Think Tank

I love this time of year. The temperatures are cool, the trails are quiet and the conditions are tacky. The trail crew has all week to get maintenance done with no impending events to drag them away. The result is buffed tracks in prime shape and when the weather cooperates (like it will this weekend), everything lines up for perfect Park sessions. The other thing about this time of year is that we get to sit down and plan the future of the Whistler Mountain Bike Park.

I wish you could all join us for these sessions because it is pretty fun to sit down with the leaders of the gravity riding world and put down on paper a wish list of things we would do if money was no object! Then we refine the list to more realistic items that will add value and a better riding experience for you and your crew, regardless of what level you ride at.

We look at what it would take to add an epic high alpine single track, more jump trails on Blackcomb and a new network of single track in Garbanzo. We talk about adding a dual slalom race series to the popular Fat Wednesdays as well as other grass roots events for the local rider. We talk about marketing and how we would rather spend those dollars sponsoring new bike movies and building new trails instead of a billboard on the highway. DH riders like you already know how good it is and would rather see someone like Vanderham ripping it to shreds than drive past a sign telling you when it opens.

We are into the home stretch now so take advantage of the conditions and late season pass offerings and get up here. Pretty soon it will be Olympic mode in this corridor and the summer '09 riding season will be a memory, make sure yours ends on a good note with tons of fall riding. Good times with good friends.

- BF