On September 26th I and 3 other riders (Norm, David, Rob) headed to Whistler to ride where pro mountain bikers train. These trails are world class and so well put together that I don't think there will be anything that tops this riding. Since we couldn't bring our own bikes on this trip we rented from Summit Sports in the Whistler Village.
Weapon of choice was the Rocky Mountain SS396. It rode well, but was a bit choppy on the high frequency bumps which left the rear suspension less active then I'm used to under those conditions. So what do you do to compesate? Nothing, just ride the hell out of it, and that's just what we did.Being in up there enabled me to work on jumping (big jumps at that) and big drops as well. I definitely feel more comfortable in the air now and really look forward to any chance I get to getting airborne (so to speak). My favorite jump was the one on top of a trail called "Freight Train". Pretty good size air to pull it off and a nice drop to get back down. Norm had a pretty gnarly crash off this one, but he came out OK. Kinda shook him up a bit but the body armor did it's job pretty darn well.
I definitely improved my riding abilities, just in that couple days of riding. So what's next? Til next season just ride hard and don't forget that everything is smaller compared to Whistler.
All in all the trip was a blast and I can't wait to get back up there next season. This time I'm gonna bring the wife and kiddo to share the experience with, and of course get some riding in ;)
