Scion Whistler Report Ep. 8

Words Todd Hellinga

Photos Todd Hellinga

Date Jul 7, 2011

It’s Wednesday afternoon and I’m sitting it Shelter Cove, California enjoying a frosty beverage after a 4 hour ride on a super fun flowy 24km XC ride. The trail was Paradise Royale, and there’s little better than pumptrack style singletrack that gets you up to top speed with only a few pedal strokes! I hear it’s been semi-summer like back in Whistler over the past week, although likely nothing compared to the 40C heat of southern California, where anything beyond floating in the pool with an ice cold margarita was too much to handle for the heat! While it’s been nice, I can’t say I haven’t been longing for the more temperate climes of the coastal mountains, but I’ll be back within days and the road trip nothing but memories.

Last week saw the first PhaSt Wednesday race of the year go down, with the course being Fnatastic, Lower Whistler Downhill, to Joyride Exit. Not sure what he’s on this year, but Adam billinghurst is flat out killing it. Laying down a 2:32.342 that just squeaked by second place. Sarah Leishman won the womens just ahead of Emily Slaco and Katrin Strand, while Zander Geddes took the Juniors. In the Master Mens, it was Chris Dewar with the V. Full results can be found here.

Speaking of Crankworx, that’s fast approaching what with the early time slot to hopefully attract more World Cup regulars after this weekends Windham WC. The new pumptrack is done and has been generously spread with grass seed and then layered with a thick coat of hydroseed for good measure. Talk about going pro this year! The 2nd annual Pumptrack Challenge happens Friday evening, July 8. Cost is only $10, so if you fancy yourself a quick rider and are keen to win an entry into the Pro only event during Crankworx, best get yourself to the track Friday night and rip off the hottest laps of the evening. There will be 2 30 minute heats for you to get your fastest lap in, with the top 4 going into the semi-finals, then it’s head to head till they have a winner. Pump up the jam!

Things are also coming together quickly on the Redbull Joyride Slopestyle Course. Anyone who’s been in the park has seen how quickly they’ve put this years edition up, although given the tight timeline that was to be expected. Different this year is the builders. In the past Whistler Bikepark has been in charge and had John Cowan heading things up. With a new sponsor looking for fresh ideas and a new energy, the nod went to longtime builder Paddy Kaye and his Joyride Bikeparks crew. While those newer to the scene may not be familiar with Paddy, rest assured he is as seasoned a vet as one can get. Paddy was one half of the pair (the other being Chris Winter) that put on Crankworx’s predecessor, Joyride. What you may, or may not, know is that in the past few years Paddy and his crew have built some big time courses, including Brandon Semenuk’s features for NWD10, as well as being brought in to put together last years Red Bull Rampage course. Having proving his worth, it wasn’t hard for Red Bull to give the nod to Joyride Bikeparks, and what better way to acknowledge Paddy’s contribution to what Crankworx has become, then to name the marquis event Red Bull Joyride.

I had a short chat with Paddy a couple weeks ago and asked what it felt like to come back after all these years, he assured me it felt great, almost like a homecoming. With friends riding the park, stopping in to say hi, and lots of high fives, he said they’re having a blast building the course. That and the years since the last Joyride event in 2003, so much dirt has been added to the boneyard that it’s much easier building than trying to scratch out courses like they did 8 years ago. I also asked about the design process and how much it actually resembled the videos that have been released by Red Bull, sounds like the had a general concept that was presented to the riders and then the features and stunts were modified to incorporate they riders input. While a few of the original concept features have been left out for this year, the plan is that this is the beginning of a long term relationship that will see this year as a building block for future years. Red Bull and Joyride are looking long term for this event and want to make sure first and foremost that they put together a course that showcases the riders and their skill in the best possible way, without having things for the sake of having them. Given the monetary investment by Red Bull at this point, it’s clear that they want Joyride to be the marquis event on the calender and have shown they’re more than willing to put forth the effort and money, and bring in the best builders possible to ensure this is the year’s premiere event. Using wooden booters of varying degrees, a few big unique features, like the Cabin that will be the final stunt, and giving the riders big wide landings for their tricks should go a long way in putting on a great event. I’m definitely excited to see how it all plays out this year, I’ve felt that for all the hype and fanfare in the past, it’s usually done very little to really get me as excited as stuff like the Dual Slalom or Canadian Open which have quietly stolen the show the past few years, in my humble opinion. Visit the Joyrde Bikeparks facebook page and check out all the pics they’ve posted of the construction this year, lots of good stuff in there. Welcome back to the bikepark Paddy, it’s been awesome seeing you build this years course, can’t wait to check out the event!

Out on the trails in the bikepark, in addition to the sweet work that’s been done on Dirt Merchant, Crabapple hits has apparently received the attention of Marty’s mini-ex and the whole trail crew team. According the Brian Finestone’s update on the WBP site, it’s been mega-sized! Look for jumps ranging from 25 to a whopping 45 feet! I gotta say, I’m pretty excited to check these out when I’m back home this weekend, that sounds amazing, amazing and scary. Be smart out there folks, take a look see and roll through before hitting the send button, but then send it large!

After riding a big epic today in the semi-wilds of cali, I found my thoughts drifting to long Chilocotin rides, a little poking around and I found a link on the Bike Co. blog to some stellar pics by Pat Mulrooney from the Canada Day long weekend. Pat loves adventures and his pictures paint a pretty good story of bike camping last weekend. Have a look at some sweet images here. Sweet stuff Pat, looks like things are melting out pretty nice up there!

In less than a month Whistler legend Grant Lamont hosts his replacement event for the now retired Cheakamus Challenge, in its place is born the Ride of the Valkyries. ROTV will cover just over 28km of Whistler finest Westside trails. Starting at the Whistler High School in Alpine Meadows the course will climb up the Flank to Billy Epic, descend the upper portion of BE and then the 27 Switchbacks before climbing back up the Mid Flank all the way to Industrial Disease. The end of the course is a more standard route that’s been used for the Westside Wheel-Up, among others, that being Lower Sproatt, Danimal, Lower Beaver Pass, Re-Bob, Get Over It, and then a loop through Emerald Forest. Expect some serious climbing, tech descending, with some old school flair thown in for good measure! Participants must be WORCA members, and registration will include feed stations and a BBQ at Riverside Campground following the event. Grant’s promising some fresh trail work to upgrade Industrial, much needed at that, so that should be a nice touch for the riding community to check out in the coming weeks. Additionally the Ken Quon Ride On tour will run in conjunction with the race and will feature a shorter loop in the 12km range for those less interested in serious vertical. Stay tuned for more info.

Well, that’s about the best I can do from 1000kms away, still have a couple days of driving the Oregon coast, and a stop in at Black Rock for some schralping. Keep tires to dirt, I’ll be home soon.