The straight goods on Kicking Horse Bike Park, straight from the trail crew's fingertips.
Worst. Septem. Brr. Ever. What the bejeezus just happened? I'm looking out the window on the last day of the 2010 season, and it is coming down in buckets. Again. But not September 25th, it was amazing. And it is that day that we'll choose to remember as the last day of another incredible season at Kicking Horse Bike Park.
Read on,
"Wow, how did those other guys get their feet so high? Did they all jump on 3 like we said we would?"
Before we close the tool shed, put our feet up on the desk, crack a cold one and remember the laughter and tears, let's have a quick look at was done around the park during the last half of Septrainber.
Buffalo Jump: This short gem has become one of my favourites on the mountain. We gave her a lot of love and attention throughout the season, and ended in the same vein. The first bridge is the last feature that we need to replace, but that will have to be another day.
Old speed killer bridge
New speed enhancing stepdown hip (does that make sense to anyone?)
Northern Lights: If nothing else, all this rain showed us where our puddles are. We began the long journey of de-mudding NL with the largest project. The lovely little meadow at the end of the trail was in danger of being annihilated by all the tire tracks going around the trail-wide puddles. We hope we have created a permanent solution with this armour quarried from the chutes above. We figured if rock roads worked for the Romans for a thousand years, they'll be good for our contemporary two-wheeled gladiators too.
2011: What is up for next year, you may be asking. Funny, we've been asking the same thing. And we think we know the answer, as much as anyone knows answers to questions about the future. First, we'll continue work on developing the new black jump trail. Second, we'll continue greening our green runs to make the learning experience one of joy and success. Third, we'll dress up Showdown so that its tables don't have to be embarrassed and self-conscious at parties anymore. And fourth, a whole bunch of other stuff we may or may not get to (like paving (Tr)agic Carpet Ride).
Featured Trail: I dug through the archives for this one. At this time of year I would have preferred to have shown the Fall colours which make the mountain look like a '70s basement shag carpet (
a really nice one, I mean), but it rained nearly every day. And then on the one good day - last Saturday - I was too busy wahooin' to mess around with a camera. So here is mid-mountain treasure: Blaster, circa July.
Thanks to everyone who came out this season. You endured the ravages of Golden's worst bug season in recent memory, the blistering sun of mid-summer, and the torrential monsoon of September. But judging by the conversations we had with you and the comments on this blog and forums, it seems you had a good time. Which is great, because we'd feel a bit guilty if we were the only ones having a good time here. Now I'll bid you a fond adieu until Spring, and leave you with a few late season photos.
Hope to see you when the snow flies.
Ride on.
Crowe
www.kickinghorseresort.com Ryan Harvey performing his fly-on-a-wall routine on Rock N Roll.
My view when I hit the secret Boo gap jump.
Aaron Enns collecting a summer pay cheque while training for winter. The helicopter is lifting part of the new patrol shack that now sits on the Super Bowl saddle - a brand new chunk of terrain open this winter.
happy trails
props to the trail crew for doing an awesome job, Golden is my second home.