Drop In Episode 1- Background

The First of the new episodes will air in Canada this weekend. This season I will write a little story that will give you an idea of what to expect in the upcoming episode. Just to wet your whistle. I might tell you about what you will see or something that no one will ever see because it didn't make the cut because of timing.
We leave a lot of pieces of each episode on the cutting room floor, these are the times I wish we had an hour timeslot to fill.Check back after the first episode airs to see what will go down next week, and so on.
Link from the songs heard on each episode listed at the end of the story to the album covers and links to the band's / label's site and find out where to buy. (In progress)


Episode 1:


July 20, 2004. A week before the 3rd Drop In tour. We are scrambling for money, preparations, ideas, and other last minute emergencies. Let’s order some more T-shirts Tim says. Let’s paint some fresh flames on the bus I retort.

The next thing I know Tim has found a budding new monster garage type paint shop and they think it would be cool to flame out the bus. I figure, no worries once they see the size of it and how much work it needs they’ll throw in the towel after all when I suggested new flames I meant the usual spray bomb job and $14.95 later we’re stylin’… No such luck, we’re guaranteed that the job can be done in 3 days and we’ll only be charged for materials. We spend the next 7 days working day and night sanding, masking, and painting the entire retired city of Calgary bus.

With only hours to spare and so much more to do we call in our significant others to help clean the interior (since it hasn’t been cleaned since the last tour) and organize for the next 75 day tour. It’s a call they hate because that bus is disgusting at the best of times let alone stewing in its own filth for a year. They must love us. We pulled it out of the Sinful Ridez shop straight to my place to pack it and prepare for the tour leaving the next day. Just under the wire. I’ll be able to sleep for 6 hours before having to leave Calgary and get the bus to Chilliwack and the Pinkbike.com headquarters where the tour officially starts.

We had to be on the road before ‘zero hour’ because the Drop In Crew of 2004 was going to be meeting up in Chilliwack at a certain time and it wouldn’t look good if the bus wasn’t there to meet them / give them a place to sleep.

I blazed the trail leaving at 6 AM in the bus and Tim, the show’s other producer, would be following up behind me in the support truck. It wouldn’t be hard to catch up. By the time I got to Revelstoke B.C. 6 hours later I was already experiencing Drop In fever. I pulled over to rest and a truck followed me into the gas station. A kid jumped out with his camera and Drop In DVD and blazed past me heading toward the bus doors. “Where’s the guys,” he asked. He was ready to get his paparazzi fill for the day. When I told him that he was a day too early and he’d have to settle for getting his picture taken with me in the bus… empty of all mountain bike heros. Somehow that didn’t satisfy him.

That was about the time I noticed that there was a bit of leakage happening in the vicinity of the engine compartment. I hopped back in after freshening up and barreled on down the highway west wondering when Tim was going to catch up.

I needed to fill up with gas so I pulled into Sicamous and when I got out of the bus I immediately noticed a steady trail of fluid behind where I had pulled into the gas station. It wasn’t looking good from first glance so I bought some gloves and investigated further. Tim showed up in the truck and that’s when the second group of fans came by. They were unfazed by the site of the massive puddle of transmission fluid we were assessing and only wanted to know all our plans and most of all, “Where are all the riders?”
They left us after realizing it was just the empty bus with us there and they might have to offer to help if they didn’t leave.

A decision was made to limp the bus along and get it to Chilliwack or as far as we could. It was the weekend and there was no one capable of dealing with that monstrosity in the little vacation town. We managed to find a massive bucket of tyranny fluid and commandeered another member of the paparazzi to help us funnel it in.
By the time we got a couple hours west down the highway in Kamloops the bus was dry of transmission fluid again (sorry environment). Tim refilled it and powered on up the Coquihalla highway at a whopping 20 km/h. I picked up Milkman in Kamloops who was noticeably worried when I told him about the mechanical issue. When we reached the bus Tim was refilling it once again on the side of the highway with 1 Liter jugs that we picked up in Kamloops. That was expensive.
It was 17 hours after leaving Calgary (normally 10 hours away) when we pulled into the Pinkbike compound and the bus coasted the last 100 meters before finally resting.

The next day when the riders showed up we began a 75 day shooting schedule and rolled camera on Season 3 of Drop In – Episode 1 – Chilliwack & Abbotsford.

The Drop In Crew are:

Dylan Tremblay
Tyler Klassen
Steve Romaniuk
Cameron McCaul
Ryan Schnepf

Guest riders:

Darryl Bartlett
Lifecycles bike shop crew (Abbotsford)

Other Guests:

Jamie Houssian &
Darcy Wittenburg of the Collective


Music in order of appearance:


Song - Artist


Building Blocks - Zion I

Free Firezone - Andre Afram Asmar

Decomposition - Thavius Beck

Track 13 of “Billy’s Vision” - Mcenroe

Exit Multi Mode - Jel

Rain Dance - Fat Jon The Ample Soul Physician

Lounge Call - Rhys

Visual Music - Fat Jon The Ample Soul Physician

Trippin’ - Zion I

Live It Up - Violent Downfall

Parler De La Pluie et du Beau Temps - Faunts

Scratch Heaven - Rhys

The Answer - Against Time

Hawgtied - The Ramblin’ Ambassadors

Symbiotic - The Opus

The Joke & The Gentleman - The Reason


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