Aug 28th- POW at the Closed Bowl w/ Daron, Dawg, and Lily

Woke up in Matt Delheimer's bed this morning (w/ Lily not Matt!!- he's at work all week). Still snowing hard. Daron was up getting breakfast ready at 6:30 am. I could barely move for another 20-30 min. Finally I got up. We made some oatmeal and coffee, then I went up and slapped the chains on the Sienna. We drove over to the old neighborhood and set the lake run with Daron and Nate Dawg. Nate and Daron scissored in the back (a bed) while we drove across 80 (40 was closed), through Soda Springs, and on to "The Bowl." We skinned up the Judah chair and over to the Lake Run. It was a bit scrapy in places, but once we got on the backside it was much more filled in (windy as hell!!). We dropped the first 1/2 of the Lake Run, then skinned back up to Trestle Peak. This was a great call as the run was nice and fall line as well as being very well filled in!! We launched off a bunch of little rocks towards the bottom. I stuck all my airs (rarity!!). We then loaded up Daron's "new" Subaru and "rallied" back up to "the bowl." It sucked getting out of his car all warm and wet, and into the blowing sideways snow w/ howling winds. We got on the move and rallied over to Disney. There was a HUGE path of snow that had been cleared by some HUGE equipment- and it snaked half the way up the mtn. We struggled getting over the far side and I nearly ate it hard when I got disoriented and pointed it off the 3+' wall (luckily landing on my skis). I set the skin track all the way up the mountain and was blinded by the fog on my goggles for most of it. I could have run straight into a wall w/o realizing it!! It took a bit longer than I thought (and more effort). 1200' and probably 1 hour and change and we were on top. We dropped Nancy's Couloir and shot out near the bottom of Lincoln. We decided to "sack up" and go for a lap on Lincoln. It wasn't as steep for most of it, but still got me sweating pretty good. The wind and snow were absolutely blinding. I passed Dawg and almost caught Daron. Then I watched both of them bail while I waited on Lily. She's a trooper and pushes herself beyond what most people would tolerate on a rather consistent basis. We dropped down Fuller's Folly (double diamond) into the Sister's, then Rockgarden. The visibility crapped out on us a couple of times on the last run, but the snow was SOOOOO deep!! Super light and deep. Hip wiggle was all that was needed to ride it!! We got back to the parking lot and Daron/Dawg were already gone. Lucky for us a front end loader pulled in and started plowing the lot right as we were taking off our soaked gear. Later on we would find out that Daron and his 4wd Subaru had fits getting out of the lot, but our Sienna w/ chains got lucky and backed out w/ barely any hesitation. We drove back to town, got a bunch of veggies from New Moon, and made a yummy veggie pasta dish w/ Thai peanut sauce. Daron baked up some chocolate chip cookies, stoked the fire so I'm sweating while writing this, and Lily and I are chilling on a COUCH!! Life is good!! We're meeting the Dawg at 7:30 AM for some more Lake Runs. Definitely getting to bed at a reasonable time tonight!! Snore!!

