Crankworx 2008 (Version 5.0)

[ebxtreme]

Spending the week up here with CBX and riding with a bunch of good friends. NOTE: for much better pics, check out Whafe's posts here and here.

Friday got a little park time in after working most of the day. Conditions were beautiful and they were setting up the village and the boneyard is getting pimped.





Shredding with Kevin Wood and Muttonchops on Friday afternoon was a blast.



Saturday, it rained a big chunk of the day, so we watched some bike pron and hung out for a bit. Whafe has a new Nicolai (look at the pics over in the Nicolai forum if you have a drool rag) and was chompin' at the bit to get out for a spin on it and he needed to get some laps on the Garbo DH course, so he talked Muttonchops and me into getting out for some laps. The top was MUCKY and super sketch......but it was gonna be a fun race for sure. After, we hooked up with MattPatt and Goose to watch some dual slalom action.

Rachel Atherton. She ended up getting beat by Anneke Beerten (sp?) who might have one of the best gate starts I've ever seen.


Cedric and Dan Atherton. Cedric won this matchup.


JD Swanguen and Sam Hill. JD ended up winning the whole thing and really put on a cornering clinic.


Yesterday, a big crew of us did the Garbo DH race. Conditions up top were challenging to say the least as it had rained for a day and a half. Ooh yeah, this was also my first DH race too, but I figured I'd been a spectator up here for the past 7 years (including the Joyride events) that it was time to participate. Nothing like popping one's cherry on a 3,400 foot / 4 mile muddy descent down some of the tougher trails on the mountain.

For those that know the mountain, the course was O-Sin to Blue Velvet to In Deep and then a quick climb up in front of the freight train containers to Duff Man to Golden triangle to Wold Cup Single Track to Ho Chi Minh to Upper Heart of darkness, then pedal across the 4x course to Monkey Hands and then a quick jaunt into the 4x course to end it. My goal was to stay upright, not get passed by the folks behind me and be sub 20 minutes. I achieved all three and proved that my marginal DH skills and fitness are exactly that......marginal! Overall, a super fun time though and I'm stoked I did it. Some Pre-Race Pics.

Whafe and Muttonchops on the chair up Garbo.


Up top, our buddy Graham's ready to rock.


Matt Patt and Sam B reflect on a long race to come. Sam had a solid race at 18:04.


Muttonchops and Whafe duck under the tent to keep dry.


Some Race coverage:

This poor guy tried to straight line some roots on the 5th corner on O-Sin and went head first into a tree. He was a bit dazed, but ok and we reminded him "dude, it's a LONG race, rein it in a bit".


MattPatt takes the outside line clean. Matt was on a good run going, but flatted at the end of O-Sin, so he rode about 3/4 of the course with a rear flat and still got a 25:00 run.


Muttonchops on the same corner. Mutton had a killer run of 18:37 on his first dh race as well. Nicely done, dude.


Whafe breaking in the new Nicolai Ion properly.


After our run, I had to go back up top to grab my jacket. So, we came down Freight Train and hiked into "In Deep" to get some pics of the nasty chute and rocky section. Riding through this section, you had to stay ultra loose on the bike and just let it pinball off of roots. The cleanest line, by far, was the line up onto the rock face, but it was full commit with the conditions and I opted for the slower chute line (as did the bulk of the folks we saw come through while we were there). A few here:




The Goose man came though it clean and got a 17:10 in the junior class (dude's 16). Bummer I didn't get a better shot of the lad.


It was harder to walk down the course than it was to ride it. A photog from the UK (Dan) landed on his keester walking down the chute (I did the same thing).


After we watched some folks ride this gnarly section, I made my way to the bottom. Mutton had grabbed some beers and he, Whafe, Goose, Matt Patt, mrs. Mutton and a few others were camped out on Monkey hands to watch the fast folks come in.

Beware of this man! If you see a kiwi with a crazy face, do not attempt to approach. Call the authorities as once.


Some Pro Women:


Seattle local, ultra nice gal and all around pinner, Joy Mutoli.


My last decent shot before giving up and deciding to drink beer instead.


