Road Trip pt II - Panorama

This weekend is round 3 of the BC Cup Downhill. Having crashed in the first race (Kamloops) and got 4th in the last race (Arduum) I was keen to do well but had no idea what to expect other than Tim's description of the "80kph roller jump"



We stayed in one of the resort condos - pretty good except the standard of cleaning - no-one wants to find tissues and condom wrappers under the bed when they arrive!

There was a big crew up for the race - including most of the oldies that are my competition!

(pic by Tim)




Beer
(pic by Tim)

















Tim and I stayed with Danielle Baker - photographer extraordinaire!

, Kevin - sorry Kev, no lifestyle photo for you


(pic by Tim)











and the newly weds, Ryan and Kat
(pic by Tim)


















some random pics of the resort














ski lifts - yay!














Dawn's dog












here's that roller jump I mentioned - the track wound down through trees and blazed across the occasional ski-run before popping out just above the village. Next came a long straight fall-line descent into a gentle left hand corner and over this crest - at about 40-50mph - enough to send riders into the air for about 50ft just before crossing a stream bed - exciting stuff. The challenge was to pedal down the big hill and not touch the brakes - pretty scary at those speeds




Ah, Kevin, there you are - and there you are again just to make up for it! The jump didnt send you very high but you sure went a looooong way!









Team 203.... or was it room 220? I cant remember but you get the idea

(pic by Danielle)









It was record tempretures in Panorama this weekend with a high of 40! Fortunately they have excellent pools to cool off in, complete with 2 waterslides - the Dunbar boys managed to have the slides shutdown after they got a little too competitive and developed the running-start to to win the race down the pipe! There's something very appealing about a bike race with a nice pool...
(pic by Tim)




So how'd the race go? Well, in practice I'd been getting pretty fast but was still dragging my brakes a bit on the ski runs. In my race run, I stayed off the brakes in the first two open sections and was having a pretty stella run when.... phsssstt! I got a flat. I was only a quarter of the way down so no point in carrying on so I just peeled off my armour and started the long walk down in the blistering heat - little did I realize at the time just how blistering! The next week of blistered shoulders under body armour would teach me (yet again) about sun protection. Damn it!

(pic by Tyler Maine)







Danielle looking very fast as usual

(pic by Tim)










Kat suck ing up the landing of the jump across the 4X track (pic by Tim)











...and Kev. This is his race run - he lost his pedals on the creek jump after the roller jump and in this pic he's doing 30mph through the grass trying to find them again! A scary moment for everyone watching but he carried on to finish safely (pic by Tim)







And the legendary Tim Coleman
(superbe photo by Ryan Potma)











the signature panoramic shot of the final section of the track with the village in the background

















With race day out of the way, Tim and I spent the following day exploring the rest of the Panorama Bike Park. As you can see, the views here are stunning

(pic by Tyler Maine)








don't mind if I do!













The park has some really cool bits in it. This section of "Punisher" was pretty fun - a steep rocky line that weaved between the trees - it also helped me get some steep riding practice before next week's madness - the Mt 7 Psychosis!
(pic by Tyler Maine)














We'd arranged to ride with Darcy - the Bike Park manager (amongst other things) and also Tyler from Pink Bike

Here's Darcy


(pic by Tyler Maine)














(pic by Tyler Maine)

















(pic by Tyler Maine)























(pic by Tyler Maine)

















(pic by Tyler Maine)















Here's me just before flatting for the 2nd time in two days - and only the 2nd time since getting the bike in December! Does that mean I've had good or bad luck? Hmmm?

That put an end to my day and after 3 days of ski-lift assisted riding I was pooped. You might think it would be easy with a ski lift to defy gravity but you'd only be partly right. With the effortless uplift comes a bazillion downhill runs which can really take it out of an old fella like me.

Anyway, off to explore somewhere new tomorrow before heading to Golden.

For more on Panorama, take a look at Tim's blog on TimColeman.ca (look for Mad Trapper) or Tyler's professional write up on PinkBike