Living the Jackass Lifestyle...

All I have to say is if you plan to go to Whistler BC be ready to throw down. I am in the car heading back to Seattle in need of some sleep and a hot shower. We poached a camping spot in a gravel parking area for the first two nights before being asked to leave by the campground host. We decided to move on find another location higher up in the hills. We take a forest service road outside of town and ran into the craziest crew of Canadians I have every meet. Potentially the crazies dudes ever (and that says a lot). I thought I knew how to party but these guys took it to new heights literally. As soon as we met them they were crashing into each others trucks and doing back flips of the roof in to a gravel parking lot. We passed around the bottle of crown and decided to go find a place to get a bonfire going. The forest service road was a four wheeler trail and the Subaru carefully picked lines thru the washed out road littered with giant rocks. We earned our respect from the Canada Crew by even making it down the road for a few miles while they were flying down the roads abusing their new truck that they had just bought for 400.00 bucks. Disaster seemed imminent with the pace these dudes were setting and sure enough as we followed them further into the woods and as we were coming around a curve we noticed skid marks going off the side of the road. We pulled over and saw something no one ever wants to see, red truck at the bottom of the river a good 25-30 ft down. Daren and DR were climbing out and at first glance it looked like Daren’s leg was seriously broken and DR was already on crutches after having knee surgery a few days ago. They had just pulled a Duke Boys bridge out kind of truck launch and lived to tell about it. I went to get black truck while Bruce went down to stabilize the situation. When I got back it turned out that Daren was not as seriously hurt at I first thought however, his back and legs were messed up due to sailing the car 20 ft and landing sideways on a giant boulder then rolling the truck again down the hill coming to a stop with the wheels down. We encouraged him to go to the hospital but instead he wanted start a fire and lay down. This guy was insane! He was doing back flips of the top of the truck 30 minute prior, he has just narrowed escaped death and all he could think about was not fucking up his buddies’ good times and keeping the good times coming. So we proceeded to start the biggest bonfire I have ever seen burning logs so large that it would take two people to wrap your arms around them. These guys even made a beer run into town to be sure that no one was left thirsty. I stayed up until the sun started to come up then closed my eyes for a few hours of sleep. We are just too tired to ride and I think it would a little dangerous any how so we are making out way back feeling fortunate that nothing went wrong considering how intense my BC experience has been.

Well, BC was the furthest point of our trip so technically we are heading home from here. Bruce has had his fill and to be honest I am starting to feel a little homesick as well. Maybe I just need some rest but I would love to be chilling at the crow’s nest with my dog and a few friends right about now. I still have another 20 days or so on the road so I will of course make the most of it starting with a couple of rides in Bend OR this weekend. After Bend we are cruising through Sun Valley, Idaho. Then on to Wyoming, back to Colorado for a few more rides before returning to Asheville. Missing friends and the local trails and trying to figure out how to keep this lifestyle going upon my return to Asheville. I have had too many amazing experiences to have to go back to the normal life and I looking for the way out. The things I have seen, people I have met and experiences from this trip will only last as long as I let them stay in the forefront of my mind so the question becomes how does one making a living following their dreams. I am certainly working on it in between long rides and all night parties with Canadians. We will see what I come up with and representing cool green homes in Asheville isn’t a bad way to pass some time while things come together. However, surfing part of the year and riding mountain bikes the other part, all the while helping other people enjoy their life sounds a whole lot better way to spend it. Live large and go big people, life is too short not to ask for it all.

Jut

RED TRUCK - R.I.P. 9-10-08 - 9-11-08