05/12/2008

The Ultimate Road Trip!

The winners flew into Vancouver on July 15th and we are now on the road. The winners Marie-Helen, Frank, Chris and John are an instant gang.

So the trip is underway and Red Bull put the team in five star lodging at the Westin Grand in downtown Vancouver. After our first group meal, food and cocktails made the evening pass quickly and with laughter roaring up and down the table giving us early signs this trip will be talked about and stories stretched for years to come.

Day 1: Mt Washington
Chris Jones a 39-year-old married man with two kids tells me that he spent the night counting the seconds away until he could get up and get ready. Pretty cool to see a grown man as excited as a kid on Christmas Eve.

Marie-Helen, Frank, & Mike Jones on the ferry to Vancouver Island.

With breakfast at a greasy spoon we loaded into the MMR rig and set fourth to the ferry terminal. Within two minutes of the van doors we fired up the plasma screen and everyone watched riding movies to get the stoke on.

Nine fully grown adults in a van decked out with plasma screens, play stations and all sorts of snacks from Clif bar should be enough to keep them quite for the small hour delay at the ferry terminal...Oh No!

Next to the ferries we spied some speedboat rentals...the 'GANG' did the math: two boats, $15 a head, 1 hour to kill! Hmmm! Two minutes later we were racing across the bay.

The drive up to Mt Washington is straightforward one, with mountains on one side and the ocean on the other it added to the excitement of what was to come.

We parked up at the base of the slopes right outside Deer Lodge Hotel and each rider on the GANG was given either a Marin Quake 7.3 or a 7.2 After a quick session coaching session we hit the lifts and shredded the killer trails of the Mt. Washington Bike Park until the park closed.

The Ultimate Road trip winners ready to ride at Mt Washington.

With the Canadian National Championships rolling into town two days after and the Bearcloth invitational freeride happening the next week there were plenty of super star riders like Darren 'the claw' Berrclothe kicking it at the resort so the winners had some great photo ops.

With Day one over and day two on the cards we want to thank Brent and the team at Mt Washington for the hospitality check them out at www.bikeparksbc.com or www.mtwashington.ca

Day 2: Mt Washington (morning) then onto Sun Peaks
No aches no pains! So lets throw it down some more trails screams the 'GANG'. A busy morning, the riders keen to pack in as many runs before lunch. They know after lunch we have a 7-hour trip across to Kamloops and Sun Peaks.

Magical mystery trail, hustler, big brother and fantastic the chosen trails of the riders. Again and again they looped back to the top for another run. This coaching is very different to a standard MMR camp, with just four riders we can keep a real fast flow with the usual 100% focus on technique.

Elbows high for better control.

In just one day of we've seen such an improvement in riding, their confident and riding trails we planned for later in the week. So a reluctant 'GANG' wash up, eat lunch and pack into the rig. The competition continues in the van with GT-3 play station, you know that face, the face that somebody pulls in extreme concentration. Does it make you faster? Maybe not! Its sure is fun to watch.

With a brief break to fill empty bellies we are on the road. Finally arriving at 2am. We agreed to meet at 9:45am to start our first day on the slopes of Sun Peaks.

Day 3 on the Ultimate Road Trip: Sun Peaks
What a resort! Hosting many of Canada's big races and the 2006 Masters Downhill World Championships. It's great feeling for the winners to be with Shaums the current Masters World Champion on the mountain where he won the title.

Shaums March explains rider technique.

Chris pulls me aside today with an overwhelming feeling that he feels like a "Rock and roll star" The Ultimate Road Trip is doing what it says on the tin. Today was a very different day of weather, rain and lots of it. This could have put a downer on the day…the 'GANG' couldn't get their kit on quick enough!

Showing riders how to ride in the dry is much easier than trails that are changing all the time because of the rain. As ever the riders just blew us away grasping all of the pointers, John Galvin got a lot of confidence, it came back to bite him with a combination of three jumps back to back with the last one bucking him over the bars.

Great news for all reading at home…he's fine and went onto shred the rest of the day. We like to stop for lunch, we couldn't convince the 'GANG' to get off their bikes, a can of RED BULL a granola bar and soon ready to climb back on the chair lift. Sun Peaks has so many trails to offer, we recommend getting on Route 66 or Smooth Smoothie to get you warmed up. Then rock over to Gummy Bear for a steeper blast. Even with the amount of rain we had the trails stayed tight in fact it helped the riders that the dust was damped down.

Marie- Helen corners on Steam Shovel in Sun Peaks.

Sadly the weather really did a turn with the temp dropping the rain hammering amazingly this did not stop the 'GANG' demanding one more run, this was the last run of the day as the thunder and lightning started and they had to close the lift…much to the disappointment to the 'GANG'.

So the first full day of riding in the bag...it feels good. Ready for a shower, laundry room and a couple of cold beers.