Gee Atherton won with a time of 14:20, Sam Hill came in second in 14:37 (despite crashing mid-course and losing his shoe in the process. Mark Beaumont and Dan Atherton rounded out the top 4. On the women side, Rachel Atherton won with a time of 16:48 and Fionn Griffiths came in second with 17 and change. From there, the gaps were pretty large with the women's ranks.

Check back for more footage later in the week. Also, Whafe's got great shots on the Passion forum......

Cheers,
EB

[fubuki]

Nice work Eric. Keep it coming.

[pdirt]

Killer stuff EB.. thanks!

[atomicAdam]

great write up! thanks a bunch

[bxxer rider]

nice gd going

[Brodiegrrl]

nice pics!

Its gotta be wet for the garbo race doesn't it!

[carbuncle]

Great write-up, I'm stoked to get up there next week!

[jubilee]

Originally Posted by ebxtreme

Spending the week up here with CBX and riding with a bunch of good friends....

BWAAAA!!! I'm so stoked! The 5spot is in full eff-izz-ect with the dank 36...so smooth and ready for WXC!

Those rain pics look gnarly.

We'll be up Friday evening...I'll text you right around beer:30.

[ebxtreme]

Originally Posted by jubilee

We'll be up Friday evening...I'll text you right around beer:30.

Schweet! Nicely done, Jubes. I think Kevmo and FM are up on Thursday night and Stevie and Bog One might be up on Friday as well. I think the gong show will be in full effect.

I'm working right now, but gonna hook up with Whafe, Mutton, Geolover and Whiteyak in a couple of hours for some whistler "xc"and then do some evening laps in the park.

CBX has the day off and has already hooked up with her fellow Dirt Series coaches for a full ladies day of rippin'. I'm trying to talk her into doing the A Line race on Wednesday since she's got that trail dialed......we'll see!

EB

[jubilee]

Originally Posted by ebxtreme

Schweet! Nicely done, Jubes. I think Kevmo and FM are up on Thursday night and Stevie and Bog One might be up on Friday as well. I think the gong show will be in full effect.

I'm working right now, but gonna hook up with Whafe, Mutton, Geolover and Whiteyak in a couple of hours for some whistler "xc"and then do some evening laps in the park.

CBX has the day off and has already hooked up with her fellow Dirt Series coaches for a full ladies day of rippin'. I'm trying to talk her into doing the A Line race on Wednesday since she's got that trail dialed......we'll see!

EB

Looking forward to some HLC/gong-show shenanigans!

If you think of it before the end of the week, would you ask CBX if she'd like to ride with Mrs Jube a bit? I think some "girl time" might give her a beneficial change in perspective...

Holla at you peeps Friday!!!

[FM]

Muy excellante! wicked pix EB. Nice work on the race guys!

So stoked to come up... I'll be up late thursday night, looking to ride park friday. WIll stuff the van with beer.

[bog-one]

Nice write up, can’t wait to get up there… Ya, Stevie and I will be taking off Friday after traffic... just figuring out accommodation. Gong show in full effect.

Originally Posted by ebxtreme

Schweet! Nicely done, Jubes. I think Kevmo and FM are up on Thursday night and Stevie and Bog One might be up on Friday as well. I think the gong show will be in full effect.

I'm working right now, but gonna hook up with Whafe, Mutton, Geolover and Whiteyak in a couple of hours for some whistler "xc"and then do some evening laps in the park.

CBX has the day off and has already hooked up with her fellow Dirt Series coaches for a full ladies day of rippin'. I'm trying to talk her into doing the A Line race on Wednesday since she's got that trail dialed......we'll see!

EB

[Uncle Cliffy]

What a time... Sounds like "livin the lifestyle..."

[jewels]

great coverage EB. I'd LOVE to see some pix from the womenzworx gala! If you or CBX can grab some shots, I'd be so stoked. Great job on the DH course also,sounds like fun all around!

[SHIVER ME TIMBERS]

ur one lucky basstard eric....ur always up there

[GuruAtma]

Do they put those strips of rubber on the forks to act like a fender? Does it work better than a regular fender?

[Gonz]

will the park / lift lines be very crowded on Wed thru Sat ?

[ebxtreme]

I worked 'til about 2'ish on Monday. Whafe, Geolover, Muttonchops and our buddy Scott rode the park in the AM. We then broke out the trail bikes and headed over to the Westside for some "whistler xc" with our good buddy Zane (Whiteyak).

