Humans need sleep plain and simple, deprive them of sleep for long enough and hallucinations become rampant followed by delirium and then death. Many things can be the root of sleep deprivation; newborn infant in the family, torture, university studies, party snake bite, or an overactive mind. I even saw a movie once (I think it was a documentary) where this bad guy could infiltrate dreams and kill the sleeper so people just stopped sleeping!

In my case the sleep deprivation is caused by two things; anticipation of Bike Park opening and an endless Rolodex list of things I need to do before Firday’s opening. Getting this thing going is no small task, there’s HR hurdles, training, materials acquisition, budgeting, budgeting, payroll, setting up lifts-signs-bike wash-bear bins, sponsor obligations, media requests, oh and getting trails open, can’t forget that one.

When opening trails we go over the same ground a few times; removing snow, fixing lips, picking rocks and looking at the state of the woodwork. In doing so on A-Line last week we discovered that the bridge adjacent to Karate Monkey needed some love. One of the stingers was cracked and the other was pretty soggy. The whole unit was tilted and bounced when you walked across it. While it reminded me of a major thoroughfare in Nepal, it was not really something worthy of WMBP, not to mention the fact that it was built back in the day when A-Line was a single track trail and hadn’t been built with the vision of 31″ bars. The replacement bridge will improve the flow and add a new element to the final hit on upper A-Line and should last another ten or so years.

The bridge construction isn’t the only thing on the go, we have the bulk of the Trail Crew still working on tuning up what’s clear of snow and shoveling out what isn’t. As of today the list of what is good to go is as follows:

1. A-Line
2. Crank It Up
3. B-Line
4. Ninja Cougar
5. Karate Monkey
6. Samurai Pizza Cat
7. Crack Addict
8. Devils Club
9. Ho Chi Min
10. Heart of Darkness
11. Schleyer
12. Detroit Rock City
13. Lower Joyride
14. Monkey Hands
15. Hornet
16. Lower Whistler Downhill
17. Joyride Jumps / Drops

The conditions on trail are varied with tacky surfaces, dry packed dirt and some wet spots. I would call the riding 9.5/10 so get up here for opening weekend. I for one can’t wait, the last things on my list after ride the park, greet old friends and make new ones and Strength in Numbers Premier is get some sleep!

See you Friday,

BF.

The team had some mainstays like Aquaman, Superman, Batman and Robin and Wonder Woman, as well as some lesser known characters Firestorm, Hawkgirl, Rima the Jungle Girl, Apache Chief and a bevy of others.

Why you ask, is this important at a time like this when all we really want is to ride bikes and take chairlifts back up so we can ride the aforementioned bikes back down again?

Today was the first day with the full trail crew on hand and when that keen bunch showed up with new boots, clean, blister free hands and new shovels it made me think of the Superfriends. There was Pete-the-giant, Machine Wizard, Ginger-Ninja, Kung Fu Mike, Mad Dog, The Savage, Joslander, Patzilla, Groundskeeper Willie and a cast of supporting characters each with their own unique skill set and inhuman strength. The evil taking over Parkopolous was winter and the team would have to work together to save the mountain biking population from eternal vernal enslavement.

Minus the tights and masks the WMBP Trail Crew are indeed heroes, some of them can fly, some can lift ridiculously large rocks and some appear on occasion to change into something else at night under a full moon. Mostly though they are the saviors of our universe, putting in countless hours digging, raking, packing and repacking so we can all ride that endless conveyor of lift serviced gravity trails. As they go into battle for the season I tip my helmet to them and wish them godspeed…well actually I just wish them speed because we have 11 days to get as much of that Park open as we possibly can so you can come get some!

The list of trails will solidify as the days go by but the plan at this point is to have:

• A-Line
• B-Line
• Crank it Up
• HOD
• Ho Chi Min
• Monkey Hands
• Hornet
• World Cup Single Track
• Samurai Pizza Cat
• Karate Monkey
• Joyride Jumps / Drops

What do these unrelated items have in common? (Read below to find out!)

We are two weeks out from opening the Whistler Mountain Bike Park and this place is like a beehive of activity with more buzz happening each day we tick closer to the season kick off. Today for example, there are shop guys building the GBB bike shop and rental guys building bikes by the dozen. The lift mechanics are tuning up the Fitz and putting on the bike carriers that presumably they dug out of the snow somewhere. The building maintenance crew are putting the load and unload ramps on trucks and installing them as well as the split rail fencing we all know and love at the bottom. The first guides in the door are unpacking all of the uniforms and prizing for Phat Wednesday races. The bike patrol will be hanging from ropes in the Airdome shortly making sure their evac skills are as sharply tuned as their first aid.

