WBP 19

Shady/DBV is one of my favourite trails in the park.

Posted by: nickel

respectfully disagree. compared to just about any bike park out there other than flat lands, wbp is incredibly beginner friendly. name another bike park with more beginner terrain. 

ezdi, golden Triangle, rod&todd, dbv and shady acres. then start dabbling in b-line, hornet, longhorn, ho-chi. then add orient express and ciu or south park - earth circus. there's actually a ton of low level options. 

not to mention the various skills areas. 

I know I'm biased but I've never ridden anywhere with so much truly low level riding, with a lift, where the beginner trails don't put the beginners in the ditch every third turn. 

ymmv.

I totally agree that the WBP has tons of great trails that a beginner can comfortably ride and have a lot of fun. The problem is that much more skilled & faster riders also ride the majority of the trails you mention above and that's what would make it tough for a new park rider to enjoy them without the stress of having other riders constantly on their tail.

If there was a bunny hill type area that would be ideal for kids/newer riders to have their own area to get comfortable with park riding. Not saying that there would be an obviously place to put this in the bike park. 

I just often see certain people in the park - mainly tourists and young kids and feel bad for them because the bike park can be a pretty intimidating place if you aren't already quite a strong rider.

^

Oh totally man. Like I said, I spent the last 5 years with my son. I think back to 2014 when he was starting out with his Rocky Mountain gromhit. My biggest lesson to him in the beginning was to know his surroundings, and communicate to other riders his intentions. He would pull over and use his other hand to guide riders around him. Riders loved it and appreciated that I was teaching him courtesy at a young age. But he cut his teeth on the same trails that guys were sending. 

This year was a lot different though. There were more tourists than I remember in the past. Along with half lids, decrepit bikes, hardtails, guys in jeans..... Knowing what I know, I give these folks a wide berth as the hill is tough, and can kick the living hell out of you very quickly. The air ambulance flew over my place dozens of times this year. Every one of those trips is someone's life changing dramatically. I am compassionate and very helpful to others, but it seems like courtesy was thrown out the window this season.

Is anyone doing the Summit race tomorrow?

I was thinking about it, but TOTW to RDS at race speeds is scary. RDS at casual speed is a challenge in itself.

At one point there was a whole bike park in the magic chair zone. it was basically deserted other than coaches with kids. Back when i was a coach, kids absolutely hated being brought there. Not because the trails sucked, they were actually quite good, but because kids generally really dislike being or feeling pandered to. 

I'd love to build a dedicated beginner area but it's not so easy. If they one day replace the fixed grip in the Olympic chair area then that could be viable. Loading beginners with bikes on a fixed grip is a nightmare.

Nickel,

I finally got to do a lap of Midgard - what an amazing trail. Its now my new favorite, whereas I typically spend my time on black flow/tech. I also have never ridden A-Line with less brake bumps than I did today. You guys are doing some masterful work. Kuddos all around!!

Side-note, "Sabertooth Horse" doesn't feel like a double-black... Not sure on the reasoning there.

Trail-speed.   If you are going trail-speed Whistler works.  They know what they're doing and it's glorious and for that they should be celebrated.

As for Sabretooth, I did it when it was a single-black, then the EWS happened but I haven't made my way back.  There was nothing anywhere near Tech Noir or Captain Safety on there but maybe some roots came out on some of the tricky corners?

Hope you had a sick day of riding Taz.

The slabs at the start aren't too tough, and the off camber roots would be tough in the rain...but overall, I agree, not Tech Noir level of difficulty. Upper level black tech - I actually find Original Sin more difficult as a point of comparison.

Midgaard is such an awesome trail. Unfortunately, after taking a couple dry laps on it, we got a bit of rain. Attempting to hit it at dry speeds, I got slipped up in the grease and ended up in a ditch. The bike flipped and I slammed. Creekside gets super greasy in the wet and I wasn't ready for that.

When we rode Sabertooth it was definitely not a double black, but I'm fairly certain we rode it on its opening day and it was mint. There was only one steep rooty right hander that might be double black worthy in the wet, maybe. I have no idea what it's like now since that was a while ago. I assume that they predicted it to get much rootier and rockier once it bed in a bit.

Some folks might not be a fan of the MTB YouTube personalities, but Skills with Phil shreds, decent vid here riding with Eric Porter and hitting some cool berm gaps on Earth Circus, RDS shenanigans, Dirt Merchant with a rear flat etc. all on a 29er trail bike. He also hit the Schleyer rock garden gap on that bike earlier this year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOBw5ZSuIfs

^

That is a great video. It's funny, because my son followed all these guys on YT, and I had no idea who they were. We ran into them at Whistmas and I got to meet Seth and Phil. Super nice dudes! Now I'm a follower, and really starting to enjoy the YT biking videos. Met the GMBN guys too, which was neat as hell.

Had the GoPro out so I could have some footy to keep me warm over the cold winter.  Was riding with friends and eventually made our way over to Crabs.  "Ok guys, will follow you but will bail after three if I do it."

Seeing him skid by us at the A-Line/DM/Angry hub made me squeal with joy.  Don't know about you guys, but when friends hit things for their first time I get to relive the exact same feeling as when I did it.

I love bikes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBNk3-j4z5E

I'm annoyed with myself I didn't head up there today. The weather didn't look promising, but it seems like it hasn't actually been too bad today.

I might bail on all of my Sunday plans to get up there tomorrow. How are the trails running?

Oh, we had a pretty heavy xdown pour the last hour or so.

Trails were great yesterday aft but suspect it’ll be sloppy now.  If the rains hold of I’ll head up for a few laps and report back.