We climbed up to the Flank, went down High Society, to Lower Sproat to Beaver Pond to Beaver Pass. Kudos, as always, to Zane for the most excellent trail beta. High Society was built by Whistler Muni and it's the quintessential westside trail.....steeps, rock, loam, flow.

At the top of the climb. Z, Geo, Mutton and Whafe.


About to drop into High Society.


Z givin'r......


Whafe with Geo behind him.


My future neighbor, Geolover:


The fellas with Whistler in the background.


Super fun rock section on Beaver Pass. Whafe....


More Whafe (green lake in the background).


Then things get steep.


Muttonchops same section. Whistler in background.


Geolover on same section.


Geo on the steeps like it ain't no thang.


From there, we headed back to the park for extended play and rode 'til 8. Mutton and I rode our trailbikes and sessioned A Line a bunch. I think both of us agreed that we'll probably race the Air DH (aka A Line race) on the smaller bikes as the big bikes aren't really any faster on there except on a couple of the chundery sections. I guess we'll see if that's a good decision or not tomorrow.

Heading into the park in a bit (after working) and we'll probably end the day with Ride Don't Slide. Ooh yeah!

Cheers,
EB

[Uncle Cliffy]

Awesome pics. Damn I need a new trailbike...

[FlipFantasia]

Originally Posted by ebxtreme

We climbed up to the Flank, went down High Society, to Lower Sproat to Beaver Pond to Beaver Pass. Kudos, as always, to Zane for the most excellent trail beta. High Society was built by Whistler Muni and it's the quintessential westside trail.....steeps, rock, loam, flow.
EB

point of order....high society wasn't built by the muni, it was a local guy....

[Whafe]

Originally Posted by ebxtreme

I worked 'til about 2'ish on Monday. Whafe, Geolover, Muttonchops and our buddy Scott rode the park in the AM. We then broke out the trail bikes and headed over to the Westside for some "whistler xc" with our good buddy Zane (Whiteyak).

We climbed up to the Flank, went down High Society, to Lower Sproat to Beaver Pond to Beaver Pass. Kudos, as always, to Zane for the most excellent trail beta. High Society was built by Whistler Muni and it's the quintessential westside trail.....steeps, rock, loam, flow.
From there, we headed back to the park for extended play and rode 'til 8. Mutton and I rode our trailbikes and sessioned A Line a bunch. I think both of us agreed that we'll probably race the Air DH (aka A Line race) on the smaller bikes as the big bikes aren't really any faster on there except on a couple of the chundery sections. I guess we'll see if that's a good decision or not tomorrow.

Heading into the park in a bit (after working) and we'll probably end the day with Ride Don't Slide. Ooh yeah!

Cheers,
EB

Sweet shots EB, a great ride over on the west side, with so many more to explore....

[Whiteyak]

Originally Posted by FlipFantasia

point of order....high society wasn't built by the muni, it was a local guy....

My bad on that bit of info EB. Kudos to Mr. builder - that trail kicks ass.

Great to have you all along yesterday.

[FlipFantasia]

Originally Posted by Whiteyak

My bad on that bit of info EB. Kudos to Mr. builder - that trail kicks ass.

Great to have you all along yesterday.

in all fairness though, the builder works for the muni, just not trail stuff.......I haven't ridden it since it was new last year....cheap thrills is also a top notch trail, another builder that works for the muni on their trail crew now, although when he built it he wasn't....

[Largextracheese]

Nice. Nice bike Dave!

[dd13]

nice pics,just curious,what kind of bike is Hill riding for ds?

[FM]

Originally Posted by ebxtreme

At the top of the climb. Z, Geo, Mutton and Whafe.




Cheers,
EB

Can you please tone it down with the smiles, quit having so much fun, can't you see I'm trying to get some work done here!

[juice]

Lookin' good, Eric!

Z, I'll be up there the 23rd - 27th. Give me a shout if you want to hook up for a ride (or cocktails, of course). We'll defintiely want to hit at least one good run on the Flank.

[Whafe]

Originally Posted by dd13

nice pics,just curious,what kind of bike is Hill riding for ds?

Was a Ironhorse Hard Tail, not sure of the model name, but I know is tires were around 1.8 wide....

