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After yesterday's comment about not taking a day off today I ended up doing exactly that. It wasn't planned though - I just forgot to set my alarm in time to get up and have a full day riding ... oops. Today's MTB term ...
Rail - To hit a corner/section as if you were on rails. If you have to ask, then you haven't done it.
So anyway, today actually turned out pretty well because I did a couple of things I've been planning to do since I got here. The first thing was to go up past Blackcomb base and check out the site of the luge track that will be used during the 2010 Winter Olympics here in Whistler. So, let's start with that. This post might be quite long but I'll try and keep it interesting. :)
The first thing you come to when going up the luge site, called the Whistler Sliding Centre, is the visitors' building - all visitors are required to 'register' there before going into the track complex itself. There's no formal sign-in procedure but the building has a ton of info about bobsleigh, luge and skeleton so is well worth visiting. They've also got a really interesting video playing that explains some of the technical aspects of the track, from the refrigeration plant that controls the ammonia coolant that keeps the track at the right temperature to the 24/7 care required to keep the track in optimum condition. Fascinating!
Once done there you're allowed to wander around inside the lower half of the track itself. There is no access allowed to the upper part of the complex for a couple of reasons. Look at the photos below and see if you can figure out why ...
Wildlife warning sign - including cougars! Geeze ...
This is the type of thing you can encounter while wandering around in the bush ...
In case you missed it, bears and cougars roam around outside the wildlife-controlled areas tourists are allowed to visit. It's quite a different experience knowing that pretty much anywhere you go here there is a very high chance of a bear or cougar just showing up. There is bear poo (sorry) on the ground inside the area tourists are allowed to go too which suggests that bears cruise around in there at night also. Scary.
I'm a bit of Winter Olympics fan and always have been. For that reason going to the luge track was a very cool experience. Although the track wasn't covered in ice today (it's summer here now) it was breathtaking to see how steep and technical the track really is. It's not just a track going down a hill - it's far steeper than I expected and the turns are TIGHT. According to the literature I've read the steepest point on the track is a 20% gradient ... almost twice as steep as the steepest point in the entire Tour de France and that goes over the French Alps and the Pyrenees. Ouch.
Corner #13.
The approach to corner #14.
Corner #14.
I had a chat to the track building & maintenance crew while there too and got some of the facts about the complex. The finish lines for the various disciplines are at different points because of the different governing bodies that manage the sports but they're all on the same uphill stretch of track just after the final corner. This part of the track is very steep uphill but the skeleton, luge and bobsleigh athletes still fire around the last corner and make it to the top of the rise despite putting the "brakes" as hard as possible. You can see how steep it is in the photos below.
You can see how steep the uphill finish section of the track is from this shot.
You can see how steep the uphill finish section of the track is from this shot.
The final corners of the track. The finish lines are on the right, the speed trap on the left.
The athletes also reach speeds well in excess of 150kph when they pass through the speed trap at corner 16 too - INSANE! The speed trap is located in the dip you can see at the left of the photo just above.
This evening there was a cross country MTB race too (I mentioned it in yesterday's post). It was a very casual event with no 'winner' as such but that didn't stop some of the fittest people around entering. Unfortunately I didn't see the top pro riders I expected but it was still pretty cool. I won't harp on with too much detail but the first climb was up a track called "Easy Does It" which is named that way because it's the easiest downhill track here - not so easy when you're riding UP it though! Here are a couple of photos I took of the race today ... people seemed to be having fun.
One of the racers styling it up over a jump near the bottom of "Heart of Darkness"
Whistler XC MTB Racer - climbing up "Easy Does It" ... this wheelie went on until he was out of sight ...
One of the racers styling it up over a jump near the bottom of "Heart of Darkness" ... I freakin' LOVE that trail (it's in the videos I've put on YouTube recently).
Running about after the cross country riders was pretty good exercise so I don't feel completely lazy today thankfully haha.
TOMORROW I'm definitely hitting the mountain again although I think I've used up the money I want to spend on hiring helmet cameras now. I hope you've all enjoyed the footage I've put up so far though. :)
So until then, hello ...
Hello!
... and goodbye! :)
