Er in the Bike Park

Erik and I hit the Bike Park yesterday. It was my first day on the mountain of the year, and Er's first in about three years. We weren't sure if he biked with me in 2005 or 2006 last time.

We got a bike from my old bike shop, and were given a good deal. Then, Er bought a day ticket and I bought my seasons pass. Then it was time to hit the hill!

We started at about 10:30, and had the bike returned at about 5:30, so it was a solid day of riding. Here are some quick pictures.



We started the day on a green run, then halfway down I decided Erik was ready to hit some wood bridges, much like this one. Er ended riding off the bridgework, auger-ing into the dirt, and losing confidence.



We found ourselves at the Intermediate Skills Centre, where we worked on Er's bridge skills. Observe the mountains in the background.

Erik does well on this bridge. It ends in a teeter-totter, so you must have confidence that the end part of the bridge will tip down, so you can ride off. Er is looking strong!

Just after I took the previous picture, Er rode off this bridge too. He is battered, both physcially and mentally.

Erik demonstrates his crash, recreating the way the bike drove off the workwork. He didn't have time to get his arms out to break his fall, so his helmet did that instead. It's probably better that way, because a lot of riders break arms and separate shoulders when they try to break their falls with their arms and hands. Smart, heads-up crashing Er!


Erik shows excellent form in the woods. We rode a number of trails, including tight and twisty ones, rooty ones, jumpy ones, and wide fast ones.


Erik dominates the wall ride on Crank it Up. This was our favourite trail of the day; it had lots of jumps, features, and berms. This wall ride was one of three in a row. Solid freeriding Er!

I also hit the wall ride.

We came across this bear lounging on some remaining snow. He was happy to relax on the snowpack, as it was a pretty hot day. After awhile, he lumbered away looking for berries. He didn't look like a fully grown adult, so he was probably just beginning his first spring on his own.

Er closes out the day by washing his bike, as per his rental contract. The woman on the left was spraying him quite a lot, and Erik showed a lot of restraint by keeping his hose pointed at his bike, instead of her.

We pose at the end of our full day of biking. Erik's skills progressed through the day, and we did every blue trail on the hill. Like the last time he was here, Erik showed a lot of endurance and rode all day even though he was tired. Another good day in the Park Er!

Today we went to the Pemberton 4 x 4 rally. My roomate Derek was driving in it, so we went to watch him. There are no pictures from it though, but it was pretty fun.

Carmella and my friend Jess went with us. We sat in the sun all day, and got pretty tired. There were 50 trucks registered, and today was the last event, where the drivers drove around a course that had jumps, mud bogs, and lots of turns.

I'm tired and am going to maybe fall asleep for a bit. I will drive Er down to Vancouver later tonight, possibly after a Settle.