Out on the trails the trail crew boys are dealing with winter’s bounty knocking down snow drifts and mixing in mud to make the melt transpire faster. The way we get your trails open is a multi step process. Step one is push anything we can with a snow-cat as it can do the heavy work to clear off ski run crossings and sections of trail wide enough to sneak down. Step two involves mini-excavators digging out the bulk of the snow on the machine built trails. Step three has the hand crew follow the machines a day or two later cleaning up all the residual snow and ice and opening up culverts for maximum runoff flow. The fourth step is the return of the machines to rebuild jump lips and berm radii. Five is the hand crew again, this time with rakes picking rocks and removing gravel. Finally step six is patrol marking jumps, adding signs and one final work run to make sure things are riding properly.

As you can see it takes a town to make this Bike Park ready for your enjoyment. At the moment we are in step two on A-Line with Crank it Up and B-Line on deck. Our plan is to get these three arteries flowing while Ma Nature works on the singletrack. Next week we tackle those capillaries hopeful that spring has done her part and we just need to scoop a few more blades to get them going. The current prediction is that we will have 8 to 10 trails ready to ride by opening day likely with a few more added last minute (my modus is to under-promise and over-deliver).

So what do a machete a mushroom and a mummified mouse have in common? Nothing, other than being the three items I found occupying my work boots when I went to put them on this morning at the tool shed. The way I see it, some time last fall the greedy mouse didn’t want to share his win fall mushroom with his homies so he tried to sneak it into the boot but it must have nudged the machete on the way down and knocked it off its nail either clobbering the mouse or trapping him inside the boot. At least that’s the theory I came up with while shovelling snow all afternoon. Funny how the mind wanders during manual labour. See you in a few weeks. BF

As we await the arrival of those first tracks in the mud we tick down the final few weeks before opening. Snowcats will be unleashed next week to push spring thaw along a little faster. Next come the mini-excavators which will drop into A-line and Crank it Up first this season scooping the remnants of snow off the trails. A few days behind the machines the Trail Crew follow cleaning up after the machines and managing drainage as the snow melts and needs somewhere to go. The machines then make their second trips down rebuilding the berm and jumps that give these bike trails their iconic character and reason for being the most ridden tracks in the biking world.

Build up that new bike or lube the old one, this won’t take long and we’ll all be back where it all began, slapping fives at the bottom of Fitz.

See you there!

BF

• Sleep problems – oversleeping but not refreshed, cannot get out of bed, needing a nap in the afternoon
• Overeating – carbohydrate craving leading to weight gain
• Depression, despair, misery, guilt, anxiety – normal tasks become frustratingly difficult
• Family / social problems – avoiding company, irritability, loss of libido, feeling emotionally ‘numb’
• Lethargy – too tired to cope, everything an effort
• Physical symptoms – often joint pain or stomach problems, lowered resistance to infection
• Behavioral problems – especially in young people

Now I’m not in any way affiliated with doctoring but I can tell you that laundry list describes how I feel when I have not been riding my bike for any length of time due to season, injury, or a schedule full of meetings and / or travel. My “disorder” and likely yours if you are taking the time to read this post could be called MAD or Mountainbike Affectiveness Disorder or better yet NERD (Not Enough Riding Disorder). The cure for which (and I’m campaigning for doctors notes that will let you get out of school, work, family reunions etc.) is to get out and ride your bike, simple right? If you are a MAD NERD and cannot ride your bike outside for any of the aforementioned reasons, there are still a number of lower impact medications you can try. These Homeopathic remedies for MAD NERD include thinking about biking, dressing in your bike clothes, tinkering with bikes or bike parts and the obvious watching bike videos on-line.

All of these things will help alleviate the symptoms of MAD NERD but only the concentrated dose prescribed below can cure you for the season. This is potent stuff and should be kept out of reach of children unless they too are showing symptoms. Rx:  Apply one opening day at Whistler Mountain Bike Park liberally over affected area ensuring it gets under the skin. Once 8 hours of riding have been absorbed instill in each eye a generous amount of Anthill Films “Strength In Numbers” movie premier. Repeat daily until all symptoms have subsided. Refills: Unlimited.

Opening Day is a short 7 weeks away on May 18.  I say short only to overcome my SAD but really, we still have to wait.  The good news is on opening day, Anthill Films will be premiering their new film Strength In Numbers in Whistler at the Conference Centre.  For a quick fix until then, keep watching the Teaser, repeat, repeat, repeat.

BF

A quick survey of the snow on the Fitz elevation bike trails has shown a moderate amount of snow but all of the bridges remain intact which means quicker opening when we start digging in 7 weeks. The machines are ordered and the staff are pumped to get digging, so the minute the lights go out on the World Ski and Snowboard Festival we will be on it.

See you in 10 weeks!

BF

Beginning at the top of the Peak Chair on Whistler Mountain, Top of the World takes riders through one of the most visually spectacular alpine environments on the planet. A layer of soft tacky dirt covers the alpine trail as it winds its way through three climate zones including Whistler’s Alpine Tundra and Mountain Hemlock zones before finishing in a coastal rainforest. Riding in the alpine is a unique experience and Whistler’s expansive and vast mountains make it a visually spectacular setting.

