In February, after my 3rd knee surgery since 2005, I had no plans or expectations for my riding this summer. And when all my friends made the commitment to a Whistler, BC trip in April, I just figured I was out. But as the summer got going, I was feeling pretty good, and riding pretty clean, and got the big encouragement from Steph, so I was in after all.

Scheduling difficulties meant that I would only get 3 days there instead of the 5 my friends would, but nevertheless, I was in.

We flew into Seattle, and rented a couple of cars there. Flights to Vancouver were 2 or more times the price. It means twice the driving, and add a border crossing, but we figured it was worth it to save a couple hundred each for 7 people.

The Whistler Bike Park is incredibly well managed, and loaded with great riding. There are ride-arounds for most of the big and committing features. I spent 2 days there, and 1 day riding Vancouver’s North Shore.

It was incredible riding. There’s a reason half the photos in bike magazines are from BC. I thought maybe this was a once in a lifetime trip, but now I sure hope it isn’t.

The bike park was amazing fun, but next time I want more North Shore. The incredible amount of work done there to build trails and mind-blowing stunts was astounding.

Friends of Tom from SoCal were there at the same time we were, and very very kindly showed us around the bike park, and especially the North Shore. They were very patient with our (meaning my) slow pace.

Lessons learned:

Park bikes are very heavy and don’t really pedal at all. They’re kind of inappropriate for my riding style on North Shore rides.

So for me, park bike for park days, trail or all-mountain bike for the other stuff.

We had a condo, but the days were long and tiring, so we ate out all the time. Restaurants in Whistler are breathtakingly expensive. We could have hired a chef to cook for us in the condo and still come out ahead.

There’s no good beer there. And it’s expensive. Buy in Bellingham, WA on your way in. (In fairness, we did receive this tip from others, but were too preoccupied with getting there.)

Body armor and full-face helmets get pretty sweaty and stinky. Since it’s somebody else’s stink, rented armor and rented full-face helmets are even worse. At least buy your own helmet.

Allow extra time for the border crossing. Check the wait times.

Take lots of photos:

Day 1; Whistler Bike Park:

Day 2; More Whistler Bike Park

Day 3; Vancouver, North Shore: