Whistler Mountain Bike News

Helly/Heli Wedding

2010-01-03T19:29:00.003-08:00

Dec 28th 2009

What to do when you cant go heli biking?

Go for a heli wedding of course!

Thanks to Blackcomb Heli for flying Jo and I up there and thanks to Daina from Helly Hansen for kitting us out in the winter version of a wedding dress and suit!

Down Time update

2009-12-21T16:36:00.003-08:00

So, its winter. We've a ton of snow and I'm at stall point on the house until after christmas, so, an ideal time to catch up with paper work, accounts etc...however, I'm somewhat less productive than I hoped as I have my wrist in a full splint beacuse my thumb hurts.

Its basically RSI or known as De Quervians' syndrome.

So, 4 weeks in a splint with physio. I can barely hold a mouse.. so much for sittig doing the accounts then.. or skiing in the bountiful snow... guess i'll be watching TV then!

Oddly, I'm not a middle aged woman, I haven't done too much knitting nor am I pregnant, so i guess I have to blame DIY for this one, that or that RZone test bike with super stiff shifting because Canondale didn't feel the need to design the bike with fully sealed shift cable routing - who does that huh?!

What do you do in a bike resort when winter comes around?

2009-12-08T13:57:00.003-08:00

So December has kicked in already, Seb is in Mexico, Jamie the isle of white, Pete and Tristan are back in Ireland, Nat made it to New Zealand.
Jonny has started with Intrawest for the winter, and im working ski patrol on the hill. The snow kicked in early and so much came down you could only ski by finding something really steep and pointing a straight line toward the bottom. Then in true whistler style it rained. The rain made it all the way to the top at 2200 metres, then just to make things fun a cold snap came down from the arctic making the surface bullet proof. Its silly cold out right now and alfie refuses to go out for more than a pee.
More snow will come eventually, but in between were trying to make a solid start on a new website. The aim is to have it complete by the first week in Jan, but with both Jonny and I trying to pay the bills it may be a bit behind. There are a few new things on the horizon, the most exciting is going to be a monthly interior trip. Some early and late season special tours with endless biking, and of course the new Scott Voltage.....looking forwrad to that one most!

Bike Mag - testing

2009-10-23T17:49:00.002-07:00

Things seem to be going superbly as far as the BIKE 2010 test set-up goes.
Marks working tirelessly, the boys are really putting the hours in and Bex's food is keeping everyone fuelled up whilst suitable impressed with her culinary skill.
Me - well, i've been back in the UK for the first few days of BIKE arrivals then in my 'own little Africa' working on my usual 'off season' job - renovations - fortunately with a paycheck too :)

Anyway, I called in to see how things were going on day 5 of testing and everything seems like its on track and progressing well. DH and Trail bikes are about wrapped up and I managed to squeeze some time in today to get a few laps of lost lake in the rain.

I rode a Cannondale RZone and a Giant Trance. Two laps of wet, mud and smiles!
I cant talk about the bikes as, well, I'm not allowed to but I can say that I've missed being out on my bike for the last few weeks.

Life Cycles Blog

2009-10-13T18:28:00.002-07:00

Check out the link above for the life cycles blog from their time in whistler, this film is going to change things in the bike movie world. You can quote me on that.

BIKE mag

2009-10-13T18:14:00.002-07:00

October, time to kick back and reflect on the season. Think about the great rides you've had and sneak as many fun rides in as you can before the winter really kicks in - right?

Wrong, Bike magazine are turning up this week, we will be looking after them till mid November and right now im checking the weather network more than is normal for any internet browser.

The great news is we will be trying out next years bikes, and im not just talking SCOTT bikes (though we have two Voltage FR's that I cannot put down) but all of next years new bikes. Bike mag are doing a special test issue that will feature us and is being run out of the chalet.

UPS and Fed Ex are calling me every 2 minutes for customs clearance and im waiting for a couple of customs officers to turn up to see whats going on the amount of bikes that are coming in. Needless to say all the guides are spending more time in the garage than in their own beds.

To top that off it looks like we are going to be alowed to shuttle the bike park with no one else on the mountain, its going to be an incredible month.

Dam'ned by the French

2009-10-02T09:26:00.002-07:00

Another French Movie of Whistler from Damien

RaceFace - What's Next

2009-09-29T09:45:00.003-07:00

After Wednesday nights particularly disappointing outing to the NWD10 premier (don't rush to get tickets to your nearest premier kids) we had RaceFace and Rocky Mountains What's Next party to look forwards to.

Hosted out in the Vegas Sticks in can what only be described as a Porno House (so I'm lead to imagine) we had to get a Limo from the Strip out there.
We'd had dinner and beers with Darren and Keli from Endless Biking before heading to the pick up point, waiting for a while before climbing aboard our luxury taxi. My first time in a limo... first time in Vegas... destination Debby does Vegas.

It seemed like most of Whistler was at the party. Lots of familiar faces but I guess what's the mountain bike industry without Whistler right?

No beer but copious amounts of hard liquor and mixers!

Mark and I (shamefully) were amongst the last to leave ~3.30am? and closed the night down after a long mini bus ride back to the Strip with a beer in OShea's casino which is almost as nasty as our hotel the Imperial Palace.

Party - very good thank you RaceFace
Movie - No idea.. too busy drinking and chatting...
Hangover - HORRID!

Friday - scratched off due to the complete uselessness of my body and mind.

Meh

2009-09-24T01:44:00.001-07:00

meh

1. A sound to be made when there is nothing else to be said.
2. A sound made when the speaker does not care at all and just wishes the other person woulod get the hell off that specific topic.
3. A verbal shrug.
4. The most useless and pointlessly futile word that gets people nowhere, does nothing, explains not much whatsover and, to top it all off, is effortlessly annoying for the rest of the participants in the conversation.

"Did you see NWD 10.. wasn't it awesome?!"
"Meh"

New World Disorder 10

2009-09-24T01:32:00.002-07:00

Film - people riding bikes

Party - disappointing :(

Conclusion - meh!

Vegas Baby

2009-09-24T01:14:00.002-07:00

Well, Vegas is just as you'd expect, all lights and over indulgence!

There are certainly elements of Vegas that I like. The Fashion District being one (Fashion Show). We ate at Ba Ba Reba last night, a pretty cool place over looking the Palazzo hotel - about the only resort hotel built with any taste.

Anyway, I've a pretty jaded view on places like this having spent a night in Reno. We're staying at the Imperial Palace, a cheap and cheerful option that remind me of the lights, smells and noises of the casinos in Blackpool. $39 a night for 2 beds, a shower and only a short walk to the Venetian hotel where Sands conference center is located.

The show itself is simply NUTS! We've exhibited at the UK shows with the Cycle Show as the biggest and slickest. Rough estimations would suggest that you could fit the Cycle Show into Interbike at least 4 times!

So.. the show. Its been good. We've seen Continental and please to say that we're on their program for the foreseeable future. Kenda had given us a great product for the last 4 years however budget cuts resulted in Canada being dropped from their program. We'll certainly miss riding the Small Block 8, my current favourite El Moco and DH staple Nevegal, however we are hugely looking forwards to getting oursleves set up with a more tubeless compatible a range from Conti including the Kaiser, Rain King and Mountain King (Rubber Queen).

DT Swiss have also stepped up to the plate with continued support with wheelsets and are keen to use us to showcase their new and exciting Tricon wheelset.

Everything else remains the same. Ongoing support from our leading sponsor Fox racing shox, Magura looking to accommodate us back into their full product budgetand ading Uvex helmets to the mix, Dakine for packs and gloves, Fizik for saddles and Scott for framestes all continue to support BBB for 2010.

So, Vegas 1 day in... 90% work done!

