No visit to the Shore would be complete without a ride on Fromme. Besides, the boys haven't much of a chance to prove their worthiness yet.



Proven...



We hit up the usual, Upper OilCan, Sideshow/Air Supply, Espresso, Lower Crippler lap.



Some stuff was pretty slick today, but the amount of work done on Fromme this summer is really good, and the trails are looking excellent. We even got some sun towards the end of the ride. Oh, and check out that "grip tape" on the log. Purple anodized Mag 21 brake arches. Sweet.



The constant repetition of skinny log to rockface on this lap made an impression. After the fourth or fifth one, everyonehad a chance to slide down one.





We managed to get back to Seymour for one more hot lap before calling it a day, and the Aussies managed to impress me one last time by going swimming at the end. Even by Canadain standards, that water is pretty cold. And on a day when we had an oil spill around the corner too (I didn't know this at the time).

Thanks for coming out. I had a great couple of days riding, and the free t-shirt (Rollin' on 26, top left) made it even better.

Seems like some DirtClowns have shown up on the shore. Well, they actually showed up in Whistler, and due to crap amounts of traffic I was late getting there so we had a bit of a late start. Good thing the sun doesn't go down until 9PM these days....



Traditional first lap of Seymour to intro the boyos to the Shore. Flail around on CBC, then head down to Neds.



The old Shore is showing her age, and the large amounts of water that have been falling from the sky this "summer."



Still, no better way to experience the goods than when wet.



Or as we like to say in Canada, "slippery."



Gives you plenty of time to reflect on where your skills are at.





For a bunch of desert dwellers, these Aussie boys caught on pretty quick.



Usually when you get folks from the dry climates they struggle mightily with the tch aspect of slick wood and root riding, but in this case, we got the rare few that just accepted the conditions as being different from what they were used to and got down to the business at hand -- shreddin the gnar.



Ooops....



I guess he got distracted by that ginourmous tree.



A little steep plankage session while we fixed a flat.



Yeah, just practicing for my future career as photo editor for Mountain Bike Action. Maybe I should tilt the camera a bit more....



I figured they knew how to jump.



Yup, they know how to jump.



A little side note about this new work on Neds. Thanks for the nice building, but why even pretend that that sand pile is a tranny? I mean, if you're gonna make a flat landing, make it FLAT. That thing is NOT a tranny.



Meh, my 2 cents. Alright, back for another lap.



We hammered CBC pretty fast, only stopping for a quick pic at the Millenium Log.





Then it was down to Salvation and the Zipper Totter.





Oh, and some wooden berm action.







Excellent first day on the Shore. Tomorrow, Fromme (muhahahahahahahahah!)....

This is it...that end of the road for another year. Let's take a moment to reflect whilst driving down a lonely road on a grey summer morning.....

Photo:Tony Doyle


Awwww, hell with that. Let's go bang a lap on Seymour.

Photo:Tony Doyle


Not much has changed up here. It's a bit rougher than the first time this crew rode it, but bascially the same.

Photo:Tony Doyle


About the only thing that was different was that the boys are TOTALLY THRASHED FROM THE BEST TOUR WE EVER PUT ON FOR THEM.

Photo:Tony Doyle


Just sayin.....

Photo:Tony Doyle


See, the idea was that we would go over to the Toonie Drop to give Tony a chance to wail off a huge cliff to cap off the trip, but even though we got through 2 weeks of intense trails without a serious injury, the crew was simply too beat up to deal with anything bigger than the PileDriver.

Photo:Tony Doyle


And even at that, only a couple of dudes hit it up.

Photo:Tony Doyle


So that's it. This was supposed to be the last Jedi Council Canada trip, but after pulling out the stops like we did, I think there may be another in the future. Not to mention the new young guns that have yet to see the rest of what BC has to offer.

Oh, and after everyone left I found out about a whole pile of stuff that we missed which is right up the Jedi Alley.

We'll leave you with these shots from our lovely hostess, Jill from the Riding Fool Hostel.
Photo: Jill Banting


Photo: Jill Banting


Photo: Jill Banting


Photo: Jill Banting


Photo: Jill Banting


Photo: Jill Banting


Many thanks to the many people that helped us out on this tour, especially:

Riding Fool Hostel
Mt Washington Bike Park
Mountain City Cycles (Get a freekin website, eh?)
Stubz, and his parents

Almost to the finish line now....

