Nato 2008

Spring 2008 intro whats up...So this spring has been a bit of a cold one but the snow is finally disappearing from the upper trails of Gillard and the season is on. My local trail of choice is actually on the other side of town up toward Postil lake. I have been working on a line to link out of Addiction over the past year or so and should be a nice alternative when its done. Things have been a little different this year than past, i am a new Dad! So far it has been mostly good times but it is alot harder to get out riding. At least now he, yes a little boy, is getting big enough to bring with me trail building, 7.5 months. A few local rippers and builders have started up a local mountain bike club, MTBco which stands for Mountain Bikers of the Central Okanagan. I am on the exec along with other talented people who are working hard to protect the trails we all love. Also new this year is my sweet Banshee Wildcard. Jay at Banshee sent me a shiny black and white Team wildcard to try and it is awsome. I have been shredding it on the local trails for a bit now and it still blows me away with how fast it is and how far it jumps. It is not a DH race bike but it carries speed and pops off jumps like nothing else i have ridden. Playful best describes her. You are rewarded for proper line choice, but don't get tossed if you miss time your flight. I am still finding all the landings have been built to close and gotta brake check before hitting 90% of the jumps. I got out for a bit of a shoot with a buddy who getting into photography last week and got a couple of nice pics. For a warm up i did a timed run down Addiction hitting all the stunts, 3 minutes 1 second. A few corners were real loose and drifty. Kinda sketchy way to warm up but lotsa fun. After that rip i met with Andrew (photo dude) for a much slower rip down hitting everything 2-5 times. Nice having a lighter bike to push back up the hill for another shot. My bike has the same parts as my old DH but is about 5lbs lighter and feels way more flickable in the air. I am going to have to learn some tricks now, Haha. I would like to thank Banshee bikes for hooking me up. Also Spectrum techwear has helped me out with some ultra stylish gear and casual wear. Thanks to Greg Straitline components for everything he has done for me over the past years, and to the boys at Outbound Cycle.