[ebxtreme]

Got out to the park in the afternoon after working all morning. Did a quick warm up on Ninja Cougar to Karate Monkey and Crack Addict before getting a flat on Crack. Stopped to fix that and then got on the chair with Jeff Lenosky and his son. Jeff was ultra mellow and his son was having a blast so far.

From there, I went up top and got a call on the chair from a buddy (Scott F.) who had hurt himself on Freight Train and was on his way to the clinic in the meat wagon. Later found out he broke a bone on his knee and the ligaments were still attached to the broken piece. Muttonchops and Mrs. Muttonchops went to tend to him and he stayed at our place last night and is heading home today with another friend. Heal up Scott!

Whafe and I hooked up and did a top-to-bottom run. It always amazes me how a little drizzle turns the top of the mountain into a ghost town. Again, check out Whafe's pics on the Passion forum for much better clarity/quality.

Some pics from up top. I apologize in advance for the lack of Muttonchops pics. A lot of the pics from him turned out too blurry.....maybe he's just too quick for low light!

The ubiquitous bear shot.


Whafe on O-Sin.


Whafe on another rock on O-Sin.


Cleaning it..


Wall ridin' Whafe.



XC Ride:
Once we got our buddy all set up back at the condo, we headed out to River Runs Through It for a bunch of dorking around. I've got to give WORCA serious kudos on some new laddering and a recent addition that extends the trail all the way to Rainbow park. There was a ton of fresh cedar, beautiful rock benching and it was loam-a-rific!!

Whafe poppin' off a log drop.


Whafe on the log ride across the creek.


Muttonchops on the same section.


Muttonchops cleared a logride that's pretty high (6 feet or so?) off the ground pretty damn easily. Of course, that forced me to give it a try. I had a few early failed attempts and one mid-log with a "west coast dismount", but finally got it. Muttonchops at the very end.


Whafe dismounting before the teeter on the loooooonnnng logride section. Don't know how the dude rode a bunch of that stuff clipped in.....it'd scare the bajeesus outta me.


The fellas....


The "drawbridge" or whatever folks call this feature. Whafe gave out a couple of "whoots" after riding this one......it's so easy and yet, it's so fun!


Muttonchops at the end of "Mike's Garage".


Whafe barely fits.....


I think the smile says it all though.


Mutton on the "new" (to me) section of trail. Yeee haw!


Whafe on the same section. Smiles all around.


New cedar bridging. SO nice! Shasta's behind with Whafe in the background.




A super fun way to end the day with lots of sessioning. I think Whafe's glad he brought the trailbike and the DH bike this time 'round. Again, many thanks to the great WORCA folks for the new goodness! The new section to rainbow really adds to an already fun trail and the recent cedar work was phenomenal.

What to ride today......decisions, decisions.

Cheers,
EB

[Whafe]

Great riding in and outside the park yesterday. It was so worth making the effort to ship one bike and bring the other in the plane with me... The Bike Park is awesome, but so are the rides outside of the park, I think these are possibly put to the back of ones mind, but so so worth it...

The River Runs Through It is a short ride in distance, but so so much fun... The new section is sweet to... The crews have really put some work into this.... Back in New Zealand, we dont really spend much time mucking around and playing on skinnies, so I had a blast with the MuttonChops and EBX..... Was many smiles clearing some stunts I didnt think I would or could.... Had a few good off's which is always good too...

BIG thanks to EBX and M Chops for taking the time to show me these trails...

More pictures on this thread also....http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=441833

[geolover]

Whistler ist rad.


PS - I [heart] mountain biking.

[geolover]

Originally Posted by Whiteyak

Great to have you all along yesterday.

Whiteyak, thanks for the tour. Great time!

[Whafe]

Originally Posted by Whiteyak

Great to have you all along yesterday.

Was great to catch up again and be taken on a Z Man Hell Ride...... Thanks a bunch....

[geolover]

Almost forgot.

Good luck in the A-Line race today EB and Mutton.

PS - Remind Mutton to watch his pedal placement on the last jump in the A-line 4 pack .

[Whiteyak]

Originally Posted by geolover

Whiteyak, thanks for the tour. Great time!

Right on Geo - good to meet you, hope to bag a few more trails with ya this weekend.

