Sunday morning. My alarm clock is buzzing in my ear. It's only 7:30AM, just 8 hours earlier the team was returning from successful day at Hurkey Creek and Landon's win in the solo 8 Hours of Adrenaline. Why on earth would I be waking up so early after a late night. The explanation was simple. I was taking a week off of work, while my wife was on a mission trip in Bangladesh, to go mt. biking in Whistler, B.C.
I was eagerly looking forward to this trip, it was going to be an opportunity for me to find the enjoyment in biking again. Ride trails for the sheer joy of being on the bike, enjoying nature, camaraderie; there would be no competitions, no pressure, just the purity of the outdoors with no expectations.
There were four of us (and a dog) lined up to make the drive. Bryan, Justin, Landon , Bently (Justin's dog), and myself. Ben had his first day of orientation for dental school the next day or else he would have made a 5th for the drive. Thankfully Ben had loaned us his trailer, or else we would have had way too much stuff. 5 bikes (one extra for Katie or Lindsay to ride in Whistler) and enough camping gear for the week. Since none of us pack light to go backpacking, there was no way we were packing light car camping! Naturally we didn't leave on time, but tacking an extra hour onto a 24 hour drive doesn't really make much difference.
At just over 1400 miles each way, we all knew the trip to Whistler was going to be a long one. It was our plan to drive all the way to Roseburg, Oregon that Sunday. The next morning we were to meet up with Brent Pahls (my cousin who joined us for our previous 24 HOA race) and ride portions of the South Umpqua River Trail above Roseburg. Unfortunately that never happened. Just north of Redding, CA we blew a tire on our trailer. We were a bit worried about this at the start, because we didn't have a spare. After some discussion, and some direction from a kind officer, we crawled along the shoulder of I-5 to a rest area about 2 miles up the way.
It was our original plan to stay in the rest area for the night, since it was already 10 PM and there were no reasonable chance of us getting a tire before Les Schwab opened in the morning. As luck would have it there was an abandoned trailer in the very rest area that we limped into. The trailer had one wheel (minus the tire) and one good wheel and tire. Now I normally wouldn't go about taking a wheel off a random trailer, but I'm 99.9% sure this trailer was abandoned. Especially since the license plate holder was empty. The wheels off this abandoned trailer just happened to have the same bolt pattern that our trailer did, although the wheels were about half the size of the ones we were running. Either way, it was a working tire. We put this tire onto our trailer and managed to make it to the nearest Les Schwab. Granted we didn't get there until 11pm which prompted us to sleep in their parking lot!
I was eagerly looking forward to this trip, it was going to be an opportunity for me to find the enjoyment in biking again. Ride trails for the sheer joy of being on the bike, enjoying nature, camaraderie; there would be no competitions, no pressure, just the purity of the outdoors with no expectations.
There were four of us (and a dog) lined up to make the drive. Bryan, Justin, Landon , Bently (Justin's dog), and myself. Ben had his first day of orientation for dental school the next day or else he would have made a 5th for the drive. Thankfully Ben had loaned us his trailer, or else we would have had way too much stuff. 5 bikes (one extra for Katie or Lindsay to ride in Whistler) and enough camping gear for the week. Since none of us pack light to go backpacking, there was no way we were packing light car camping! Naturally we didn't leave on time, but tacking an extra hour onto a 24 hour drive doesn't really make much difference.
At just over 1400 miles each way, we all knew the trip to Whistler was going to be a long one. It was our plan to drive all the way to Roseburg, Oregon that Sunday. The next morning we were to meet up with Brent Pahls (my cousin who joined us for our previous 24 HOA race) and ride portions of the South Umpqua River Trail above Roseburg. Unfortunately that never happened. Just north of Redding, CA we blew a tire on our trailer. We were a bit worried about this at the start, because we didn't have a spare. After some discussion, and some direction from a kind officer, we crawled along the shoulder of I-5 to a rest area about 2 miles up the way.
It was our original plan to stay in the rest area for the night, since it was already 10 PM and there were no reasonable chance of us getting a tire before Les Schwab opened in the morning. As luck would have it there was an abandoned trailer in the very rest area that we limped into. The trailer had one wheel (minus the tire) and one good wheel and tire. Now I normally wouldn't go about taking a wheel off a random trailer, but I'm 99.9% sure this trailer was abandoned. Especially since the license plate holder was empty. The wheels off this abandoned trailer just happened to have the same bolt pattern that our trailer did, although the wheels were about half the size of the ones we were running. Either way, it was a working tire. We put this tire onto our trailer and managed to make it to the nearest Les Schwab. Granted we didn't get there until 11pm which prompted us to sleep in their parking lot!
The next morning we got two new tires installed on the trailer, pumped up our new spare and got on the road. We were now 10+ hours behind schedule, so there would be no riding before Whistler. Too bad since we were looking forward to meeting Brent and riding the North Umpqua trail out of Roseburg, OR. After a few hours we were finally rolling through the outskirts of Portland, OR. Our only leisure stop of the drive was on the Clackamas River to do some cliff jumping and take a quick river shower. Finally, 10 hours after leaving Les Schwab, we had made it to the SeaTac Airport where we met up with Jim, Lindsay, and Katie.
