· Ok, let's get started. Firstly, here is today's MTB slang term - all in the name of educating those who know nothing about mountain biking.
Cookie Cutter - This is what happens if you crash and don't have plugs on your handlebars. The bars generally twist around, impact on your stomach and punch a hole in you like a cookie cutter. Also known as a core sample.
Core sample hahaha - love that one. Let's hope it doesn't happen to me on this trip though.
Today was pretty damn good. The reason for my newfound enthusiasm for DH mountain biking is quite simple, to me at least: I'm slowly getting better at it. I'm not going to be entering races or riding the likes of trails called Schleyer or Joy Ride any time soon (those are double black diamond runs here at Whistler) but I'm getting the hang of clearing jumps properly. I mentioned this yesterday but also said that I'd get some video today in an attempt to see if you can see how much faster you can descend when hitting jumps properly. Keep reading ...
So this morning I got up around 9 a.m. and headed up the road to get what is almost becoming "my bike". It's a rental from a shop here called FanatykCo and is a Norco A-Line Park Edition bike. This is Norco's top downhill bike with the exception of the model used by their pro team and is a pretty serious DH machine. It weighs about 21kg/46lb, has 7 inches of suspension travel and is virtually bulletproof ... you'd hope so for close to $6k CAD though (it actually retails for $4750 but this particular bike has been upgraded quite a bit from the factory spec). It's also capable of handling terrain far beyond my ability but that just means I can hit things pretty hard and it'll just respond with "Come on, gimme something to do, eh?" See, it even sounds Canadian ... it's a Canadian brand after all. For all you cyclists out there, this is what the bike looks like. And yes, those are clipless pedals.
Norco A-Line Park Edition DH bike ... kick ass!
Pretty mean looking I reckon. When I took this photo a guy behind me said "Hey, I can see your bike smiling!" Hehe. I would've loved to get a photo of HIS bike - I think it was Stacy Kohut, a paraplegic mountain biker who can ride black diamond (expert) trails in his "wheelchair" although it's actually a 4 wheel mountain bike. This guy is a frickin' legend! Oh and just in case you doubt how good these guys are, check out some of their videos ...
So you've got this far I see. For reading this far here is your reward haha. This is my attempt at making another video worthy of showing. I'm not sure how much success I had but I reckon it turned out ok. Sorry it's not a highlight movie - that's coming soon. I chose the first track because the first words in the song are "I'm in control of nothing" - very appropriate sometimes - and the second track because it's called Overdrive and I reckon that's a pretty good title for videos like this.
I was planning on taking another day off tomorrow and going up to check out the luge/bobsled track that will be used for the 2010 Winter Olympics here. I'm enjoying the riding so much that I might just ride instead though - I can't get enough of this place. To quote legendary New Zealand rally driver Possum Bourne (RIP) "it's the most fun you can have with your pants on." ;)
Tomorrow there is a cross-country race here which I reckon sounds pretty cool. I would've entered but my bike is broken. :( I could hire one I guess but I'm already spending enough hiring the downhill bike every day. That just means I'll have to get my shutter snapping brain into action and go photograph the race - apparently some of the world's best pro XC riders will be there. Now that's cool!
They have some pretty cool merchandise here too and there's no way I could leave without scoring some of it. I ended up finding 3 shirts that I reckon have the best logos on them - here's one of them, showing the logo and name of one of my favourite trails. Sweet!
Cool t-shirt from Whistler Bike Park - Karate Monkey is one of the trails here.
Catch you all tomorrow!