[airwreck]

waiting for you to rub it in a little harder with a heli drop now.

[Whiteyak]

Originally Posted by Whafe

Was great to catch up again and be taken on a Z Man Hell Ride...... Thanks a bunch....

Ah yeah Whafe - there's more hell to come my friend.

That's a great photo session of you all in RRTI - way to document the goodness boeeez.

[Whafe]

More stoke today from the Jim Beam Air DH on A Line...... Spot Mutton and EBX....

Jim Beam Air DH

[William42]

dont know if this has been posted or if anyone cares (people on this forum seem strangely unexcited by mountain biker celebrities and comps. I suspect it might be because they are riding their bikes) but Andreu Lacondeguy took first in the slopestyle and lance Mcdermott 2nd with branden seminuk 3rd.

[ebxtreme]

Originally Posted by William42

dont know if this has been posted or if anyone cares (people on this forum seem strangely unexcited by mountain biker celebrities and comps. I suspect it might be because they are riding their bikes) but Andreu Lacondeguy took first in the slopestyle and lance Mcdermott 2nd with branden seminuk 3rd.

Yeah, check out whafe's pics from the event in the Passion forum. Andreu stuck a double back flip and put together a solid run from there.

I've got a heap of more photos to add to this thread. Just been too busy riding and hanging with friends. Speaking of which.......I gotta get my arse back out on the bike.

[airwreck]

whafe is going off!

[trailadvent]

Awesome looking riding!

Love this picc, good to see yer took the dogs

New cedar bridging. SO nice! Shasta's behind with Whafe in the background.

[kamikazee ideki]

sweet pics!
btw correct me if im wrong but i think the person racing JD Swanguen was Brenden Fairclough not Sam Hill.

[ebxtreme]

So, since I was working all week. I didn't really do much in the way of pre-riding the course for the A Line race (Air DH). Regardless, I've ridden A Line hundreds of times, so pre-riding the course wasn't really all that necessary. I opted to ride my reign as I felt I could hit the jumps faster and lower, but with some of the chundery, brake-bump sections and the area through Hornet, I wish I had the big bike.

Matt Patt on his way to a 4:46. Solid effort Patterson.


The ladies before they start. Caryn, Kat and CBX.


Gotta love Grahambo givin'r on the first jump. Unfortunately, he landed a bit too far left and then washed out on the left at the bottom.


Caryn coming off the big GLC.


....and then finishing with a super solid time of 5:34! Nicely done, Caryn.


Not a lot of pics for this event.....from me. Whafe and my wife got a ton of the pro's. Check out Whafe's pics in the Passion forum.

Cheers,
EB

[geolover]

Originally Posted by ebxtreme

So, since I was working all week.
Cheers,
EB

Working all week ? Were you "working" when we ran into you outside the 7-11 doing the Walk of Shame at 7am Saturday?

Maybe "worked" is the word I would use .

[ebxtreme]

Originally Posted by geolover

Working all week ? Were you "working" when we ran into you outside the 7-11 doing the Walk of Shame at 7am Saturday?

Maybe "worked" is the word I would use .

I have no idea what you're talking about, Geo!

Gawd, FM has some blackmail photos of me from that night. How we made it out for Khyber that day was a miracle.

Cheers,
EB

[ebxtreme]

Hooked up with Jeff and Saimo from the Dirt Corps in the afternoon on Thursday. A truly gorgeous day.

Looking at 7th Heaven area on Blackcomb.


Jeff on the container step up.


Saimo on a much drier In Deep than when we raced the previous weekend.


Same spot for Jeff (I know.....they're wearing the exact same outfit).


Me hitting an optional ladder gap on In Deep.


Jeff on Fatcrobat:


Later that evening, we hooked up with WhiteYak, Whafe, Muttonchops and CBX to do a fantastic Westside ride. It was getting pretty dark, so I didn't get many good photos.

Whafe pushing up the last grunt. Still smiling......


Muttonchops checking out a steep roll option.


This shot was a bit late, but shows the steepness of this line.


Whiteyak at the bottom with Baker. All smiles after this gem of a ride.

[ebxtreme]

Got into the park late after working a big chunk of the day. Met up with Kevmo, Muttonchops, Whafe, Geolover, Brent, and FM for some park shenanigans. Seems the boys have had a bit of a gong show with a few crashes to start the day.....that's what happens when your "warm up" run is on Goat's Gully.

