happy birthday joe

hmmmm...where to start? it was just another ride, or seemingly so. we met up, unloaded our bikes and got dressed and then started climbing up the mountain. it wasn't raining. it was Sunday. we climbed high this time, to an unknown fresh trail that few knew, a trail that you had to hike in off the road and where the loam roosted like a jet boat in the Florida Keys. everything felt really good and the bikes were running exceptionally well, or was it the riders? at times, we'd drop into a short downhill transition with a berm at the bottom and both wheels would drift and then traction would return, almost on demand. drift, carve. bikes where thrown around and echoes of glee resonated in the forest. falltime. great friends. Sunday. mellow vibes. thanks Joe and happy birthday buddy.

Joe, Wade and Arthur's dog, mid-ride.

Dave Norona, birthday boy, Chimonez and me.

wanna ride with Joe and Wade too? Wade's guiding our Costa Rica Pura Vida DH trips, February 19 - 27 and February 27 - March 7 2010 and Joe is guiding our Swiss Alpenrock DH trips next summer, Aug. 13 - 21 2010 and Aug. 21 - 29 2010.

vancouver

During the month of January in Vancouver an average of 131 mm or 5.18 inches of rain falls. Over a year, Vancouver gets an average of 1154 mm of rain. Not that bad really compared to the rainiest place in the world, Mawsynram, India with a staggering 11,872 mm of rain. What's the point you ask? Thanks to all this rain the forest in Vancouver gets real green and pretty and makes for beautiful mountain bike photographs like this one taken by our good friend and journalist Dave Smith, the founder of allmaple.com. Keep your eyes peeled in an upcoming Decline issue for Dave's story on DH'ing in Switzerland on our Alpenrock trip. Rock on.

Winter ripping on the North Shore!

Clients and friends Karaleen and Bryan sent us these sweet snowy photos of riding on Vancouver's North Shore recently. They've joined us in both Costa Rica and Switzerland in the past two years. Oh, and if you click on the link to Switzerland you'll see them railing it home to our base in the Swiss Valais! Thanks for the photos guys and we look forward to more rides together!!

It looks like Santa was good to them this year.