jvnixon
08-03-2007, 03:28 PM
Day 5 of the Ultimate Road Trip - Whistler
Where did all the days go? How did we suddenly get to Whistler? The Ultimate Road Trip is just flying along.
Another 2am arrival, this time we push breakfast back to 10am. Again the resorts make us ALL feel special with great rooms based around apartments at www.mountainsidelodge.ca this is right at the bottom of the lift up into the park.
Jeremy Olson meets us for breakfast, he’s a dirt jump rider and PR manager for whistler, and super excited to hear how the trip has been going.
As like everyday on the trip the “GANG’ is keen to rip, bikes get checked. We find that all the brake pads need to be changed due to the harsh weather conditions we’re having.
The first ride up on the chair lift always gives you butterflies no matter how long you have been riding, with Crankworx starting tomorrow the park is blown out of shape with he sickest slope style stunts, the worlds best riders are here for the showdown!
The sign when you get of the chair tells you to “warm up on a Green or a Blue run”
B-line it is then. The winners of the Ultimate Road Trip get a taste of what Whistler has to offer, smiles, giggles and “Thank You” are what we are met with everytime we stop to regroup.
It’s been so worth it.
On the lift, up we go. This time we turned onto Karate Monkey, this is the most technical trail the ‘GANG’ has been tested with. Once again they all stepped up their game and railed and nailed it.
We switched from there into Ho Chi Min, ending out on lower A-line, Oh! They want to jump! They so want to jump, coaching the last day we will be on drops and jumps.
The Ultimate Road Trip’s purpose is not to be all about bikes. Bike Parks BC wants to show the world the resorts Mt Washington, Sun Peaks, Panorama, Silverstar, Kicking Horse and Whistler have a lot more then bikes to offer.
We pull the riders off their bikes at 3:15pm they shower and by 4pm they are signing wavier at the Outdoor adventure office for the ATV tour to the Whistler Mountain Peak, that’s right ATV’s all the way to the top of the Mountain! www.adventureswhistler.com Thanks to Dave at Outdoor adventure for putting it on.
No Racing, No fish tails, No Bumping we broke all of those rules in the first 5 minutes! Our Guides Madison and Lesley pulled us all to a stop and gave us all a telling off, they where right too.
Inside all of our helmets we where all chuckling like school children though. Higher and higher we ride, more and more snow, man! Whistler got so much snow this winter. So much that they don’t think some trails will open until late August, that’s just one and half months they will be open this summer before winter arrives.
The idea of the ride is to get to the top enjoy the view and then come a little ways back down for dinner at Chick Pea lodge. Dinner prepared by Outdoor Adventure, they even had a lady playing guitar and signing, a nice atmosphere high up on the mountain.
Chasing the light down the mountain on full bellies was fun, it seemed the ‘GANG’ only knows GO & STOP on the ATV’s and in true fashion! It wasn’t long before we had a roller . . . yes, Chris Jones. Trying to do doughnuts quickly turned into a low speed barrel role.
He is OK!
Scrapping of the mud we walked over to a bar for a cold well-earned pitcher of Kokanee beer. Our first day in Whistler on the Ultimate Road Trip comes to a close. Check back in for more tomorrow.
Day 6- Whistler- The Last Day
With the ‘GANG’ taking a good nights rest they where ready for action early. Hooking up with Jeremy Olson at the Whistler tennis club for some breakfast we discussed the days riding.
Over breakfast Chris, one of the winners asked a question:
“So I want to bring the family here, where is the best to stay?”
This is the whole purpose of the Ultimate Road Trip. We have shown our winners you can come to a Bike Parks BC resort with the whole family.
We decided to ride a few warm up runs on ‘Crank It Up’ at 11:30am we met up with our guide from Whistler Parks. We planned to go all the way to the Whistler Peak, a place we had only been a few days earlier on ATV’s.
With rain still falling from the sky we headed up on the chairlift. It’s amazing; we’ve been in the rain all week the rider’s spirits have stayed so high. In fact today they where keen to ride all day!
As we climbed through the clouds on board the Village Gondola and into almost clear skies the winners got a sense of how long this run was going to be. Sadly the very top was still covered in cloud, and the only way up is on the open chair.
We didn’t see the point going all the way to the top getting really wet and cold for the sake of a little fire road descent. We decided to have our lunch early at the Round House Lodge, which is part of the gondola station there is a great restaurant called ‘Steeps’; Steep’s Grill is Gourmet casual dining at 6030 feet! What a dizzy height for lunch.
Being full from breakfast we really did not want to eat again, but when Chris Jones saw they had yam fries he was at the table and ready to order.
So were now sat down having a large lunch wondering will the group ever get going after this feast?
I think these pictures just about say that. Racing across the snow was a blast! We all crashed at some point. We got wet, really wet!
We arrived at the top of the freight train. What a trail, Jump, burm, jump, burm! Will it ever end? No! From there you end up onto Dirt Merchant and then onto lower A-line.
