Post Canyon, Aug. 26th, 2008

I'm enjoying my vacation week and after 4 10-hour days in Cisco training and a stellar weekend at Whistler. Mike Estes is psyched to ride all week, so I headed out to Post Canyon yesterday to keep what little mojo I had left from the weekend going.

We did a few warm-up runs down Middle School and Drop Out, and I could tell I was still feeling some of the weekend flow. Having to hold back gravity from lift-assisted riding is a lot more noticeable on the body than riding Post Canyon's trails, so I felt pretty aggressive yesterday compared to normal. We did a speed run down Seven Streams, then up to Mitchell Ridge and the "Minute Thirty DH" section. That is such a dope trail!!





We sessioned the roots for a few minutes to get some pictures, then a few spots down. Mike's wife Laurie took an over the bars digger rocketing out of the berm after the roots coming down the bypass, but shook it off and kept shredding. I was feeling loose and focused and generally enjoying the hell out of workin' my bike!!



Looking forward to the weekend and the right side of Chorus.

Whistler Bike Park, Aug. 22nd-24th, 2008

Well, I finally made it up to Whistler with my bike. I could end this whole post with the word WOW.

Friday around 1:00 PM, I met up with Jameel and Bernie at Trail Head Cycles and we installed one of Bernie's bike rack mounts on Jameel's roof rack (another story entirely), and headed north towards the "Land of Eh."

We drove for about an hour and decided it was food and beer time, and ended up in deepest, darkest Centralia (AKA Scent Trailer) eating marginal Mexi restaurant food. Back to the freeway. Stayed the night at Jameel's father's friend Theo's house in Bellingham. It may as well be called a mansion. We ate marinated steaks that melted in your mouth and had some of the best food I've tasted in years. Add to that, we all had our own rooms with queen sized beds. Breakfast Saturday morning was equally spectacular, as was the coffee. Back on the road we go.

We arrived at Whistler around 10:30-11:00-ish and geared-up to ride. Bernie led us down Crank It Up for our first run. One of my new favorite trails. It pretty much set the stage for the rest of the day: lippy jumps, big berms, stay off the brakes, stand into the jumps. We ran into Hack, Jamie, Chris, Fat Larry and April in the lift line for the second run and chatted. I guess Jake was taken down in an ambulance we saw on the first run with a concussion and a tweaked hip. Heal quick, Jake!! Bernie took Jameel and I down A-line for the next run, then all the way to the top to Freight Train. The top of the hill is a different world from the bottom. It was rain-slicked and had lots of rooted, rocky sections covered in trail snot that I found myself walking while giving myself shit for doing so. I worked my way to a trail called Sideshow and loved that ride. Duff Man, not as much in the wet. Lower Freight Train to A-Line was sweet. We actually rode with Jamie and Greg on two runs and hit Dirt Merchant (I'm sure Jamie's only memory of me from this weekend will be my riding around a step-up on Dirt Merchant to tell them Greg flatted his tire), Crack Addict, Crabapple Hits, Ninja Cougar, and Karate Monkey. Beware Monkey when wet!! Ninja Cougar would've been more fun on my 4XXXX, but every other trail was definitely big bike territory. I'm still tripping out how easy the GLC drop was, and hit it about 5 times on both the left and right side. I pedaled into it my last run down A-Line and boosted out about 3 bike lengths off the right side before I landed and got a cheer from the GLC bar patio, which pumped me up huge for the rest of the day. I wanted to hit Schleyer and Detroit Rock City, but will wait for a dryer trip. As sick as the biggie trails were, my last drunken blast down Crank It Up/Heart Of Darkness at the end of Saturday afternoon was just money. Nice and loose and full of liquid courage. My bike likes Whistler...Oh yeah, me too!!

Saturday night was a gong show and a half. We got blindingly drunk, conducted "safety meetings" while walking around the village, figured out how to scam the Buffalo Bill's nightclub and didn't pay cover, got separated from Bernie who was drunker than Jameel or myself (he's Austrian and got picked up on by an Austrian woman working at Whistler who was partying with her friends from North Van. They dropped him off Sunday morning), and basically were amazed we found our way back to the hotel at the end of the night. I was amazed how many people stay and party at Whistler outside of the park activity. Many 30-ish married women in groups drinking heavily. Our next door neighbor at the hotel was from Regina, SK and had the most stereotypical Canadian accent I've ever heard and said "eh" every sentence. He was super trashed and fed us beer and doobage over the balcony while rambling (more than me) with his girlfriend. They were digging the park, too.

Sunday morning we awoke to sideways rain and I reluctantly decided not to ride, as did Bernie. Jameel wasn't going to let a little mud stop him, and bought a sampler ticket and did 3 wet runs. Bernie and I had a few safety meetings and walked around on some of the MMTFs left in the Boneyard from Crankworx. If you think a 40 foot step-down drop looks gnarly from the ground, try standing on the lip. Traffic was awful leaving the hill, as was visibility. We ended up missing our turn for the border by 10 miles and crossed in Alderbrook, which ended up being a clearer shot to Bellingham and the I-5, and probably saved us an hour at the border. The drive home was uneventful aside from the fact that Jameel's roof rack moved back almost 7 inches over the course of the trip. But it didn't fall off, none of us got hurt or had a mechanical problem, and made it home safe and happy.

Whistler's bike park is downright amazing, and easily worth the 7 hour trip. I'm already planning my next bike trip up (hopefully within a month), and then I have the snow season and Blackcomb freshies to look forward to.

Just WOW!!