Fun on Two Wheels
A few weeks ago as a sort of “end off the season” adventure I was able to take off to Whistler, BC with a few friends to go biking at Whistler Bike Park for two days. We had planned the trip way back in April (actually tossed the idea around last year August) and then spent the summer enjoying the local trails while anticipating a fun adventure. I had never been to any bike parks before so i really didn’t know what to expect and was only slightly anticipating it, but my riding buddies kept talking it up like it was going to be incredible. So with this great build up in expectations we took off Sept. 14th for the coast, planning for a short stop at another west coast riding mecca, Vancouver’s north shore, for a quick ride on a trail or two. We arrived at Old Buck’s Trailhead on Mt.Seymour around 2:30 hoping to meet up with someone so we could share a shuttle up the mountain. Unfortunately that didn’t quite work and so we got stuck riding 6km up the road. Because we had to ride up we opted to not ride “CBC” but still managed to rip “Corkscrew” to “Pingu” and then finally “Team Pangor”. Having never ridden The Shore before I had some high expectations….the area has been highly touted for over a decade as having fantastic riding. The 1st two trails were….okay, it reminded me of Nelson, BC, rocky, rooty, and somewhat steep, with a few hits and a fair amount of stunts (skinny log rides, etc.) but definitely beat up (needs some trail work). The last trail “Team Pangor” was more of the same but really fun. Overall I enjoyed the shore experience and was happy to spend a few hours on my bike after a long drive.
After our stop we continued on to Whistler for the evening where we enjoyed dinner and then hit the hay. We got an early start to the day….jumping on the chairlift around 10AM for the first run, “Crank It Up” a fun trail that is moderately long with lots of jumps and bermed corners. It took a ride or two to get the feel of the speed needed to really capitalize on the trail (and all the Whistler trails). but soon enough I learned to take my finger off the front brake completely and only use the rear brake to scrub speed if things were really getting out of control. That morning we blasted the BLUE (moderate) trails ….”B-Line”, “Ninja Cougar”, “Crank It Up” a few times before stepping up to the BLACK (difficult) runs for the afternoon. That was were the real fun was. We rode “A-line” and “Dirt Merchant” for the rest of the day but managed to close off the afternoon with a last-man-down-the-trail sweep on “B-line”. We rode the whole day with a grin on faces and mud everywhere since it rained the whole day. Hey, we can’t schedule the weather but we weren’t going to stop for it either.
The next morning was another early start since our plan was to ride until about 2pm then get lunch and a ride on the Peak2Peak gondola ride linking Whistler Mountain to Mt. Blackcomb before heading for home. We did a quick warmup ride before heading to the top of the mountain to hit “Freight Train” to “Dirt Merchant” to “A-Line” to “The GLC Drop” (a big drop/jump that happens to be right in front of a restaurant at the base). It was amazing, every hit, drop, ladder, berm, and jump helped to build my confidence until I felt like a monster on two wheels. I had finally dialed the table tops to fly over them and land on the downhill transitions, I even added a little style to the airtime.
We rode until 2:30 or so before we had to stop and get cleaned up. After a quick shower we went up the hill via the gondola to ride the Peak2Peak, the longest and highest unsuspended gondola in the world. We rode it quickly since it was getting late in the day (very impressive) and took a picture of us up there before heading down the hill, jumping in the SUV, and driving home, arriving at home around 2:30 or so.
Thanks to my pals for a great time riding, for taking care of me by paying for the hotel and gas (many, many thanks!!!), and for introducing me to Whistler. Wow!