4-26-10 Auburn w/ Daron, Stubby, and Aaron

Monday morning Dawg rolls out at the usual 7:30 AM, and I reluctantly get up and start drinking coffee in order to prepare myself for another day of punishment (biking). Nate let me take his front wheel off his bike (he had to clean carpets at Sugarbowl w/ Socko), and borrow his Jeep to rally to Auburn. I swung by the Backcountry and met up w/ Aaron, Stubby, and Daron who were hanging out in the parking lot dialing in their bikes. Daron jumped in w/ me and we rallied down 80 towards Auburn. One cup of coffee later and we're sweating profusely driving down the highway immersed in conversation. We dropped Stubby's rig at the bottom of the Confluence trail and drove all the way up to Forest Hill. We parked the Jeep in the back corner of a grocery parking lot and soaked in some sweet views of the backside of Desolation Wilderness. We jumped on the road for a few minutes, then dropped into the Western States Trail (w/ a no biking sign) that was right next door to a lone house and didn't really seem like a trail at first. But damn was it fun right off the bat!! We dropped over a thousand feet, swooping in and out of creek crossings, while riding a serpentine-like ribbon of dirt. After a while the trail leveled out and the water bar jumps slowed down. Then we ran into the first "headwall" that got us all huffing and puffing. It seemed like the temp rose about 20 degrees on that stretch of painful road climbing. Thankfully the four members of the ride didn't want to make it race pace (for once), and we all stuck together. Then we rode some sidehill that was mega exposed and had views all the way down to the river rushing below (1-2k ft below). The trails just begged you to ride faster, daring you to push through that blind corner harder. While the focus was mostly on the trail, you had to have one eye glimpsing at the poison oak (po-yo) which was dripping w/ oils. We rinsed off a few times throughout the ride to limit our chances of itching for days to come. We climbed the Connector Trail to the Confluence Trail, then onto the Flume trail. I stopped and had a look at the jump that tossed me over-the-bars (OTB) last year and cost me 17 stitches and 3400$. Daron hit them both right in front of me. I probably could have as well, but I was in no shape to try stupid stuff (no health insurance). It's funny....the smaller jumps are usually built like crap and are contrived whereas the larger, big air, high consequence moves are usually designed more thoughtfully. There were a bunch of small doubles scattered throughout the descent, some of which hipped you onto the hillside. We got to the bottom, laughing and grinning from ear to ear. We immediately dove into beers and headed for the beach. The river was flowing strong and one by one we all made the plunge (except Stubby who splashed off w/o full submersion). I am admittedly not a cold water fan, and boy did it take just about all I had to commit to laying down in the frigid water. Being numb from a 32 mile ride and a quick beer helped out tremendously. Stubby and I retrieved the shuttle vehicle and when I got back Chef Greg and Jen were handing over the Subaru Loyale (w/ Cheese) to Daron. They sped away in their "new" 1998 subaru outback, Jen expecting their first child in a month and change. Greg's bachelor party is this weekend in Reno. We'll see if I make it to that (could be trouble!!). Currently it's snowing/slushing here in Truckee. Lily is in Santa Cruz visiting her mama, and I hope she makes it back over the pass before the snow gets too disorderly. We didn't get any chains w/ the Sienna!! Looks like it's going to be a pow day later this afternoon up high and definitely tomorrow!! Then off to Vegas to kick it w/ Bowman!! Wahoo!!!!!

I'd also like to give a big shout out to the best mom in the world......MINE!! She had her birthday yesterday (I won't add a number to please her!!). HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA!!

Downieville Round 2

Yesterday (Sat) we rode in Downieville again. We were joined by Socko, Delheimer, Daron, Nate, and Natalie. We slept overnight at Nate's and made the journey over to Downieville Outfitter's where Nate was putting on his 4th 2-step fork on his bike. I got a pair of gloves (somehow forgot my 2 pairs in WA). We stashed some beers in the river and took off on the River Trail. We rode the new section all the way down to Rocky Rest campground. It's a pretty techy ride with a pretty solid ~2k ft climb. Then we hit the N. Yuba trail for 10 miles. It's a beautiful ride w/ some suffering thrown in for good measure. At the end of the trail there was a huge mound of shale/rock that Daron was standing on. He did a chute that looked cool, and I climbed up to the top w/ my bike. Just about that time a Sheriff drives by then turns around just as another one coming the other direction pulls in. Both want to watch me hit it, not bitch at me. I hit a little drop to steep tranny a couple times. We then hit the road for 7-8 miles. Lily did a great job at keeping up and drafting and we broke off w/ Nate Dawg for a while. Then we dropped back into the New trail from the opposite direction. Natalie bailed, but Lily decided to hang it out. She made it about 1/2-2/3 of the way up and started to get pretty worked. I stuck back with her to keep her encouraged. We ended up popping out at 7:30!! 30 miles and 5+ thousand feet of climbing!! Daron, Socko, and Delheimer had already bailed, so Nate, Natalie, Lily, and I bailed back to Rocky Rest to make some food and hang out at camp. We had a yummy tortellini and salad dinner w/ tasty beers. We played a game of Yahtzee which I won, then retired to our minivan for the evening.

