Whistler

The Lawnmower Tour — Day 2

Posted on by Smoke

Our crew was a pretty good size and mix: we had Stefan and Ralph (“We are from East Germany and we are not homosexuals”); an older couple, Herb and Linda, who also know my good buddies the Swetlands up in the Koots; another Stefan who is an engineer for Airbus; Peter, an electrical engineer; Ben, who seems to take lots of pictures of girls; Frank, who rides a Nicolai; a former European BMX champ named Ecki; and an apprentice guide by the name of Christian.

We started of our first full day in the bike park with some skill development.

The skills seemed to develop pretty rapidly.

Everyone stepped up a notch in the drop parks pretty quickly.

The East Germans seemed to be the most comfortable with the advanced terrain. Here’s Stefan showing us how.

…and again on the GLC.

Ralph was right behind him.

Holger shows the style which has earned him many paycheques in his native land.

Ummmm……..yeah.

Nightlife….Whistler……yeah.

CycleActive XC Tour — Day II

Posted on by Smoke

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?

CycleActive XC Tour — Day I

Posted on by Smoke

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.