Remember how I mention ed that it's not so much when it's raining as when it's starting to dry up that the trails get tough? Well, it stopped raining last night. So today it's gonna be real slippery. Which is a big drag because we've been trying to get to Bowen Island to ride Dangerous Dan's stuff, but I'm NOT going there without pretty much perfect conditions.

I'm also bummed that I broke my camera this morning. Luckily, Jedi always has his camera phone, so you will be enjoying his images for the next couple of posts.

Must be rough road to make Andy's hat fly up in the air like that....



Stubz took us to some old school SSC trails today. Wicked slick wood, as the slime was so greasy. I rode these trails when they were first built about 9 or 10 years ago. They've not changed much. The one line that Mongo and I did was the scariest line I hit all tour. A really long slimy log to a high ladder that turned way up in the air and descended a ridkety ramp to small dropoff. Thing was, it was so slick that we were moving sideways as much as forwards. Good times....

Further on to the ride we got into some nu-skool stuff.





Some of this trail is brand spankin' new. Gonna take a while to finish though, as it's abit furhter out in the woods than some of the other trails.





One cool thing about using another guy's shots....that's me hitting a skinny to gap.



Well, then there's Stubz, making us all look stupid.



Things started to get a lot better towards the end of this trail. Although the older wood was treacherous, Mongo managed to stick some serious skinny lines.



That evening, the shenanigans started. We had a big Indian feed in Sechelt, and Flash manged to set himself on fire a couple of times with Sambuca. Later, when he was somewhat comatose, we were planning on strapping him to a piece of plywood and putting him in the pig sty, but everyone was laughing too hard and kept waking him up.



Good times.....

The dreaded thirteenth day. And the evil Slytherins are trying to wreck it already.



Nah, it's just a spot of rain. Now it's time to really show these Brit boys what Shore riding really means. Wet = good out here. After the rain...well that's another story.



Talk about intensity. It's always surprising how rideable the wood is in the wet. It's just that it gets....trickier.



Oh, and spookier.



Or downright creepy at times.



Still, it's in many ways more fun than when it's dry out. Most of the crew, like Panama, figured it out.



Even if SOME guys didn't bother coming out. Tony did.



I think that's Phil there.



Still fewer guys made the swivel teeter today.



However, Llew had one of his best runs of the tour, and nailed more of Cunning Stunts today than any other day.



Washing up with the Teflon Don.



Chaos had no such immunity...



Afterwards we went to the pubs. The first one ID'd us. Like who ID's 13 englishmen looking for a place to drink? We skipped that place and went to the other pub in town, where we met the young "lady" on the left. Who told us that last time she went drinking here she did too much GHB and got gang-banged by 27 guys on a boat. Ummmmmmm.......well there's 14 of us.



Yeah, Gibsons. Who knew? These girls seemed nicer. You can tell by the way that they're ignoring us.



Anyway, no conversions (luckily, I think), but another great day in the books for the Jedi Council.

Or as it should also be known, "Stubz' Birthday." Happy days, Stubz. See if you can spot the man of the hour in the shot below. As a Canadian, he kind of stands out.



Then there's the riding style. Stubz is mre of an XC guy than anything. You can tell by that Blur he's rocking there.



Panama didn't fare as well on his big freeride rig. That's one serious egg right there.



Smilin' Andy really stepped it up today. It was a little bit wet, and finally the Brits started to realize that I'm not taking the piss when I say it actually makes things better in the wet.



Lairy Nick could care less. He never shuts up long enough for anyone to tell him anything anyway.



Birthday boy goes for another XC climb.



OK, shot of the tour right there....



For those of you who watch bike vids, these shots are all from Boyko's headcam seggie out of Kranked 6. The trail (which we inspected yesterday) is called Black Mamba. this would be a one footed table stepdown.



Chaos with a more straightforward version of the same.



Mongo nose bonking the stepup (not on purpose either).



Even Flash got into the act on this hit.



Fully X'd up. told you he was XC.



Afterwards, we went for a little hike on a technical line down in the woods. Stubz works for Radical Films, so he knows all the hidden stuff out there.



This would be Ryan Leech's line. It took him 6 months to film it. We were pretty gripped just trying to walk on it. Believe me, the video does NOT do it justice.



I think Tony may have shit himself...



Bonus rounds, making Welshmen fly....



Chaos, creating....