Nevada City Goose Egg Hunt (Sun April 25th)

We awoke to the sound of Nate tapping on our window.....again. It's 8am and he's already firing it up. We jump in the truck and head to Convict Flat day-use area to make breakfast (and wake up). It's nice and sunny and we lavish in it while making a yummy veggie omelette, bacon, and coffee. We shared the spot w/ some raft guides that were blowing up their rafts and getting ready for a day on the river which was roaring behind us. We then got Lily to shuttle us up Hwy 20 off 49 to Skillman Camp. Within 100 yards there is snow and downed trees. We hike for a few minutes through snow, then get going again. I got a stick jammed in my tire and I used my foot to try to kick it away, but instead I stuffed my foot into my front tire. Immediately I took the long arcing over-the-bars, and landed with a thud in the small stream that was running in the middle of the trail. I hit some baby heads w/ my forearm and it swelled up super quick. It was a text book goose egg and had my attention for a few minutes to make sure it didn't burst or make my hand go numb. Then I realized that by front rim was taco'd and I had ripped a line of 4-5 spokes out of one side of my rim. Nate Dawg came back up trail and helped me transplant some spokes to the problem area. About 45 min after the wreck I was riding again. I felt every single bump on the trail. We rode Hallelujah (which was pretty beat up w/ branches down and clutter all over the trail), to Pioneer (~15 mi), to Miner's (the finish trail). We ended w/ just under 20 miles. We jumped in the Jeep and headed back to Truckee where Natalie made some yummy bean dip and enchiladas. The Cavs won game 4 vs. the Bulls, and I got to take an amazing shower (and clean up my wounds). Looks like riding in Auburn w/ Daron tomorrow (he's supposed to get a Subaru from Chef Greg, who inadvertently is getting married and having a baby very soon). I dodged a bullet today and didn't have to go to the ER. Let's keep it that way!!!

April 22, 2010- More Pow in Truckee

Slept in Matt Delheimer's basement last night after boarding/partying down. We made a yummy pasta w/ veggies and garlic bread. I fumbled around a couple times trying to find the stairs to the bathroom in the middle of the night....it was pretty funny. We woke up at 6:45, ate granola and drank some strong coffee, and jammed out the door to set a lake run and hit Sugarbowl again. We didn't have enough spare passes to go around, so Matt Caracoglia had to sneak on the lift all day. I had some pass w/ a dude that had a big beard and dark hair....good thing it's late season and nobody cares. We rode a couple laps on Disney, then ran over to Lincoln. Everything was wind hammered and made all kinds of crazy shapes across the slopes. It was pretty foggy up top and we had to stick to the trees for the pockets of pow and visibility. Then we headed back to the trucks and grabbed our avy gear. We ended up doing two laps off Andersen ridge, then hiking to the top of Mt Judah. We dropped back inbounds on one lap then off the back side on our way to the lake run. It was pretty bad visibility and kinda heavy snow, but was fun as hell at the same time. The lake run turned out to be really heavy, but that didn't stop us from hucking off all kinds of rocks. I took a good tumble when my board stuck in the snow on a steep shot. Other than that no real carnage and lots of good times!! We rallied the troops and went to the Blue Coyote to eat and watch the Cavs LOSE!! DOH!! To make matters worse, we decided to go shoot some pool. I walk into the bar, grab a pool stick then get asked for my ID. Can't find it (probably in my snowboarding gear)....so they made me leave. Really?!! I was admittedly pissed, but left w/o being an character. We went to another bar, the Tourist Trap, but the tables were taken and the place reminded me of a stinky college bar. So I drank the beer Daron slid me and grabbed Lily, heading to the Holiday Inn's hot tub!! We soaked our weary bones, then back to Matt's house. Everyone is still at the bar, so Lily and I grabbed a shower and ate some really yummy strawberries. Looks like we're headed to Reno to do some mountain biking tomorrow........Snore!!

April 19-20th (Rest day then pow day)

Tuesday, we woke up around 9:00 AM in Greg's big cozy bed. It's dark and although I've heard the rain pattering on the windows all night, I can't get myself stoked to make the early AM plunge over the pass to Truckee just yet. We went upstairs and made a super yummy breakfast- strawberry pancakes, a veggie scramble, soysauges, and coffee. Oh yeah!! Then the inevitable occurred, mine and Greg's annual political summit. We talked politics for about 2 hours. Lily finished eating, cleaned the dishes, then the kitchen, and still it went on. She eventually disappeared downstairs out of the politically charged atmosphere. It's funny because Greg is a helluva standup guy, parties, rips mountain bikes, barely even works, but is a fox news watching conservative....and proud of it. I try not to engage in the usual rhetoric, rather I always try to discuss the actual issues involved, rather than where the mainstream news media tries to take it. He is always thankful to have someone to talk to and unfortunately it tends to be a bit over the top. No harm taken. We ran up the road to Bassett's and were originally going to go up towards the Buttes, but Daniel's sled blew-up and he only had one running. That would have involved doubling and towing the third. Instead Greg sent us across the street on his sled to go riding by ourselves. Lily got sick of riding on the back in less than 2 minutes, and promptly got off and happily declined a ride back to the van. She told me to go ride as much as I wanted, so I took it on a 30 min ride up some forest service roads and ventured into some small fields (the snow wasn't too deep, but I was still scared of getting it stuck). The bottom was really rough and bumpy, but the top was untouched fresh snow on a really solid base. My thumb really didn't like the position it had to stay in to run the throttle the whole time. Towards the end I searched unsuccessfully for a different position by which to run the sled. We headed into Truckee with some snow falling in the middle valley section of the ride. We pulled up right in front of Casa Baeza and had the obligatory pitcher of their amazing margaritas. Buzzing quite well we went over to Nate Dawg's house where they made us dinner (yummy fajitas), before sipping some brews and watching The Big Lebowski.

