Much like this year's Tour de France, first place is a foregone conclusion.
Whistler is the undisputed world champion bike park. The massive vertical,
the Boneyard and bikercross course and of course A-Line are just a few of
the reasons why. The opening of Freight Train this year as well as
an unbelievable dirt jump park have further solidified their lead over the
peleton. I have never heard anyone suggest that another bike park comes
close to Whistler. Until this year I was convinced that second place
belonged to Sun Peaks - which is about 4.5 hours north east of Vancouver
near Kamloops.
Early on this season I began to hear rumblings from Silver Star - a first
rate ski resort near Vernon (SS is about 5 hours from Vancouver).
They had invested 300 large in trail and lift upgrades and made a very serious
commitment to mountain biking. SS has a long mountain bike heritage,
having hosted 24 hour races, Canadian Championships and even a World Cup.
In recent years a small lift was turning and taking riders up but despite
some really solid trails it was pretty clearly not a stage winning effort.
Ryan Hayes getting sideways off the hip on Lower World Cup. Photo ~ David
Ferguson
This year the keen riders on staff managed to successfully lobby the new ownership
to get serious about lift-accessed riding. Their first move was to purchase
33 four-bike carriers for their Comet Six Pack high speed chair with every
second chair carrying bikes. After that every ounce of effort went into
building new trails and upgrading existing ones. The old chair accessed
about 1000 feet (300m) of vertical and it loaded at the same elevation as
the village. The new chair follows a parallel line but it loads 600
feet below the village which means that there were no existing trails for
this section of the park - leaving a lot of work ahead for Cam Sorensen, (the
trail crew supervisor and designer) Rob Lowe (who operates the heavy machinery)
and the rest of the crew.
Four bikes on trays? How do they do that? Photo ~ Silver
Star Mountain Resort, BC / Tim Fitzgerald
It used to be cut and dried; my favourite place to ride in the interior was
Sun Peaks. After three days
riding at the new and improved Silver Star I’m not so sure. Here’s
how it all went down.
I rolled into Silver Star with the family on Thursday evening. I gave Steve
Mundell a ring and he came to meet us in the parking lot. After some hand
shaking and shit shooting we followed him up the knoll to where we would be
saying. Silver Star used to have a bylaw compelling home owners to think beyond
the traditional colour palette. Every exterior was required to display at
least seven colours. That edict has since been relaxed and only 5 colours
are required (no word on the max number allowed) but owners seem to have embraced
the policy and each one attempts to outdo the next with fuchsias, greens and
blues – tossed together in an entirely random fashion.
Our home at Silver Star. Photo ~ Cam McRae
Our pad was among the least gaudy of the lot – but the most ostentatious
and functional as well. There was a large suite in the basement that slept
7 and then room for 13 more (assuming every double bed was used for cuddling)
upstairs in the main house. The place had a nice big garage for bikes and
gear and everything was plusher than plush. The master bedroom had an en suite
as big as a Tokyo apartment and there were heated floors in all the right
places. There are rumours that the place is owned by Kathryn Hahn (
Kathryn
Hahn was in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days with David C. Roehm Sr. who. was
in The Woodsman with Kevin Bacon) or some other female cast member
of "How to Lose a guy in 10 Days" but there were no famous people
photos on the walls.
I digress. Suffice to say we were happy with where we were going
to lay our heads. First thing Friday we ate breakfast
at the amazing Bugaboos
Bakery with our host Steve, Robin Baycroft from marketing, Rick Harman
who heads up the Patrol along with Cam and Rob who have
been furiously building and designing trails. All were down to earth
folks who were obviously eager to see what we thought of what they had laid
down. Everyone involved in the park seemed to care more about the
trails and the riding experience than about dollars and cents. I soon
realized that this was because they are riders themselves - every bit as
keen and excited about saddling up as you or I. They were also interested
in hearing what we had to say in order to improve the whole experience.
