Earth, Wind and Saint Eamonn’s Fire

NSMB Full Boar Challenge Trip

Words by Dan Gronross. Photos by Danielle Baker.

Date: 2008-10-16

It came out of nowhere. You could hear it coming even before it shook the tent, or in Curtis and Mitch’s case, nearly blew the tent across the campsite. The wind on Saturday night was the strongest I have ever born witness to. Braving the wind, the raging infernos and early season snow, the NSMB Team made the trek to Kamloops for the Annual Full Boar Challenge.

Curtis Robinson, Dylan Dunkerton, Mitch Chubey, and Eamonn Duignan loaded into Yota, the Team Truck on the damp Saturday morning around 8:30 am. Special guests on the trip were Utah from Hawaii, trip photographer Danielle Baker, and stowaway Ken Perras from the Island.


 Yota, The Toyota Tacoma Team Truck making all the necessary stops en-route.

The Full Boar Challenge pits riders against the mountain in 3 events, the XC race, the Lighted Hill Climb and the Enduro Dh all of which take place somewhere in the vicinity of Greenstone Mountain. For the obvious reason that our bikes weighed in around 40 pounds each, none of us even thought about participating in the XC event on the Saturday. As well, not one of us had any inkling as to what a “Lighted Hill Climb” was, but we were all gunning to have our go at the Enduro Dh. To provide some additional entertainment “The Boar” Trevor wrangled a copy of NWD 8 Never Enough and previewed it on the Saturday night.

Upon arrival we settled on a few shuttle runs to prepare the guys and gals for what was coming. We had ridden different trails on Greenstone Mountain back in July on the Team Trip, so getting acquainted with the new trails was important. The organizers had arranged to have shuttles running up and down the mountain on Saturday so everyone could get some practice runs in. It was a tight fit but we managed to squeeze everyone plus Todd Hellinga, and his girl Kari Mancer into the vehicle and the bikes onto the accompanying trailer.


  Todd Hellinga surveys the landscape on the trek to the top of Greenstone.

The shuttle up Greenstone can be best described as a journey. Greenstone Mountain is large and undulating compared to the more steeply pitched coastal mountains, equalling an excruciating 40 minute shuttle. Adding insult to injury, especially for the organizers no doubt, is that the only shelter at the top of the mountain is a burned out metal shed with no floor. Participants and organizers alike must fight snow and wind lashing, while waiting for the riders to take their turns.

  Mitch Chubey checks out the shed while waiting for his run.

The trail runs the full gamut of conditions, made even more interesting with the addition of snow. It begins at the top with some sweet rock rolls to off-camber root rolls. It quickly turns surreal with the trail ripping through a patch of forest charred from the burn a few years ago. Dropping further still, you rip down fire roads complete with cattle guard hazards and if the conditions are just right, cow patties. Finally you tear through some sweet Kamloops single track where, despite the rain and snow, dry patches could still be found.

After two laps we called it. Well actually it was raining so hard only a few decided it wise to ride down from the top for the second run. The rest took the truck back down to the bottom, arriving to Dylan, Curtis, Mitch, Eamonn, and Ken covered in mud looking mighty hungry.

  Pot of chilli, being nicely warmed by Saint Eamonn’s Fire.

Chilli was on the menu Saturday night. Nothing beats the chill out of you like hearty meat chilli. Eamonn packed his “BBQ” but after twenty minutes of running it with the heat on high, it was decided that it would be faster to place the pot in the fire. Soon enough we were all enjoying piping hot chilli. Special thanks go to Curtis’ Mom who loaned us the pot to cook the chilli in. It was anyone’s guess if she would have gotten it back! Thanks for trusting us!
   The “Lighted Hill Climb” in all its glory.

After milling around the fire, arguing who was going to do the dishes, it was off to the “Lighted Hill Climb” to see just what this event was about. I have never seen anything like it before - and next year I'll definitely take part in it. The object was to ride a contraption of a bike, one with a long rear wheelbase and a 24 inch front wheel, up the course, over some well placed logs, grinding your way to the top. Participants and spectators lined the course heckling and cheering as the poor saps tried to reach the top. A super great event to watch and a good way to get the crowd stoked for the NWD movie premiere.

