Anyway... it was a pretty busy week of meeting some of our dealers, riding and a little drinking thrown in for good measure.I don't have very many pics mostly because when you're cramped for time you just want to ride your bike and not stop and take a bunch of pictures.
Wednesday saw me and Dalen [dude in the orange shirt] off to Calgary to see Scott [dude beside him in the Bow Cycle jersey].
It was a long drive from Vancouver but with the mountains its always a treat to go through the passes. We arrived at around 10pm with a quiver of bikes - 2 Wildcards, Pyre, Legend, Amp, and a Scythe.
Next morning we were off to Bow Cycle to talk to them and then up to Edmonton to see the guys at Revolution. I had never been to Edmonton so it was cool to see and later that evening we got a chance to ride Rabbit Hill which was a lot of fun. We showed up late and only got in less then 10 runs before the night forced us off the hill.
Next day we headed back down through Calgary to Vernon and Silverstar mountain. That was a complete blast and if you haven't been there and you only ever ride Whistler its a must go ride mountain. The woodwork through the trails with the wall rides and other built up sections is something I wish Whistler would do a little more of. They have it on Crank-it-up but it would be cool to see something a little more Silverstar-esq.
Met up with Scott, Mike, Brad, Jay the night before for some laughs over beers at Denny's hahaha. Mikes a complete hoot,[guy farthest left] former military man for the British army with a ton of stories from back home and everytime he'd open his mouth we'd be rolling around on the floor 10seconds later laughing our asses off.
We got a good day of riding in pretty much hit everything on the mountain and the pace was really good. Only think was their was this kicker that if you didn't know it and went in to hot you were sure going to miss the transition and land flat... unfortunately Brad [ballcap in the back] couldn't hold it after landing flat and rolled onto his shoulder breaking his collarbone although you wouldn't know it as he didn't even look like he was in any pain at all and was still trying to figure out if he should still ride... good thing he shut it down for the day.
Jay is the other guy in the Bow Cycle jersey who we had met the day before when we got the full hour tour of Bow Cycle... its a big big big shop.
We ended the day at Silverstar for the drive to Whistler around 2pm but made sure to stop in and say hi to Terrance at Skyride at the base of the mountain. It was basically a chance to show everyone the new Legend and Amp bikes that we've been working so hard on. Also a chance to show off the 2009 Dorado which all i can say is totally freaking sick.
We met up with the gang from WTB, Tom, Gary, Dan, Brandon and I can't thank those guys enough for their hospitality when we arrived. I have to say WTB is one of those companies that really lives and breaths cycling and these guys were at Whistler for their vacations thats how much they love bikes. We only got to do runs with Tom Delacy as the other guys were pretty worked after so many days in a row riding. To my surprise Tom - who i found out later one the Downieville DH this year in expert - was killing it. The pace was super fast we barely ever stopped and it was a constant top to bottom and then back up and do it all over again.
I was riding the Legend and I basically have never experienced anything like it before. The bike just floated over stuff and even handled the techie stuff like Schleyer and Clownshoes with ease. Parts of Schleyer sometimes flatten out but the Legend accelerated so well when you stepped on the pedals that it completely blew my mind that something so plush in the DH sections would be so light when in my past experience the big bikes tend to wallow and just feel slugish.
Oh and not to forget we even got a few runs in with Alan Hepburn who is bloody fast on his Wildcard... I guess that happens when you ride everday on the mountain for the whole summer.
Goodtimes for sure
Anyway... sorry i don't have more pics. I'll try to do better next time.
I'll be up with Greg from Straitline and Dalen for Crankworx. Keith is already up there playing on his Legend and Marcelo just rolled into town as well for the races.
Its going to be a massive great time and it will be another yearly reminder why I love being in the mountain bike biz.