Barb Haley railing one of 27 berms on Blast Off. Photo ~ David
Ferguson
Enough prelims. I know what you want to hear about so let's talk
trails. Because the Comet Six Pack lift loads below the village you
get your first taste of trails before you even have to ride up. The
obvious first run choice was Blast Off. I've heard trails described
as bobsled runs for bikes before but Blast Off takes it to the next level.
Imagine taking a couple of pedal strokes on the way in and then being able
to coast and leave the brakes alone until you are done 27 buttery 6 foot-high
berms later. Your speed is only limited by how high you want to go
on the berms. One of my favourite things about the trail is the use
of up hills. In several spots you get shot out of a berm and then
the trail gains a little altitude before dropping you once again into a
berm, you and bike left momentarily weightless before feeling the Gs ramp
up yet again. Every time I rode it I was able to crank out a little
more speed and a little more grin.
What the hell is that? The person standing in the right of the frame will
give you some idea of how long this thing is - 75 feet to be exact. Photo
~ Cam McRae
Once you arrive at the lift you'll notice something that no other bike
park has - a 4-bike-wide tray loading system. (I've since been informed
that Mount Washington uses the same system - Ed.) With a quad you
can only get 3 bikes loaded side by side (the fourth bike must hang) but
the extra girth of the Six Pack allows for that extra slot. The ride
to the top takes around seven minutes and you gain 1600 feet of elevation
(about 500 metres). At the top you have several choices. If
you roll into World Cup you can take that all the way to the bottom.
Part way along there are branches leading to Superstar and Rock Star and
Flow - all of which will take you all the way down to the lift (Rock Star
wasn't complete when we were there but it's about 98% now).
Look for these popping up in bike parks near you. So much fun I'm surprised
they are legal. Photo ~ David
Ferguson
World Cup is at times wickedly fast (particularly going into the step up
where it's impossible to go too fast) and at other times steeper and
more technical. There are quite a few jumps scattered along the way
and a couple of decent sized tables just before the soon to be famous wall
rides. I know you've seen wall rides before and usually they are of
the jump on jump off variety. This one is more like a long steep,
10-foot high berm. It looks intimidating at first but once you train
someone in you'll have it dialled. It's not difficult but it's one
of the most thrilling and fantastic sensations I've ever experienced on
a bike. After the tables you roll into a left handed berm and on to
the beginning of the first wall.
Colin Miller looking to max out his Gs. The sound generated by a rider on
the wall is straight out of a Sci-Fi flick. Photo ~ Cam McRae
It starts off at a low angle and gets steeper as the curve sharpens.
Just as the G-forces ramp up the radius of the turn increases some.
This lightens up your bike some and that excess energy is like a booster
rocket. The curve returns just in time to shoot you onto the trail
at mach 2.5 or higher depending on your entry velocity. But wait -
there's more. After a short straight you dig into another left and
then onto another wall - this one a slightly smaller left hander that still
stokes the vibe but is slightly less thrilling. I defy you not to
smile with amazement after completing this move the first time.
The Second wall begins long before your heart rate has come down from redline.
Photo ~ David
Ferguson
World Cup goes back into the tight and twisty for awhile before opening up
on the lower slopes with tables, berms and a nice hip.
Ryan Newman rolling into the Slab on Downtown. Click the shot for a larger
version - you will be rewarded. Photo ~ David
Ferguson
Superstar is a smooth berm-strewn rip through the forest. It's one of
those unique trails that offers enough challenge for all levels of rider.
If you really rail it's challenging enough to keep even the best riders jazzed,
but at lower speeds it's accessible to riders with less experience.
The builders have done a great job adding interesting features all the way
through and you'll find rollers to pump, some small tables and even some technical
sections that resemble what you might find on a 4X track. It can also
be a great workout if you really feel like twisting the throttle. There are
80 berms to rail before you get to the bottom of the lift.