Ah yes, well.....it's not quite Abbey Road, but it'll do.



What are ya.....chicken?



Panama tries to repair his wheel (actually, it took some wacky lacing, and some pillaging of spare parts, but Chaos managed to get a working wheel out of the bits and pieces left over. Serious wheel building magic there).



Weenie roast....



Weiner....



Note: DO NOT fall asleep in the company of drunken freeriders with electric shavers. Although Nick does look sort of cute with smooth legs.....

Daylight on the block. Talk about your deluxe accomodations, eh?



Ironically, this happens to be the spot where Boyko nailed his Kranked 6 segment. Nothing but the finest for our clients here.



It also happened to be pretty close to the trails, so we hit 'em up right away today. Although we didn't bother with The Red Baron, we were in the general area today.



Instead we checked out the Black Mamba line in preperation for nailing it tomorrow.



Had to try a couple of the lines on it first though.



What the cool kids are doing these days.



Harley was sending a few drops today too.



You know, to set the line for Tony and company....



Lots of woodwork today.



For round two, we went back up to hit 7-Up and Se7en.



In four years, I don't think we've hit a line with more wood than this (well, Eagle was close).



We found out later that all this was built by some geezer in his 60's. Looks like I've got a couple of decades left to progress...



Ah yes, the natural style and grace of the Welsh.



Still well up the first trail, and the skinnies just keep coming.



Paul, touched by an angel...



You don't touch the ground for extended periods on this one.



Ok, get ready for this trick. Now you see him....



Now you don't...



One seriously tall tree there.



I think you can see Panama's mothers' tonsils on this one.



Ahhh, finally.....a nice place to stay. We've been rescued by Stubz and his ultra kind parents.



I guess we can celebrate with a bit of meat then.



Oh, and a little session around the fire.

I think the key word, the THEME so to speak, of this tour would have to be "random." How else do you explain this?



An old acquaintance of mine had offered up his field for us to use for the week. He kind of neglected to tell us about the chickens, goats, donkeys, horses, cows, peacocks, turkeys, and emus currently using it as a latrine.



Oh well, sometimes you gotta laugh. We'll find another place to stay, no use in butting heads over it.



No further explanations offered for this one....



At least the riding is AWESOME.



So that's what we did.



Tony was taking the opportunity to throw a little style into his riding. That's a definite tweak there.



The number of approachable jumps made it possible for our whole crew to step it up in here.



Look, that's Powerful Pierre going off. Never saw that the first trip out...



Of course, we're used to that from Tony.



Dang it....someone told on us....



Well, no barnyard for us tonight, but we did manage to find a nice clearcut with an endless supply of firewood and a great view of the Island, as well as a fantastic shooting star light show.

***We now return to our regularly scheduled programming, already in progress...***

Travel day...time for some hanging out on the water. Nice thing about this tour is that all our travel days involved some nice coastal cruising courtesy of BC Ferries.



I think we may have even spotted a Gray whale at a distance, but still, we're here to ride so after several hours of loafing it was time to find our way to the trails of the Sunshine Coast.



They build 'em nice out this way, and for guys interested in riding structures, it's pretty much heaven on earth.



Everywhere you look it's planks and bridges, and the sheer volume of 6-8 foot drops is immense.



All the boys were stoked on the first taste of the week to come.



For the big kids, there were a few bigger hits too. This is Chaos on a sizeable stepdown in Janet's Jungle.



Our old pal Skip showed up for today as well. You can tell Skip apart by that red jersey.



As usual, the young punks were chewing up the goods in fine style.



What's this? Rain? Could this be some kind of foreshadowing?



Time will tell.....

**This might be the last update on the tripLog for a bit, as I'm just about to step out on the Wade Tour. Be patient, there's plenty more to come**

Hmmmm....Friday the 13th and we've got 13th guys here. I think we should just stay one more day, don't you?



Chaos agrees, and shall go ride more logs.




So does Ed, and hurries off after him.





Great day to play with various camera effects in low light. This would be a long exposure with a tripod and fill flash.





Same drill, different result.






Now it's time to talk about Flash and the Bear Repellent. See, some people are sort of unsure about bears and are afraid of them. This can lead to an excellent opportunity to "wind up" someone. In this case, Flash was led down the path of smothering onne's body parts with a mixture of rotten pears, garlic, vodka, and pretty much anything else that was destined for the compost heap. Good times....






