RR: Allison's (somewhat) Comprehensive Guide to Whistler

[allison]

It's always awesome to have great company on a big bike trip, and Whistler is no exception. It always helps if they offer you a couch and a ride from the airport

Whether you're driving or flying in, note that Whistler is less than 80 miles (126km~). However, currently BC is doing a ton of road work and other preparations for the 2010 Winter Olympics. They had 3 areas of road that were shut down to one lane throughout work hours, and the highway shuts down in a few areas from 3 am to 5 am everyday. Not to mention that the speed limit is quite lower than we are used to here. It's 90kph in some areas, but also goes down about 50kph in construction zones. For those of you not on the metric system, that's 55mph and approximately 30mph, respectively.

Prop plane from Portland to Vancouver



Funny, we had four bags when left Ontario...



Yup, one of our bags, with our XC helmets, pedals, and bike food did not arrive in Vancouver. No one seemed concerned except the two of us.

With Ann and Andy leading the way we drove deeper into the city and hit up a bike shop. I got some Fox Sergeant shorts. Since we had about 40 minutes left on the parking meter we ate at an Irish pub.



We eventually headed out of town and stopped off of (1, or 99?) on the way to Whistler at On the Top bike shop. Ann, Justin and I all got shoes. Justin picked up a pair of the Shimano shoes that look like the Radar Locks. Ann and I got Vans. All in preparation for the flats we'd be wearing later in the week.

One thing to note about the shops up here: they all carry a lot of Sombrio, Oakley, Race Face, etc. gear.

Also, why is it bike shops have the coolest bathrooms evar??



On our way at last..





It's a beautiful drive!



I'm not sure there's a bad place to stay in Whistler. If you aren't interested in noise or crowds it may not be best to stay within the Village. There are a ton of hotels that are situated on the floors above the bars, restaurants and shops. If you want to be in on the action, with good views of the people and the lifts, it's the place to stay. There are plenty of condo's you can rent, time shares you can buy into, or just plain hotels to stay at. If you choose not to stay within the Village, no worries; there are free buses that take you all over the area on a pretty regular schedule. Cabs are only around $8-10CAN from the Village to parts of the Upper Village.

It's also not a bad walk...





First view of the bike park





We ate at Mongolie Grill, which had good food, and hot waiters/cooks. The best part was that food was 50% off all June. That sold us. You pay for your food based on weight. I'm embarrassed to say that mine was the heaviest bowl! However, I was still about 3000g less than the guy that had the heaviest bowl ever.

continued...

[allison]

Tuesday we got up and headed down to Squamish. As Andy said, we rented Kona Dawg's at Tantalus. Good shop, decent gear, and they were great rental bikes. I felt pretty comfortable on mine. Only complaint was the brakes. On one fire road descent I completely went into the trees. Luckily didn't hit anything, but the brakes thoroughly weren't great at stopping!

Since it's been covered I'll just throw out the photos from the day -

Playing around, about 10ft into the trail



Fun getting lost...



Local fruit





Token bar shot (the only one all week)



Singletrack climb



Ride across this skinny, wet bridge? No thanks!



Andy at the top, before descending Powersmart



Ann and I descending



Another bridge I'm not gonna ride!







Lots of greenery up here



The longest, highest bridge of the day





continued...

[allison]

Wednesday was day one at the bike park. We were all excited, and probably a bit nervous. Justin and I headed over to Evolution to pick up our Demo 8 and Demo 7 bikes. It was somewhat of a pain, but the bikes were in prime condition.

Time to head up



The view once you get off the chair



We started out descending B-Line to the intermediate skills area.





To think... those looked big and scary. Man. That's NOTHING!

Teeter totter



Hitting the bigger drops at the Joyride Jump & Drop park





Devil's Cub



I was pretty impressed to see Bearclaw chilling on a BMX bike at the bottom of the lift. Little did I know we'd see him everyday...





Lunch at Longhorn



Dude (a jerk) didn't want any photos of his bike being taken... feel free to post anywhere.



These guys are everywhere!



Me goin' bigger



The bikes



The riders



Steep roller rock





The first I saw of Alice and her cubs was on my camera



The boys...



Ann made a great pasta dinner. Thanks!

continued...

[allison]

Thursday was bike park day 2. I was looking forward to trying out some more runs. And doing the smaller GLC drop.

