Another cloudy day in Whistler. Perfect for a big ride. First up is Kill Me Thrill Me. As always in Whistler, it’s a technical extravaganza. Kate seems thrilled.

Here’s barry checking on smoe more bridgework. Structural integrity seems good….

Clinton gives it another check, just to be sure.

The proud trail builder.

Here in Canada, we call these sort of things “souveniers.”

Kate continues to be thrilled to bits, and has the “souveniers” to prove it.

After lunch we headed off to check out the first part of a modern Whistler legend called Comfortably Numb. At 24 kms long, it doesn’t sound like much, but it’s usually a 6 hour ride for the first timer. We hit up the first 6 kms and cut out on another trail called Young Lust. 3 hours later.

Em’s gets Numb.

Craig practices his wheelies, and manages to miss me (for a change).

Kate, still thrilled after all this riding.

Clinton scales some rock faces.

Barry on Young Lust, having his best ride of the trip.

Clinton agian, loving the bridgework.

Barry gets Comfortable on the Numb climb. Funny how these trails seem to uphill all the way, but you end up where you started.

Paul on the Young Lust descent.

Of course, what epic day of riding would be complete without a visit to the pub for some cold pints a nd some thumb wars?

Wow….XC riding. It’s been a while. This one was organized through a UK tour operator called CycleActive. They seem to be fairly high end. First up for our intrepid crew was Whistler. Co-led with our English guide, Craig, our merry little band headed off to A River Runs Through It to get to know one another.

This is Clinton. He’s a nuclear technician.

This is “Kick Ass Kate.” She’s a barrister, which is apparently some sort of fancy pants lawyer thingy.

This is Barry, who’s a structural engineer. Whatch think of the bridge there, Barry?

After that little ride, we headed off to another trail called Train Wreck. The remains of a derailment from back in the 50’s are the highlight of this one. Craig is leading the pack to check it out.

Paul is a techie type who does something esoteric with computers.

….and finally the lovely Emily, who is an economist with the Bank of Scotland.

That’s the crew, and here’s another shot of Paul, because that is one cool looking train with a bunch of graffiti and stunts on it.