To keep that theme going, here's a shot of Kev on Goat's Gully taking a tumble on a steep left.

Approach:


And the dismount.


FM on his newly 888 equipped Highline.


Whafe on a Freight Train step up.


Mutton sticking the end of Clown Shoes. The rebuilt tranny is so much nicer this year. My ankles, back and neck thank the WBP trail crew for fixing this landing.


Whafe on the right side. Bummer we didn't get him back up there for the bigger side....he was hankerin' to hit that.


A super fun addition to the park!! Berms shaped and created by hand that just slingshot you out of them.....then spits you right into Karate Monkey.


CBX on a wooden berm on Ninja Cougar.


We met up with Whiteyak after he finished his day of work and headed out for some Ride Don't Slide action. So much fun.

Heading out....CBX.


FM, Whafe and Muttonchops:


The crew making the push.


Up top, we ran into this dude sunning himself. Ruff got a big jump on us (due to me having a couple of flats) and had already ridden up to Khyber and back.


CBX totally rocked the steeps on this trail.


FM flowing.....


Whiteyak......stoked.


Ruff riding as strong as ever.


We ended the ride, of course, at Dusty's for pitchers and gub. From there, we headed over to Whiteyak's for a ridiculous bbq and total debauchery. One fantastic day of riding and hanging with the posse.

Cheers,
EB

[ebxtreme]

Wow, after a completely debaucherous night following the RDS stoke, our 11 AM meetup seemed mighty ambitious. Well, it seemed everyone was in the same boat and we probably met 45 minutes later, but it was all good considering. Whafe took the day off due to banged up ribs and shot the slopestyle all day. The rest of us grabbed the trailbikes and xc lids and decided to do our usual Khyber epic day.

Ruff giving up the shocker on the climb. Dude was clipped in and pretty much climbed the entire thing (excpet getting off when 3 bear were in front of us).


Nice views.


More views. CBX in the background.....if you can see her.


On the climb....taking full advantage of her TALAS fork.


More views. Sproat and Rainbow mountains in the background with Alta Lake below.


Westerly view from Stu's Inn.


Time to descend.......right off the bat, the trail is steep, but wasn't nearly as loose as it has been previously. Yeee Ha!

Kevmo dropping in off the top.


Ruff with Whiteyak in the background.


Whiteyak with a killer backdrop.....rockin' the Chromag.


Matt right behind him.


CBX's good friend and fellow Dirt Series coach, Penny D.


Penny with the view.


CBX:


FM with a $hit-eating grin.


Kevmo enjoying some loamy goodness.


Done with Khyber, we took a food break before dropping into Babylon. Matt and Ruff taking in the sights.


Matt with a huge smile.


Penny on a fun rock roll. If any gals want to learn to ride steeps, then Penny's your gal!


CBX takes the right line.


The infamous rapel section on Babylon. Just finished handing the bikes down.


FM and Whiteyak through a super scenic section with massive rock boulders.


CBX sames section.


From Babylon, we scooted over to Tunnel Vision. Unfortunately, no pics there since it's just a high speed burner. Kudos to WORCA on the new reroutes.....they kept the trail flowy and fast, but eliminated that fall line rutty section from the mix. Don't get me wrong, that section was a ripper and super fun, but it's way more sustainable with the changes.

Ruff forgot to unclip at the end of the ride. Time for food, I think.


Matt and Ruff waiting for the posse.


CBX and Penny.


Over to Dusty's for beers and grub and then a quick dip in Nita Lake on the ride home. SO good!!


Cheers,
EB

[ebxtreme]

Ok, so after our epic day and getting ourselves organized, we didn't get to the event 'til half way through the first run of the finals. For folks that want to see INCREDIBLE shots of the slopestyle, check out Whafe's post in the Passion forum.

We scooted over to hang with the boys from Transition. They had a condo directly above the Longhorn so we brought beers and watched from there.

First off, Andreu Ledondeguy won a tough battle against Lance McDermott, Cam McCaul and Brandon Semenuk. All 4 of those dudes totally stuck their runs. Honestly, Semenuk might be too smooth for his own good......he really makes everything look super easy and didn't so much as have a bobble on any of his tricks. In the end, it was the double backflip on the first jump that won it for Andreu, but McDermott's front flips were pretty damn solid.

