Whistler Bike Park 6/12/12

When it comes to Birthdays, I’ve found that doing something that makes me happy is the best way to spend them. In the past I’ve gone snowboarding for birthdays so this year I decided to go mountain biking and spend a couple days in Whistler. It was exactly where I wanted to spend my birthday, having fun in the Bike Park and having a low-key day.

I made my way to the base of the lifts after 10am when they opened, loaded my bike and got on the lift. On the way up, it was cool to see the Crankworx course really coming together. The course is insane.

It was my first time coming up to Whistler Bike Park during the midweek which is noticeably a lot more quiet and easy flowing on the trails. I spent the morning lapping the trails I knew and getting used to the conditions again. It was raining so a lot more slick, wet riding on the trails. On my first ride down, I ended up riding 10 feet away from a deer hanging out in an open part of the trail. It caught me by surprise but didn’t startle the deer at all.

For the afternoon I met up with Dan and his friends. He ended up giving me major pointers for bad habits I had picked up and helped me learn to pre-load and pop off the jumps. I started to pick up on the jumps better, actually cleared one but learning to lean the bike on berms instead of my body was harder. I took my first crash of the season, sliding out on one of the berms but I got back and redeemed myself.

After a couple laps with them, it was time to head home to shower before my Scandinave Spa time. Nothing like roughing yourself up on the mountain to getting pampered in the spa. Seriously it was a really good birthday of fun.