“Top of the World will blow your mind,” says Whistler Mountain Bike Park Manager Brian Finestone. ”It takes the flow Whistler Mountain Bike Park is famous for and drops it on the peak of Whistler Mountain. With some of the world’s best riding set against the granite spires of the Coast Range Top of the World is the pinnacle of alpine riding.”

One hundred riders each day will be granted access to this special trail. “We want to ensure riding in such a spectacular setting is an inspiring experience,” says Finestone.

Riding the Peak Chair will require a separate lift ticket which will cost riders $15 in addition to their Bike Park pass. The Peak Zone ticket will be valid for one upload of the Peak Chair and

is recommended for advanced riders.

“Top of the World is a technical downhill single-track trail and is suitable for advanced all-mountain, free-ride and downhill mountain bikers,” says Finestone.

The Whistler Mountain Bike Park is scheduled to open for the 2012 bike season on May 18, with the Peak Zone likely opening in mid -July.

WHISTLER, BC, February 1, 2012 – Whistler Mountain Bike Park and Giant Bicycles are excited to announce they will be working together for the 2012 bike season. Giant, one of mountain biking’s top bike manufacturers, will become the official bike partner of the Whistler Mountain Bike Park. Additionally, the Whistler Mountain Bike Park is pleased to announce they will work with RockShox suspension, AVID brakes and while continuing their partnership with SRAM and TRUVATIV.

“Giant Bicycles is one of the biggest, and arguably best, mountain bike manufactures in the world, and the Whistler Mountain Bike Park is stoked to work with them,” says Bike Park Manager Brian Finestone. “Giant’s line of gravity mountain bikes are second to none, and we are extremely happy to partner with Giant, RockShox and AVID to supply premium mountain bike products to our customers.”

Whistler Mountain Bike Park’s rental fleet of Giant bikes will consist of 150 Glory and Faith models. 50 will be set up for the expert or bike “fanatic” who wants to rent a top of the line race or gravity machine, while 100 Glory and Faith models will be set up for the novice to intermediate rider.

“Whistler Mountain Bike Park is not only the biggest and best lift-accessed bike park in the world, but it is also a great place to connect with riders from around the world,” says Paul Nash of Giant Canada. “The incredible terrain in the Whistler Mountain Bike Park is the perfect testing ground for our mountain bikes.”

The Giant bikes will be equipped with the latest DH specific components from SRAM, RockShox, AVID and TRUVATIV. The addition of Easton Havoc DH wheels and Maxxis tires results in an exceptional rental fleet for any type of rider. Each bike will be meticulously maintained by Whistler Mountain Bike Park mechanics who will be completing SRAM Technical University (STU) training and will have a thorough knowledge of the Giant bicycles.

With over 2,500 employees, offices in over 15 countries and a focus on getting people on bikes, SRAM is thrilled to continue an almost 11 year relationship with the Whistler Mountain Bike Park.

“We consider Whistler Mountain Bike Park to be the most established and progressive mountain bike park in the world and we are always excited to continue to work with them,” says David Zimberoff, SRAM Global Marketing director. “We had an extremely successful year working with Giant’s Global Race Team last year and we are thrilled to welcome Giant to the SRAM and Whistler Mountain Bike Park family.”

The Whistler Mountain Bike Park rental fleet will be composed of some of the most elite mountain bikes on the market,” says Finestone. “SRAM is a leader in the downhill mountain bike industry and we are delighted to continue to team up with them.”

The Whistler Mountain Bike Park is currently under a few feet of snow but expect to see the all-new Giant bicycles in Whistler Blackcomb’s rental stores in the spring of 2012.  Opening day for the Whistler Mountain Bike Park’s 2012 season is expected to be in May.

At times like these I look back at hot and dusty summer riding with a particular fondness. Would those times be as savory without this opposite end of the spectrum? My bikes hang in a row in the garage, some cleaned and lubed and others still caked with the muck from those last rides of the season. Across the room stand the fleet of snowboards like the girls at the school dance too afraid to mix with the dirty boys on the other wall. If they were suddenly animated like a Disney movie, I wonder who would hang together. My guess is the Dirt Jumper would be pals with the park board talking about airs and transitions and such. The DH bike would no doubt hit it off with the big pow riding fish talking about floating over terrain at speed popping airs off side hits whenever possible. The split-board and XC bike would nerd-out on talk of backcountry epics, GPS apps and nutrition while the swing-bike and Noboard would just sit together and not talk, both too shy in their awkward Emo alternative way, shunned by the jocks around them.

By my count we have four months to go before Bike Park opening as I write this. The new issues of Decline will continue to grace my coffee table and the Park planning meetings will get more frequent at about the same rate as the days get longer. We will approve the ad campaigns and video projects for the year and get updates on projects that started last season. Pass prices will be set in stone and Crankworx courses will take shape at least on paper. The new bikes and uniforms will get built and shipped. The Bike Park trails may close but the work carries on behind the scenes. We have some exciting changes coming this season and I look forward to sharing them with you as we roll them out. Enjoy what’s left of winter, heal the injuries from last summer and do whatever it takes to stay in shape for riding season; it will be here sooner than you think.

BF