Vernon Mountain Biking Trip

UPDATED: Download the video clip here.

Sunday morning I had to do some prep for the Bell Airship Tour in Kelowna BC and ended up having to miss the Skyride Cycle team meating at their shop in Vernon. I had to solo the 3 hour drive to Kamloops. (The intended ride location).

We ended up meeting at the base of the notorious truck drop downhill run called which was recently featured in the Mt. Bike video. The crew included some of the hottest new freeride talent in the industry. We headed to the top of the mountain once the bikes were loaded. (all 12 of them decked out for air time dwarfing my very well equiped Kona Coiler Primo) Everyone was pumped on what lay ahead and rightly so since the kickers started right from the top. These guy's were seriously blowing my mind. All was going great right up until we came across the gnarliest ramp gap known to man. The guy's started to look into what their options were. They walked it. Rode the ramp. Checked the landing. Trial runs were made stopping at the last second to try and gage proper flight speed. Finally they aborted the mission. (A wise decission I thought) Except for one loan wolf, Ben, a Mt. Bike prodigee.

Everyone was headed for their bikes to continue what had started out to be just another routine epic downhill when someone noticed Ben sitting on his bike at the top of the run in. He was psyching himself up to hit what will surely be the biggest air time of his life. (Believe me that's saying a lot)

I quickly threw down my camel back to dig out my cell phone camera. Everyone else did the same and scrambled for the best picture taking locations as to not miss what was surley going to be one hell of a jump. I noticed Ben take a deep breath just befor he dropped in to what was already a very long steep run in. To my astonishment he started sprinting for maximum speed. By the time Ben hit the ramp he was hauling ass.

I thought to myself that he was going to miss the landing ramp and no sooner did he hit the ramp did he find himself mabe 30ft high soaring through the air. Everyone looked up in awe as he went higher and higher. Instantly everybody knew this was a bad deal. I could hear Ben gasp through his full face helmet as he started to fall from the sky. It was the kind of gasp you would have when you dream you are falling or something. I saw Ben attempt to throw his bike away but weather he could'nt because he was already flying with it or he got scared and grabed on again it put him into the superman position.

He actually stayed like that flying through the air for what seemed like a long time. At this point I knew we were going to have a serious situation on our hands and had to look away. The sound Ben's body made as it impacted his bike and the ground made me feel sick. I instantly grabbed my cell phone and dialed 911.

Attachment	Size
MVI_0577.AVI	2.19 MB