Wade Simmons wrap up

This past weekend July 16th to 18th, Blue Mountain was pleased to host the Godfather of Freeride, Wade Simmons, who showed the locals how to ride some of their own trails in new ways. For the past two seasons Wade has come to Blue Mountain to put on Freeride camps and I had the pleasure of riding with Wade again this year; as always it was a treat.The day started off at 10am with the meet and greet and bike setup. Wade explained suspension, tire pressures and general all round bike setup. The group got rolling up the gondola to the pump track, where the lessons began. It’s amazing how many things you can learn just by riding a pump track. While riding circles around the track Wade explained the fundamentals of riding, body position and using the terrain to your advantage. Once we were finished at the pump track it was time to put the new skills to use as the group headed over to Haole (“How-Lee”) for a quick run.
For the second lap of the day we went to the “Drop Zone” as everyone was calling it. Blue Mountain pulled out all the stops for the camp as they built three wood drops, which were all ours for the day. After about a half an hour, once everyone was comfortable on the drops, we finished playing around for the cameras and it was time to get back to the task at hand – RIDING! The group spent the rest of the morning doing runs practicing all the new tricks of the trade that Wade had taught them.
After about three more runs it was time for lunch. The group headed down for some good eats at the Pottery and considering Blue was footing the bill, we all ate with a healthy appetite.
After lunch it was time to get things moving again, as the group headed up for some more fun on the mountain. The groups first stop was the wall ride, where Wade demonstrated what not to do…unfortunately he wasn’t the only one! Once the group mastered the wall ride after some healthy advice from our seasoned pro, it was time for some cornering techniques. Who knew that there was more than one way to ride a turn?
After the cornering lesson it was time to ride, and ride we did. The group hammered out 4 fast paced runs where we were all privileged to witness some of the best riding we’ve seen on the mountain. Wade taught the group a lot that weekend, however I will never forget the best part of the day; following him down Squeeker and being shown how to ride my own trail.
On behalf of Blue Mountain I would like to thank Wade and all the camp participants for coming out again and showing us how to put the fun back into our everyday trails.

Photos courtesy of Marc Landry, Fasttimes Inc. http://www.fasttimesinc.com

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