Brake bumps, bears and bike-carnage

I am now approx half way through my stay here in Whistler. And I`m enjoying it more and more every day. This is the kind of place I would really like to have my "holiday apartment" when I grow up and get filthy rich;) Living in whistler is just marginally cheaper than Norway, so you need lots of cash if you want to stay for a while. Especially since the bikepark terrain seems to EAT bikes. The "advanced" and "expert" trails are tough on wheels and suspension, and the "intermediate" trails are full of brake bumps through every corner and before every jump. Since my downhill racebike is out of order, I`ve ridden my trailbike in the park for the last two weeks, and it has coped with absolutely everything I have encountered on the mountain. Even a 3,5-4meter drop with bad landing! The frame is pretty much indistructible. But it is a little short on suspension and the wheels get a new dent every day. It is also very light, and jumps far too easily. If you preload just a tad too much before a takeoff, you are sure to overshoot the landing and land hard on the flat. Riding this "twitchy" bike in extreme terrain has really improved my skills. But not without a price. Three days ago, I blew up the rebound on my suspension fork. And that makes it feel quite similar to a pogo stick, wich makes the bike handle like sh#t and also wears out my hands. So for the last couple of days, I haven`t been riding that much. But lucky for me, I`m surrounded by nice (and injured) people. One of the brithish guys in my lodge, Josh, hurt his thumb two days ago, and is not able to ride. When he is not riding, he is figthing for the British army in Afganistan. A brave man indeed. Brave enough to lend me his Intense SS freeridebike for a day. Even though he knew that I already had wrecked two bikes. To make me ride a bit more carefully, I put the camera in my backpack.

The upper lift of the bikepark, the "Garbanzo express" opened this weekend, enabeling access to a large network of trails. When you hook up the upper network with the lower, you have a epic 20minute descent, with an endless amount of extremely diverce trail combinations. A straightforward surreal experience. I will get my downhillbike fixed tomorrow, and I`m really looking forward to that, because this will give me a huge "skill boost" from riding short travel bike for two weeks. And it also enables me to ride with more confidence, and less wear and tear on my body from the short, stiff suspension on my trailbike.

Apart from biking, the life in whistler is "top notch", "tip top" and "the dogs danglers". (mixture of UK/aussie superlative-phrases) The last couple of days, we`ve had about 30-35 degrees celsius in the shade and blue skies. Yesterday, I even went for a swim in Lake Alta Vista. Perfect cooling for sunburnt skin:)

On wednesday, I went into Summit bike shop to buy a new headset for my downhillbike. I didn`t bring my code lock, so I asked a responsible looking guy sitting outside if he could watch my bike for five minutes. When i walked down the stairs in the bikeshop It suddenly hit me: "Damn! That guy was actually Richie Schley!!" Richie is pretty much the inventor of extreme mountainbiking. As far as drops, "skinnies" and stunts are concerned. He is one of the absolute biggest names in Freeride Mountainbiking history, and he has also designed several bikeparks in Europe, as well as my favourite trail on Whistler mountain, the "Schleyer". We ended up talking for about 15minutes. And the next day, we shared the same chairlift. He was a really cool guy, and actually remembered my name from the day before. Of course, I told him to go to western Norway and do some epic summit riding:)

When I first arrived in whistler I had never seen a bear in my entire life. Now, I see several every single day. I`ve even had two close encounters going "flat out" down the trail. I always act respectfully and with caution around the bears. But I`m certainly not afraid of them anymore;) Today, one of my roommates, Darren, spotted two bears "humpin` like hamsters" 5metres below the chairlift. And by coincidence, the lift came to a stop for five minutes right above the happy couple. Who needs "animal planet" eh..?

The pictures I`ve added is me, sitting in the "garbanzo express", and a scenic picture of Josh`s bike at the top of the mountain.

The easy life in Whistler

Dialogue with officer at Canadian border after handing over my norwegian passport:

Officer: Cool! Norway! You know the band Dimmu Borgir?

Me: Yeah!

Officer: Dimmu is my favourite band.

Me: Cool! My favourite is Satyricon.

Officer: Satyricon rocks man, I`ve got all their CD`s.

Me: Yeah! Me too!

Officer: Take care man! (showing "metal" symbol with hand)

In other words: Canada is a bit more laid back than the US.

The GPS-equipped rental car got me safely through Vancouver and north to Whistler. The mecca of mountainbiking. Everything in town revolves around the bikepark. The village is extremely crowded, and you can see expensive bikes everywhere. Traveling around the US, I got pretty used to getting jealous looks for my two sweet Turner bikes. But in whistler, they are just two more fish in the sea. Every day I see bikes and gear I didn`t even know existed! And after just one day of riding and hangin out in the park I saw tons of pros. