polite as ever, they brought out some nice weather for us.



With the "wet" weather we've been having, the trails are in fantastic shape.



Lots of grip, no dust, perfect for sending it big.





It's also dry enough that the skinny stuff is bomber.



Even the first time wall riders are feeling it now.



Well, sort of.



I call this trick the Headless Pony....

Well, we were SUPPOSED to be hitting a couple of days of heli runs, but the spring of 2007 had other ideas. Oh well, I haven't hit the Squamish stuffin a while, wo we took the opportunity to nail some lines there.




That's Crouching Monkey, Hidden Squirrel there, which was as close to ridig heli trails as I could get on this day.



After a bit of a pedalling session, we hit 19th Hole for a lap. Man, that new Knolly of mine is almost too quiet, as I damn near landed on a bear near HomeBrew. That makes 2 animals I've snuck up on in the past 2 weeks.

We were pretty beat after a day in the rain, so rather than brave the highway at night we headed up the the river to camp in the rain. Tarps, the saviour of outdoor life in BC.



Good times. Maybe in the fall we'll try again.

Last day, and the weather is bit iffy. So was the guides alertness factor, too for that matter. Something about driving half the night.

Luckily Gilliard wasn't too far away, even if the landing on this stepdown was.



It took Matt to set the right line here.



Just a little damage.....




What trip to Gilliard would be complete without a session on Boss Hog?



The boys were making the most of the last day, even though the thunderclouds were threatening.





Gotta get that angle, you know?



Pft....that doesn't look steep at all.



Well, guess again. That's steep.



Some bermy bits...





Round two we hooked up with Johanna and Gwen, just to make sure the boys knew that Barb isn't the only ripper chick on a bike out here.



Not that they needed much incentive.



We got slapped with a few hours of rain delay after a couple of Gilliard runs, but even though it was pissing out...



...we got a reprieve later and cracked off one more high speed lap in the grease of Builders Only.

As always, a killer trip. Check out some VIDEO too.

For sale: One (1) Sleeping Bag -- Slightly Used



Ummmm, I guess you kind of had to be there. At any rate, Steve departed thet trip early this morning, and left us that little memento of his stay. I guess he got all he wanted outta the trip.

Too bad for him, as we went up to Kamloops today to charge Harper.



I guess he didn't know about the chairlift (too bad it doesn't run in the summer).



On to the goods. We dabbled with a couple of dumb skinnies to shake last nights hangover.



Some were dabbling more tha others....





After the first lap, we ran into Bev and Dave. They are Harper Mtn OG's, as Dave is one of the infamous Falcon brothers that carved the original lines on Harper.



Round 2 was more airtime oriented.



The bros seemed to really like this place. No wonder, Harper is the best.



Well, except for the occasional off rhythm gapper.



Feel his pain....



Jason was getting pretty quick at rebuilding his forks between runs.



Meanwhile, Grog hunt fish for lunch.



Too bad Grog missed. So did this guy. Oops.....





Oh well, shit happens, which is how this next jump got the name "Hurtin' Albertan."



I guess that the Albertan in question spent a couple nights in the hospital after hitting this one wrong.

Hey, that X is almost all the way 'round now.....



Lap four and the light is failing.



All the boys got into this one. Hit of the tour, for sure.



There you go, fully X'd up.





We hit the road after an extended dinner break at Earls (cute chicks, but slow service). Looks like tomorrow might be a bit damp for the last day.

We decided to head down to Penticton today for a chance at getting a bit of progression outta the fresh meat. Nothing gets your confidence going like a session on the Peat Bog.

Here's Jason seeing how long he can balance on the middle of a teeter.



Another MoneyShot for Barb. Yeah, it's a stock angle for me now, but it just looks so damn good.



Ahhh, the elusive Steve, captured on camera. Not bad for an XC rider.



Looks easy there, right?



Wrong....it's sketchy as ______.



That's a solid 8' to rocks on the right, and there's a tricky sort of bump at the top.



This one is much less consequential, so Matt decided to eat some dirt there. Good choice, if I must say so.



The X-up is getting closer, but still a ways off.



Blue skies, high bridge, dead cow....what more do you want?



Bummer this is a bit blurry, but the style is so nice I had to put it up anyway.



More dead cow shots.



..and back to Barb sending it.



Ted sending it.....



Matt again...



That one's me...



....and finallyJason.



Shot of the day goes to Steve. Good thing that's sand.



See? Not bad aftermath.



Finish with a hip drop into sand.....and I'm out.

Ahhh yes, returning customers. My favourite.....

Ted and Jason came out here last year. Kevin and Matt didn't make it back, but Steve and another Matt did to keepthe numbers up. They came for a few more days this time around to make it more interesting.

Oh look, the typical building of the bikes on my front lawn. So much more room than the old place.



This is Matt. He's new here. He's not really having any problems adapting to the BC style though. I guess all those years of BMX back in the day in Cali are still with him.



Ted picked up right where he left off last year.





So did Jason, although a crash at Whistler had left him with a badly sprained thumb that was holding him back a little.



Steve was having a few issues adapting. He only picked up the freeride bike a month before, and was feeling a touch of stress at the scope of Builders Only. Luckily he had guys like Ted and Matt and Jason to inspire him....but it's still a bit of a shock to be thrown right into moves like this:



Round two we went over to the old 2.5 line on Powers. Once again, the boys were on fire.



The skinny skills were what surprised me the most. In general, skinny riding is dying out these days, but these guys were killing every stick, twig, and log line out there.



Jason preferred the wall rides though.



So did Matt, even if it took himm a couple of tries at it.





Ted sends a one hander....



Pic of the day, Matt on a small road gap. Not quite an X-up, but it's early in the trip.

After showing George around the local trails, he decided to return the favour with a gratis ride in a helo. He's taking a mountain flying course in Penticton, so he's got some hours to fill. In spite of the Pixies t-shirt, I took him up on the offer (punk rock and pilots......hmmmmmmmmm).



Another average day in the Okanagan, as we head out over Skaha Lake.



This is Penticton, looking south from Okanagan Lake to Skaha in the distance.



George didn't do all the flying. After doing a recce overflight of Ellis Canyon, the instructor took the controls and put on a clinic of how to fly through tight spaces.



This is one tight canyon. At times, it was less than one rotor width to either side. The guy is so smooth, you felt like you were cruising Main Street.



Now if I can only convince them to drop me off at the top of Snowy Mtn. with my bike...

I've been trying to hit a few certain local trails ever since I moved up here, but due to a relutance to pedal exhibited by most of my riding partners, I haven't managed it. There's also the issue with weather. If I'm going to do a 13 km climb, I don't really want it to be 35C out.

Luckily, Geoff Pendrell was in town this weekend and he called me up for an XC romp. Geoff is one of the more talented all round racers in Canada, able to win in any discipline, so neither his skills or fitness were in question. Compared to that guys resume, I'm the one to be in question., but no matter, I was determined to hit up the McDougall Rim today.

Oh and it was raining slightly, and George (who will be joining us o the Wade Tour later this summer) was also coming along.

The climb wasn't too bad. It started off with one really steep pitch, but for the most part it was steady middle ring stuff.



A few extended granny ring efforts for sure, and it got a bit tougher up higher, but with the cool weather it was actually a pretty decent climb of about 90 minutes or so.

Near the top, the trail switched from double to singletrack, and the first view was a true eye opener.



We could just see Bear Creeek below us, and the ridgeline extending off to the east. The big trees and misty conditions made me feel like I was back on the coast. Here's George, a bit awestruck by the experience.



The singletrack that followed was spectacular. Nothing tech, just great flowy smooth trail with some uphill sections that were actually fun. Yes, you heard me, fun uphill. Really.



After another 20 minutes of rolling trail that was slightly more up than down, we kicked over into the descent. Lots and lots of descent. It hardly ever got steep, so it rolled for a long, long time. Excellent singletrack, the kind that would be a bit more fun on a DH bike, but that you can go stupidly fast down on anything.



Oh and also tons of clifftop viewpoints on the way. The final descent was a wide open blast down some bermed up hyperspeed. I haven't gone this fast since Prevost on the Island earlier this spring.



Totally wicked ride, a true classic. I doubt I'll be up there until after summer, but I'm definitely doing that one again.

Well its about fricken time, wouldn't you say? We've been waiting, and waiting, and waiting for all the pieces of the puzzle to come together in one place to make this happen, and let me tell ya...it's been worth the wait.



I'm rockin' the Knolly Delerium T in yellow this year, while Barb is stylin' in her trademark pink on the V-Tach.



Mmmmmmmmmmmmm..........................flava.



We've only had 'em built up for a day and already we're racking up the vert. 1st impressions are stellar. These could be the raddest bikes that we've ever run on, and in Barb's case she's sure that if she'd had this bike when she was racing, it would have been a whole different ball game (like she didn't win enough races back then).



Oh, and to complete the Freshie agenda, we've also managed to get our apres ride suite together.

Why aren't you here?



Gotta give huge props to Kurt at Freedom for putting up with me in his shop, the kids at the Bike Barn for coming through with the final pieces, Noel for building the best frame ever (and scoring me three years worth of bikes), and a special shout out for Tyler Morland at SRAM for coming through when it mattered most. Anyone else would have lost their cookies at least twice over the shipping carnage on this one, and he managed to not only keep his suave demeanor intact, but to come through with the goods when we needed it most.

Some stuff that just doesn't fit the usual program around here that needs to be taken care of. First off, my dad had an art show at the Summerland Gallery that opened the other day. That's him on the left and mom on the right. The other folks are some friends. We ran into them all at dinner just before the show.



The opening night was a success, with a good showing. The old man does watercolours, mostly of old buildings around BC, but he also does some landscapes and the occasional woodpile or something else sort of arty.



He sold a few the openeing night and some more this week. Let me know if you want to see some of his work. I'm ging to put his stuff online this coming winter. It's pretty cool imagery to have hanging on your wall.



While I'm shilling for the family, meet one of my Uncles' horses. He breeds and trains quarterhorses. This would be a prime example of his life's work right here.



Gorgeous animals. This guy isn't typical of his stock, in that he has a roan bloodline that he's been working with for the past 60 years. Lots of racing wins in that heritage too.



That's Bob and his "kids" right there.



OK, it wouldn't be a very good entry without a riding shot, so here's Andrew from Brodie Bikes.



Andrew was inthe 'hood with his rep job, and managed to squeak a run in with me. He's good people, and one of the reasons why you're seeing a lot more Brodie around the Interior these days. Good rider, too.



OK, that's all for now.