Wednesday (April 21st)

Woke up and rallied to make a huge scramble that we used for breakfast burritos. Headed out the door and up to the bowl w/ Nate and Natalie in the good ol' Jeep. The bowl was pretty empty and we rallied the usual Disney and Lincoln chairs. It was 4-6" of fresh over some chunder and ice, but also some soft spots. We still managed to rally some really good laps- all the different sides of Disney and the Silver Belt zone as well. We then rallied a couple of laps on Andersen and Judah before hitting up a "welcome back" lake run. It was really fresh and fun. Much more smooth and consistent surface to float on. We rallied through the train trestle and Lily went down hard on the ice- bashing her knuckles between the board and the ice, as well as slamming her tibial tuberosity. Tough girl didn't even barely whimper about it. We hit up the second door and dropped the various tiers w/ many little drops to choose from. I stuck a bunch and ate it a couple times as well. Once I dropped this boulder, landed, the snow pushed off the top of the next rock drop and I got plunked down right on my butt!! Pretty funny, but the snow is peeling away from the rocks and I surely don't want to get swallowed in some chasm!! We make it down to the bottom and the awaiting vehicle to drive us back up to the top. We got a ride back to Nate Dawg's w/ Justin (the Mountain Hardware rep who lives in Glenshire) in his badass Chevy diesel (2006). He hauls a camper in the back on big trips (it has a bathroom too). We jump in the shower at Dawg's and gather up our stuff before heading over to Daron's/Matt's house. We partied down and made some yummy food. The wood stove made the place super toasty and I felt like I had a glow going the whole night. Good times!!

Mon. April 19th, 2010-Nevada City Group Ride

I woke up again at 7:30 w/o an alarm (2 days in a row!!). My R side of my low back was still angry at me and I ended up taking a rare Motrin to loosen up before the ride. We decided to forgo the 7:30 meet up and go to breakfast plan that the rest of the group was on in favor of making our own breakfast. We loaded up the van and Greg's little Toyota and took off for Nevada City. We got there a bit late and the group had already split. We drove up and met up w/ them. That's where I realized I didn't have my riding shoes. DOH!! I forgot them at the campground the night before and luckily Aaron grabbed them and brought them along. I jumped in the van and booked it back down to the bottom and retrieved my shoes. The trails were fun- a lot more undulating than Downieville. There was the fun gully jump line that we hit 3x throughout the day. We rode the downhill switchback trail, then chilled out (and I left my freakin sunglasses.....doh!!). We finished off by climbing gravel road for a good long time, then getting some fun flowy trail w/ a couple of grunts. Two 30 mile days in a row. At this pace I should be back in good shape in no time!! We went to a local burger joint and mowed down a bunch of beer and burgers. We also watched the Cavs win game 2 of the first round of the NBA playoffs. We decided for a second straight night to head back to Greg's along the uber-windy rt. 49 that cruised past Grass Valley, Nevada City, Downieville and Sierra City. Looks like there might be some precipitation rolling in at which time our splitboards will be coming out with a quicknes!! Stay tuned!!

Sun. April 18th, 2010- Downieville!! N. Yuba/Hall's Ranch-Fiddle Creek Bonk-a-thon

We arrived at Greg's house around dinner time and nobody was home. My bike was sitting partially assembled in his kitchen. I started building it in anticipation of the 420 ride. We watched some basketball and lounged in his comfy house. Lily made a yummy quinoa stir-fry and we sipped a couple brewskies. The bed was nice and comfy and we zonked out early (9:30). I woke up at 7:30 w/o an alarm (surprised myself) in anticipation of the day ahead. I started making coffee and breakfast and Greg and Lily slowly started moving around. Greg informed us he wasn't going to ride, so after breakfast Lily and I went and met the group at the local N. Yuba trailhead near the Town Hall. We dialed in our bikes and got ready for a long day.