Dave or PR guy (who is a former world cup DH rider) is no slow dude; he could see Frank wanted to jump. So he took it on board to have Frank follow him at the speed needed to jump all the jumps.
Frank, hats off to you. You did it and you even jumped the creek gap jump on Dirt Merchant “I tried to go around but Frank was shouting DO IT, show me. So I carved in and hit it. He followed and looked amazing over it”
We told Frank that he should be racing downhill; he has such a natural talent to learn.
The winners couldn’t jump at the start of this epic run, half way down they where all getting air. It was cool to see it happen.
Now I could go into details about the runs we rode for the rest of the day, but I wont, as it was one of the longest days on a bike. From 12 noon until 7 pm we raced up and down the hill.
Wet and dirty and loving it “just three more runs and we shall see how we feel” the riders told us.
Marie Helen made the best call, she knew she was tiered and didn’t want to run the risk of crashing so she called it a day.
The boys however, just kept going. We do this everyday and we can see the signs when a rider is getting tiered.
How do you take away the candy from a kid and not make them cry? Well we pushed them down Angry Pirate a tight and twisty trail that takes a lot body strength and focus, then cutting onto lower A-line, mistakes where being made and the riders finally admitted they maybe a little tiered.
We soon heard “How about a easy run down ‘crank it up’? Ok, this was the run that showed them they where tiered. Chris ‘Yam Fries addict’ Jones slide down one of the wall rides ending up in a heap of bike and body at the bottom.
Thankfully he was wearing his NEW BODY ARMOUR (that is cheaper than the health care deductible)
They called it and we closed the chapter on riding for the first ever Ultimate Road Trip.
Jet washing and more jet washing were needed to get nearly eight hours of grit out of the kit.
Ric’s Grill was the choice for dinner and we met with Gabe who is the Canadian country manager for Red Bull he was fired up to hear U.R.T stories.
A long night of drinking and dancing rolled by and it with it being Frank’s birthday it fueled the troops to really push the boat out. Shaums became ELASTIC man for the evening; he wasn’t too bad, but still quite bendy!
It’s been an emotional ride, we are sad it came to an end and blown away that we pulled it off.
Thanks to all the sponsors of the Trip;
Bike Parks BC, Marin Bikes, Dangerboy Components, Fox, Kenda, Clif Bar, Hayes Brakes, WTB, E-13, ODI, Crud Catcher.
For all the information on Bike Parks BC go to www.bikeparksbc.com
Or call Dave Hemming at 503-724-7120 for more information.
Where did all the days go? How did we suddenly get to Whistler? The Ultimate Road Trip is just flying along.
Another 2am arrival, this time we push breakfast back to 10am. Again the resorts make us ALL feel special with great rooms based around apartments at www.mountainsidelodge.ca this is right at the bottom of the lift up into the park.
Jeremy Olson meets us for breakfast, he’s a dirt jump rider and PR manager for whistler, and super excited to hear how the trip has been going.
As like everyday on the trip the “GANG’ is keen to rip, bikes get checked. We find that all the brake pads need to be changed due to the harsh weather conditions we’re having.
The first ride up on the chair lift always gives you butterflies no matter how long you have been riding, with Crankworx starting tomorrow the park is blown out of shape with he sickest slope style stunts, the worlds best riders are here for the showdown!
The sign when you get of the chair tells you to “warm up on a Green or a Blue run”
B-line it is then. The winners of the Ultimate Road Trip get a taste of what Whistler has to offer, smiles, giggles and “Thank You” are what we are met with everytime we stop to regroup.
It’s been so worth it.
On the lift, up we go. This time we turned onto Karate Monkey, this is the most technical trail the ‘GANG’ has been tested with. Once again they all stepped up their game and railed and nailed it.
We switched from there into Ho Chi Min, ending out on lower A-line, Oh! They want to jump! They so want to jump, coaching the last day we will be on drops and jumps.
The Ultimate Road Trip’s purpose is not to be all about bikes. Bike Parks BC wants to show the world the resorts Mt Washington, Sun Peaks, Panorama, Silverstar, Kicking Horse and Whistler have a lot more then bikes to offer.
We pull the riders off their bikes at 3:15pm they shower and by 4pm they are signing wavier at the Outdoor adventure office for the ATV tour to the Whistler Mountain Peak, that’s right ATV’s all the way to the top of the Mountain! www.adventureswhistler.com Thanks to Dave at Outdoor adventure for putting it on.
No Racing, No fish tails, No Bumping we broke all of those rules in the first 5 minutes! Our Guides Madison and Lesley pulled us all to a stop and gave us all a telling off, they where right too.
Inside all of our helmets we where all chuckling like school children though. Higher and higher we ride, more and more snow, man! Whistler got so much snow this winter. So much that they don’t think some trails will open until late August, that’s just one and half months they will be open this summer before winter arrives.
