I'm Chilling at Gustav and Megan's cozy basement apartment in William's Lake, BC. I've been here for one week on the nose now. It has been an awesome mix of cool town, tons of riders, and open arms and hearts. Since linking up w/ Gus a few days ago for some riding, we've been at it all day, often sessioning stunts and jumps numerous times. Two days ago now, Friday the 25th, we had an awesome day that started on Shuttle Bunny. I had never ridden the whole trail, and it was super cool. After getting through the tree slalom course w/ my wide bars, it opened up into some stepdowns and jumps, including the mega sniper road gap. I was happy to hit it smooth on my first go, and I happily took pics of Gus sessioning it. We ripped a super high speed gully at the bottom which was a hoot, then took the connector back over to Hillbilly Deluxe's exit. Then we cruised back into town on the road, swooping through a park and hitting a few jumps before making our way to the Gecko Tree Cafe for breakfast w/ Megan. After breakfast we boogied back up, got my van off Fox Mt. and headed over to Slater Mt. We rode Clean Slate, which is the ridge above Gutterball. It was a bit pedaly at the start and after ducking under a barbed wire fence we were off to the races. It was pretty fun with some jumps and flowy sidehill sections. Gus and I made short work of it. At the end it tied into Gutterball and we picked our way through the gnar. It's tight w/ boulders and drops in various situations and at different angles. It's also loose and dusty w/ rocks regularly flying in all directions as you pass through the walls of rock. We reset the shuttle situation and rallied onto Gutterball. We hit the opening flowy berm section into the 3-pack of 15' gaps a couple of times and set the precedent for the day- lots of sessioning. We hit up the hip over the stump stepdown, the wood drop/stepdown into the gully of 2 jumps. The DH log ride into the gap over the barbed wire fence, and then into the newest feature- a berm that turns uphill and into a hip jump that you hit over the usual step up hip line to the R of it. The landing was a tangle of logs and sticks that did not invite the would-be sender. We cleared the landing after Gus was first to hit it- sans helmet on a "run in." He nearly flew into a pile of logs downhill from the landing. After stomping down the pillowed dirt (which actually had some moisture in it), I decided to hit it. I ended up hitting the ground after 50/50ing the landing and taking the tumble. We got it dialed- a combination of railing the berm at mach 9 speeds and holding it together, combined w/ timing the pop and making sure to send it over the other jump w/o eating it. We then pushed back up, climbing under the barbed wire fence, and hit the whole line, then into the next set up double and then the big hip. It's hard to sprint, hit moves, sprint, hit moves, and keep it all super precise, which is what is needed for success. We hit the whole thing a bunch of times. I was really starting to get worked so we "hit it and quit it." We sessioned the next 3-pack of DJ's, then the step down, step up. Near the bottom, Gus hit the super sniper turn under tree to hip transfer. I didn't even think about trying it. That kid is an animal!! He didn't even have a sip of water the whole 3.5 hrs of sprinting at jumps, then pushing back uphill for another go. We then did something silly. We enlisted Megan to drive us 30+ minutes to do a Godspeed on Desous Mt's backside- at 8:30PM!! Once onto the trail Gus got an immediate flat. I gave him shit (and rightfully so) for not carrying a pack w/ all the necessary tools. Once he got it fixed up we were ripping some of the most fun, flowy trails around. We railed corner after corner on perfect dirt. No I wasn't dreaming. Then came a steep trough of gnar that claimed Gus. I went by him and rode the "not as gnarly as I thought it was going to be" section. I rode it slow and cautiously. If it was super dry it would be SKETCHY!! It opened back up and I blindly hit a 20' creek gap. Then I waited for Gus for w bit. He was getting worked on his small bike. The bottom rode through a creek bed of Soapstone, and unfortunately had been subjected to a recent mud slide. It was definitely the gnarliest stuff that I've ridden in William's Lake. A couple of times I was getting bounced around HARD- one leg flapping in the breeze trying to keep up some sort of balance as I desperately pin-balled through the creek bed. The bottom opened up for a bit before dumping us onto the road w/ the late evening sun shining down on us. Oh glorious day!! We went back to Gus and Megan's house, and sipped some organic beers before wandering around a small bit of woods nearby their house. I'm back out of the van and back into a comfy bed in a spare bedroom. SCORE!!
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