We started off w/ a 1100' climb that was pretty damn steep and being in the middle of the pack I felt inclined to push it pretty hard. We then rode a 10 mile section of the N. Yuba trail that had some pretty solid exposure and a few extra techy sections (like right off the bat!!). We re-grouped at a camp site and filled up on water for round 2 of the day. This included a rode ride/climb to the trailhead of Hall's Ranch which threw 15 switchbacks and over 1500' in 2 miles (steep!!). Lily's legs cramped up after 5 switchbacks and she turned back. I suffered my ass up to the top w/o a glimpse of life the whole time. Just more uphill. When I finally met up w/ the group they were ready to go again and after a short break we pushed off along the ridge (Fiddle Creek). It was fun, but there were still a handful more climbs and a few "headwalls." I was at the brink of cardiac failure most of the time. When it finally let go and was consistent downhill I was overjoyed. At the bottom we drank a beer and I jumped in w/ Nate Dawg and went back to Rocky Rest campground to wait for pizza. I was pretty delirious at this point, and my head felt like it was going to pop from a combination of physical exertion, dehydration, and a lot of sun. We got 120$ worth of pizza and ate it all in one sitting (15+ people). Everyone was pretty much in a coma at that point and we made a fire and laughed for a while before we decided to head back to Greg's (all of our bathroom stuff was there, showers, bed, etc). We conked out around 9:30 again. What a day!! I think I burned around 10,000 calories!!

Sat. April 17, 2010

Well, after finishing work last Friday at OMC in Port Angeles, and staying at Dick and Vicki Vancalcar's amazing house for the week, we packed up the third and last load of stuff into the Yota and peeled out for Bellingham. We stuffed all our stuff in Tom Andersen's extra bedroom in his shop and spent a couple of nights at Dana's house (well, actually we slept in the garage). We hit up our favorite haunts- Boundary Bay Brewery for a yummy dinner and their legendary IPA. We had sushi at the Public Market, got fresh produce as well and made up a couple of yummy stir-fries and soup. Crash and LA made us dinner one night which was awesome. We rode at the North Fork- Deadfall was sooo muddy I felt bad riding it the one lap that I did, but Skullduggery was riding suuuuuper as they say in France. I took two laps and hit all the jumps both laps. Todd Z. has done an amazing job of building some steep loamy trails with jumps to keep you honest. Lily rode 2 laps on Dirt Renyolds and one on Moto. We had a couple of photo shoots along the way. Lily rode the steep exit move on DR.

We also rode Galbraith (Ridge to SST to mud bog to lower SST). Can't wait to have the new bikes on Galby!! The dirt jumps at Puget St were beckoning me so I hit them up a few different days. I even worked on linking up the BIG line one day and was able to rip off a bunch of consecutive laps for the camera!! In sad news, this was the last place my helmet camera was seen. I freaked out when we were all packed up and I couldn't locate my helmet cam. We ended up spending an extra 2 hours looking through stuff with no luck. WHAT A BUMMER!!! I'm hoping that it snuck its way into one of my bags that I didn't double check!! Speaking of being packed up.....I bought a 2001 Toyota Sienna mini-van!! It had 83k miles and was the base model. I paid 5700$ Drove sweet. New tires and brakes. We got a hitch mounted, shoved the bike rack in the back, and decided to take the Iron Horse Sunday. Got out of town late (2PM) and caught Everett/Seattle traffic on our way to Lily's grandma's house. We had dinner, chatted for a few, and got back on the road. Here's where issue #1 arose: the van started shimmying when braking over 60 MPH. I was about to turn around and drive it right back to Bellingham, but it started raining, stopped doing the shimmy, and has been doing fine ever since (did I imaging the shimmy?!!). Issue #2 Check engine light pops on about 10:30 at night!! WTF!!! Am I jinxed with toyota vans? Then the tire pressure gauge pops on. My van is self imploding?!!! I check the fluids and tires. Nothing. Oh well.....keep driving. Lily drove for a couple hours and I crawled in the back and passed out!! She drove until 1 AM, then pulled into a rest area where we crashed.

