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.