Over night it had been raining.....no in fact it had been pouring really hard all night. Needless to say we were hoping that things would clear up a little. It didn't. All the way up to the hill it was raining and when we arrived it seemed to get even worse. In the past I have ridden at Whistler in these conditions and still had a good time. The only problem is that several really good trails get closed when it rains and therefore limits the variety that one can get in a days worth of riding. Once suited up we purchased our tickets and upward we went into the pouring clouds. It was our plan to go all the way to the top on the Garbonzo chair and do a top to bottom run to start off the day. Much to our dismay the Garbonzo lift was not running at all today. It was due to the very wet weather. So for our fist run we decided to hit the ever so famous A-Line. As always a tone of fun and it seems that in the wet it is smoother. Table after table after table under my tires and the wind rushing by my face. I was one happy boy.
Once me made it to the Boneyard area we split into 2 groups. Mike and Rob did lower A-Line to the GLC drops and I did the Bikercross. Since the Crankworx slopestyle, the biker cross has been freaking awesome. All the step-ups and step downs with tables and berms........it is truly a bikers paradise, a 2 wheeled playground. At the bottom we met back together and made our way back up to the top.
Now I am not going to go into each and every run, but I will rather go over the highlights of the day. Rob's one footer............I was cruising behind Rob yelling at him that I wanted to see him pull some big air as we were going into the last part of lower A-Line. There is a small jump to a left hand berm and Rob hit it at an okay speed and pulled his left foot off the pedal and basically landed with only his right foot on the pedals. I was laughing and yelling at him to see if he really meant to do that. I guess only he really knows cause he won't give us a straight answer. Further down the trial on Hornet, Rob was going down the rather slippery rock and something went wrong. He did a Superman from the top of the rock all the way to the bottom. He ended up nailing his knee on a rock and put a hole all the way through his armour. We had to stop and fix his bars after this spill as they were all crossed up.
Highlight number two......Mike slipping on a root at the top of Schlyer/Joyride and ending up in a ball in a HUGE puddle. I was laughing with him and not at him.
Highlight number three..... passing a group of riders down the bikercross course in the air on the tables. It is a great feeling zipping safely by a person through the air. Need I say more.
Highlight number four.....my second to last run down the hill. It is 4:52pm and I have only a few minutes to get down the hill for one last run. I mach down Dirt Merchant at the highest speed I have ever done it. Step-up, step-down, table, table, drop......then rip into A-Line, table, table, table, drop.......then my favorite, the Bikercross course. I hit the course with the most speed ever and it made a HUGE difference in smoothness. Landing way down the trannies, leaning into the 10 foot high berms, airing the doubles and step-ups. It was freaking awesome.
Over all, a great day, a few beers and food at the Longhorn and the drive home.
This is what Whistler does to a pair of Oakley shorts.I cannot wait until the next time I am able to up there again.
