This summer I have been traveling a lot and riding new places. The highlight of my summer and something that would forever ruin me (in a good way) was my trip to whistler. I knew this was the summer I wanted to make the trip and to get the most bang for my buck I went during Crankworks to get the full experience. Going into this trip I was extremely skeptical when I was running the cost. Im still a college kid and when I travel on road trips I normally do it in a college kid way (peanut butter sandwiches, bumming on couches and campsites, and splitting the cost with as many other people we can fit in my Camry). This trip was going to be my first trip that was going to cost me a pretty penny and when you don't have that many pennies its tough taking that risk. The biggest thing going through my head was is it going to be worth it. It turned out to be not only worth it, but probably one of the most amazing trips I have ever gone on. It set the bar so high that Im not sure how I am going to beat it in the future. There is not enough words to describe how amazing the riding is in whistler or even how amazing whistler is. Hands down has to be the Mecca of mountain biking and is a trip that must be made if you can get up there. Its not even just the park that makes it amazing. That wasnt even my favorite part. The XC stuff is where it was at for me , and was some of the most amazing riding I have ever done. And when I say XC its not your spandex hardtail trails. Whistler XC is our all mountain riding. I spent 3 days riding the park and 4 days outside fo the park putting in big XC miles days. I will hands down say I much prefered the XC. The amount of flow and tech and steep and perfect loamy dirt just made it impossible to not have a smile on after every trail. And every trail I hit was the most amazing trail I have ever hit in my life. Not to mention that the trails dont get even a fraction of the use of the park. The double black XC trails have the same knar as the park double black trails but no braking bumps or abuse. I was very fortunate to hook up with the locals and get some wheels to follow down some of the on mao xc trails as well as off and that helped increase the flow factor to the trails really putting it over the top. Dont get me wrong the park is still amazing, and set the bar for what a park should be, but it just gets so much use and abuse that it was nice to get outside of it. In the park though, Aline and crank it up lived up to the hype of best jump trails and angry pirates, duffman, freight train gave me the adrenaline rush I needed. On one of my park days I went up to top of the world. This is a must do. The views from the top are some fo the most amazing I have seen and at times I felt like hans rey on some back country high alps adventure. It truly stuck in my memory. Another thing to not about whistler is how much their mountain bike organization, Worca, makes our mountain bike association ( not even sure we have one) look non existent. They have maps, both physical and on the iphone, that are updated monthly. The one on your phone shows your gps position relative to the trails. They get out weekly to maintain the trails, they constantly push the boundary for new trails, and they make sure there is a huge amount of support for bikers in general. And this is their XC stuff, where there is 100’s of trails over thousands of acres of mountain land. And here is the crazy thing, people actually love Worca. They dont criticize or try and stop them. When I returned from my trip and rode my backyard of Laguna beach where all my favorite trail are illegal, blown out, getting shut down and I always have to look out for ranger danger it really made me realize how much the MTB scene here is a joke. With this many amazing people down here and resources we shouldnt be the outlawed group restricted to fire road use and wide 10 ft “singletrack”. Im definitely ruined. I think the highlight of the trip was day one when we were stuck in the Vancouver airport with no place to stay our first night since our hotel in Whistler was for the next day. We were about to just head over to Whistler and wing it and maybe sleep in a park or some place when our shuttle driver, someone I had never met and only spoken to on the phone, told me we could crash with him. All he gave me were cross streets to meet him at 9 pm and we were extremely skeptical and sure we were about to be murdered. Turns out Scott from Epic Rides shuttle service was the most chill amazing guy I have ever met. He only charges $35 round trip with your bike to Whistler too! We ended up going out and having dinner with him and crashing on his couch where I had a face to face meeting with his cats when I woke up! We would have taken his offer to sleep at his place again the last night when we also didnt have a place to crash but we had an early flight and decided to sleep in the airport (extremely comfortable by the way! Another highlight was the cheese festival we timed perfectly and all of the crankworks events! My bike for the whole trip was my Mojo HDR and I rode it in the park and on the XC trails and it handled perfectly! I was alot more comfortable on it then the dh bike I rented for a day and would definitely do it again! Shout out to an STR member who let me borrow his evoc bag (ill let him stay anonymous but wanted to say thanks again!). And thanks to my buddy Josh for joing me on the trip and hope you heal up soon duude (broken CB). I was told before I left that Whistler would ruin me. It did.
Typical Mo, the only picture the right way 'round was of food Looks like you had a good time, I'm jealous
Link to Valley XC Map: http://www.whistler.com/pdf/maps/whistler-hiking-biking-map.pdf Warning: Its a big, 2-page file, and the farthest reaches are about an hour from the center of the action... Here's the map by WORCA: http://www.worca.com/trail-map/ But even that doesn't show the myriad of forest-roads that are official, but exist mostly for backcountry snowmobile access and horseback riding. If you can figure out how to ride with a local, that seems to be the best way...next time I go up, I'm skipping the park...mo' money for $5 pints of Guinness...I should've followed the Mo program when I was up there over Labor Day Weekend.
Nice trip, Mo! Way to show how it's done--on a budget! Thanks for the report and pix. Hope to hit the trail with you soon...Cheers!
Awesome photos! I only had one day in the park, but from the limited experience I had combined with ride reports about the XC stuff... I could only imagine it being even more epic than it already is. Awesome to hear that the Canadians took care of you and let you stay with them too! Awesome to hear that there are people with integrity and hospitality still out there. How did you get your bike to stay still on some of the photos where the bike is vertical? :lol: I'd love to drive up to Whistler and ride different trails along the way from So. Cal to Whistler and then re ride the best ones on the way home. A nice 18-21 day mountain biking road trip. Edit: I love this about the post ---- $6,000 bike talking about having a peanut butter sandwich diet, haha! (Not hating)
Fun read Mo!! Your enthusiasm, innocence (murdered??... Hahaha) truly show your genuine stoke...don't ever change that. Thanks for sharing ...
Yup, Whister at Crankworks ruined me too. The trails outside the park are definitely equally worthy of riding as the park.
And in case you missed a lot of Mo's activity at Whistler, re-visit this thread: http://www.socaltrailriders.org/for...-with-a-Pro!&p=1030950&viewfull=1#post1030950 He found himself with some pretty good riders. When my wife and I visited Whistler for the first time in summer (2009) she took a lesson in the bike park. When I found her later that afternoon wandering the village, she said this: "If skiing were this fun I would have skied every day..." We sat at the GLC nursing beers at sundown (about 10pm) and she offered two more comments reflective of her enjoyment of the place: 1.) I am going to buy a DH bike... (which she did - single crown Speshy SX Trail) 2.) I am going to open a Chronic Tacos here, because I love it here and they desperately need something like that in the village near the lifts. No offense meant to Dups down village. OK, maybe some offense... (She actually talked with Chronic after we returned and had a plan going. That changed in 2010 with the arrival of our daughter). So yes, Whistler has an effect on you...
