Enduro is taking over the world. Used downhill bikes are going for peanuts online and it seems like gravity is on the decline in all the wrong ways. Are bike parks destined to fade away like the monoski? Will A-Line become a climbing trail with Strava checkpoints?

We sure hope not. With Whistler Bike Park opening this weekend, our minds are racing with thoughts of familiar jumps, berms, roots and rocks. Here’s our (incomplete) list of reasons we still love the bike park.

17 Reasons We (Still) Love the Bike Park

1. Laps. There’s no better way to rack up vertical than at the bike park. How much fuel would you burn trying to ride a million down on your local shuttle track?

2. The Kokanee Claw. OK, we don’t really love this. But we do love when our hands adjust to the pummeling of the bike park and we can properly operate the brakes for an entire day of riding.

3. Trying to whip in our New Balance kicks.

4. Pros. Brandon Semenuk. Was that Brandon Semenuk? I’m pretty sure that was Brandon Semenuk.

5. More Laps. A wide variety of trails and quick return to the top makes for excellent repeatable testing ground. Beyond the fact that it’s just plain fun, there’s a reason you see pros testing new gear at the bike park.

6. Kenny Smith lines and trying to learn them. Getting off your bike to look at Kenny Smith lines. Then not riding them.

7. #PeopleOfWBP. If you don’t follow this instagram account, do so. No holds barred social commentary.

8. Australians. They’re scanning your pass, unloading your bike, and serving your post-ride beer. They’re everywhere.

9. Megatrain. Enough said.

10. Kids singing “I Only Ride Park” in the lift line.

11. New parts. Bolster the local economy by breaking stuff all the time. Remember, your season’s pass gets you 20% off at the GBB shop. #TheMoreYouKnow

12. Cleaning a new section of double black trail for the first time – we all remember that feeling.

13. Crabapple Hits. They still manage to get bigger every year.

14. Linking up combos for your favourite lap. Here’s a recommendation from Stephen Matthews: Drop in on Schleyer. Upper Joyride to ride the rockface lines under the Whistler Gondola. Back onto Schleyer at Rock Garden. Lower Whistler DH fadeaway, left to Dwayne Johnson. Lower B-line to late entrance of Ho Chi Minh to Longhorn (double up the whoops). Lower A-Line technical section to Hornet, to Medium GLC Drop. GLC Patio.

15. Kids (again). Was that Jackson Goldstone doing a backflip? I’m pretty sure that was Jackson Goldstone doing a backflip.

16. Friends. It’s the most social way to ride. Lineups, chairlifts, congregating on the landing of the A-Line rock drop. You’ve never spent so much time talking about braking bumps. Just feeding off each other. And then there’s the…

17. Beer. What better way to end a day of riding than sitting in the sun with a pint of beer heckling the train of bros and pros hucking their meat off the famed GLC drop?

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Obviously we left some things out of this list. What’s getting you stoked for opening weekend?