Woke up at 7:30....stumbled into the rest area. On the road again w/ some crappy coffee down the gullet. Check engine light is still on. Tire lights are on and off throughout the morning. So here we are.....driving 65 MPH, passing exit 729 in California. Headed to Downieville, CA to pick up our new Specialized Enduros from Greg Long. There's also the 420 ride(s) Sun-Mon that we're going to get get punished on!! Speaking of 420, we just left Weed, CA.....a "sleepy" little town right at the base of Mt. Shasta. Just absolutely jaw dropping views of the remnants of a ancient volcano. The van seems to have moods. Sometimes the brakes feel great at any speed and then occasionally it will shudder while trying to brake.......hmmmmmmmmmm........BEHAVE VAN!!!

Here We Go Again!!

Well, it sure has been a long time since I've kept up on my blog......seems the last post was while I was in Nelson, BC last Oct (09). Let's see......since then I lived in Port Angeles (at "The Fortress") w/ Benjamin, Lily, Emily (oh man), and Kent. It worked out well enough w/ 220$ rent. I worked at OMC again and even got my act together enough to do The Core Workout w/ Lily ~3-4x/wk. Got into pretty good shape doing cardio, stretching, movement drills, and weights!! Too bad Lily tweeked her back reaching into the back seat of the truck while at the DJ's. We've been off the Core for almost a month now.......In that time we packed our stuff up, moved it into a room at Tom's house in Bellingham, ordered two new Specialized Enduro's, and have been trying to find an ideal roadtripping mobile. We're actually going to look at an awfully tempting '94 Toyota p/u w/ 130k and pretty cherry looking..... Might have the successor to the wildly famous "Blue Bomber" that is my '87 toyota p/u. The plan is something like this right now....... Back to Truckee, CA for a week or two to pick up the bikes and do some backcountry snowboarding w/ Daron (maybe some Eastern Sierras?!!). Then off to Vegas to climb some rocks w/ Bowman (been a while!!) followed by Sedona for some of that oh so good riding lurking amongst the striped towers. Then onto the biking mecca that is Moab!! Can't forget about Fruita while you're there!! Then maybe Sun Valley for some hot tubs and endless singletrack. Finishing up w/ the monster drive back up to Kelowna, BC for the "Girls Got Skills" camp for Lily's birthday present. THEN Lily starts back up at Olympic National Park as a backcountry ranger in early June. I'm going to try to keep up w/ my writing b/c adventures pile up fast when you're on the road!!

Speaking of which.....We stayed at my co-workers (the VanCalcar's) house for a week of lavish views and a hot tub on the back deck overlooking Port Angeles, the Straight of Juan de Fuca, and Victoria. They even had a elk and mountain goat mounted on the wall in the living room!! From there we loaded the truck FULL and waddled it into Seattle to pick up a DW link for my downhill bike (SUPER hard to find part that he charged me 100$ instead of 300$ for!!). Then onto the Ham. Pulled out the dirt jumper and hit up the Puget St. DJ's!! Got spunky and even gave'r on the BIG line. Took a good few goes to hit the second gap just right, before sending it skyward for ~15-20' off the mega-vert lips. I got the line about 5x that day (and was able to whip and table my way through the next biggest line a bunch). We then rode at Galby (up the Ridge on techy singletrack climbing) and across Cedar Dust to SST. Rallied that swoopy ripping goodness to the bottom, then down a creek bed of a "trail" that I thought was a short cut to Lakeway Dr. Crashed at Dana's house (in the garage) for a couple of nights. Even got in on a makeshift sweatlodge in a tent the first night!!

Monday, March 12th we got in another sweet DJ session (before breakfast), then over to Tom's for some breakfast (and DANK espresso). Got the Sunday going again (finally!!)- after nearly a month long ordeal of trying to get bearings, and replacement parts to make my bike stop sounding like all the bolts were loose!! Slapped it together at DNZ w/ Matt then took off to the NORTH FORK!! WAHOO!! Rode a very sloppy Deadfall (wished I could've turned around it was soooo muddy), then 2 laps on Skullduggery/Dirt Renyolds. Lily rode Moto, then DR twice. The last lap ended just as the rain began to fall (supposed to have all day!!). We rallied back into town and right over to Boundary Bay for some yummy food/beer. Finished it off at Cap's w/ a couple more Stone IPA's. Back to Tom's to digest the helmet cam footage/pics.

Well....gonna go sip another espresso and look at Craigslist for cars!! Stay tuned!!