Whattya expect with a guy named "Chaos" on the tour?





How about some old school British punks showing up at a reggae show in Cumberland?





Yup, that's our crew in the front of the stage.





Yeah, mosh it up in a irie style mon.





"Buy my CD, please"





"Whassa matta, you no like the Itals?"





The verdict on the evening? Two thumbs up from the random stoner in the crowd.

What... a week gone by already? That explains why Stophe is so tie-tie.



We may have needed the rest for today's adventure into the wild places of the interior of Vancouver Island. I'm not going to even tell you where this is, suffice to say that it's old growth and magical.



Those of you who watch lots of bike vids will be able to figure it out anyway, but it's quite a spot. This particular gap is about 40 feet long and close to 20 feet up in the trees. No-one hit it today, but not because they didn't want to. They just didn't feel like warming up on something that huge. I think if we'd spent another day there at least three of our crew would have nailed it.



Instead, we opted to warm up on something smaller and get our collective crap together.







So much for the small stuff. Everything else was bigger than that little bridge. This particular move was a suspension bridge to teeter drop. Epic (you'll h ave to wait for the vid to see it in all her glory).



The crew was in heaven on this trail, especially Tony who declared this to be, "the best trail we've ridden in the four years of coming here."



Of course, endless high skinnies to gap exits aren't for everyone, but for the Jedi Council it kind of defines mountain biking. You can just make out a transparent, blurry Jedi in this shot if you look closely.



Another angle of another try at this move.



What was really wild about this zone was how the builders put flat gaps off the end of all the logs and bridges. Usually you get a 1:1 stepdown off of skinny stuff, but here it was pretty much 4:1 or flatter.



It was enough to get Phil right bent.



Of course Lairy Nick couldn't shut up about it.



Tony continued to have the ride of his life.



Even Smilin' Andy cracked a grin over this stuff.



Not all of the log rides were death defying. This one was just unnaturally long.



Must have been a couple hundred meters of interconnected natural log riding.



Oooooooo....artsy.



Oh....fartsy.



The deep moss was so green and made the forest really quiet. Nice to spend a day in real forest, instead of the usual industrial wasteland of second growth.



Ummmm....make up your own caption.



Killer stepdown and nice afternoon light.





Another great finish to an epic day. That's the highest point on Vancouver Island in the background. Golden Hinde, elevation 2142m.



Oh yeah, it was also Mongo's 18th birthday, which he celebrated by pinning a huge skinny line to drop and then downing a muff diver.



So the day ended as it began, with some very tired kids in the back of a van.



Was that enough skinnies for ya, Paul?

OK, now it's REALLY hot. Campbell River was 40C, and records fell all over the province today. We weren't going to bother with the bike park this tour, but with temps like that, it was time to hit a mountain top.

There's SNOW at Mt Washington. Oh, and some decent trails too.



Also, the weather sucks.



It was surprising how rowdy the park is. Not so much like the Whistler A-Line stuff, but more with the crazy rocky steeps and some pretty serious skinny lines.



There was also some snow, and some crappy views.



Clash of the Titans....



Yes, there is a back story to go along with that last pic. I think you can make up your own for it.

A bit of a session happened after lunch at the drop park.



As always, Lairy Nick was down with deeds, not words.



Gabe sent the biggest air of the day on this one. I think he was the most surprised by it.



Even Po' was hitting the drops today.



Yeah, summer snow.



...which led to some summer snowballs.



A few other trails were off the other side of the park. I don't think they were actually all open, but they were kind of cool. Lots of this kind of rolldown move to be had over there.



My lurvley assitants.



Stinky mtn bikers...



Jules...



Pierre, and some manly bikes.



Ahhh....haven't had one of these in a while. Gratuitous bear shot, a bike park tradition.



And we'll finish with this cool jumping spider that I found sucking the life outta that fly on our windowsill in Cumberland.

It's getting SERIOUSLY hot now. Summer....and records are falling all over the province. 35C on the coast? For real?

Oh...check out the reflections.



Yeah, it's hot out. There goes the rad hose.



Oh well, time to go swimming....



Actually, we got the hose repaired easily, the crew got a lap in and some swimming, and we got out in the afternoon to Bugger a Pig (trail name, not literally).



Try and find the bike in that last pic. It's there.



Some artsy upskirt shots.



The Buggered Pig has lots of great skinny stuff to play on, and it's all got metal lath for grip. Perfect for those uphill logs.



