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Meet the Crew/Opening Day

Diaries Opening Day

Introducing your Whistler correspondents

In no particular order, here is your team of bike park seasonaires ready and willing to bring you all the news and make you sick with envy during a long hot summer of shredding the Whistler Bike Park...

Ben grew up riding the North Shore and transplanted permanently to Whistler for the skiing. He didn't downhill bike seriously for nearly 8 years because he wrecked himself every time he went out. Ben’s words of wisdom: "When your bravery passes your ability, you’re effed." 


Morgan also grew up riding the North Shore and now kills it in the bike park. A true Whistler local, he knows the who's who and the what's what. Morgan’s words of wisdom: "Just go faster, and if you ever doubt your self don't worry you probably already crashed"

Frazier is originally from Ontario. He quickly realized the riding in Ontario sucked and got out to BC. Frazier’s been all smiles from then on. Words of wisdom: "take care of your bike and it will take care of you"

Our man behind the camera, Tim is originally from the UK. He spent a few years in Whistler riding the park but is now focusing on more XC riding in the Valley.  You might not see a ton of him, but he is work hard to make the 3 of us look good, even if we suck sometimes. Sadly we don't have a pic of him yet... 

 

Opening Day

Whistler closed for skiing and snowboarding a few weeks ago and the trail crews have been busting balls getting trails ready for the bike park opening ever since.

For the last 2 weeks Whistler has felt like a bike town.  Road bikers are out in droves, cross country riders are hitting all the snow free trails in the valley, and downhill bikes can be seen headed to Pemberton or Squamish for some shuttle laps.

The crowd queues down at the base to get some laps in.

Thursday night, 12 hours until the park opens: Last chance to check your bike, get your pass sorted and find all your armor. No one did any of that.  It was mostly spent working late, going to the doctor to try to pass off some ailment so you could get a sick note, or getting a jump on après. Friday morning, the first few chair loads of bikers arrive at 3 am. By opening, almost everyone else is in panic mode trying to get ready for the park– our group was no exception. Tim, our photographer, locked his bike to get some shots of everyone in line, and then realized he didn't have his key. Morgan's rear brake didn't work at all, and he ended up needing a new one. My pass didn't work when I got to the ticket scanner so I had to run to guest services and miss my first upload. At least Frazier didn't have any issues.

Ben hits up Funshine Rolly Drops

We finally got up there and loved it; it was fantastic being up there again.  The trails were immaculate, and with new sections, new jumps, and new bridges, the stoke levels were high. All day you could hear people shout “YAHOO” from the trees as they hit their favourite sections from last year. Big smiles were everywhere in the lift lines and the most common thing you heard was 'it's so good to be back'.  It was so nice getting in the park before the long weekend craziness started. During the weekend lines got long and you could really see the draw of the Whistler bike park. We even met some guys who usually rode Silver Star and made the six hour drive just for the day. 

Fraizer rips down Ninja Cougar

The bears are everywhere! They like to hang out near the top of the chair. Garbanzo zone still has a ton of snow on it and the alpine still looks like winter so we are a few weeks out from riding Blue and Black Velvet. 

This season expect updates on fat Wednesdays, crud to mud, quad biking, rides with local pros, cross country trails, big bails and recovery, hard tail day, Crankworx, and more.

We couldn't be happier to be keeping you up to date on everything from the Whistler bike park. 

 

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