A woman in a pink shirt approaches a group of three mountain bikers tailgating on a red pick up truck with pizza boxes.

Story and photos by Dylan Sherrard. 

Where does every lap really start and end, and the dreams of the next one begin? When the sweet summer ride comes around, it's a time honoured tradition. 

A gathering at the tailgate. Two side by side photos of four people sitting on the back of a red pickup truck in the Sun Peaks village parking lot with bikes leaned next to it.

The pre-ride grins and the sorting of gear. The delusions of grandeur and the suppression of fear. The setting of tire pressure and the stashing of snacks. It's the platform we launch from and the home base we return to. 

Bike gear sits on top of the red pickup truck with a chairlift in the background and a women in the foreground.

Each lap turns faster than the last, and no matter how sweet the ride, the review is often sweeter. 

The gaps grow longer and the air much higher, as we share tales of the traction lost, and shockingly somehow regained, or the leaps of faith and bets made against the mountain. Conversation sinks into a sweet song of superlatives and we never let reality stand in the way of a good story. Two side-by-side photos of two women and a man smiling while tailgating with pizza.

Lap after lap. Slice after slice. The story of riding grows long and limber, with heart pounding hits and hard learned lessons of tumbles and turns. Pepperoni pizza slices are picked out of an orange pizza box.

As twilight falls and the chairlifts slowly spin to a stop, the legend of last laps lingers in the air. The shadows grow long and the celebration of today shifts to the vision of our most ambitious tomorrows. The window reflection of two women in baseball caps leaning over the truck bed.

The mountain looms largely over one shoulder and a charming glow from the village buzzes over the other. The last of the light flickers off the windows and we wish each other goodnight, signed with a, "let's do this again real soon." Because the tailgate is where the ride starts and ends, and the dreams of the next one begins. 

A Ballad of Belonging - short stories of the moments that define our ride. A man in a blue shirt squats in the back of a pickup truck, eating the last piece of pizza from an orange box.

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