Day 42 – Whistler, BC

Whistler was always on my life list…for skiing and mountain biking….and I got to cross one of those off today. After a hardy breakfast…well, as hardy as a banana-Nutella crepe anyway…I was off to rent a mountain bike.   

 

 

 

 Those of you who know me know that I have more miles on a mountain bike than I do on a motorcycle….present trip included. The kind of mountain biking I do is called cross country…which means we ride up the hills…we ride down the hills…and everywhere in between. Well, there is a whole other facet to the sport called downhill…which is done almost exclusively at ski areas on specialized mountain bikes. You and your bike take the chairlift up the mountain, as the bikes are too heavy and so specialized at going down, that they are unable to go up! Downhill is all about going downhill…fast…really, really fast…over all manner of jumps, rocks, kickers, table tops, banked turns and all sorts of other terrain. The bike I rented was a full on downhill rig and weighed in at twice what my dual suspension mountain bike weighs…it was over 50 pounds!   

 

 They are built that heavy to endure the pounding that they take flying down the hill bouncing of the scenery….it’s almost like an off-road motorcycle without the engine.  So with my newly acquired steed and a lift ticket, I was on my way up the hill.  

  

 

Now, mama didn’t raise no fool…so despite the fact that I’ve been riding mountain bikes for 20 years, I figured I’d warm up on some intermediate difficulty runs to get used to the new bike. After two runs down, I felt pretty good and the speeds that are possible on these big downhill bikes is amazing!   

 

 My third trip up I was ready for the big show, and a steered the rig over to the entrance to A-Line…Whistlers signature black diamond downhill run. If this were golf, it would be the 13th at Augusta National or the 18^th at Pebble Beach. They have a warning sign and a jump right at the entrance…just to make sure you don’t accidently start down the run and kill yourself!   

 

 

Well, all I can say is it was an awesome ride! I’ll admit I wasn’t man enough to take the big jumps at full speed…which could easily put you 20 feet or more off the ground! I’m just glad these bikes also have huge hydraulic brakes to control the speed. After 2 more runs down A-Line, I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring some other runs.   

 

 

 

The lifts close at 5 and I was kind of glad because my shoulders and quads were thrashed and couldn’t take any more anyway! Next it was back to the room for a shower and to catch up on the blog. For dinner I found a good sushi bar and stuffed myself with pricey bait.   

 

On the way back to the room I got sucked into a bar having a bit of an Oktoberfest celebration….and I’m not sure if it was the oompah band or the waitresses dressed in dirndls(Thanks to Andria for that!). Either way, I was good for 2 steins worth before calling it a night.

Day 41 – Prince George, BC to Whistler, BC

Day 41 – Prince George, BC to Whistler, BC     09/30/10     Mileage: 387  

Cold. Wet. Yep, that was my morning. Fortunately the place I camped came with a hot shower…which I used to chase off the morning chill! After packing up the soaking wet tent (from heavy dew and fog), I hit the road. The first hundred miles were cold and miserable, but then the sun came out and all was right with the world. That is until the truck I was following locked up its breaks and started swerving wildly! What he was trying to avoid was the large male elk that was on other side of the road….but spooked as we approached. First he swerved to the right…then back to the left which caused the trailer to fish-tail…all while smoke was pouring from the wheels from the locked up brakes. I was hard on the brakes as well trying to scrub some speed. The elk, which ran from left to right across the road didn’t fare so well, as the truck got a good piece of it apparently. The last thing I saw was the elk spinning in mid-air 10 feet of the ground and landed in a ditch at the side of the road as I went by. Mack truck – 1, elk – 0. I also met another biker from Germany who is also planning on riding all the way to Argentina! His name is Edmond and he flew his bike in to Vancouver from Germany…went up to Alaska…and is now heading south same as me.  

 

We exchanged emails and will try and catch up somewhere along the road. The riding so far was good, but average.  

 

That is until I turned off of Canada road 97 onto road 99…which is 120 miles of motorcycle awesomeness! It connects road 97 and Whistler…and it was not only scenic, but chock full of ups, downs, twists and turns…motorcycle nirvana!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

So after all that good road, the cherry on top was pulling into Whistler, BC! I immediately liked the vibe of this place, and I had it in my mind that I was going to ignore the budget and splurge a little on a nice room and some good food. As for the former, I found a room at the Whistler Inn and Suites right in the heart of the Whistler village. To satisfy the latter, I walked the village from end to end looking at the menus…and settled on a place called 21 Steps which had a great tapas menu. The clincher was a deal they had to choose any 3 tapas dishes for $25. Sold. After ordering a nice Bavarian beer, I weighed my tapas options and settled on these three dishes:  

– Smoked sockeye salmon with grilled red onions and toasted baguette.
– Grilled lamb sausage with roasted peppers and onions
– Goat cheese with caramelized white onions and ginger reduction.  

That beats a tunafish sandwich any day! After that I made the rounds and sampled the beer at some of the local pubs in the village, then called it a night. Of course…there was the small matter of a black bear blocking the entrance to my hotel! As I slowly backed away fumbling around for my camera….a local gal walked up and ever the chivalrous gent that I am, I warned her of the bear. Well, she turned out to be a local and was no stranger to nightly bear encounters in town! Apparently a few bears have their nightly route around town looking for food, and are quite accustomed to humans and not very dangerous. I guess that would explain the live bear trap immediately behind my first floor hotel room balcony!