Tommorrow - shoot guns, drive go-karts, skydive indoors, go to the strippers, continue to collect hookers cards for Colin and Ian.

Whistler, French Style

2009-09-15T22:34:00.005-07:00

A nice youtube vid from our other favorite Frenchies
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Season Wind Down

2009-09-12T09:32:00.001-07:00

Its that time of year when it feels like our holiday season is winding down, but in reality there's still a long way to go.
Crankworx has been and gone, Eurobike is over, Interbike is on the way and most of the 2010 product has been released, leaked or flaunted in all its glory!

Here at BBB we still have another 25 guests to welcome and showcase Whistlers riding to before our shut down date of October 4th!

Between now and then however there are still a couple of events to round the season out. Westside Wheelup and the Cheakamus Challenge two Whistler classic XC races. Interbike is on the cards for me this year - my first time to Vegas baby!

So, we still have a good deal of riding to get done. We've somehow got to fit in all those "trips that never were" into the fall months.
We still have last minute season end bookings coming through almost daily - I guess like me, our guests aren't happy to lay down their bikes for the winter in submission to the media's suggestion that 2010 is already here!

Now, even with all these plans to finish off 2009 with a bang, its hard not to be excited about 2010 and what it has in store. We have Frankowski in town filming for his new project 'Life Cycles' - a movie who's teaser will simply blow your mind! (go check it out at Vegas!), Raceface have their new SIXC stuff, Scott USA have the new Voltage FR, and DT have some uber pimp new wheels, how are we expected to focus on what's left of '09 as opposed to what's to come in 2010?

Now, if only Raceface did some ski stuff - maybe i'd be as pumped about the winter as I am about next summer!

Life Cycles - Whistler

2009-09-08T17:45:00.002-07:00

BBB are proud to host Derek Frankowski and his production team for the upcoming Life Cycles film.

Whilst The Collective really pushed the boundaries of what makes a great MTB movie, Life Cycles is set to challenge your expectations and bring a completely new perspective to how we see riders on the big screen.
Life Cycles is meant to be about the riders, and the deep connections they have with the bike. But it is also about the art of filmmaking and capturing unique, attention-grabbing action sequences.

The Life Cycles team are staying in one of our luxury town homes for the duration of their time in Whistler. Expect to see some stunning footage of Whistler like you've never seen before!

Skin Suit haters

2009-09-01T13:58:00.002-07:00

Trusted BBB guide and vocal opponent to the pyjama racers that frequent Whistler - Seb Kemp, took his finger pointing and Whistler Diaries slur on race PJ's one step further with his own testament to the ridiculousness that is Troy Lee and SKIN SUITS.

YES, he looked ridiculous, NO, it didn't make him any faster!
However, in an unexpected twist, it did make him more popular with the ladies.

Quote: Seb Kemp - Dirt's Whistler Diaries

"The other half of the riders are wearing about a thousand dollars worth of NASA spec Teflon Troy Lee fabric that is so bright it feels like someone has rubbed chillies into your eyes."

In all honesty, I highly recommend you rub chillies in your eyes before watching seb in in undercrackers ;)

More seb-kemp Mountain Biking >>

Childrens Wish Foundation

2009-08-17T10:01:00.002-07:00

We were approached back in June by the Childrens Wish Foundation as they had a request from a young guy called Dustin that he wanted to do a downhill mountain biking heli drop in Whistler, BC.

Dustin and Alex pictured here with our guides Pete and Tristan all had a great time and dad even managed to get up for a ride in the helicopter too!

All in all a great way for us to help out with a great charity and thanks to Pete and Tristan for giving up their time to make Dustins wish come true!

Home town advantage? - Day 6

2009-07-03T20:59:00.002-07:00

Back to Squamish and a night in my own bed, no queues for shower, toilet or breakfast and a chicken wake-up all of my own.

