sdyeti.. Just wondering, but does Whistler have trails for riders of all skill levels? I really want to go to Whistler and would love to do bike rides there, but even if my bikes get better over time, I don't know how much better I'll get. And can you travel with bikes on airlines, or did you just rent them?
Pretty soon...we hit the lifts for 8 hours today and just got back! Whoo! I changed my mind as of today about my favorite trail...I did one that I have not done before... my new favorite...drum roll please......... SCHLEYER!! Also rode Crack Addict, In Deep, and Fatcrobat for the 1st time...all great, challenging trails (in other words, double black diamonds)
Whistler absolutely has riding for ALL levels...in the valley there are wonderful free trails and in the bike park, there are many green circle trails (rated the easiest) and blue square trails (intermediate level). We saw people of all ability levels on the trails. Yes, you can travel with a bike on the plane...packed in a hard-sided bike case (like Trico) or a cardboard bike box. Prices that the airlines charge for bike boxes seem to range from $50 to $100. Yes, you can rent a bike there, but if you have a great bike and you really love it (and don't want to take the chance of renting a crappy bike that you've just paid upwards of $100 per day for...bring your own ). We brought our own...cost round trip = $100 versus a week's rental...which was going to be $500.
Day #7...friends and celebrities Well, sadly, our last riding day in Whistler has just come to a close. Flying home tomorrow. I'm gonna say it...I'll be depressed when I compare our trails to here. Today rocked because we got to ride with our friends. First, Eric, Carla, and Scott. We took our first couple runs with them since we all got up here. Carla was absolutely awesome...doing the 2nd ladder drop on the Joyride drop area...she nailed it and inspired me to quit being such a wimp and just do it. We also ran into and rode with the Incycle boys...Curtis (m80kickflip) and Joe Simpson. Did a double sesh off the Garbanzo lift with those guys...some tough trails! Celebrities...I was geeking all day with the amount of biking celebs I got to see, the racers in particular. They are all up here for Crankworx...The Athertons (I just had to say hi to Rachel...she kicks ass), Cedric, Lopes, Kovarik, Neethling, Lehikoinen, Beerten, Bryceland, Reid, Shandro, Vanderham, Buchar, Strand, local SD boy JD Swanguen...and on and on. Here are your long awaited pix of the day: Carla (cbharping)...HUCKER !! Me, ladder drop on Schleyer
Have you tried Upper & lower Joyride yet? If you liked Schleyer you might like them too. Upper JR is one of my favorites with some nice rock faces. Lower is a bit harder as can get steep, tight and technical all at once but you've ridden harder stuff on some of the other trails by now. You also need to find Duffman, No Duff, and especially Too Tight. More of my favorites. Lots of natural rock faces on the first two. Too tight is short, but nice twisty tight singletrack thru the trees. The goal there is no pedalling, no brakes. Are you going to have tiem for Comfortably Numb? Edit: Seeing what you wrote while I was typing, guess not. Next year!
Upper Joyride...yes, we did that today. The long rock face at the 45 degree angle...pucker factor 10+ for me! I walked down it. No time for Lower Joyride today We also did Duffman, No Duff and Too Tight...all great trails. I stayed away from Goats Gully though...one time down, 3 years ago in the rain was enough for me Being at Whistler is so ideal because I get to ride the type of trails I love (tight, rooty singletrack DH like Original Sin) and practice on the type of trails I'm not so comfortable on (high speed courses with lots of jumps, like A Line).
i honestly thought lower joyride is one of the tougher trails on the mountain(well except clownshoes). i thought it was maybe harder than original sin and goats gully? i'll be there in 3 weeks, looking to ride the top alot this year! ahh, clownshoes the manager roller was pretty wild also!
Dan hit the Manager while we were there...hopefull m80kickflip will post up the picture he took of it...wow that was insane stuff!! Have fun up there
Dan's pictures It was good taking some runs with you and Dan on Thursday. Here's a couple pictures of Dan. In Deep The Manager ..... that's gnarly! More pictures to come....
Steph, I've enjoyed your RR's of Whistler. Thanks for taking the time to post them. :wave: Looks like you all had a great time there and rode some gnars-gnars while you're at it.
It was so GREAT to get together with you and Dan! That was such a nice extra treat to an amazing week! Once I have the time I'll download the GAZILLION photos I've taken! I maxed out the camera's memory card! :lol:
Awesome RR and pics, Steph. I'm thinking next summer's going to be the time for me to make my first trip to Whistler!
the manager looks wild but its even more wild when doing it (most drops looks worse than they are). its that first roller, then as your going over the edge on the last part, your back tire is kicked up, never touched till the very bottom. i was almost 90 degrees in the air, as far back as i could get and still just about OTB. the first year i did it, the bottom was all wet and a slid off into the right ravine and broke some ribs.
Heading up at the end of the month and torn between taking the Nomad or the Demo 8. Thanks for the pics! Can't wait to see the place myself!
