Whistler Trip

June 2008

As this was my first time abroad with my bike as well as my first time abroad by myself, I was excited and was counting down the days until my flight. Friday came and I was up at 4am, in the van and off to Manchester Airport. After check in final goodbyes were said and I went through to my plane. Coming in to land in Vancouver I was amazed at how big everything was over in Canada. I was welcomed by Jay from ticket2ride and met up with the other guys who had come on the same flight. As the drive back to the chalet in whistler was a 4 hour drive we stopped off on the way and got used to the local food. Big slices of pizza and more energy drinks than I could imagine were lined along every shelf so I stocked up with Monster energy for the week. Arriving at the chalet we were all greeted by Dan and we settled in and built our bikes. This was a scary moment for me as a washer on my rear axle had dropped into the bike bag and I thought for a moment that I wouldn’t have a complete bike.

After a much needed sleep it was morning and I was excited and just wanted to go to the bike-park and ride. I did my first runs on the easier tracks such as ‘Crank It Up’ and ‘B-line’ with Matt Parkinson just to get used to the tracks and the length of the mountain. We moved onto some of the bigger tracks like ‘A-line’ and ‘Dirt Merchant’ and did some jumps and drops. This was more my style and made a welcome change to the tight and twisty tracks which I was used to acing on back in the UK. That day I rode till closing time and was so happy to have finally lived my dream of riding Whistler. That night we ate in the chalet where chef Andy worked his wonders and cooked us a fantastic three course meal.

Day 2 and we went back to he bike park to ride for another whole day. The riding was better today as I knew a lot of the tracks and had got used to riding the steeper and longer tracks. I had a break from doing endless runs down ‘A-line’ and went over to the tighter and more downhill type trails such as ’Karate Monkey’ and Schleyer’. With Matt not having any forks I met up with Paul from Norway who was pinning the trails on a short travel Turner. We rode all day down tight trails and I was pushing myself to go faster every run. Day 3 was also spent in the bike park and I got to know the bars and restaurants around the village at lunch. Although the waitresses at Longhorn’s were outstanding I think the coke refills at the GLC took my fancy in the hot Canadian sunshine.

On Tuesday I was going on the North-Shore trip with Dan, Lee, Chris the mechanic and all the other guys from the chalet. First run down we did was slow and learning to ride the skinnies and the rocky drops. This was an ideal place to take some pictures of the guys and Keith the camera man got snapping. Further down the trail we ran into a mini bike park with several lines of north-shore made from both natural logs and hand built shore. After this we were shuttled back to the top of the mountain which was bigger than it looked. A well deserved lunch was eaten and we did a run from top to bottom of the trail. The shore on the top section was a lot bigger and a lot of the guys conquered their fears and showed off their new whistler skills. Back into the Astro and the four hour drive was fun filled with music and the amazing views.

On Wednesday and Thursday I rode the bike park again and also got a chance to do some bike park riding with the chalet crew. Once again Keith and Tony took charge of the camera and some still memories were recorded. Taking the guys down A-line was a good experience and everyone was laughing all the way down behind me. These two nights also entailed me trying to get into the local bars which I’ll admit didn’t work.

It felt like no time at all until my week in Whistler was over and I was packing my bike back into the bag and getting all my clothes folded neatly. Tim and the boys played their cards right and managed to find a way to gain an extra day of riding. Unfortunately because my flight was early on Friday I couldn’t do this. Running around the airport trying to find our flights was hectic but I checked in well on time. Final goodbyes were once again said and emotions came out. No tears thankfully. Minutes later I was sat around with Jay and Steve waiting for our call and eventually I left sunny Canada for rainy England.

I would like to thank everyone for making my experience the best it could possibly be. Especially all of the guides, Andy the chef, Chris the mechanic who saved my skin a few times, Tim and the boys, David, Alice for keeping us all in order and anyone else who helped out and rode with me. Also Mr Felstead himself for lending me his bike-bag and dad for emptying his wallet to send me out there. Photos courtesy of Keith =].