Driving to Tonasket WA after spending this morning in Vancouver at Leslie and John's house. Saturday I drove up to Vancouver and crashed at John's. We hooked up w/ Colin, Steve (from Cove Bike Shop), and ?? who also rode a Cove STD. We rode a couple of CBC to Pangor/Pingu and Boogieman laps. I started off feeling strong but quickly fell into survival mode. John was ripping and I let him lead most of the time. I took a couple of diggers on those laps- one off the waterfall at the bottom of Empress (hesitated then got tangled up w/ bike in the air). The other one was after the logride to wheeliedrop then hard R. I crossed up the bars and took a nice charliehorse to the leg. THEN we rode Hangman. I forgot how gnarly that trail is!! The other times I rode it w/ Brad I felt solid but not this time!! I rode well, then wasn't feeling one of the rock drops. John hit it (for the first time) and after a couple of aborted run-ins I sent it.......right into a tree (got bucked when I landed). I jumped off the bike JUST in time!! Then I fell boosting off a log after a super gnarly chute. I was laughing before I even skidded out. I hit the new-ish trail off to the R w/ the couple jumps, and John went straight. We didn't run into each other for a few minutes as I started climbing out when he wasn't there. I felt WRECKED after that day. Probably b/c of the events from the past Wednesday (Lily shuttling me at N. Fork solo w/ helmet cam), and Friday (riding w/ Owen, Woods, and ??). That was the nearly fateful day where we got the pleasure to ride upper Dirt Renyold and the unfortunate finding of two trees down on the landing of Hell's Kitchen (8' drop to 20-25' stepdown). We were in a train w/ Owen up front, me behind him filming, and Woods behind me. Owen is charging out in front and IN THE AIR I hear a "oh shit!!!" To my horror I look up and see the trees in the landing just as he crashed through some branches and starts tumbling. I come in hot and crash through the limbs, get squirrely, then run over owen and his bike and wreck. Woods somehow landed, and was able to avoid us!! I walked away w/ the worst of it.....a gnarly gash on my L shin. I think it was either a pointy branch, pedal, or rock. We walked around stunned and x'd off the drop/jump so nobody repeated the feat. We split out after cleaning out our pants. I went back to Tom's house and cleaned out my leg. Nothing to butterfly or stitch. Just a big gouge. I wrapped it up and put on some antibiotic stuff. Gonna have to keep that one clean!!!
Fast forward back to Monday- John, Lily, Christiaan, and I head up to Whistler. I felt like death warmed over and wasn't even sure I was gonna ride. Lily didn't have a bike since Woods stiffed her on a bike loaner. Turned out to be a kick ass day regardless. Lily rented a Rocky Mountain Flatline and we raged it pretty hard for 5 hrs. I got Lily on helmet cam ripping it hard on Ninja Cougar and Angry Pirate as well as A line. I also got a good few of John ripping the trails up. We also ran into Boomer and Julie and took a few laps w/ them. Julie was a ripper and was 2 seconds behind on A line hot laps....impressive indeed seeing as she was less than a year out of a broken neck. Boomer was ripping it hard as usual, especially for a 51 yr old!! John and Christiaan bailed back to Vancouver and Lily and I chilled at Boomer's w/ Julie- had pesto pasta and watched bike porn- and ate local Gelatto. We camped out at the usual chill camp spot toward Pemberton.
The next morning we woke up, had coffee at camp, then cruised to Pemberton and had breakfast at the Wildwood Cafe after checking in at the LBS (local bike shop). Lily and I devoured lumberjack breakfasts complete w/ sausage AND bacon (surely not vegan or vegetarian!!). Funny how I can eat like an angel for months then break into full "whatever" mode on a dime (just add road trip and bikes). We then drove over to the Mackenzie Trails (the local gnar gnar zone). I drove the 'Yota up some gnarly fire roads and water bars until it didn't seem smart to have it in the current predicament. I turned it around on an uphill w/o a turnaround (which is a feat in my truck). I then grabbed my bike, said goodbye to Lily and pushed up for another 30 minutes to the cell phone towers (after making a few good choices on road splits). After poking around I found a trail but it went uphill. I called the shop and found the trail back down the road a bit. Gravitron started w/ a gap jump, then went right into the business......mega loose steepies between trees. It was certainly epic. I was given all that I could handle a few times but didn't wreck or walk anything. I was pretty stoked, but didn't find Bob Gnarly and ended up riding Overnight Sensation to Blood Sweat and Fear. Both of those were single blacks but were still steep and rocky. Lily shuttled me back up to the hang glider launch which had stelar views of the valley and local jagged snow-capped mountain peaks. I then rode Cop Killer which started off w/ steep loose sections, then had a dead tree climb-over section, then rock rolls, steep off camber loose chutes, and a WTF rock chute move that I almost blindly rolled into. You started off on top of a cliff band, skidded around a steep corner, then plunged into a narrow chute w/ rock on both side and a root weave through the middle with a microwave sized rock in the worst position possible at the bottom- into a loose steepie then a loose rock built up berm. Contestant for "gnarliest move ever seen!!!" It then traversed the mountain in a talus field w/ exposed off camber rock slabs and generally uber-techical moves strung together. Quite the riding experience!! It dropped out on an empty road that I pedaled back past a old cabin and along the river to the truck. I finished off the day shuttling Lily on Over Night Sensation and BSnF. She had a little trouble finding the entrance and I waited mid-way for a bit taking pictures of the amazing mountain ranges that permeate throughout the valley. We rolled back into town and got a six pack, then progressed to chug 2 each before dinner......ahhhhh!! We ate at The Pony- shwanky pub kinda gig. I had an organic burger that I didn't even need ketchup for (first?!). We rolled back to the camp spot and passed out in a state of bliss.
It was cold the next AM and we didn't really want to get out of the back of the truck. We finally got motivated and went to Creekside for some Southside Diner action. They have great coffee (fair trade, organic). We then swooped by Boomer's and hung out for a bit. Lily rented a Specialized Demo 8 and we ripped the park for 5-6 hrs. It was fun as usual and we met up w/ Boomer later in the day for some dueling helmet cams. He got some sweet footie of me doing A-line, Dirt Merchant, and Schleyer. I rode South of Heaven w/ Lily (she rode most of it, minus the rock roll to hole to chunder). Another brilliant day at Whistler!! We swung through the skate park, had a beer, and ran into the local BMX hook up, Dave. Then to the grocery store, and Boomers for Turkey burgers. We pulled out kind of late, but made it back to Vancouver by 11. Woke up to the in-house vacuum at J n Leslie's. Hung out for a bit, messed w/ Lily's Nova which didn't want to start, then drove to Bellingham. We re-packed the truck at Tom's, I worked on Lily and Tom's backs, we pounded a bunch of espresso, ate and got groceries at the Public Market, dropped the car off at Dana's (on Electric Ave- sweet house), and started yet another driving mission. This one to Tonasket (where Lily grew up), where they're holding the Barter Fair this weekend. Then off to Nelson in the AM!! Lily starts yoga teacher training on Saturday. I get the distinct honor of hanging out, reading, riding my bike, doing yoga, and CHILLIN!! Should be a fun few weeks!! Then it looks like back to Port Angeles to work at OMC for a little while!! Stay tuned!!
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