The mood of the 'GANG' was one of 'party night' Jordon (PR Manger for Sun Peaks) took us to a great restaurant called Mackers. It went down hill from there! Pitcher after pitcher just kept coming to the table. It wasn't long before a plan was hatched to go onto to see a band…what came next took us all by surprise, the band was mental! The lead singer started with this human beat box.

The 'GANG' and the Rig at Sun Peaks.

I have never heard anything so good. Describing their style, punk, rock, hippie and rap. No surprises the beer kept coming, it was not long after that we where all dancing! These guys set the place alight, girls where soon dancing on the bar… Shaums insisted that Marie Helen join them.

Chris soon became the man made of elastic, it was really keen to see the 'GANG' kick back and really go for it. We shall see what the morning leaves us with! Lets hope there aren't to many sore heads!

Day 4 Ultimate Road trip: Sun Peaks
They survived, a few demons to wrestle in their heads from too much beer! Another wet day . . . and we just don't care! If you need a good feed before a day in the park go to Bagg's Sweets, Burritos that will knock your socks off.

The 'GANG' is using all the training they have been shown. With a choice of so many black runs the riders are constantly pushing the boundaries. This morning Frank stepped up to do a creek gap jump that was 10 feet wide. He made it look like he'd been doing it for years.

The view from the lift at Sun Peaks.

With this day being a travel day we planned to break out of the bikes at 3pm to get ready to leave at 4pm. Dave Hemming and I decided to do one fast run in whilst the winners got changed. Just 20 seconds after getting on the lift we realized it was a bad idea, the heavens really opened and the lightning and thunder was right above us . . . being sat on a metal lift not earthed wasn't looking to smart!

They put the lift onto crazy speed to get us to the top! we climbed off, raced into Steam Shovel. Doubling all the jumps ripping the turns in rain that I cant even begin to explain, supported by thunder clamps and lightning.

It was the race to hell, we screamed with excitement all the way down. So far on the Ultimate Road Trip that was the best run.

We tried to leave on time, we really did! But as we've come to learn the Ultimate Road Trip sets the agenda not us, we get there when we get there, we are just having too much fun to rush. Thanks to all the team at Sun Peaks for the mind blowing hospitality, for more information about the resort go to www.bikeparksbc.com and why not check out the pimp accommodation they hooked us up with The HearthStone Lodge

The trip rolls out and we rock the road to Whistler.

Day 5 of the Ultimate Road Trip: Whistler
Where did all the days go? How did we suddenly get to Whistler? The Ultimate Road Trip is just flying along. Another 2am arrival, this time we push breakfast back to 10am. Again the resorts make us ALL feel special with great rooms based around apartments at mountainsidelodge.ca this is right at the bottom of the lift up into the park.

Jeremy Olson meets us for breakfast, he's a dirt jump rider and PR manager for whistler, and super excited to hear how the trip has been going. As like everyday on the trip the "GANG' is keen to rip, bikes get checked. We find that all the brake pads need to be changed due to the harsh weather conditions we're having.

Mike Jones on the lift.

The first ride up on the chair lift always gives you butterflies no matter how long you have been riding, with Crankworx starting tomorrow the park is blown out of shape with he sickest slope style stunts, the worlds best riders are here for the showdown!

The sign when you get of the chair tells you to "warm up on a Green or a Blue run" B-line it is then. The winners of the Ultimate Road Trip get a taste of what Whistler has to offer, smiles, giggles and "Thank You" are what we are met with everytime we stop to regroup.

It's been so worth it.

On the lift, up we go. This time we turned onto Karate Monkey, this is the most technical trail the 'GANG' has been tested with. Once again they all stepped up their game and railed and nailed it. We switched from there into Ho Chi Min, ending out on lower A-line, Oh! They want to jump! They so want to jump, coaching the last day we will be on drops and jumps.

The Ultimate Road Trip's purpose is not to be all about bikes. Bike Parks BC wants to show the world the resorts Mt Washington, Sun Peaks, Panorama, Silverstar, Kicking Horse and Whistler have a lot more then bikes to offer.

We pull the riders off their bikes at 3:15pm they shower and by 4pm they are signing wavier at the Outdoor adventure office for the ATV tour to the Whistler Mountain Peak, that's right ATV's all the way to the top of the Mountain! Thanks to Dave at Outdoor adventure for putting it on.

No Racing, No fish tails, No Bumping we broke all of those rules in the first 5 minutes! Our Guides Madison and Lesley pulled us all to a stop and gave us all a telling off, they where right too.

Inside all of our helmets we where all chuckling like school children though. Higher and higher we ride, more and more snow, man! Whistler got so much snow this winter. So much that they don't think some trails will open until late August, that's just one and half months they will be open this summer before winter arrives.

