The Whistler Report S2E2

It’s overcast, cool, and drizzly again, and my quick trail recon after work turned into two and half hours of shovelling dirt on a trail just a couple minutes away from my house. I’m trying to make a concerted effort this year to allocate at least an evening a week to trail work. A few weeks in and I have to say I’m really enjoying it. It’s easy to convince ourselves we don’t have time for stuff like that, as we jam as much riding as humanly possible into our schedules, and let the same people do the work over and over, year after year. So this year I bought a fold out hand saw that fits nicely in my pack, and makes really quick work of smaller fallen trees. The hand clippers I have are small too and also stash nicely in the bag. It doesn’t take much skill to brush back trail, dig out drainage problems, and just generally make the trail more enjoyable to ride. I’d like to encourage everyone to think about what you can do to make the trails better, whether that be joining trail days (NSMB trail day on Dale’s this Saturday, FYI!) with your local club/group, getting a few friends together and fixing a beat down section of trail, or just taking some time during your ride to brush back all those branches that tend to creep their way back into the trail. It feels good, and it helps the trails. Please do your part!

   Ian knows how to handle a shovel, and isn’t afraid to put it to use.

Park Conditions
On Monday I finally managed to finish getting my downhill bike back together and went to the park for a few morning laps with Sarah. It felt good to get up and do a few mellow runs, but the early season in the park is definitely showing itself. While it certainly isn’t wet everywhere, there’s no denying that it’s really wet and muddy in places, and there are some pretty big holes and boggy bits waiting to suck in your front wheel should you fail to pay attention. Upper Crank It Up had one corner that is just plain scary, although Mr. Finestone tells me that trail crew has patched that up. That being said, Heart of Darkness is minty fresh and running great, compared to some of the ‘higher’ trails that are still muddy and slower. Crabapple Hits opened, the Upper part was a bit weird with a 6 foot snowbank on one side, but the jumps were fresh and the last hit felt really good and poppy, better than usual! Brian also mentioned that trail crew is working hard clearing trail this week and they hope to have Karate Monkey, Whistler DH, Detroit Rock City, and Schleyer open this weekend. Keep your eye on the WBP trail page for the most current info. They’re also working hard on getting the Easy-Does-It bridge over lower A-Line finished.

  Sean got a new bike present from his girlfriend, he was shredding it hard in no time.

The Crud 2 Mud event will happen this coming weekend on Whistler. Word from Events guru Seb Fremont is that the snow portion of the race will go Upper Whiskey Jack, Orange Peel to Upper Dave Murray, Toilet Bowl to Tokum to the transition area at the top of Fitz Chair. Once onto the wheeled devices, riders will be hitting B-Line to Ho Chi Min, and the finish will be at the end of HCM. You can still register through Guest Relations until 2pm on Saturday May 28, so wax your planks and tune your bike. Maybe find a partner if you’re better at one sport or the other. There is a plethora of categories (Snowboard/Ski, Solo, Team) and a variety of combos, so find the one that suits you and get out there for a fun event.

If spandex and climbing is more your bag, the 2^nd Nimby Fifty goes this Saturday up in Pemberton. No updates since last week, although they’re looking for volunteers, so if you’d like to help out and get some food and beer out of it, follow the link. The weather is looking promising, so head north for the day, maybe get a ride in, cheer on the suffering racers, and enjoy the sun in warm Pemby.

While you’re there maybe stop by the Bike Co. and pick up one of the new trail maps, apparently they cover the whole area, even up to Tenquille, so should make a good addition to the collection for the inner map geek in you!

  Justin Roy busts out a sweet table deep in the forest of Emerald.

This past Saturday WORCA hosted the annual bike swap to raise money for our Youth program. While mother nature decided to rain on the event, it sure didn’t dissuade the crowds as hundreds of folks were out bright and early braving the cool wet weather hoping to score a deal. I have it on good authority that regardless of the weather we’re right in line with the past few years in terms of revenue, with over $110k of product sold in about 6 hours, netting nearly $13k for the youth program. Thanks to everyone who came out to support the club and help us get more kids out riding mountain bikes and teaching them the skills to become lifelong riders. And also a huge thanks to the Board of Directors for all their hard work and all the vollies whom without we would not be able to pull this off, cheers!

  Reece Wallace (and Chromag Bikes) announced the 2^nd Annual Chromag Family Gathering which will take place July 15 from 5-8pm at the River Jumps in Whistler. Expect rad jumping action and a wall of speakers pumping groovin’ beats. There will probably be more spinning like Reece is demonstrating here.

I’ll wrap things up with a quick overview of the trail conditions here in town. Most of the lower westside route from function to emerald is open. All of Danimal, save a couple of sections of snow, lower Beaver Pass, Re-Bob, Get Over It, Mel’s, Mandatory, River Runs Through It, Emerald Forest are all good. I poked my head into Big Timber this evening and it looks clear from the top. Also heard North Secret/Young Lust/Green Lake Loop is also clear. Things are getting there! Enjoy your riding this weekend.

-todd

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Are you heading Whisway this weekend? It sounds like things are getting better by the minute. Update us here…