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I spent Sunday riding the Whistler mountain bike park, and would recommend a day there for anyone who loves mountain biking - of all skill levels and genres. My warmup ride was in Squamish, Saturday afternoon in 90 degree heat. It's an hour from Vancouver to Squamish, on the Sea-to-sky highway, and make sure to stop in to see Manus and his crew at Tantalus Bike Shop.. the best LBS I've ever been to. After making it to the trailhead and realizing we forgot a pair of shoes for my girlfriend (I was SURE I packed them), we opted to pick up a new pair of Andy Mac flat-bottom shoes (we both ride flats), at Tantalus. The ride in Squamish was about 2 hours, which is short by Squamish standards, but we rode some good terrain.. starting out on Mashiter trail, then hitting Roller Coaster, and Don't Tell Jude… over to a short section on Tracks from Hell, and then back to the car…great ride. We then drove into Whistler (45 minutes), and got ourselves settled at our Chalet in Creekside (my roommates ski chalet - lucky us), 4 bedrooms, and all the fixin's, hottub, full entertainment center etc. We hit the village in the evening to catch the MTB riders doing the park. Saturdays the park stays open until 8:30 pm for "Extended Play" which was cool to see. We had an awesome dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant, hit the Whistler movie theatre to round out the evening.
Woke up at 8:30 am to get ready for the park.. loading my gear into the car for the short ride over to the village, and I get a call from my riding buddies in Vancouver.. they wont be making it to the park today! This would not deter me.. I had psyched myself up for the past week to do this, and I was going to go. Arrived at the base, fully geared-up shortly before 10am.. just in time to catch a guided tour of the mountain in the form of a skills clinic. The whole thing was run exactly like a ski lesson… everybody starts out together, then they grouped riders by riding style and experience. Of the group of 5 of us, 3 of them hadn't even ridden a mountain bike before… which was UNREAL to me. Everyone who rented received a 7" front and rear travel Kona Stabs. They started us off at the skills section.. a series of ladders and obstacles for which to ride on/over.. they say "go play", and watch us for 5 minutes. Not wanting to end up in the "beginner class" I proceeded to bunny-hop onto obstacles, and do wheelie drops off the ladders, I was being a show-off in the interest of them bumping up the skill level of their "non-beginner" group… which they gladly did. I was grouped with one other person, and we rode with a guide/instructor for the next three hours. We rode B-line, Crabapple, After Atlantis, Lower Dirt Merchant, Ho Chi Min, Fantastic, Wold Cup Single Track, Joyride Jump Park, and Joyride Drop-off park. In the 3 hours, I rode the lift three times, which gives you an indication of how long it actually takes to get down the mountain, including brakes, jump/drops/skills sessions, etc.
The terrain is amazing, and the banked turns make it very exciting to ride fast. I progressed most with the banks, and only spent a half-hour at the jump and drop-off park.. but I'll definitely be back there next week to work further on jumping and the bigger drops (I jumped and dropped the lower 3 of the 6 jumps and drops). The instruction was top-notch, there were no real lines to wait in, water was plentiful, and no mechanical break-downs or crashes to report. I'd recommend this ride to anyone looking for the bike experience of their summer.. you won't regret it.
http://www.whistlerblackcomb.com/bike/
I'll be there next weekend for Crankworx Bike Festival too…
Woke up at 8:30 am to get ready for the park.. loading my gear into the car for the short ride over to the village, and I get a call from my riding buddies in Vancouver.. they wont be making it to the park today! This would not deter me.. I had psyched myself up for the past week to do this, and I was going to go. Arrived at the base, fully geared-up shortly before 10am.. just in time to catch a guided tour of the mountain in the form of a skills clinic. The whole thing was run exactly like a ski lesson… everybody starts out together, then they grouped riders by riding style and experience. Of the group of 5 of us, 3 of them hadn't even ridden a mountain bike before… which was UNREAL to me. Everyone who rented received a 7" front and rear travel Kona Stabs. They started us off at the skills section.. a series of ladders and obstacles for which to ride on/over.. they say "go play", and watch us for 5 minutes. Not wanting to end up in the "beginner class" I proceeded to bunny-hop onto obstacles, and do wheelie drops off the ladders, I was being a show-off in the interest of them bumping up the skill level of their "non-beginner" group… which they gladly did. I was grouped with one other person, and we rode with a guide/instructor for the next three hours. We rode B-line, Crabapple, After Atlantis, Lower Dirt Merchant, Ho Chi Min, Fantastic, Wold Cup Single Track, Joyride Jump Park, and Joyride Drop-off park. In the 3 hours, I rode the lift three times, which gives you an indication of how long it actually takes to get down the mountain, including brakes, jump/drops/skills sessions, etc.
The terrain is amazing, and the banked turns make it very exciting to ride fast. I progressed most with the banks, and only spent a half-hour at the jump and drop-off park.. but I'll definitely be back there next week to work further on jumping and the bigger drops (I jumped and dropped the lower 3 of the 6 jumps and drops). The instruction was top-notch, there were no real lines to wait in, water was plentiful, and no mechanical break-downs or crashes to report. I'd recommend this ride to anyone looking for the bike experience of their summer.. you won't regret it.
http://www.whistlerblackcomb.com/bike/
I'll be there next weekend for Crankworx Bike Festival too…
