Scion Whistler Report #17
After a long weekend jam-packed with lots of great and challenging riding, it was nice to unwind a little bit Tuesday evening with a chill spin down the Cheakamus Lake trail to Singing Creek. While not high on most people’s must ride in Whistler lists, it none the less is a fun ride with fast flowing pumptrack style singletrack, that’s mostly buff for its 14km of out and back. Late afternoon/early evening is also a great time to beat the crowds and ensure mostly clear trail. While the singletrack is nice, the views are stunning. With the turquoise lake fronting towering mountains, sometimes it’s hard to keep your eyes on the trail. On the singlespeed with no chain slap and a buff trail it was easy to get lost in the quiet of a darkening old growth forest with moss draping everything. Shadows become prey, and the mind plays funny tricks, then you hit a few sweet corners and punch the pedals and forget about it all, lost yet again in the joy of turning the pedals and railing needle covered velvet-like corners. It’s a quick 14km, and with the aid of my 4x up the 9km of washboard it made for a relatively quick round trip.
We started out the long weekend on our little bikes, riding big trails. Jeff Bartel drops into Ride Don’t Slide.
The weekend got started early on Thursday night at the Fine Line/Scandinave Spa toonie. Let me tell you, there’s nothing like some sweet singletrack followed by a soak and steam at Whistler’s best spa. The tougher course with the start way out at Wedge, and looming dark rain clouds, kept the crowds at bay and we were left with a quieter night for the spa than earlier this summer. Go there if you get a chance. It’s so good on the body!
On Saturday we assembled a good sized crew including Ariel and Abby from the Santa Cruz demo tour, who were on a little vacation before Interbike. We decided on an all-mountain traverse from the bikepark over to Logger’s lake for a mid-afternoon dip before heading back to the park for a nice evening session.
Ariel Lindsley through the moss and loam along the way to logger’s lake.
Sunday was a similar plan, with a slightly less ambitious XC in the afternoon. Sarah, Carlos and I headed up the Flank for some westside loam flow. We checked out the new climb section up to Cheap Thrills and things are getting really close. It’s a work of art, that new climb. I can’t wait til it’s fully open. Kudo’s to the RMOW for sending their always talented builders in there to make some much needed improvements to a really tough pitch. The trails all over the valley are riding so well right now. It’s definitely dry and dusty in places, but it also means that many of the tougher high root lines that are normally borderline suicidal in the wet are riding hot right now! That being said, please PLEASE be careful out in the woods right now. They’ve bumped the fire hazard rating up to Extreme, and it’s so dry out there. Watch your hot brake rotors on dry moss and leaves, thanks! That evening it was back to the park again as the new Black Velvet section had opened up on Garbanzo the day before and we needed more of that flowy buff bermed action! Winding it’s way through the gladed trees, a brown snake of amazingness that we rode til the end of extended play. Go check it out, so much fun!
Jeff Bartel blasting through sun patches deep in Whistler’s old growth.
Monday 5 of us left early to beat the heat and went out on an adventure to ride a trail that a couple of us had only ridden the lower portion of. A bumpy shuttle and a 3 hour hike eventually got us to where we were going, with a little help from technology and some good route finding. Views second to none and 4000 feet of loam surfing before us – there was nothing but smiles, laughs, and high fives all the way to the valley. Another lakeside finish to cool off then over to BBQ Bob’s for some awesome grub and a frosty beverage as we recounted the day’s greatness.
Dylan Wolsky and Chris Johnston ripping through some sub-alpine meadows.
Last Wednesday was our final Phat downhill event of the season, and of course it was the world famous chainless ALine, dubbed the Geddes Classic in support of our good friend Nick Geddes and the BC Children’s Cancer Unit. Yet again people outdid themselves in the costume department. The usual crossdressers and scantily clad men however paled in comparison to a few standouts, mainly Optimus Prime (Paulo), the tandem riding Jamaican Bobsled team, yes their tandem had a bobsled-like skeleton, and yes, they did ride all of A-Line on it, and a guy who piloted a cardboard boa; The Angry Pirate. Crazy that they all made it down in one piece. In the end it was the much deserved Bobsledders taking the win.
Chris getting his XC freeride on. Rockslabs galore to play on with views for miles.
The race results don’t really matter that much, although the skin suit team is always looking for reasons to slimdown and speed up, and Ian Morrison led that charge proudly taking a hard fought win over Chris Kovarik. For the record one Adam Billinghurst accurately predicted the evenings results beforehand, what with Zander Geddes again winning the juniors, Sarah Leishman the ladies, and Mat Hebert the Masters. The evening’s full results as well as the overall series final standings can be found here. More important than the racing was the auction/fundraiser for the BC Children’s Cancer Unit fundraiser on behalf of Nick Geddes. In true Whistler fashion folks stepped up and opened their wallets. Between raffle ticket sales and auctioning we raised over $3000! Best of all Nick has been released from isolation after nearly a month since his bone marrow transplant. We’re stoked to here he’s also been on his spin bike and itching to get healthy again. You’re an inspiration, keep fighting the good fight!
Dropping in high over the Whistler valley, Dylan leads out Chris, Carlos, and Dave.
In two weeks time on Saturday the 17th, the 18th annual West side Wheel Up will take place on, you guessed, the west side. This event raises money for the BC Disabled Ski Team and is as classic as they come in Whistler events. The riding takes place on super fun west side trails that’ll take the average rider about an hour and a half. But really it’s about raising some cash, riding bikes on fun trails, and having a good party in the woods (and hoping to win the grand prize of a W/B ski pass!) There’s usually huge amounts of draw prizes, and lots of food and beer. Cost is $25 (WORCA members) or if you aren’t a member you can pay an extra $15 and be insured. Registration begins at 10am at the Whistler brewery in Function Junction. Start is noon and the finish is at Rainbow Park. Hopefully we’ll see lots of people out for this great low key event!
Thanks to Carlos Zavarce for snapping this pic of me on a rock roll.
I hope that you made good use of your long weekend to get some good adventures in. I have to say thanks to all the awesome people who made my weekend so good. I’m so blessed to have so many amazing people in my life from so many different parts of the world. We may be from all over the place, but we all love having fun on bikes!
Dylan tore the finishing line a new one, big trails on little bikes, it’s how we roll!
There Todd goes getting warm and fuzzy again. Have you ridden any of the new goodness up on Garbanzo? How are you liking the beginning of the best season in the bike park? Tell it here…
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