Wanted - Enduro World Series Whistler entry

There was a couple water stations, but don't expect much at them. I don't remember them being full spreads of stuff like at the NIMBY.

course is up now:

START: SRAM VIP Deck – Skiers Plaza Whistler Village

TRANSITION / LIAISON 1:
After leaving the SRAM VIP deck, turn left and head down the village stroll, turning right onto Brandywine Way in between the Clock Tower and the Sundial Hotel. Turn right on Sundial Crescent and up to the traffic lights. Turn right onto Blackcomb Way until the yellow gate opposite Lost Lake Road. Take the double track trail known as “Home Run” up Blackcomb Mountain past the entrance to Hey Bud/Crazy Train onto the new climbing access trail to the top of Micro Climate. This is the start of the first timed section of the event.
distance: 6.4km of riding with 536m of elevation gain allocated time: 60 minutes

RACE STAGE 1
Micro Climate is a relatively new trail – it opened fully in the spring of 2014. Designed by Dave Anderson and Paul Stevens, this trail has become an instant Whistler Classic and one of the best new trails in the Whistler Valley. Near the bottom it traverses across to the bottom of Hey Bud and finishes on the access road.
distance: 2.05 kms | elevation: start 1183.9m | finish 756m | change -427.9m
allocated time: 15 minutes

TRANSITION / LIAISON 2:
After completing the first stage, head back up Home Run, crossing the bottom of Stage 2. Following the same route to Micro Climate, this time stop at the entrance to Hey Bud/Crazy Train. This is the start of Stage 2.
distance: 3.32km of riding with 379m of elevation gain
allocated time: 40 minutes

RACE STAGE 2
Crazy Train – recently described in a guide book as an “old school trail, now defunct and dilapidated,” the SRAM Canadian Open Enduro pre- sented by Specialized has brought this “Sleeping Beauty” back to life. Through the handiwork of Seb Kemp, Jerome David and Trail Network Solutions, Crazy Train has been refurbished, rerouted and will have riders “going off the rails.”
distance: 1.98 kms | elevation: start 1111.3m | finish 721.1m | change -390.2m
allocated time: 15 minutes

TRANSITION / LIAISON 3:
After leaving the finish of Stage 2 behind Snow Goose condominiums, turn right onto Painted Cliff road, left onto Blackcomb Way, and then right at Lorimer Road. Follow Lorimer Road crossing over Highway 99 all the way to the bottom of Lorimer Road. Join the Valley Trail and cross over the River of Golden Dreams and the train tracks heading North towards Alpine Meadows. At the fork in the trail, turn left and climb up to Alta Lake Road. Cross the road and enjoy the smell of dirt again as you ride a short section of Mel’s Dilemma. Stay right in this complicated area of trails looking for Forest Drive in the residential area of Alpine Meadows. Take a left onto Fissile Lane and then another left once you hit Alpine Way. Climb Alpine Way to the end and look for a gated dirt road. Ride beyond the gate and keep climbing this road, known as Rick’s Roost, for 300m over 2.5Km. Stay left at this point and gradually climb the Flank Trail for 1.8Km to the start of Stage 4’s timed section.
distance: 10.5km of riding with 683m of elevation gain allocated time: 1h25minutes

RACE STAGE 3
After a short section of the Flank, head onto Binty’s, a seriously old school line. At the old logging roadbed, turn right and follow the trail to 27 Switchbacks. The 27 corners that make up this trail are tight and loose, eventually hooking you back into Lower Binty’s. Take Classic Westside Whistler Single Track as you descend onto Bob’s Rebob. Stay right on Bob’s for some relatively smooth singletrack leading to the finish of Stage 4 at Alta Lake Road.
distance: 3.06 kms | elevation: start 1117.8m | finish 688.9m | change -428.9m allocated time: 15 minutes

TRANSITION / LIAISON 4:
Leaving the Rainbow Hiking Trail Parking Lot, head south on Alta Lake Road for approximately 1.5Km. Turn left onto the Valley Trail and follow it towards Nita Lake. Half way around the East side of Nita Lake, take the fork left and follow under Highway 99. The Valley Trail will continue south, parallel to Highway 99 until Bayshores. Turn right onto Bayshore Road, right on Cheakamus Way, and left on to Kadenwood Drive. Climb all the way up Kadenwood Drive until it turns into Trails End Lane. Go through the gate and follow the old mountain roads up to the start of Stage 4. Stage 4 will start just off the mountain road before diving into fresh cut trail accessing Lower Ride Don’t Slide.
distance: 11.2km of riding with 694m of elevation gain allocated time: 1h20minutes

RACE STAGE 4
Ride Don’t Slide is a technical natural single track. A short stint on Love Canal will lead you into Boyd’s (B.C.’s) Trail, which follows along Whistler Creek. Extensive rerouting and trail work has been done by Gravity Logic to get this old trail race-ready. The trail is fresh and loamy in sections while lower down it becomes rocky and loose. This stage finishes up with a sprint on the open ski run down to Dusty’s. This is the original access point to Whistler Mountain for skier’s back in the 1960’s.
distance: 2.49 kms | elevation: start 1052m | finish 597m | change -455m allocated time: 15 minutes

TRANSITION / LIAISON 5:
To make your way to the fifth and final stage of the event - leave Dusty’s and head onto the Valley Trail heading north back to Whistler Village. When you near the Whistler Golf Course, use the underpass under Highway 99. Stay right after passing under Highway 99 on Whistler Way. Take a left onto Springs Lane and make your way to the Whistler Village Gondola. After a short pitstop take the Gondola and the Peak Express to gain access to Top of the World’s trailhead. This is the start of the final timed section.
distance: 5.1km of riding with 150m of elevation gain (plus Village Gondola and Peak Chair) allocated time: 1h50minutes

