Day 4 – Sun Peaks

They survived, with just a few demons to wrestle in their heads from too much beer! Another wet day… And we just don’t care! If you need a good feed before a day in the park go to Bagg’s Sweets – burritos that will knock your socks off.

The gang is using all the training they’ve been shown. With a choice of so many black runs at Sun Peaks, the riders are constantly pushing the boundaries.
This morning Frank stepped up to do a creek gap jump that was 10 feet wide. He made it look like he’d been doing it for years.

With this day being a travel day we planned to break out of the bikes at 3pm to get ready to leave at 4pm. We decided to do one last run in whilst the winners got changed. Just 20 seconds after getting on the lift we realised it was a bad idea – the heavens really opened and the lightning and thunder was right above us. Being sat on a metal lift not earthed wasn’t looking too smart!

They put the lift on to crazy speed to get us to the top. We climbed off, raced into Steam Shovel. Doubling all the jumps ripping the turns in rain that I can’t even begin to explain, supported by thunder claps and lightning. It was the race to hell, we screamed with excitement all the way down. So far on the Ultimate Road Trip that was the best run.

We tried to leave on time, we really did! But as we’ve come to learn the Ultimate Road Trip sets the agenda not us, we get there when we get there, we are just having too much fun to rush.

Thanks to all the team at Sun Peaks for the mind blowing hospitality, for more information about the resort go to www.bikeparksbc.com and why not check out the pimp accommodation they hooked us up with – www.hearthstonelodgeatsunpeaks.com.

The trip rolls out and we rock the road to Whistler.

Day 5 – Whistler

Where did all the days go? How did we suddenly get to Whistler? The Ultimate Road Trip is just flying along. Another 2am arrival, this time we push breakfast back to 10am. Again the resorts make us all feel special with great rooms based around apartments at Mountainside Lodge (www.mountainsidelodge.ca), right at the bottom of the lift up into the park.

Jeremy Olson meets us for breakfast, he’s a dirt jump rider and PR manager for Whistler, and super excited to hear how the trip has been going.

As with every day on the trip the gang is keen to rip. Bikes get checked – we find that all the brake pads need to be changed due to the harsh weather conditions we’re having.

The first ride up on the chair lift always gives you butterflies no matter how long you’ve been riding. With Crankworx starting tomorrow the park is blown out of shape with the sickest slopestyle stunts. The world’s best riders are here for the showdown!

The sign when you get of the chair tells you to, “warm up on a Green or a Blue run” – B-Line it is then. The winners of the Ultimate Road Trip get a taste of what Whistler has to offer – smiles, giggles and “Thank you” are what we are met with everytime we stop to regroup. It’s been so worth it.

On the lift, up we go. This time we turned on to Karate Monkey, this is the most technical trail the gang has been tested with. Once again they all stepped up their game and railed and nailed it. We switched from there into Ho Chi Min, ending out on lower A-line. Oh! They want to jump! They so want to jump – coaching the last day we will be on drops and jumps.

The Ultimate Road Trip’s purpose is not to be all about bikes. Bike Parks BC wants to show the world that the resorts Mt Washington, Sun Peaks, Panorama, Silverstar, Kicking Horse and Whistler have a lot more then bikes to offer.

We pull the riders off their bikes at 3:15pm, they shower and by 4pm they’re signing waivers at the Outdoor Adventure office for the ATV tour to the Whistler Mountain Peak – that’s right ATV’s ,all the way to the top of the mountain! Thanks to Dave at Outdoor Adventure (www.adventureswhistler.com) for putting it on.

No racing, no fish tails, no bumping – we broke all of those rules in the first five minutes! Our guides Madison and Lesley pulled us all to a stop and gave us all a telling off, they where right too. Inside all of our helmets we where chuckling like school children though. Higher and higher we ride, more and more snow. Whistler got so much snow this winter, so much that they don’t think some trails will open until late August. That’s just one and half months they’ll be open this summer before winter arrives.

The idea of the ride is to get to the top enjoy the view and then come a little way back down for dinner at Chick Pea lodge. Dinner prepared by Outdoor Adventure, they even had a lady playing guitar and signing, a nice atmosphere high up on the mountain.

Chasing the light down the mountain on full bellies was fun. It seemed the gang only knows Go and Stop on the ATVs and in true fashion it wasn’t long before we had a roller. Chris Jones’s doughnuts quickly into a low-speed barrel roll.

Scraping off the mud we walked over to a bar for a well-earned pitcher of cold Kokanee beer. Our first day in Whistler on the Ultimate Road Trip comes to a close. Check back in for more tomorrow….