With the caveat that I'm one of those weirdos on a hardtail, I agree that DC is punched these days and not worth the climb. I loved the low-angle stuff in the last third of the trail. Once upon a time, it could mostly be ridden without braking. It's all super chunky now with the traffic and erosion. But I get that loamers don't stay loamers forever. I kinda miss the days of clandestine sprints up the road and the looming threat of confrontations with the bear tour people.
I'd suggest doing the Blackcomb climb early morning or evening. (The Blackcomb trails get the last rays of daylight with the western aspect.) The road is often unrelenting and loose. It's not exactly the kind of climb you want to be doing completely exposed to the afternoon sun on a 30ºC day.
Westside is great. Jank gnar only gets better with e-bikes and erosion. LOL I love all the stuff off the Flank (e.g. Legalize It) in spite of silly comments on TF about "lack of flow" or whatever. Embrace the jank! If coming from the village, a techy run of High Society > Three Birds > AC/DC can be followed with a gradual XC-style route home on Piece of Cake > A La Mode > Whipped Cream > Cherry On Top > Green Jello > Beaver Pond > Beaver Pass > Beaver Pass Summit + Slab. The climb from Creekside is even better this days with the new lower section of Piece of Cake.
As far as LOTS goes, still a few snow patches in the alpine but it might be a welcome relief with all this heat. There have been a few grizzly sightings near On The Rocks and Beverly Lake.