Zaid and I had heard so much about how amazing Whistler was that several months ago we decided that our first joint Mt. Biking trip was going to be to Whistler’s famous bike park. So we reserved our trip through Whistler.com, and we got set up with the Adara Hotel, Flatline Pro Downhill Mountain bikes, and Lift tickets for 2 days. We were super excited to go, and could not wait for the vacation days to come.
On Wednesday June 18, Zaid flew in from Dallas arriving here at SeaTac at 4:30 PM, I picked him up on my way from work. The next morning we stuffed our bags into my car, hauled two of my Trail bikes on to my bike rack, and off we went. It was a relatively easy drive up to the border. When we go there we discovered a long line waiting to get into Canada. We had not accounted for school being out the day before. It was not a problem, just an hour or so long wait to get past the check points.
Once across the border we decided that we should pass by the North Shore and check out were free riding had all started. The day before I did some research on the subject and had concluded that Seymour Mountain was the best to get our feet wet on so to speak. Once we found our way to the Park (no thanks to TomTom), we discovered many friendly people and bikers that gave us ideas on what trail to ride and difficulty levels on those trails. We opted to ride Pangor Trail, and had to bike up to the start of the trail. It was quite the slog straight up the mountain, but once we got to the top and found our way to Pangor it was well worth the climb. The trails here on the North Shore are nothing like either Zaid or I had ever seen. They were steep, with ladders, drops, logs, bridges, and all sorts of features every few feet. The trail was definitely challenging for two Freeride noobs, but fun nonetheless. After we completed our initiation into Freeriding we got back in the car and headed to Whistler by way of the Sea to Sky highway.
The Sea to Sky highway must be one of the most beautiful roads I have ever driven on. Everywhere you looked there was a picture worthy Vista, the Oceans to the West and the mountains to the North and East…just spectacular! The drive up to Whistler was pain free, and on smooth freshly asphalted roads. There was lots of construction as the municipalities were preparing for the 2010 Winter Olympics that would be held in Vancouver and Whistler. Along the way we got to see a black bear hanging out by the highway just taking it easy. That is about the closest I have been to a bear in the wild. A very cool bonus!
We arrived at the Adara Hotel early in the evening only to not find anyone at the checkin desk. We looked around, banged on the bell, opened a few doors. It turned out that there was only one person on staff at the time and she was overwhelmed. She was upstairs helping a customer out in the room. Other than that single wait, we had no other issues with the Adara Hotel. I actually quite liked the hotel. Good service, nice rooms, and perfect location and proximity tot he lifts to do some gravity fed downhill mountain biking. We unloaded our stuff, got to our rooms, and promptly got ready for bed as we had an early day ahead of us. Our itinerary from Whister.com stated that our bike pickup and our lessons began at 8:00 AM sharp!
We got up early on Friday morning to get our bikes and get ready for some downhill training. We took a walk around Whistler Village (a very nicely laid out resort town) looking for a place to have breakfast. We found it odd that we were basically the only ones out, and that most shops and stores were closed. We found a bakery and got some grub to go at the bakery. We then promptly headed to the bike store, only to find it closed. After reading the sign that said they opened at 9:00 AM, only got more confused and started to panic just a little bit. We walked across the streets to the lifts and noted that they did not open till 10:00 AM. That is when we called up Whistler.com and listened to them tell us that our lessons were at 10:30 and apologize for the misprint. Oh well, enough time for Zaid to get a good breakfast!
At 9:00 AM we headed to the bike store to grab our bikes and gear. We were handed two high end Rocky Mountain Flatline Pro’s, Helmets, and armor (in Zaid’s case, I had my own). These were very nice downhill bikes, they retail new for around $6,000.00, and since we were early in the season, they had not been ridden much nor beaten to death by other renters. The people at the rental shop were nice, however their prices were odd, we were asked if we wanted to get bike insurance for $25 which covered everything from replacement tubes to broken frames. Right around when we declined the insurance we were informed that they would offer us dealer pricing on tubes if we got a flat for $8.00…how kind of them, but we mentioned that we had brought our own tubes with us (for all of $3.00 at retail from Performance Bike).
From the bike rental place we headed to grab our lift tickets at the kiosk. We were kindly informed that we had to get our tickets at guest relations as the system was unable to issue our tickets for us. So off we went about 20 feet across the pavilion to the guest relations building. This is where we were kindly told that our package included instruction and guides but not lift tickets. We responded in kind by showing them our reservation documents which clearly stated we had been charged and paid for lift tickets. They called up Whistler.com and eventually resolved the issue, only hassle for us was a 30 minute or so wait. After signing all the waiver documents that basically said if you break your neck the park is not responsible, we were handed the coveted lift tickets, instruction tickets, and pointed to the instruction waiting area right outside the door of guest relations.
