Crud to Blood to Mud: Whistler Opening Week
26 May 2014
By Dominic Wrapson
Winter seems to go on fooorrreeevveeeerrrr; then WHAM, bike park is open again and happiness is restored. I've done enough winters now to have embraced the season and even invested a lot of time and money in to enjoying it. That said, a slow start with very little snow meant us bikers were riding the lower trails into January! Then, suddenly, too much snow to bike, but not really enough to bother skiing. Followed by weird weather, sporadic snow, and high avalanche danger, the backcountry was also elusive. All this meant that as much as I tried to get to get on with winter, I was itching for bike season more than ever.
This year was set to be an amazing opening thanks to the Trail Crew, and it was by far the driest I have seen. Last year we had rapid-melt and every trail open save Angry Pirate, but it was damp. This time, almost every single trail open (inc Angry Pirate, but not Dirt Merchant), and barely a patch of snow to be seen. It was just tacky hero dirt everywhere, with the odd boggy bit.
However, Bike Park opening isn't all that's been happening involving bikes in Whistler this week. There's been racing galore, as well as lots of XC/AM/Enduro/29er trails being freed from winter's snowy grasp, and I've been chasing it all.
My last ten days have gone something like this (dist/climb):
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Wednesday, May 14
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Cheeky pre-open park pedal before work (9km/400m)
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Golden Boner trail ride after work (6km/300m)
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Thursday
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Friday
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Saturday
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Sunday
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Go-Fest Great Snow-Earth-Water Race: Ski-touring leg (3km/200m), finish with a beer chug and Fireball swig (almost drowned!)
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Apres
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Westside trail ride: Pura Vida, Danimal South, Danimal North (20km/750m)
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Monday
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Tuesday
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Westside & Alpine trail ride: Rockwork Orange, Korova Milk Bar, Wizard Burial Ground, Binty's, Green Monster (26km/950m)
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Wednesday
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Thursday
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Food poisoning; awake only four-hours all day, miss toonie
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Friday
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Saturday
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Crud2Mud race: hit a gate on ski-leg, bleeding from face, disoriented in transition, bike stop to empty slush and blood from goggles, then crash in Ho Chi Minh. Nailed it
Between all that, I missed two Sea-to-Sky Enduro races! Today the process starts again, though we can skip the illness part this time. Men's Night, trail riding, trail building, Phat Wednesday (that's me in the image), Women's Night, Toonie Race, Bike Park Enduro, Nimby Fifty. Let's go!
Trail: Crossing the creek toward Yummy Numby and the Foreplay descent of Comfortably Numb
Trail: Dusty riding on Rockwork Orange during opening week
Crud2Mud: Bike gloves, bike pants. Before it all went horribly pear-shaped
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