STAGE 5
You’re in the bike park now - get ready for an elevation loss of nearly 1500m over 11km. Accomplish this by taking the following trails: Top of World, No Joke, Little Alder, Expressway, Too Tight, Upper Angry Pirate, Crabapple Turns, Del Boca Vista, EZ Does It to Monkey Hands, finish- ing in Skiers Plaza.
distance: 11.90 kms | elevation: start 2121.6m | finish 707.8m | change -1413.8m

i've not ridden any of the trails apart from the inbound park stuff (s5). anyone with suggestions as to what to check out the day before? i.e., super gnar / critical sections, etc?

i've not ridden any of the trails apart from the inbound park stuff (s5). anyone with suggestions as to what to check out the day before? i.e., super gnar / critical sections, etc?

almost all feature steep, tech, rocks, roots, loose chutes, there will be a lot of fresh too, even though it's super dry…The park stage is pretty straight forward, it'll just be really rough. I rode TOTW yesterday and it's way rougher than last year, lots of loose rock and square hard edges. Everything else is definitely worth a pre-ride if you can get it all in.

Serious amount of climbing though, about 2300m if my maths are correct….

yeah, will probably just cherry pick a couple valley trails and wing the rest. survival mode. racing the ht? that'd be seriously badass / masochostic / superhuman.

yeah, will probably just cherry pick a couple valley trails and wing the rest. survival mode. racing the ht? that'd be seriously badass / masochostic / superhuman.

yeah, I am…..I was way more worried yesterday when I thought the course was going in a totally different direction!

I'd say that the big billy/27/binty's stage is long but 'relatively' straight forward, Billy is loose and tech, but there's nothing to really catch you out too seriously, 27 switchbacks is machine built flat corners but steep overall, lower Binty's is pure old school awesomeness, with a couple of steep tech chutes.

RDS/Boyd's should be interesting, still a stiff climb to get up there, that last 3rd of RDS is mellower, but still has a few steep bits, Boyd's is pretty much a new trail, albeit sprinkled with the old sections, I've only heard the (mis)information Seb fed me and I ate up. As I live in Bayshores I think I'm going to do a dawn ride up there before work on Friday.

Micro Climate is new, but pretty worn in already, lots of roots, flowy, some steep sections, but again nothing will catch you out too much, except maybe the last 3 corners….

Crazy Train, well, it's crazy, but I know Seb has been up there a lot and Jerome too from WORCA putting in some alternate lines around the really crazy stuff, but it will still be natural and rough and tech.

I'm really pumped, Seb fed the locals copious amounts of BS that we ate up, this is a surprising course for a lot or people. Going to be a long, hard day, but should be a hell of a lot of fun!

Old Binty's? Is that the section we rode in the Kings?

Crazy Train vs Hey Bud? Same zone same feel?

Microclimate should also have some same feel as Hey Bud? I assume just a bit more mellow?

Been a couple seasons since I was down RDS but pretty sure I know what to expect.

Lots of pedalling and climbing.

Lots of shitty climbing. Two laps up Home Run, the upper portion of the climb to Billy's.

Does the climb cut into RDS happen before the ugly steep section to Kashmir?

What was the BS Seb was feeding? Curious to hear what smoke and mirrors he was putting out.

Old Binty's? Is that the section we rode in the Kings?

Crazy Train vs Hey Bud? Same zone same feel?

Microclimate should also have some same feel as Hey Bud? I assume just a bit more mellow?

Been a couple seasons since I was down RDS but pretty sure I know what to expect.

Lots of pedalling and climbing.

Lots of shitty climbing. Two laps up Home Run, the upper portion of the climb to Billy's.

Does the climb cut into RDS happen before the ugly steep section to Kashmir?

Yes to Binty's in Kings….yes to Micro Climate being like hey Bud, but with less gnarly chutes. Cut out to RDS is the when you hit Peak to Creek after passing bottom of Kashmir, so one shitty climb past Kush, then you're basically there, not the really steep bit after P2C.

How many people will gas themselves pre-riding the course when they would probably do better riding it blind?

How many people will gas themselves pre-riding the course when they would probably do better riding it blind?

this is my conundrum. may just hit ct [HTML_REMOVED]/or micro on sat and leave the rest as a sweet / terrifying surprise. my focus is on finishing rather than fast anyways.

How many people will gas themselves pre-riding the course when they would probably do better riding it blind?

as soon as I saw the course I figured my best tactic would be to conserve. I can do ok at riding stuff blind and for the most part my goal is just to finish.

shaving 10 seconds off of a segment ain't gonna be helping me at all….lol. Even charging in the timed sections wont be much of an option. Coasting fast is going to be my go to move.

For spectators:

- Is the whole event on one day? I always thought the EWS events were all 2 day races…?

- On the last stage, do they send riders down in the correct order so that the person starting with the lowest (best) cumulative time would go down last (like in a DH race where the #1 qualifier goes last)?

my experience last year was definitely that it's better to make sure you have enough energy to see yourself through the entire day. Although I knew the trails well, I had been in Nelson for the previous year and didn't have too much pre-riding in. I think the fact that I rode steady through the day and had plenty of energy for stage 5 helped me out immensely in making the podium. That, and making sure you don't have any big offs, or mechanicals I think is more beneficial than trying to override things. There's enough steeps that will catch you out if you get going to hot or out of control, it's really really loose out there right now!