At the waiting area we were greeted by Ken, our instructor, who informed us that we would be ready to go in 10 minutes, and that we were lucky in having only one other trainee in the group who was about the same level as we were. 10 minutes later our colleague arrived, and Ken took us for a level evaluation on a trail called B-Line. Ken was friendly and very helpful throughout our entire session, and I highly recommend that anyone going for their first time to Whistler to get an instructor. After B-Line Ken asked us what we wanted to accomplish during our lesson, and after some back and forth it was determined that we could not jump and that we needed to learn how. With a little trepidation both Zaid and I agreed and hoped for the best. You see, along the drive into Canada, Zaid and I had both talked about how we were not at all interested in jumping, and that we would rather avoid jumps if we could. Looking back, it was probably out of fear because we did not know how to negotiate and handle a jump.
A short trip up the lift later, we were directed to the intermediate skills section of the park where Ken started getting us ready for jumping table tops by going over the basics of position and compression. In just over an hour, we had over come our initial fears of jumping and were getting air on the jumps in the skills section. Ken felt comfortable enough to take us on a trail that had table top jumps called Crank it up. This trail, by the way, ended up being our favorite trail, and we would ride it more than half a dozen times during our trip. During our sessions down Crank it up, Ken gave us great advice on our position, handling, compression, etc.. as we rode Crank it up. This helped us improve significantly, and the knowledge also overcame our initial fear of jumps. A bonus that came during one of our lifts up the mountain was sighting a mother bear and her three cubs hanging out below near the A-line trail. We would see one more bear the next day as well, very cool stuff. At around 1:00 PM we had come to the end of our half day session, and we were now ready to tackle blue level trails with jumps on our own.
Zaid and I went back for a few more runs, then decided to grab some lunch. We chose a place in front of the bike park that had the word Saloon in its name. Turned out to be a great place to both eat and take in the views that Whistler had to offer. After we filled our tummy’s we headed back to our room for some jacuzzi time, shower, and then a quick snooze. I have to tell you that the jacuzzi was the best thing I did after the ride, my muscles were aching, and the jets on the tub were soothing and relaxing. Later that evening we went for some more riding down some very cool trails, but none were as nice as Crank it up. We decided to give our muscles a break, call it a night, and head back up the next morning for some more Crank it up.
We got up the next morning ( later than the day before since we were armed with the knowledge that things did not kick into gear until about 9:00 AM) and headed out. We found a new breakfast place that offered up a Greek omelette. We both ordered it up and enjoyed every last bite, it was quite the omelette with olives and feta cheese. We then walked over to Garbonzo Bike and Bean and looked around for T-Shirts for Zaid. That is when I got interested in asking about any bikes they might have for sale for me, and any that might fit my son. it turned out they have two XL Kona Stinky’s in a box, and a Stinky 2-4 in the warehouse that could be brought up and built by 1 PM. I asked them to have an XL built up so that I could try it out, and told them I would be back at 1 PM. Zaid and I went and got our bikes from the rental shops and headed to the lifts for some more awesome down hilling on Crank it up among other trails.
At around 1 PM we headed back for some snacks, I was feeling the need for some ice cream. We popped over to Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and ordered Vanilla cones. After a good cooling off via our frozen treats, I headed back to Garbanzo Bike and Bean. They had a very new and nice blue Kona Stinky ready for a ride. I took it out for a quick spin and instantly made the decision to buy it right there and then. After a few moments swiping credit cards and signing docs, I was the proud new owner of a 2007 Kona Stinky. I decided that I would ride my new bike for the remainder of the day and break it in on Whistler.
All I can say is WOW! What a ride, the Stinky felt way more responsive to trail chatter than the Flat line, and pedaling performance was significantly better. It instantly became clear to me why Kona has been regarded as #1 in the Downhill and Agressive Freeride scene for so long.
At around 4:00 PM we had had our fill of riding Whistler and headed back to the hotel to grab our stuff, complete our checkout (which we had started in the morning) and drive back to Seattle.
Our drive back was easy, and once again, via the Sea to Sky Highway both painless and pretty. This time there were no lines at the border, and entry into the US was a breeze. One funny incident at the border was the guard started asking about our bikes, and why we had three of them. Once I started to explain in detail the difference between bikes built for Cross Country riding and Down Hilling riding he promptly let us know that he was not technical about bikes at all, and really was not interested, and waved us on.
This trip was definitely one of the best vacation trips I have ever had. Thanks Zaid for managing the logistics and for joining me on the trip. Looking forward to the next one!