The idea of the ride is to get to the top enjoy the view and then come a little ways back down for dinner at Chick Pea lodge. Dinner prepared by Outdoor Adventure, they even had a lady playing guitar and signing, a nice atmosphere high up on the mountain.

Chasing the light down the mountain on full bellies was fun, it seemed the 'GANG' only knows GO & STOP on the ATV's and in true fashion! It wasn't long before we had a roller . . . yes, Chris Jones. Trying to do doughnuts quickly turned into a low speed barrel role.

He is OK!

Whistler Peak on the ATV tour.

Scrapping of the mud we walked over to a bar for a cold well-earned pitcher of Kokanee beer. Our first day in Whistler on the Ultimate Road Trip comes to a close. Check back in for more tomorrow.

Day 6: Whistler - The Last Day
With the 'GANG' taking a good nights rest they where ready for action early. Hooking up with Jeremy Olson at the Whistler tennis club for some breakfast we discussed the days riding.

Over breakfast Chris, one of the winners asked a question: "So I want to bring the family here, where is the best to stay?"

This is the whole purpose of the Ultimate Road Trip. We have shown our winners you can come to a Bike Parks BC resort with the whole family.

Mike sports his new race gear.

We decided to ride a few warm up runs on 'Crank It Up' at 11:30am we met up with our guide from Whistler Parks. We planned to go all the way to the Whistler Peak, a place we had only been a few days earlier on ATV's. With rain still falling from the sky we headed up on the chairlift. It's amazing; we've been in the rain all week the rider's spirits have stayed so high. In fact today they where keen to ride all day!

As we climbed through the clouds on board the Village Gondola and into almost clear skies the winners got a sense of how long this run was going to be. Sadly the very top was still covered in cloud, and the only way up is on the open chair.

We didn't see the point going all the way to the top getting really wet and cold for the sake of a little fire road descent. We decided to have our lunch early at the Round House Lodge, which is part of the gondola station there is a great restaurant called 'Steeps'; Steep's Grill is Gourmet casual dining at 6030 feet! What a dizzy height for lunch.

Being full from breakfast we really did not want to eat again, but when Chris Jones saw they had yam fries he was at the table and ready to order. So were now sat down having a large lunch wondering will the group ever get going after this feast?

I think these pictures just about say that. Racing across the snow was a blast! We all crashed at some point. We got wet, really wet!

We arrived at the top of the freight train. What a trail, Jump, burm, jump, burm! Will it ever end? No! From there you end up onto Dirt Merchant and then onto lower A-line. Dave or PR guy (who is a former world cup DH rider) is no slow dude; he could see Frank wanted to jump. So he took it on board to have Frank follow him at the speed needed to jump all the jumps.

Frank, hats off to you. You did it and you even jumped the creek gap jump on Dirt Merchant "I tried to go around but Frank was shouting DO IT, show me. So I carved in and hit it. He followed and looked amazing over it" We told Frank that he should be racing downhill; he has such a natural talent to learn.

The winners couldn't jump at the start of this epic run, half way down they where all getting air. It was cool to see it happen.

Now I could go into details about the runs we rode for the rest of the day, but I wont, as it was one of the longest days on a bike. From 12 noon until 7 pm we raced up and down the hill. Wet and dirty and loving it "just three more runs and we shall see how we feel" the riders told us. Marie Helen made the best call, she knew she was tiered and didn't want to run the risk of crashing so she called it a day.

The boys however, just kept going. We do this everyday and we can see the signs when a rider is getting tired. How do you take away the candy from a kid and not make them cry? Well we pushed them down Angry Pirate a tight and twisty trail that takes a lot body strength and focus, then cutting onto lower A-line, mistakes where being made and the riders finally admitted they maybe a little tired.

We soon heard "How about a easy run down 'crank it up'? Ok, this was the run that showed them they where tiered. Chris 'Yam Fries addict' Jones slide down one of the wall rides ending up in a heap of bike and body at the bottom.

Thankfully he was wearing his NEW BODY ARMOUR (that is cheaper than the health care deductible) They called it and we closed the chapter on riding for the first ever Ultimate Road Trip.

Jet washing and more jet washing were needed to get nearly eight hours of grit out of the kit. Ric's Grill was the choice for dinner and we met with Gabe who is the Canadian country manager for Red Bull he was fired up to hear U.R.T stories.

A long night of drinking and dancing rolled by and it with it being Frank's birthday it fueled the troops to really push the boat out. Shaums became ELASTIC man for the evening; he wasn't too bad, but still quite bendy! It's been an emotional ride, we are sad it came to an end and blown away that we pulled it off.

Thanks to all the sponsors of the Trip: Bike Parks BC, Marin Bikes, Dangerboy Components, Fox, Kenda, Clif Bar, Hayes Brakes, WTB, E-13, ODI, Crud Catcher.

For all the information on Bike Parks BC go to bikeparksbc.com

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