The scene:




My future neighbors, Sam B and Kyle talking shop.......yeah right!


Matt Patt getting his game face on for the Canadian Open. That guy knows how to prep for a race!


The crowd dispersing and the view into Longhorn from up top.


Transition's condo was packed during the event, but it whittled down to a few of us in the end.


Mike M. sporting his new mohawk. I think he and Sam B are trying to one-up each other.


Saimo, Grahambo, Chase and a few other dirt corps posse rolled in. Sam Saimo shows off his new arm warmers. Seems he nose cased a dirtjump and broke both his wrists earleir that day. Heal up Sam!!!


Transition and Dirt Corps......talk about a matchup.


From there, we headed out for more goodness. Met up with Sam B. and a couple of his posse at Tapley's. Many thanks to the Jim Beam girls for keeping the free drinks flowing. CBX headed over to some Sombrio partay with her pal, Lorraine, while the boys kept on keeping on.

Crankworx slopestyle epicness '08 in the books.

Cheers,
EB

[ebxtreme]

Sunday, we were all moving super slow. We contemplated a Whistler valley trail, but Whiteyak suggested a Squampton ride and we all jumped at it.

Pedaling out of Alice Lake area, we had a nice spin on a moderate dirt road 'til we hit Mike's loop. We pedaled up Mike's up to Value Added. I'll let the sign do the talking.....probably the best trail sign I've seen and the description fit it to a T.



FM hitting a blind roller. Of course, the roller is just part of the battle.....it gets loose and sketch below with a hard right corner.




Whiteyak with Shasta in the foreground.


Whteyak.....I think this pretty much says it all.


Kevmo rocking the loamy goodness.


Whiteyak stoked after even more gnar goodness.


The top of Larvacide has one of two sickest moves I've ever attempted (the other one was later on this trail). It's a super steep rock slab that is about 50 foot tall (pure guess). At the bottom is a 8 foot opening and you have to curve right or you'll hit a rather massive Doug Fir. Here it is from below.....as is usual, it looks totally flat in the pic.


Kevmo on another rock slab just below the big boy up top.


FM same one - different angle.


Whiteyak on the same section.


Well that was it for my battery. FM and Kevmo took some pics of some other stuff further down the trail. There's an optional multi-pitch rock descent that I gave a go on. It had a hard left turn that I couldn't quite nail and had to dab on, but was able to ride most of it down. Damn scary stuff, but the granite was super grippy, so I thought I'd give'r.

Another great Crankworx hanging with friends (old and new), riding bikes, sharing beers, racing and spectating. Signing off 'til '09.

Cheers,
EB

[trailadvent]

I think even my computer is getting withdrawal symptoms!



Good on ya EB some great ride stoke there !

[Arm@ndo]

Awesome reporting, EBX !
Too bad I missed the Xworx party with the crew but Zhanna had dibs this year and we decided on a last minute trip to the Motherland for some Caribbean 5star action in celebration of our 10yrs.

Sounds like the Xworx party picked up right where we left it last year, right on !

Whafe, Great to see you fully immersed again this year hope to see you again, maybe next year, bro!

I see the Yak, sucha "Legend", took you guys on the High Society run out West... pretty nice eh... reminds me of the Booty on steroids. Even with 3 dabs I nearly $hit my liver out climbing the one steep and loose chute getting up there last time. But it does feel great once atop.

Lastly... so, you finally made it down to Squamish for a ride, yet you guys did an abbreviated outNback... why such small ride ? were there any trail closures ?

[ebxtreme]

Originally Posted by Arm@ndo

Awesome reporting, EBX !

Lastly... so, you finally made it down to Squamish for a ride, yet you guys did an abbreviated outNback... why such small ride ? were there any trail closures ?

Thanks dude. I feel really bad that you were in Mexico!!

As for the Squamish ride. I've ridden there before....it's just been a long time. After the two previous nights of partying, hitting Khyber on Saturday and the oppressive heat, that was about all any of us had in us. We did do it as a loop.....we ended up near Jack's trail and pedaled back to Alice Lake on that.

EB