cool pics and sounds like lots of fun!
Oooohhhh Canada.... Quick update.
Me and a few buddies just did a quick road trip north for a couple of days of riding. The goal was to get our fix and then head home to spend the rest of the weekends with the fam. We left Seattle on Friday morning and rode Mt. Fromme for most of the day riding 7th Secret, Upper Oil Can, Ladies Only and Crippler. Then, we boogied over to Seymour for a quick rip down Ned's before the light began to wane. We flew down Ned's with plenty of time and I took a cab back up to get the car. Beers and grub at the Seymour pub and we crashed at the Holiday Inn.
Saturday morning, instead of riding the shore again, we decided to drive up to Whistler to hook up with FM and our buddy Zane (a whistler local). When we got to the parking lot, it was totally packed. I was worried that the lines were going to be insane (it was Canada day), but the lines were great all day and we barely had to wait. The lines on Garbo were basically non-existent.
So, after one warm up run down Crank it up, Lower Whistler Downhill and Heart of Darkness, we headed up top. At this point, we basically did top to bottom runs most of the day and the new stuff off of No Joke and Freight Train are frickin' incredible. Of course, we'd end most runs with a rip into Dirt Merchant or over to A-Line. On No Joke/Freight Train, there's a new step up onto 3 containers (see pic below) with an easy drop off the end and the new section right after that is rockin' with several step ups, new tables and a fun ladder that has a fun drop off of it and then it ends with a small creek gap. By the end of the day, our entire crew was hitting this section in a train - including our buddy Craig "wild man" Hess who hadn't even been to Whistler before and just bought a used Stinky Primo a month ago. Ooh yeah, he also hit the A-line drop, GLC drop and Schleyer drop....not bad for a FR newbie! Everyone was riding great and we rode until 8 that night and headed home.
Kudos to the trail crews up there who are really working their tales off. The recent dry conditions have helped up top as the trails were dry except for one small section (right before the creek gap). A-Line and Dirt Merchant were good and the brake bumps weren't that bad. FYI, talking to a patroller....the new lower section of Crank it Up should be open in a week or so. This will offer up some more fun stuff for the intermediate riders and keep some of the slower traffic off of A-Line and Dirt Merchant.
Original Sin is currently closed due to construction on the ski slopes where the women's GS course will be for the Olympics. While this is a bummer and means that things like Fatcrobat and Captain Safety can't be ridden, the new stuff off of No Joke and Freight Train is so good that it makes up for it, imo. I took some video with my helmet cam, but unfortunately something is funky with my cable and it all turned out like crap. Total bummer as I had some good footage from the weekend.
Get up there while the gettin's good........the trails are off the hook right now!!!!
Pic 1. Me hitting the container step up. The first time I landed about 1/2 way across the containers, so this time I took it a bit slower and barely cleared my rear tire. You don't need much speed at all off the backside or you'll clear the tranny.
Pic 2: mtbikerboy and me hanging out (safety meeting) before our last rip down Dirt Merchant. Totally stoked after a day on the Shore and in the bike park. mtbikerboy was loving his Faith/888 combo on the high speed ripper runs in Whistler.......
Pic 3: The dudes ultra stoked after ripping No Joke to Freight Train to No Duff/Duffman. Getting a bit of shade in. Yes, the dude on the right is wearing a circa '83 Stu Thompson BMX helmet. That's wild man Hess.
Cheers,
EBX
Saturday morning, instead of riding the shore again, we decided to drive up to Whistler to hook up with FM and our buddy Zane (a whistler local). When we got to the parking lot, it was totally packed. I was worried that the lines were going to be insane (it was Canada day), but the lines were great all day and we barely had to wait. The lines on Garbo were basically non-existent.
So, after one warm up run down Crank it up, Lower Whistler Downhill and Heart of Darkness, we headed up top. At this point, we basically did top to bottom runs most of the day and the new stuff off of No Joke and Freight Train are frickin' incredible. Of course, we'd end most runs with a rip into Dirt Merchant or over to A-Line. On No Joke/Freight Train, there's a new step up onto 3 containers (see pic below) with an easy drop off the end and the new section right after that is rockin' with several step ups, new tables and a fun ladder that has a fun drop off of it and then it ends with a small creek gap. By the end of the day, our entire crew was hitting this section in a train - including our buddy Craig "wild man" Hess who hadn't even been to Whistler before and just bought a used Stinky Primo a month ago. Ooh yeah, he also hit the A-line drop, GLC drop and Schleyer drop....not bad for a FR newbie! Everyone was riding great and we rode until 8 that night and headed home.
Kudos to the trail crews up there who are really working their tales off. The recent dry conditions have helped up top as the trails were dry except for one small section (right before the creek gap). A-Line and Dirt Merchant were good and the brake bumps weren't that bad. FYI, talking to a patroller....the new lower section of Crank it Up should be open in a week or so. This will offer up some more fun stuff for the intermediate riders and keep some of the slower traffic off of A-Line and Dirt Merchant.
Original Sin is currently closed due to construction on the ski slopes where the women's GS course will be for the Olympics. While this is a bummer and means that things like Fatcrobat and Captain Safety can't be ridden, the new stuff off of No Joke and Freight Train is so good that it makes up for it, imo. I took some video with my helmet cam, but unfortunately something is funky with my cable and it all turned out like crap. Total bummer as I had some good footage from the weekend.
Get up there while the gettin's good........the trails are off the hook right now!!!!
Pic 1. Me hitting the container step up. The first time I landed about 1/2 way across the containers, so this time I took it a bit slower and barely cleared my rear tire. You don't need much speed at all off the backside or you'll clear the tranny.
Pic 2: mtbikerboy and me hanging out (safety meeting) before our last rip down Dirt Merchant. Totally stoked after a day on the Shore and in the bike park. mtbikerboy was loving his Faith/888 combo on the high speed ripper runs in Whistler.......
Pic 3: The dudes ultra stoked after ripping No Joke to Freight Train to No Duff/Duffman. Getting a bit of shade in. Yes, the dude on the right is wearing a circa '83 Stu Thompson BMX helmet. That's wild man Hess.
Cheers,
EBX
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