The idea of the ride is to get to the top enjoy the view and then come a little ways back down for dinner at Chick Pea lodge. Dinner prepared by Outdoor Adventure, they even had a lady playing guitar and signing, a nice atmosphere high up on the mountain.
Chasing the light down the mountain on full bellies was fun, it seemed the ‘GANG’ only knows GO & STOP on the ATV’s and in true fashion! It wasn’t long before we had a roller . . . yes, Chris Jones. Trying to do doughnuts quickly turned into a low speed barrel role.
He is OK!
Scrapping of the mud we walked over to a bar for a cold well-earned pitcher of Kokanee beer. Our first day in Whistler on the Ultimate Road Trip comes to a close. Check back in for more tomorrow.
Day 6- Whistler- The Last Day
With the ‘GANG’ taking a good nights rest they where ready for action early. Hooking up with Jeremy Olson at the Whistler tennis club for some breakfast we discussed the days riding.
Over breakfast Chris, one of the winners asked a question:
“So I want to bring the family here, where is the best to stay?”
This is the whole purpose of the Ultimate Road Trip. We have shown our winners you can come to a Bike Parks BC resort with the whole family.
We decided to ride a few warm up runs on ‘Crank It Up’ at 11:30am we met up with our guide from Whistler Parks. We planned to go all the way to the Whistler Peak, a place we had only been a few days earlier on ATV’s.
With rain still falling from the sky we headed up on the chairlift. It’s amazing; we’ve been in the rain all week the rider’s spirits have stayed so high. In fact today they where keen to ride all day!
As we climbed through the clouds on board the Village Gondola and into almost clear skies the winners got a sense of how long this run was going to be. Sadly the very top was still covered in cloud, and the only way up is on the open chair.
We didn’t see the point going all the way to the top getting really wet and cold for the sake of a little fire road descent. We decided to have our lunch early at the Round House Lodge, which is part of the gondola station there is a great restaurant called ‘Steeps’; Steep’s Grill is Gourmet casual dining at 6030 feet! What a dizzy height for lunch.
Being full from breakfast we really did not want to eat again, but when Chris Jones saw they had yam fries he was at the table and ready to order.
So were now sat down having a large lunch wondering will the group ever get going after this feast?
I think these pictures just about say that. Racing across the snow was a blast! We all crashed at some point. We got wet, really wet!
We arrived at the top of the freight train. What a trail, Jump, burm, jump, burm! Will it ever end? No! From there you end up onto Dirt Merchant and then onto lower A-line.
Dave or PR guy (who is a former world cup DH rider) is no slow dude; he could see Frank wanted to jump. So he took it on board to have Frank follow him at the speed needed to jump all the jumps.
Frank, hats off to you. You did it and you even jumped the creek gap jump on Dirt Merchant “I tried to go around but Frank was shouting DO IT, show me. So I carved in and hit it. He followed and looked amazing over it”
We told Frank that he should be racing downhill; he has such a natural talent to learn.
The winners couldn’t jump at the start of this epic run, half way down they where all getting air. It was cool to see it happen.
Now I could go into details about the runs we rode for the rest of the day, but I wont, as it was one of the longest days on a bike. From 12 noon until 7 pm we raced up and down the hill.
Wet and dirty and loving it “just three more runs and we shall see how we feel” the riders told us.
Marie Helen made the best call, she knew she was tiered and didn’t want to run the risk of crashing so she called it a day.
The boys however, just kept going. We do this everyday and we can see the signs when a rider is getting tiered.
How do you take away the candy from a kid and not make them cry? Well we pushed them down Angry Pirate a tight and twisty trail that takes a lot body strength and focus, then cutting onto lower A-line, mistakes where being made and the riders finally admitted they maybe a little tiered.
We soon heard “How about a easy run down ‘crank it up’? Ok, this was the run that showed them they where tiered. Chris ‘Yam Fries addict’ Jones slide down one of the wall rides ending up in a heap of bike and body at the bottom.
Thankfully he was wearing his NEW BODY ARMOUR (that is cheaper than the health care deductible)
They called it and we closed the chapter on riding for the first ever Ultimate Road Trip.
Jet washing and more jet washing were needed to get nearly eight hours of grit out of the kit.
Ric’s Grill was the choice for dinner and we met with Gabe who is the Canadian country manager for Red Bull he was fired up to hear U.R.T stories.
A long night of drinking and dancing rolled by and it with it being Frank’s birthday it fueled the troops to really push the boat out. Shaums became ELASTIC man for the evening; he wasn’t too bad, but still quite bendy!
It’s been an emotional ride, we are sad it came to an end and blown away that we pulled it off.
Thanks to all the sponsors of the Trip;
Bike Parks BC, Marin Bikes, Dangerboy Components, Fox, Kenda, Clif Bar, Hayes Brakes, WTB, E-13, ODI, Crud Catcher.
For all the information on Bike Parks BC go to www.bikeparksbc.com
Or call Dave Hemming at 503-724-7120 for more information.