Drop In Season 3 - episode 8 - part 2

Jan 25, 2007 07:48 pm
Length: 11:09

Episode 8 Smithers

The reason for the big Northern B.C. loop... Smithers.

Wayne has some good buddies in Smithers that took care of us in his absence. Not only wasn't Wayne able to do the entire tour, he found himself filming with Freeride Entertainment for the movie New World Disorder 5 and couldn't even host the crew in his hometown.
One of his buddies - Josh - wasn't surprised when we just strolled into McBike where he works, he was prepared to give us the royal treatment despite bad weather throughout our time there. The first night we ended up letting Josh drive us around showing us the area. We realized after a while that this guy that we had known for only a few ours had us in the middle of nowhere on some mountain roads in the middle of the night. We were quietly trying to figure out where we were as Josh drove on up the mountain, as we got more concerned and further away from town (it seemed like we had been driving forever) Josh told us about a favorite 'prank' that Smithers locals do to each other. "Hyderized" is when you drive your unsuspecting buddy to a small red neck town of Hyder, Alaska and leave him there if you find yourself that unlucky dude then you've been Hyderized and everyone thinks it's funny... Except you.
Hyder, Alaska -- pop. 100
I admit that Josh had us going pretty good and after hearing more about the eccentricities of Hyder we knew that being stranded there with Dread haired Dirtbags like Dylan and our temporary camera guy Darren wouldn't be "fun".
The next few days had us hiding from the rain, and the campground Nazi's. The look of the bus rolling into any campground puts the caretakers on their guard. We were getting in trouble constantly for everything we did, good or bad. Josh and some of the other locals threw a party for us at Mr. Green's house complete with hot tub, sauna, pool table, and ride-on lawnmower rides from some girl. It was a really good party and I hope Mr. Green's Dad didn't kill him when he got home.
We missed Tyler during this episode due to a bad crash in Terrace the week before but he didn't mind sitting this one out after seeing the disappointment on the other's faces when they came back to the bus from riding. The disappointment didn't necessarily come from being let down by the quality of riding, rather the frustration of having to keep it under control in the wet and slippery conditions, numerous flats with no spare tube, and lot's of crashing. Ryan's happiness had to be sacrificed to bring up the spirits of the rest of the Crew. We learned how to sacrifice bikes from the locals during the North Vancouver Island episodes so after hauling that stupid Strawberry bike around for too long it got to be the target for our pent up aggression caused by no sun. Sadly the tape from most of the destruction was lost and never found but you'll get the idea. It remains a secret as to who's idea it was to this day. Before the episode is over we head down the road (a long way) to Prince George. Another completely unknown riding zone, hometown to Darren Berrecloth and Gareth Dyer. The only thing we knew before getting there was that there was a guy named Kyle that killed it there.