Written by Lisa Feather
The May long weekend marked a weekend that many mountain bikers, such as myself, were counting down to … opening weekend at the Whistler Mountain Bike Park! I left for Whistler early Saturday morning from the Valley for a weekend of riding and a mini holiday with my boyfriend and brother.
Saturday was hot and sunny, although still chilly on the lifts. Lift lines were long at times but it was refreshing to see so many bikers stoked about the awesome conditions on the mountain, as well as a number of women riding. This was my second time riding Whistler on my own bike (having rented a couple times before that) and it’s quite a bit different from what I’m used to riding in the Valley. The trails are longer and you get significantly more riding in due to the lifts. You can also carry a lot more speed, and there are a ton of jumps to play on. At this point, Fitzsimmons chair was the only one running and not all the trails were open due to snow. On Saturday I warmed up by getting comfortable on trails like Crank it Up, Karate Monkey, Ninja Cougar, Devils Club and also rode A-Line.
After biking, our favourite place to go was the GLC, right at the bottom of the lift. Sitting on the patio you could watch riders go off the GLC drop, and sitting inside we enjoyed watching mountain bike videos to get you stoked for another day of riding. Another highlight of being in Whistler was seeing some of the guys in those crazy videos in person!
On Sunday it had started to rain so we rode trails more in the trees, such as Detroit Rock City, Whistler DH, Joyride, and Crack Addict. Lift lines were pretty much non-existent. I was having a blast riding the steep, rooty, rocky technical trails until my second time riding down lower Joyride. On the last technical section I went head first over my bars and ended up with a broken hand, ending my weekend and putting a pause in my race season. I am counting down the days until it heals and I can head back to Whistler, but I might stay away from riding Joyride for a while.”
A huge thank you goes out to our 2012 Muddbunnies Race Team sponsors! Our racers have the opportunity to race because of these wonderful sponsors, please take a moment to visit their sites:
Red Racer Beer: www.redracerbeer.com/
Reflect Sports: www.reflectsports.com/
Dirty Girl Designs: www.dirtygirldesignscanada.com/
Design Out Loud: www.designoutloud.com/
Caps New Westminster: www.capsbicycleshop.com/
Different Bikes: www.differentbikes.ca/
Velocity Cycles: www.velocitycycles.ca/
Oh no! get well soon Lisa!