Whistler has been a Mountain Biker's dream ride for as long as I have been riding. A local described it as a little Alpine Village without 500 years of history. The facilities are all modern and world class as the Winter Olympics were held here in 2010.
The short stage promised to be quick and hard. Just under 800m ascent in 25 km on tired legs meant climbing from the onset. We climbed up a slalom type track for 5 km and took another 4km slalom down. I approached the doubles and table tops with moderation as I was unfamiliar with the track and a mistake on a 130mm travel bike is not was easily corrected as on a 150 or 160mm bike. We climbed up a gravel stretch and got to Mid Station with ski lifts passing overhead. Some with bikes on and I was temped to take the ski lift up after the ride for another down run.
We had a mix of singleteack, jeeptrack and typical North Shore woodwork to negotiate, both up and down and finally got to the day's Enduro. It was a lengthy 3 km run with just about everything thrown into it. I ground the steep ups over roots, rock beds and loose gravel and I whipped my bike around the switchbacks down. After the Enduro I was spent, but still had 6 km of short ups and downs to ride. The finish line appeared and suddenly 7 days of pure mountain biking was at an end.
Suffering, heat, many falls, mistakes and technicals were counter balanced by elation, the thrill of the down runs, adrenalin on the start line and the rush of the Enduros. The one thing that will stay with me is the spirit of mountain biking that was evident where we went. Minimal littering on the trails, everyone asking if you needed a hand with fixing a technical and a willingness to let the faster guys come through on the trails are things that South Africans are not quite accustomed to. I hope to share this spirit back home.
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