One of the best shops in the Village



I was lucky enough to notice Alice and her cubs when we got off the lift. It was amazing to watch them



Ann going for it



Me on a roller





Vanderham at the bottom of the lift



Me and Bearclaw at the top



ROOTS



More drops





Andy on the big'un



Me on the GLC drop



A-Line rock drop



GLC Drop



The bigger bear



Entrance to A-line



This guy is made of bike parts (at Garbanzo)



continued..

I covered Friday already...

Saturday we spent about 12 hours traveling. If you are planning on taking the Perimeter bus, just note that they can be late. Our driver showed up 30 minutes late and there were 5 others to be picked up after us. One of the guys left a "bag" at his hotel, so we had to go back. For his hat... ridiculous.

It took a bit over 3 hours to get to the airport, but we still had plenty of downtime before our flight. We joked about our bags going somewhere else... eventually we got home around 1 am.

Justin was sick most of the week, but took Airborne and Cold Eze. I came down with it today. Raging sore throat and continuously runny nose. Glad it hit today instead of while we were in Whistler!

Anyone up for a 2 week vacation next July or August??

[Pain Freak]

Next July or August I'd go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jfromlv]

Thanks for the report and pics, and for the reminder that I'm not going this year. Mongolie grill is good eats, especially at 50% off, I think Lor may have come close to the record weight there with his bowl of beef!

[PacMan]

Thanks for the extra pics. I saved that handlebar shot. That turned out great.

I'm down for going next year. With a whole year's notice, I can definitley make that happen. I'd even be willing to blow off my May Moab trip for that.

Not to get too personal, about how much $$ did you drop?? I mean, I know you can always spend more or less if you plan for it. But you guys seemed to have a good time and not lack for much, which is how I prefer to do vacations, so that's why I was asking.

[ride hard]

How was the A-line rock drop and how big was it? ive seen it in a lot of vids

[allison]

Originally Posted by PacMan

Not to get too personal, about how much $$ did you drop?? I mean, I know you can always spend more or less if you plan for it. But you guys seemed to have a good time and not lack for much, which is how I prefer to do vacations, so that's why I was asking.

Flight was around $1000 for both of us, and our hotel on Friday night was $103/CAN including taxes.

Aside from that, I have NO desire to know. Everything went on a credit card. We figured we don't have kids, and can pay our bills, so we may as well have a good vacation. While we can dream big, we may not get a chance to go back to Whistler anytime soon.

You can definitely save on renting bikes if you rent the park bikes everyday, or even if you bring your own up. Lift tickets aren't cheap, but if you buy multi-day it saves a little. If you can get a hotel/condo with kitchen you can shop at the market and eat in for all of your meals, which would definitely save $$. I didn't see any campgrounds in Whistler itself, but there are lots of areas in Squamish, so I imagine you can find stuff if you're driving up.

It's a tourist town, though, so stuff isn't cheap. But man is it fun

Originally Posted by ride hard

How was the A-line rock drop and how big was it? ive seen it in a lot of vids

From my POV, it's friggin BIG. We watched guys ride it at full speed like it was a baby head for awhile. Another guy stopped at the top and looked at it with Andy and Justin. Finally Andy said, "Eff it" and went off. Justin followed, and so did the last guy.

Everything just looks so easy up there. I did the smaller GLC drop, and even though I bounced around, and fell off my pedals, I still pulled it off without a crash. The landings are just BUTTA.

[PacMan]

Well, if you guys plan a trip next summer, I'm definitley interested. I've always wanted to go, but your pics and RR's sealed the deal.

[J_Sims]

Originally Posted by Pain Freak

Next July or August I'd go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am in..

[Sprockethead]

Originally Posted by mechmann

yeah baby! i rode that one, tried to talk Andy into it but he wasn't game.

Fukeneh, I wanna ride the next day. I had enough slips and washouts on the wet planks that I didn't trust myself. Ugggh, gotta work tomorrow, I'm already having Whistler Withdrawal.

[Chaos]

Fukeneh!

Great RR and pics Allison. Next summer... I would so love to go!

[guero]

ann and allison were charging it! thanks for sharing the RR and pix, the trip looked like a blast!!!

[ka0t1c07]

You guys look awesome going off those drops. Picture perfect.

[Edog]

Great Trip Guys, thanks for taking the time to do yet another awesome write up!

[OMR]

Allison, always look forward to your RRs... but these of Whistler were very special. Thanks for sharing with us all. Funny thing about those soft squishy bikes... they just encourage you to go higher and faster. Glad you came back in one piece.

OMR

PS: Nice air young lady!