Over a Month?!

Wow, I know I'm pretty lazy at times, but it's been over a month since my last post and a ton has happened during that time - from a 2 week trip out west to BC, to a few requests for some DJ gigs, to getting some good work done in the studio - it's been a busy month!

The first thing to note was the riding out in Whistler, BC. I have to admit I was pretty nervous about hitting up the trails at Whistler. When I first arrived, you have a huge, towering mountain shadowing over you, and the chair lifts go out of sight... with bikes! Now I've ridden a mountain - Mount Bromont - but this looked like another level all together! I was also really excited, because if you are a mountain biker, Whistler is like a mecca - everyone wants to ride there at least once in their life time. So with a mix of nerves and extreme excitement I hit the trails on Sunday July 27th.... in the rain no less! So up Colin and I went, and we were literally going into the clouds (and rain!). Arriving at the top, we were a little wet to say the least, we decided to hit a Blue Trail - Crank It Up - to get us warmed up and a chance for me to feel out the rental bike. To my surprise, despite the rain and crappy weather, the trails were fairly dry and grippy - and for a Blue trail, it was really fun! After the warm up run, we decided to hit a very famous and well know trail - A-Line - because we were pretty confident that we could hit it after a solid warm up run (although to be honest, I was still pretty in awe of the place!). Another wet ride up the chair lift and we hit the entrance to A-Line... The beginning was fairly tame with some small table top jumps and berms - I was beginning to relax a bit. Then we started hitting the bigger tables - they were pretty big, and if you carried your speed, you would literally be flying. A-Line is a flow track which basically means it is meant for speed, and to hit all the jumps on the trail with speed and 'flow' your way through. Now, I hadn't really hit anything like this in the past, although similar type stuff, not really as big or as long. Granted, being my first time down, I was on the breaks pretty good and was catching a bit of air, but not able to clear a lot of the jumps (I needed man up and not hit the breaks!). So first run down A-Line was fun, but there was a lot more potential in that trail and we skipped the A-Line rock drop (look big, and it was wet), and we also skipped the 'GLC Drop' which was practically down by the chair lift and, if there was one drop I was going to hit, it was the GLC Drop. On our way back up, Colin suggested we take the Garbonzo chair after we hit mid-station (Garbonzo brings you to pretty much the top of the mountain, as high as you can go with your bikes). I said yes, but it took some coaxing - you had no idea where it went because you were in the clouds and the chair just disappeared, it looked pretty scary. On the Garbonzo lift we went, and we happened to be sitting beside an older guy (probably about 55/60). This guy started talking to us about the trails, and suggested that "if you want the best 45 minutes of riding that you will ever experience", to follow him - he made sure that we were comfortable on jumps. So, after about 15mins on a chair lift (that's right, I was getting pretty damn scared at this point), we get off and can see the glacier. Time to follow this crazy old bastard and see where he takes us. From the first turn, we were hitting huge jumps, smooth bermed corners, all while clipping along at a good pace. Then came the first step up. I'm riding a little behind this crazy old guy and Colin, and as I come over this shale rock face, I see them at the far end of, for lack of a better term, a valley, I can hear them yelling me to go as fast as I can. I didn't see it at first, but after mocking down a rock face, and coming up the other side of the valley, I see the jump (a step up is a jump which throws you up, so you are 'stepping up' when you hit the jump). Holy crap the thing is big. I pin it as fast as I can toward the jump and hit it full tilt - I get kicked up pretty high and just manage to make the step, my heart almost jumping out of my chest!! The first section of Freight Train complete. We ride down a shale road for a bit, and it comes up along this huge cliff - I'm thinking about tomorrow when it's supposed to be clear and you can see over this cliff. Then down another shale road and hit a step down, then I hear shouting in front of me again to go as fast as I can - yip, another step up - this one is even bigger than the last. This time I really get kicked in the air (I'd say close to 15 feet), my feet slip off the pedals, but I manage to land on my seat and ride away - any landing you can walk away from is a good landing right - LOL! The next section was pretty much all fire road, so it was quick with a bit of sketchiness with the loose shale and rock. Now the old guy is smiling, saying the next section is where all the fun stuff starts - I was just thinking of survival at this point.... The old wise man was right, the fun really did start here - from nice fast sections to tables to drops and berms - this was turning out to be the ride of my life, everything I would want on a trail and we're not even half way down yet! I can pretty much tell you that I was yelling and screaming the rest of the way down - fun, fast, airtime and built just right. The stuff just kept coming and the smile kept getting bigger (and the yelling louder). Next we linked into Dirt Merchant which probably was my favorite trail - big drops to river gaps (jumping over a river) to step downs and step ups - this had it all and then some. I was going bigger than I ever had before and everything just felt smooth as butter! We linked into the second half of A-Line after Dirt Merchant finishes up. At this point we had lost our guide and my heart was pounding and my knuckles where white. We finished up A-Line in style, getting lots of air and going pretty good - then we hit the GLC Drop, easy and one goal down.... what was I going to try next. After saying that, I also hit a nice big drop on Dirt Merchant which is probably the biggest drop I've ever done (bigger than GLC even!). I was stoked - we had just ridden what we felt was our dream trail, we decided we would probably pretty much only ride this from here on in, it was just that fun.

I'm going to stop there as my hands are sore from typing, and would you believe it, we got NO PICS when we were there (riding pics anyway). So I'll come back soon and finish up the riding stories, although we pretty much did only ride Freight Train to Dirt Merchant to A-Line all week! I also have some helmet cam footage from the trail runs that I will post when I get it up on youtube. So till next time, keep it real!!