The next morning we were in Whistler. We had found a campground and were getting ready to go riding. I was especially looking forward to the riding. I had decided not to ride the race two days before and was itching to get out and see what the Whistler hype was all about. Our first trail traversed the side of a mountain and was called Kill Me Thrill Me. To say the least I was naive about the technical riding skills required to ride the black diamond trails in Whistler. After an just over an hour of hard technical and extremely rough terrain we had finished a staggering 2.2 miles of mt. biking.
Everything about riding in Whistler was completely new to me. I was used to measuring all my rides in terms of distance, but who travels only 2.2 miles in just over an hour. Our local trails can all be ridden using the middle chainring and just cranking up and over all the climbs, yet on 90% of this ride I couldn't pedal using that same gearing. I was also exposed to the elevated wooden bridges that North Shore style riders are accustomed to. What was this new found riding style. Who would have thought to build a trail through the rutted rocky hillside that we were on. In either event, I liked it. I like it a lot!
The next day we thought we should try a double black diamond trail... Gargamel (I have found that this is the only trail rated "insane" in Whistler). In order to make it to the trailhead we had to ride about 2000 ft of vertical on steep, loose ground. This turned out to be common occurance on the trails around Whistler. Riding Gargamel was my demise on a bike, while it was Justin's time to shine. I tried to ride as many sections of the trail that I thought were reasonable. After breaking two spokes on a rock and bending my front rim, the result of a head on into a tree down a slope so steep I couldn't really control my speed, I decided that I should walk a bit more in hopes to make it to the end of the trail without any broken bones and, equally important, a working bike. Justin made 90% of this trail look like a paved bike path. He flawlessly rode many of the inane lines that the rest of us happily passed on. All the while he was always excited about how well is Turner 5-Spot was performing. I'm sure he could have taken a hard-tail bike down the stuff with ease!
Each day in Whistler we kept about the same schedule. Wake up, eat breakfast, lounge by the fire, get out and ride by 11, come back to the camp, eat, relax, hang out by the fire... repeat. Although the riding was the most strenuous I could remember, the trip was one of the most relaxing I could remember. We had no plans, other than one bike ride a day. So we kept to our daily schedule. If we got done riding early we'd go into Whistler Village to check out the local scene. If Whistler is a winter wonderland for the skiers, it was an equal playground for mt. biking enthusiasts in the summer! I had never seen so many bikes, most of them were 6-10 inch travel bikes that looked like the could be run over by a tank and survive. It seemed we were a bit out of place, in the middle of the village, on our cross-country bikes. Either way, we were excited to be a part of the scene.
After some quick discussion we decided that, for our final day, we would ride Whistler's most epic ride, Comfortably Numb. Locals said we should expect to spend 5-7 hours on a 17 mile trail! The marker at the beginning of the trail said we should expect 4-7 hours of riding. After spending the last couple days riding the most technically advanced stuff we'd ever been on we came prepared for the full 7 hours. I had my CamelBack full of water, gels, bars, and a couple sandwiches. For the next few hours, Landon and I started cruising over some of the most amazing terrain we'd ever ridden. One minute the trail would be smooth flowing single track, next it would be littered with slippery rocks and roots, then we'd move onto rock slabs that had short, steep, technical climbs followed by steep roll outs. This continued for the next 3 hours until we thought we had finished the ride. It turns out we missed a sign and got onto the local frisbee golf course. Once we reoriented ourselves, we were able to hike-a-biked back to the trail and finish. What we thought was going to be an all day event turned out to be a 3.5 hour amazing ride.
After a week long vacation, full of driving, riding, and camping, it was time to head home. It would be a full 26 hours, since leaving Whistler, before we pulled back into Loma Linda. There was a planned stop at the Seattle Airport and an unplanned 2:30am stop just 9 miles into California. A officer decided to hang out at the bottom of the same hill we coasted down (without using the brakes). Needless to say he wasn't too happy about not using the brakes!
When all was said and done I think that everyone on the trip got what they came for. For me, the trip was an opportunity to leave behind all my pressing obligations at home. I didn't have to worry about working on the house, I didn't have to worry about training on the bike. I was able to find pure joy in the essence of riding with friends again. I'm sure it will only be a matter of time before I get back to Whistler, with the wife next time, and enjoy the amazing landscape one more time!
[Pictures to be added later]
After a week long vacation, full of driving, riding, and camping, it was time to head home. It would be a full 26 hours, since leaving Whistler, before we pulled back into Loma Linda. There was a planned stop at the Seattle Airport and an unplanned 2:30am stop just 9 miles into California. A officer decided to hang out at the bottom of the same hill we coasted down (without using the brakes). Needless to say he wasn't too happy about not using the brakes!
When all was said and done I think that everyone on the trip got what they came for. For me, the trip was an opportunity to leave behind all my pressing obligations at home. I didn't have to worry about working on the house, I didn't have to worry about training on the bike. I was able to find pure joy in the essence of riding with friends again. I'm sure it will only be a matter of time before I get back to Whistler, with the wife next time, and enjoy the amazing landscape one more time!
[Pictures to be added later]
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