Unless you can't ride in a straight line very well.



Panama, out to sea.



We were supposed to go for curry on Thursday, but we went for it early.



Which may have been a mistake, as the hallucinations kicked in before the end of dinner.

It's starting to get really hot here now. We got out early for a lap of the local DH course (I think the English word for that trail is "bollocks" but I could be wrong). After that the boys got together with some tools and went out to re-do a tech trail called "Dodge Balls."



Through a combo of mis-use, old school building, and general wear and tear the trail was in rough shape. A little TLC and she was good to go in a few hours.



Harley likes to dig too.



Instead of riding it, we hit up another local classic called "Bucket of Blood." Nothing spectacular, just a really nice piece of singletrack with the occasional feature thrown in because hey, it's Canada.



Eh?



Even a wheelie drop or two.



You can't see it with the fullface, but Andy is smilin' under there.



Hence the nickname, Smilin' Andy. Now look out for Harley....



Sure is a lotta Dudes in Cumberland....



Ever suck on a Dude? Ed has...



I'm not sure if that explains what Gabe got in his eye though.

Now that we're set up in a great base of ops with the Riding Fool Hostel in Cumberland, it's time to really get this party started.

Today we were cutting loose on the legendary Two Sheiks trail at the old Forbidden Plateau ski hill. Our old friend Mitch the Bitch was also along to help find the way.

The opening move was this little stepdown as demonstrated by Lairy Nick....



Panama had a different interpretation of the move, but he seems to have seen the light, and the dirt...



A broken finger and some scrapes...I'd say he got off light.

Some trials moto riders pointed out a new line for us to hit, so we hiked around the corner to Jake the Snake.



A couple of tight walls and gaps greeted us there.



I thought it was sort of ironic that the moto boys went around any airs, but I guess it IS good manners that they stay off the hits.



Here's Scott exiting the wall. I like this shot lots for some strange reason. Eye of the beholder, eh?



Speaking of gaps, I manged to leave this mark with my FROMT wheel. Go figure...



Alright, back to Two Sheiks, which has "no stunts to speak of, except at the top."



Well, I think there's maybe a tendency to view a trail differently when you go around all the wood stuff. There was a ton of stuff on this trail, and really cool stuff at that.



For example, there was this really high skinny/stepdown combo move.



Seriously up there.



But with a nice little exit air.



There was also this funbox type of move, which sent you around a corner into some serious booters.



We spent lots of time here, especially Lairy Nick.



Then there were these two nice ladies. They left after us, hiked to the bottom, and then hiked back up before we were even half way.



Some good reasons to return. I don'[t know who is doing the work out there, but they are doing it right. Call me, I have some nails to donate...



A late lunch with a view back towards Cumberland and Comox Lake.



After lunch we got into some rad natural rock lines. Tons of singletrack, a bit of climbing, and then a few klicks of XC to get outta there. The ride ends at some nice swimming holes. Check out that mohawk.

Well, a missed ferry meant a quick ap in a local North Van park, along with some entertainment from the local beach partiers.

"Oh, look at the homeless people....thats so sad."

Yeah, homeless but with $80k worth of mountain bikes.

Anyway, an early start put us on Vancouver Island pretty early, so we managed to hit the Dumont trails for a full day. And a full day it was...



Right off the bat the crew started throwing down on the stunts of Nanaimo.



Dumont is nice in that there are lots of mellow moves. This stunp drop was probably the harshest thing there, and it couldn't have been more than an 8 footer.



Newcomer Lairy Nick demoed his Kinrade-ish style for us. Get used to seeing this kid.



Another of the young'ns out for this tour, Scott (or Mongo as he became known).



The oldsters were well repped as per usual. Here's Panama out for another round.



Also Po', proving that he can "step up" when the situation requires.



Oh wait, ther were some bigger moves. Now I remember.



The last teenager is Flash. More about him later. You just need to know that he's afraid of bears and somewhat gullible.



Panama again, getting the big airs off to an early start.



Maybe too early...



Yeah, that Nick kid again.



Our friend Gabe (he's Canadian, helping out). Having the time of his life.



After an absence of four years, Chaos has returned to Canada. Living up to his name too. He cased this one.



Some post ride refreshments....



...and a post ride haircut. Mongo get trimmed....maybe all the ladies will like Mongo bettter.