Whistler Report #16
Under the guidance of Duncan Monro (Munny) and his team of amazing coaches, WORCA’s summer Youth Dirt Camps have blossomed into a thing of beauty. When a couple of long running coaching programs lost their steam WORCA saw a gap that needed to be filled – with a focus on providing an affordable program to local parents. Subsidized in part through WORCA’s annual spring bike swap, and a grant from the Resort Municipality of Whistler’s Community Enrichment Program, WORCA is able to offer an extremely affordable $160/head rate for Whistler residents, and $260/head out of town. With one coach for every 5 kids (Max 31 kids/week), for a one week camp, there is plenty of opportunity for the kids to get quality coaching time and it’s very apparent that these camps are an excellent value.
It isn’t all crushed gravel paths for the WORCA Youth, they get out into the real goods! Here they tackle the new and challenging Yummy Numby climb to Foreplay descent.
The key goal and focus of the camps is to provide a safe and fun environment to learn mountain bike skills. WORCA’s Board of Directors has always felt that encouraging young riders to have fun on their bikes and learn the necessary skills is one of the most important things we can do as a to help mountain biking grow. Getting the kids outside in the fresh air and experiencing nature, exposes them to a healthy active lifestyle, and gives them an appreciation for our surrounding forest and community.
The new section of Trainwreck was ridden by the kids, and they dove right in and dominated it!
While I was on the Board of Directors for WORCA, Munny (who also works at the biathlon park in the winter) lobbied really hard to get a mountain bike biathlon going for a thursday night twoonie ride. I’ll admit that I was extremely skeptical of the idea and generally dismissed it. Fast forward a couple of seasons and he has brought this idea to the kids camps, and it’s been a roaring success. Finally accepting a long standing offer to witness this, I cruised into the new Cheakamus Crossing (Athlete Village) neighbourhood to check out the kids practicing their bike biathlon skills.
WORCA coaches Fanny and Maria share a funny moment with the kids. It was non-stop fun while I was there.
After watching the kids excitement and determination riding the short technical bike loop and then firing the air rifles in the range, I knew I needed to give it a go. I also knew Munny wasn’t going to let me leave before I took a couple of laps and turns in the firing range! On my first lap I cruised at the back of the field and had to fire Standing while the kids were able to lie prone and use a wood block for support. Somehow I managed to go 5 for 5 at the range. My second lap I pushed the riding loop a bit faster pace and did horribly making only 2 of my 5 shots, thus incurring a 15 push-up penalty.
A short, and tough let me tell you, mountain bike course challenged the kids before the firing portion of the biathlon.
I can definitely see why the kids enjoy this so much. it was fun and challenging at the same time. With the coaches encouraging the kids to cheer for their fellow riders they were really nurturing the camaraderie and it was heartening to see. After our mock race Munny asked who wanted to fire the air rifles again and the line up was immediate. Of course nothing comes for free and when he said they had to run a lap of the bike course first, half the group was off running before he even finished the sentence!
The kids at the firing range.
The growth and success of the WORCA Youth Dirt Camps has been one of the clubs greatest achievements. Getting kids excited to ride their bikes, and arming them with the skills needed, are the most important things we can do to foster excitement for riding in the next generation of riders, racers, trail builders and advocates. Dylan Wolsky is one of the coaches this year, and coming from a guy who has had one of his most successful years of racing, the look and excitement on his face while talking about seeing the kids learn and figure stuff out, and helping them get there says it all. When it comes down to it, it’s all about having fun on bikes, and I for one am proud of all the people working hard to help our kids have fun on bikes. Thanks to Munny, all his awesome coaches, and all the folks behind the scenes at WORCA for making these camps a reality, they are so important to the long term success of our sport!
State of the Bike Park
By now the word is out that Dirt Merchant is closed and undergoing a full late season rebuild. We rolled up on it Saturday and were bummed to see it closed, until on further inspection we realized that some major work was taking place. A quick stroll into the first section had us giggling like school girls as we stared a big buff berms and fresh dirt everywhere. I haven’t heard much else about what’s happening, but here’s hoping nothing too drastic as DM is probably one of the best trails on the mountain, and the upper section hasn’t changed in years. It’s my go to warm up trail because you can roll in and coast everything. I guess we’ll see what they’ve done soon enough! Word from big Pete from trail crew, and Brian Finestone is that a weekend opening is hoped for. It’s gonna be good regardless and I can’t wait to check it all out!
Blue Velvet has definitely seen plenty of use and abuse in the past year too and parts of it are closed too as they work to buff it out as well. Heart of Darkness received a post-Crankworx makeover as well and is rolling nice and fast. still a few washboardy sections, but it really wouldn’t be the busiest trail if it didn’t have some of those. With fall creeping up and temperatures falling it’s a great time to ride in the park, or the valley for that matter.
Yours truly on my first round at the range, 5 for 5! Next round wasn’t as successful…
And I guess with the mention of the valley I should let the cat out of the bag on last week’s trail talk. A few people tracked me down at the Twoonie ride last week and said thanks for the hot tip, so clearly some people figured out my clues. The trail in question was of course Khyber Pass, but you knew that, right? With the old upper section beat to a dirty eroded pulp, the past few years have seen lots of talk about a much needed reroute and really little action. Hanging on for dear life on a little bike to enjoy the flowy nature of the lower section, or smashing up the upper on a big bike only to struggle with the low-angled lower were your two options.
The new upper section is such an improvement, starting more on the million dollar side of the ridge, the trail contours in a new school fashion as opposed to the old style fall line. The new route makes for a much more enjoyable ride and is actually a lot longer than the old line. Tom Pro (Gravity Logic) was hired by WBP, and he was saying that he wants to tweak a couple of sections and polish it off when he’s back from his summer trail building activities. I’d say that it’s pretty close to being perfect as it is! Big thanks goes to the WBP crew that cut out all the blow down a couple weeks back. It’s always nice to roll into a trail for the first time in the season and know that it’s all clear.
The Park is offering the Khyber Pass trail as a guided option, with access via the Peak Chair. However, you do need to be with one of the Park’s guide’s and that can be arranged by heading to guest services to book one. The alternate route of course is the push up highway 86 via garbanzo, but know that it is close to one full hard hour of pushing and riding to get there, and you are OUT OF BOUNDS. Prepare accordingly, bring lots of water, tools, tubes, and food. It’s a great trail and a fun adventure, but ride like you’re on your own, because basically you are.
Summer’s on the way out, and sweet fall riding is on the way in. Hope that your summer is still bringing you lots of great memories and that you’re enjoying it to its fullest!
Thanks Todd! If you have anything to say about WORCA’s kids camps, work in the bike park, Khyber Pass or anything else – say it here…
Comments
Please log in to leave a comment.