“Why do women fake orgasms? Because men fake fourplay.”

“Four thirds of people don’t understand fractions.”

Last weekend, whilst in Silverstar, I had the pleasure of getting to ride and hang out with one of mountain bikings most interesting characters. A man who on his business card simply has the title “Director of good times” and who lives up to that title every minute of the day. Brett Tippie.

At the weekend we hung out and took in the sights and scenes as objective observers with no pressure to see a result from the prospects. It meant we could take half an hour to go rip the living bejesus out of some fresh loamy turns together, or just shoot the shit at the top of a freezing mountain, or cheer on every and all the prospects.

Then last night I bumped into Brett in the Whistler Bike Park as I was coaching for womens Wednesday. I was helping a crew of ladies hone their drop skills and build up to doing the drop-in to Dirt Merchant cleanly. It made sense that Brett join our group as he is the master of hucking, sorry I mean doing drops. It was great having him around as he provided a healthy amount of comic relief and cheer leading when the ladies were ‘psyching themselves up’. The ladies had a fair amount of visible nerves as we got to the Dirt Merchant entrance drop. They had the skills and the know-how, but it was now a mental game. They knew that but there is always that humming butterfly feeling that accompanies soemthing that you have pysched yourself up about for so long. In some peoples mind the beast gets built up to be ten times bigger and angry than it really is. But having Tippie around was good to lighten the situation, put it all in context and provide alot of support for the ladies. It goes to show everyone just smiles when Tippie is around.

I’d heard alot about Brett history and legend in the past but getting to meet the man himself helped start to put some things into perspective and context. I am looking forward to hanging out with someone I now call my friend, but also someone I wish to understand and learn more about. That sounds all creepy science guy, but I suppose I think I’ve found the one person that gets mountain biking the most and I want to help share his wisdom with people.