Todays riding was a mix of Test of Metal and Gear Jammer race courses carefully linked together - great stuff! A big thanks to Corsa Cycles Dave HEisler for putting this one together.

A TOM style roll out up onto the highway from Brennan Park then a swift road climb upto the top of Perth Drive (past my house from which we'd freewheeled down to the start 30minutes earlier)
From there it was into the Mashiter, Tracks from Hell, Bob Macintosh, Dead End Loop, Rock and Roll, Robs Corners, Cliffs Corners, over to the Garibaldi area, Skookum, IMBA Smart, up Recycle, down Recycled, down the Pseudoseugas, onto the Garibaldi Park Road (eat, drink, revel in the the epic descent) then over to the Carpenters Son bridge, over to the top section of the Plunge, cut out and climb upto the new Hoods in the Woods trail, poop alley, through the Powerhouse Party and then into Crumpit woods - far side, 3 virgins, 7 stitches then out through Valley Cliff and the riverside trails back to Brennan Park!

Cracking course with plenty of guest riders out there enjoying it too!

Sunshine Coast - Day 5

2009-07-02T17:36:00.004-07:00

The Sunshine Coast has a reputation for epic flowing descending, and to be honest that's exactly what we were hoping for yesterday.

The original plan was for another 60kms of riding with close to 2100m vertical, but the course directors and BCBR masterminds made the call to throw a course change in and shorted things up a bit - thanks for that - couldn't be more welcomed by me!

Felt good off the start line and kept with a pretty good group through the opening doubletrack (the same stuff we'd finished up on the day before). Had a good early stint but as soon as we started going up, my leg power started going down :(
A bit more no flow trail killed of any power I had left.y recovery is slow and Marks doing pretty well right now - I guess 12,000kms of riding down africa day after day helps condition your body to quick recovery!

Anyway, still plenty of climbing and some bits I simply had to walk - not through poor trail choice, but simply my lack of conditioning.
On any other day and on fresh legs it'd have been a superb race course and one that would've suited us perfectly, sadly the legs didn't do what I begged of them and we slipped further behind where we hoped to be in the pack. Descending was fine and we picked places back steadily.

After the second feed station - paramedic extraodinaire Meg gave us the great news that it was only a short way to the top!

After a big effort 20 minutes we entered the descent....WOW, what awesome trails!
We were wearing huge grins all the way down which made every last bit of up completely worth while!

Mark flatted with 100m of trail before the road and subsequent finish line but we got fixed up and moving again in probably only 45 seconds by double teaming the tube swap.

Pretty strong descent and picked off a bunch of riders, but my weak climbing kept us back just inside the top 100.

Back in Squamish now, my own bed, a hot bath and hopefully a decent rest so we can rip it up on home soil!

Going to Langdale? TAKE YOUR BIKE!!!

Worst Day ever - Day 4

2009-07-02T17:15:00.002-07:00

Day 4... the day I expected to hurt!

Our day kicked off with a 4.30 wake-up call (yes.. 4.30 in the morning)
A school bus transfer to Little River, a ferry to Powel River, a bus to Saltry Bay then a ferry to Earls Cove.. all in preparation for 68kms of riding. We'd had a breakfast courtesy of BC ferries on the first crossing, so eggs, sausage and ham devoured by 6am... 5 hours later when the starters horn sounded.. I was hungry again!

Starting at Earls Cove, we had a police escort out of the ferry terminal, up the hill and well.. we didn't ever seem to stop going up hill!
There was some singletrack, but it was ALL either hike a bike or bushcut garbage.

I don't remember anything about this course aside from PAIN, CLIMB and WALK
We'd hike a bike up the brush cut stuff to then descend down forest service road ???

If I sound down about the day.. its because I am. It wasn't a course suited to Mark or I and not really what we expected. It was probably the single longest amount of time I've spend on a bike (without doing a photo shoot) and probably the worst ride I've ever had.

BCBR brings communities chance to showcase their riding and the riding communities. This stage had neither (aside from one group of trail builders on a bridge in the woods.. the only TTF (technical Trail Feature) we saw all day.

Now I'm sore, and still have 3 riding days left!

Visiting the Earls Cove - Sechelt area? Don't bother taking a bike!

Cumberland - Day 3

2009-07-02T17:01:00.004-07:00

Day 3 saw us in the Small town of Cumberland. Stopping point for those heading up to Mount Washington and home of the Famous Riding Fool Hostel.
There was a short delay before the start of the race while the Moto boys headed out to fix up some vandalised course flagging, once sorted we embarked on our stage. An escorted tour through Cumberland's sleepy streets before heading into the trails.

This was another pretty fun day's riding of highspeed valley bottom trail much like the Riverside network in Whistler with some nice techy riding. Some stunning views on the course too.. if you had chance to take them in.
Just the one high speed wash out crash today with no more stings, mechanicals or punctures. Road rash sucks!

Cumberland is definitely worth a revisit.

BC Bike Race - Days 1 and 2

2009-06-29T17:08:00.004-07:00

The 2009 BC Bike Race opened up at 10am with a 'drop the hammer' road climb out of teh Ice Center on Mt Seymour. A climb upto the first choke point that we had been warned about then a long climb upto the top of Severed Dick (named for exactly that reason!), another big climb and into Pipeline both descents are superb examples of the killer riding and trail work that the NSMBA work hard to provide on vancouvers north shore.
Mark and I pulled out a 2.03hr finish that put us around 13th in the Open men team of 2 catagory (results show 15th so not sure whats going on there?)
Day 1 - North Van

Day 2 involved an early ferry to Nanaimo, police rollout through the streats of Nanaimo, a big road climb and then 30+kms of superb singletrack riding.
We went hard (read: TOO hard) and hurting now, but hopefully placed well.

Still no mechanicals, injuries or flats. I've been stung twice though which is always nice.

The Spark's ROCK!

BC Bike Race

2009-06-25T14:31:00.002-07:00

Team Bear Back Biking
Mark and I are riding the BCBR. Starts on Sunday with a roll out through Downtown Vancouver before heading up into teh North Shore mountains.
From there its over to the Island, then Sunshine Coast then Squamish and Whistler.

Excited and nervous!

Team Bear Back Biking

German Shape Magazine...YAR

2009-05-25T20:49:00.002-07:00

Last year we had the pleasure of hosting and guiding German ladies health magazine SHAPE. We spent the days teaching the journo (I forget her name) how to ride a bike and preparing her for a major days riding at the end of their stay. She had seen a photo of Richie Schley riding and she wanted the same shot. Here is the finished article Reise_Kanada.pdf.

I feel like David Hasselhoff because now I'm big in Germany.

MAY

2009-05-24T09:14:00.004-07:00

It's May and the weather is already awesome. This photo was taken three days ago at the exit of Big Timber. JT Huck showing how to carve the snow. If you are thinking of booking a holiday with us soon or you already have, then don't be scared this snow patch was a very small and isolated patch. Due to a poor snow fall in winter and the stunning weather we are having (24 degrees blue sky days warm evenings) what snow there was is dissappearing super fast and all but the highest elevation trails are open.

In this photo we have Tristan, Pete, Ian, myself, Jamie, and Collin.

Ian and Collin are as much a part of the BBB family as anyone can be. This is their THIRD stay with us in 12 months!!!!! They come from Manchester but they love the mountain biking in Whistler (and Moira's cooking) so much they have booked their FOURTH holiday for this coming September as well.

Tour D'Afrique

2009-05-20T21:59:00.001-07:00

Found this video on Spoke Magazines Website of the TOUR D'AFRIQUE which Mark just completed. Just hearing his stories has been inspirational enough but if need some visuals to go alongside side the stories then check out the teaser for the full length movie. VIDEO HERE