Neil Meier first took the AIRprentice title and now he also wears the Pukeprentice
belt. Here he is whipping his Demo 8 on Rock Star Photo ~ David
Ferguson
Rock Star is Silver Star's jump trail and thus far there are 35 air opportunities
on the the trail. The upper section is nicely dialled but some of
our team riders had some suggestions for the lower section. Jerry
Willows and Ryan Newman walked the trail along with Rick Harman and Cam
Sorensen. They suggested some changes to make the tables more consistent
so you can keep your speed up and hit all the trannies. From what
I've heard the machine was fired up the next day. This kind of response
to feedback is exactly what a bike park needs.
Neil pulls out a one-foot table in the skills area at the top of the lift.
Photo ~ David
Ferguson
Flow is a wonder. It starts out fast and wide open; a sinewy ribbon
cutting through open meadow. It reminds me of Andrew Shandro and Dave
Watson's Chilcotin segment in The Collective. After that it ducks
into the trees and gets windy. There are steep pitches with turns
at the bottom but they are radiused just tight enough to allow you to stay
off the brakes. Just when you think there can't be any more another
turn appears in front of you and it goes on like this all the way to the
bottom.
Downtown starts out in the open with some steep rock faces and then it
ducks into the trees and gets tilted. It has the steepest pitch of
any of the trails and there are a few spots where you are boogieing through
the trees with good pace wondering if you're going to be able to rein it
in. Downtown leaves you in the village where you can choose
either Blast Off or Lower World Cup to take you the rest of the way.
Trevor Hansen attacking the slab on Downtown. This move is steep
and exposed and a real problem if you miss. Photo ~ David
Ferguson
Stubby is an old school trail that was built under the radar by Cam Sorensen
with some help from marketing honch Robin Baycroft. It's old school
tight with some drops and lines that require some local knowledge.
There's more of course. Dag's Downhill was another favourite of many
riders because of the rocky challenges and opportunities to double up and
carry speed. Double Dog has some stunts and small drops but still
keeps the flow theme alive. Very few of us could get a handle on what
our favourite trail was; they were all so good it was hard to choose just
one. I still can't pin one down but the list contains Flow, Blast
Off and World Cup. Oh - and Superstar, Downtown, Rock Star and Stubbiest.
A few more days on the hill will probably help me narrow my list so hopefully
I'll get back to Silver Star this summer.
As we drove down the hill towards Vernon I re-lived many of
the trails and plotted my return in August. I also bounced around what
I thought could make Silver Star even better. I didn't spend much time
on the jump trails so I'll let those more qualified talk about that (see below)
but on the trails we rode I would like to see a few more features added.
It would be nice to have some larger drops to tranny. There are some
fun drops on most of the trails but generally they are high speed launchers
and a couple of six to ten footers would be great challenges. I'd also
like to see a few more challenging skinnies - perhaps on Double Dog.
They don't have to be high but making them narrow and technical would add
some giddy-up to the rodeo. Icing on the cake would be a 4X course that didn't
have to be rebuilt every year. I'm nitpicking here because this is an
incredible place to ride - but why not be greedy?
So I'm left with a choice to make. Which bike park is, in my humble
opinion, number two after Whistler. Sun Peaks has great steeps, some
of the best downhill courses around, a top notch biker cross and some great
variety. I haven't yet ridden Route 66 and the rest of Steam Shovel
is scheduled to open at the end of July so I can't comment on those additions.
Jason Goller identified the tendency for us upright monkeys to prefer that
which we've just had our fill of. This is known as recency bias. Silver
Star is occupying a pretty warm spot in my cockles right about now - and
this effect is certainly part of what is at work.
I think I'm going to have to cop out. I'm a huge fan of Sun Peaks
without even having ridden the new goods but Silver Star has made unbelievable
progress in their first year of balls out operation. In all honesty
I think they are neck and neck which is great news for us riders; it means
they will both be pushing hard to be number two, perhaps even narrowing
the gap between themselves and the big dogs at Whistler.
I will say this though; get yourself and your bike to Silver Star.
Travel from wherever you live - even if you only have time to ride one place
- because Silver Star is clearly a destination. It'll rock your world.
