08/22/2008

Bike Park Report - Oct 15th 2007 That's a wrap Tom "Pro" Prochazka

This report is always the hardest one to write, because there is nothing to report - no new trails, no new features - nothing. The Boneyard is getting a massive liposuction as all of the features are being bulldozed, the "Washasaurus" is gone and the place is deserted - not exactly a happy picture - but there is always next year...

I may have previously mentioned that I'm not fond of meetings when I could be riding my bike, but our planning meetings are an exception. This where we make rough plans for next year and chart a course that we would like the Bike Park to head on in the years to come. Can you imagine sitting in a room with your closest riding buddies and planning what new trails you want to build, how many excavators you will need to build those trails, how many buddies you will hire to help you with this project, which new chain saw you're going to buy etc., etc. etc. I'm sure that a lot of riders have experienced a similar scenario, lounging in their basement on a Friday night, cheering every new idea with a loud clink of beer bottles, filling the room with laughter. Beats watching Fridays Without Borders on Showcase, but I'm afraid that the end result may be the same - both scenarios will leave you highly exited, but true satisfaction may not be easily attainable. You see, building new trails cost a s**t load of money, so you would have to find a super rich friend or rob a bank to finance your project. While it does not hurt to dream, for us working in the Whistler Bike Park, dreams come true and we don't have to rob a bank - we have a super rich buddy whose name is Whistler Blackcomb.
While old Whistler can be a bit tight fisted at times, he has been nothing short of generous over the past nine years and helped us to build a pretty sweet bike park. All indications are that next year, old Whistler is prepared to shower the Bike Park with enough of his hard earned cash to give us the resources to build some more cool stuff...

Some of the projects we can talk about - Blue Velvet, No Joke - other projects can't be mentioned in case they don't happen. What we can say is that the Garbo zone is going to get a lot of love and our plan is to have Blue Velvet connect to the lower park by mid August. We also have plans to build a whole new "No Joke", but we do not have any firm completion date - it will be done when it's done. The Fitz zone is going to get a whole lot of maintenance and "Ninja Cougar" - yes you read it right - will hook up to "Karate Monkey", which will undoubtedly become everyone's favourite. I can't wait!

Tom won't be hibernating this winter.

So OK, the fall is not all doom and gloom for us. It is pretty exciting to be planning for next year and years to come. Six years ago, I could not have predicted the state of the Bike Park now, but I think that now I am better equipped to predict what the Bike Park will be like in five years - much BIGGER! Creekside, Blackcomb, who knows? But it will expand, that is for sure. I'll leave it at that for now...

We had an amazing year in the bike park and it could not happen without the riders making us a major part of their lives. Whether you have 100+ days in the park or you just visited for a day - you made a difference and left an impression. And I hope that the bike park made a difference for you. A BIG THANK YOU to all!

The bike park would be nothing without awesome people working there. Whether you are frontline staff, trail crew, patrol, guide, lift maintenance, electrician, building maintenance, retail, make the smoothies at GBB or serve the beer at GLC - a BIG THANKS for making it happen.

It is with mixed feelings that I wish everyone a great winter. See you next year.
Tom Pro

Care to speculate on the other new trails Tom eluded to?  Got any inside scoop?  Scoop it up here.

Tom "Pro" Prochazka
Whistler Mountain Bike Park
Manager