Park Report - Bike Park Updates

Hey Park Riders here is a short early-in-the-week update on what is going on behind the scenes in the Park. We just opened the lower section of the Canadian Open DH course this afternoon. It is a bit soft and needs some traffic to ride it in so get up there and do some laps. To find your way into the course follow the entrance to Double Vision and take a left at the QP instead of riding it to the right and onto the start gate. The course flows down the left side of the Boneyard and then crosses over to the right via an underpass under the "Catchers Mitt" feature. From the Mitt it lines up with the finale jump at the bottom for the glory shot into the court yard.

Hey Park riders, the season seems to picking up more momentum each week and I can't believe we are already nearing mid June. The riding has been fantastic this week with light rain barely penetrating the forest canopy. The trails are in really good shape as a result and the lineups have been virtually non existent. One of the perks of my job is that I get to decide, on the spur of the moment, to do things like tag along on clinics. This past weekend I decided to jump in for a day of riding with the Richie Schley Freeride Camp, a two day clinic taught by Richie and Wade Simmons. Wade has long been one of my favorite riders to watch and to get a chance to chase him down Ninja Cougar and copy his style is something I couldn't pass up. The day was great and I highly recommend one of these clinics to any rider in the Park, you will come out of it with better skills and with those comes better style.

Remember a while back I told you that I wouldn't lie to you about what it's like in the Park? Well, the truth this week is that it's wet, muddy and a bit on the cold side. There are small pools of water here and there but the riding is still quite good. During the gaps in the weather systems the surface water soaks into the dirt and the riding becomes tacky and fantastic. The crowds are gone and the people riding are getting in max laps and having a good time. The moisture has enabled the line in Double Vision to get compacted and the GS is now running great.

Hey riders, here is a midweek update on what has been going on since the long weekend. We are now 100% open in the Fitz Zone (if you don't count the Boneyard that is). Cowan finished the GS / Double Vision track and we opened it on Monday. It is getting nicely ridden in and with a few tweaks will be a fantastic track to ride and even better to race! This weekend brings with it the first ever Fluidride Cup series race to be held at the Whistler Mountain Bike Park.

Wow, that week went fast! After all the planning and preparation things really get moving once we get this machine moving forward. We have been hard at it getting more open this week and the course ready for the Crud 2 Mud race. The new trail additions this week include Dirt Merchant, Easy Does It, Angry Pirate (Upper & Lower), and a full buff job on Samurai Pizza Cat bringing the lower Park to 99.9% open. Golden Triangle is the last little slice of Fitz Zone that we are missing but it is not far off.

Well the switch has been flipped. It is now summer season. I knew it would be a good start with the state of the trails and the amperage of the people I talked to the week before. We had a record opening day with almost 1000 riders and despite the fact that the line was long, the wait was not that bad.

The hooks are on the lift, the trails are marked, the trail maps are in, our pass and ticket machines are loaded up, the validation guns are charged, the bikes are assembled, the staff are trained and THE TRAILS ARE IN AWESOME SHAPE for tomorrow!

Two more sleeps. Okay we are getting down to the wire (what ever that means, probably something to do with bomb disposal or something) and things just keep looking better and better.

Three sleeps to go. Okay, for those of you checking in daily for updates, here is today’s progress report. The patrol are out marking all the runs we plan to open (16) and putting closures up on the ones that are not quite there.

Four more sleeps. I got my new bike put together and now the drool is turning to foam as I lose my mind with anticipation of Saturday's opening. I have to ride myself to exhaustion at the pump track to be able to sleep at night without tossing and turning.

Hey riders, here is another countdown to opening report on the state of the trails. I have walked a few sections of trail and have started to come up with a plan for snow removal. With the return of the popular Crud to Mud race on the long weekend I am hoping to get a few things going.

Hey riders, here is another countdown to opening report on the state of the trails. I have walked a few sections of trail and have started to come up with a plan for snow removal. With the return of the popular Crud to Mud race on the long weekend I am hoping to get a few things going.

We just got some pics straight from the Kona factory in Taiwan and our new new custom Whistler Mountain Bike Park special edition Kona Stinky's are looking awesome. Right now they're on a slow boat to Vancouver and we can't wait to go for a ride!

Hey Park riders here is a pre-season update for all of you losing sleep and grinding your teeth flat in anticipation of the first day of Bike Park 2010. Last night was the premiere of Anthill's "Follow Me" and after watching the teaser at least once a day for over a month, the real deal didn't disappoint. The crowd was suitably rowdy before the film started and my favorite moment was when some random bearded dude came up and gave Gully a hug on the stage when the athletes, filmers and photogs were being introduced. I won't spoil the film for you but will say that Matt Hunter's new school feature was a highlight as was the Brandon Semenuk's allyoop-360-lookback. When I get my copy of the DVD that part will get worn out first from replays.

We're really excited to check out the premiere of "Follow Me", a new film by our good friends @ Anthill Films. We have partnered with the gang at Anthill since the Collective days and we are looking forward to seeing the Whistler Mountain Bike Park segment featuring Thomas Vanderham and Brendan Fairclough.

Hey Park Riders I could not hold back after watching Anthill's teaser for the new bike movie "Follow Me". If you have not seen it yet then take two minutes and thirty five seconds to do so and come back when you are done…