After the movie it was time for some to party and others to attempt to sleep while they partied. Eamonn and Utah took it upon themselves to build what I consider to be one of the largest fires ever known to mankind. The firewood had been “borrowed” from the pile for the fire located near where the registration tent was set up. Word on the street is that they were trying to coax others into helping them get more firewood late into the night.

The only real victim in Saint Eamonn’s Fire, Todd’s knee pad was sadly left about 5 feet from the fire and the resulting damage is easily visible.

It wasn’t until late in the night, long after Eamonn’s fire was used by NASA as a tracking device, that the winds hit. While some tents fended well, others like Curtis’ and Mitch’s didn’t. I woke up to Curtis trying in vain to stop their tent from blowing away. Eamonn and Utah wouldn’t have heard their tent collapse around them if it did, and Dylan was snuggled safely in the truck.


 Eamonn dropping into the snow.

We woke up early to throw a quick run in, to shake off the cold. It was pleasant outside with the sun peaking through in some spots. But it wasn’t to last long. By the start of the event the dark clouds had rolled in and by the time the guys were at the start gate, it was snowing. All told, about 4 inches of the white stuff blanketed the course adding gnar to the burly lines and making the clay section of the course downright impossible.

I will let each of the guys rhyme off how they did and what they thought of the event:


 Dylan Dunkerton
I wasn't sure whether I should go to Full Boar. The forecast was rain all weekend, and I had heard the stories of last year’s race in the snow. But I sucked it up. We had good weather Saturday morning and got in a pretty good practice run. Riding some parts of the Full Boar course is like hitting light speed in the Millennium Falcon, and in other spots you’re wishing you were a billy goat, and that is why it’s so rad. The next morning I heard all the stories of the raging wind and Eamonn's antics, but to be honest in my bed in the back seat of the team truck I heard nothing. Later we headed up for our race runs. To keep a long story short, Curtis and my race runs didn't get timed even though we were told we could drop in, but that doesn't even matter because we missed the snow storm at the top and the rain storm at the bottom that everyone else had to ride in! Suckers!


Eamonn Duignan
What can I say, camping in a tornado, riding in the rain and snow, building camp fires that would make any arsonist jealous, and two wheel drifting down a 20 minute DH run all in one weekend...such a good time. Though those things did make for a fantastic weekend, what I truly think made the weekend great was simply shredding and hanging out with a solidest of solid crews, oh, and of course eating Dan's chilli, which coincidently made things very uncomfortable for me the next day.


 Curtis Robinson
I don't often get to ride a wide open, full on pinner kind of trail living where I do. So this race was an exciting thing for me. Not knowing what was around the next corner or if the pedal deep ruts were tacky or greasier than Mc Dee's kitchen. Riding race day was tough considering I was up at 1 in the morning in my boxers re adjusting the tarps on our tent because apparently a tornado was blowing through Greenstone. I managed to survive the wind and Eamonn's massive fire 4 feet from my tent.


Mitch Chubey
I was not too sure what to expect, the weather was forecasted as not the greatest, which it definitely was not. I've never really ridden Kamloops trails before, which are amazing to say the least. Dan's chilli was a lifesaver after my extremely muddy second practice run. It put me right to sleep, well maybe until the tent started to take off. Thankfully Curtis was there to save me, fixing the tent and putting out Eamonn's massive bon fire, which nearly threatened humanity. My run went almost perfectly. I stayed on two wheels the entire time and was out of breath the entire way down from pedaling. I have no idea how I did, as we had to leave before they were posted.

Well your wish is my command, below are the results from the weekend. While the runs were timed, it is in fact a Poker Run so you had to collect cards along the run.

Thanks to the guys at Full Boar Bike Shop, for arranging this event each year. Their website is a wee bit out of date, although 2005 was a great year. They can be found at:

310 Victoria Street
Kamloops, BC
250-314-1888

Did you go Full Boar?  Witness Eamonn's fire or Dan's chilli?  Want to hit it up next year?  Do tell...


 When weather throws you wind, rain and snow… at least you have a great group of people there to enjoy it with. Thanks to Danielle for putting up with a large number of guys, and thanks to Ken for making the trip with us. It was a great weekend!

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