Whistler Day 26

Ride don't slide climb, originally uploaded by kendyck1.

Friday August 8th
Bear Sitings = 4
Kms= Don't know GPS stopped
Runs=
Crank it up
Garbanzo DH top to bottom= 30 mins
Crank it up
Ride Don't slide (1 hour up, 1.5 hrs down)
Picture= Ride don't slide climb
Beers= Dusty's post ride rehydration!

Today was my last day riding in Whisler- boo hoo :-(

Tom, Paul and I started out on Crank it up and I was flowing well, then John joined us and we rode Ninja Cougar, Karate Monkey into World cup then B-line to GLC.

Tom and Paul took a break while John and I went up to the top of Garbanzo and decided to see if we could do top to bottom in one go following the course for the Garbanzo DH during Crankwork on Sunday. We took a photo at the top to see what time we set off, so we could estimate how long we took. John was out of my site in no time but I paced it so I could keep going although I think I was going faster than ever. I took the drop between the trees and roots on Original Sin top section (which was good) was overtaken on the climb to the scenic view. Dropped into In Deep and over the woop de woop wooden ladder onto the rock roll down and suddenly there were 2 riders right on top of me I lost attention and dropped off my bike sliding down on my back-ow! Crash 1, New bruise.

I waited 30 secs to get my breath back and for these faster riders to leave and I took off down In Deep a section I have not done this year so I was slow. Eventually I came out onto Duffman and I really enjoyed that section.I kept on going with sweat dripping in my goggles, breath heavy and arms and legs cramping up. Onto World Cup Singletrack much smoother- time to relax a little.

Finally Ho Chi Minh a bit too fast and into the rocky berm that turns left into the woods I hit the tree and was over the bars on the floor. I jumped up and headed down Upper Heart of Darkness across Double vision into Monkey Hands and GLC drop. Exactly 29 mins top to bottom. Exhausted!

We had lunch at GLC and I felt sapped and ill after wards but we rode Crank it up then I took a break for powerade to try and recover enough to do the Epic ride this evening while the others did one more run with Liz too.

We headed up to the top of Garbanzo again then down Original Sin and Freight train and the bit of No Joke under construction til we found the fire road up to Ride don't slide. We climbed (Hike a Bike) up this severe gradient for 40 mins in full body armour on a hot sunny day. I remember the bad feeling from when I climbed to Khybers pass with Pete in 2005. It hurt.

Then we dropped into this loose and loamy steep descent, I was so tired I wondered if I could cope with the extreme riding on this trail. Lots of roots and pretty skiddy on the steep loose stuff. The trail was great though and I loved it even though I got off and walked a couple of sections and I crashed on 2 sections. I even made Tom crash into me.

From Ride don't slide we dropped into BC's which was just as steep but not loose, rocky instead! We kept on for 1.5 hrs at least and I was sweating heavily, panting heavily and drinking all my camelbak contents. We arrived at the Oasis of Dusty's in Creekside, with a hail of hallelulah, at around 20:30 for pitchers of Kokanee, some Nachos and wings to recuperate. Exhausted!

Now it was dark and I had beer in me we cycled the Valley Trail home which was rather dark and collapsed with Pizza at 11pm too tired to hit the Crankworx parties in town.

What a great finish to my holiday/ working holiday!