Yesterday we drove from William's Lake after a nice breakfast that Gus made (eggs and cheese topped w/ chives and tomatoes- all cooked together. Nice presentation and not overcooked. We drove to meet Mario in Quesnal. After driving around a little bit we found a short shuttle run that turned interesting really quick. After making it about 2 "clicks" I came upon the first mud hole. I punched it into the mass of water and came out laughing. Then I stopped. There were more. Lots more. I weaved and drifted my way through sure doom. I stopped after one crux and decided to pull the plug. I turned around (barely) and got us back through the same mudholes/troughs/gnar. The van violently bounced a couple of times, but nothing fatal. We had actually passed the trail and none of it was really necessary. Nice. we rode a short trail, w/ some quad track into the field below. We met the landowner and he seemed really nice. We then drove to Dragon Mt. It was a gloomy morning and there had been patches of downpour on the way to the trails. Sure enough, it started to rain. Gus decided to ride the "hardest if it's wet" trail first. WOW. That was interesting!! It was really gnarly and had supposedly been there for ~15 years, making it way ahead of its time. There were rock slabs, off-camber rock outcroppings, the works. Then we rode the DH course and its plethora of steep, loamy goodness. At the bottom, there was a stepdown to this crazy stunt. You had to slide down a steep section, then let off the brakes and hit a small jump onto a platform that then sends you off a HUGE air. I really didn't want any part of it at first to be honest. Gus hit it twice in a row, and I decided to get a little more serious. I took one run into the move, then pushed back up and HIT IT!! It was HUGE!! I was really stoked and let out a bunch of screams of joy!! Then it finishes off with a 25-30' stepdown to a huge table top w/ a super steep landing. What a run!!
Second lap, and the rain mellows out. Everything was still damp, but the sun was shining. Ah yes, BC!! We reset the shuttle and rode the "new trail." It was right off the tower and had some sweet boulders that were strewn together with wood ladder bridges. Of course, the mandatory drops and rolls were there. As well, the trail in between was kick ass. Fresh and loamy it was like riding powder. We dipped in and out of trees and up and down steep terrain features. All three trails share the same bottom section. It is super long and fun, with tons of natural flowy sections and jumps. There was a cool step up to step down that I guinea'd. We sessioned the huge stunt at the bottom a few times and got some great footage!! We had a beer and some yummy leftovers and watched some videos while getting devoured by mosquitos. We drove for a while and ended up crashing off the highway a bit. Gus in the tent and me in the van. I barely even noticed that I parked on a slant.
Rolled into PG- Prince George- and headed over to some of Gus's friends house. We had coffee and refreshments, and ended up building the 9 yr old, Simon a little stunt course in the backyard, complete w/ table, 2x4 ride, then berm, and two rollers to pump. It was awesome watching him rip it over and over again!!
Then we rolled to Cranbrook and drove up the rather short road. We parked in the middle of a corner off to the side and dropped in. There was a sign that said park along the road, not in the corner. Whoops!! We dropped in and immediately there were a bunch of doubles. We were just COOKING along through the forest hitting jump after jump. After a bit we came to a double stepdown section that also had an even bigger jump OVER this trail. WICKED!! We sessioned the double stepdown a couple of times, then pushed up the big line. We dropped in and were HAULING at this long wood takeoff. I came up a touch shy and kind of cased it, but not too bad. A little scary though, as it was probably 30' out. I chased Gus through a couple more jumps, then backed off on another big stepdown that used to be an A-frame. We pushed back up and hit it again- this time I REALLy hit it hard, and flew like a birdie!! Yeehaw!!!
We kept on hooking up rides back up super easy, and ended up riding ~9 laps, including the last one that his buddy Rob built. He joined us for a lap on that trail- Holy- with Canadian touch- more like Hole-ee. We rallied back to his friends house for dinner.
Looks like we're off to Burn's Lake tomorrow to meet a guy at 4 for some laps- his wife is shuttling!!! We're going to go rip up Cranbrook some more tomorrow too!! Wahoooooooooooooooo!!!!
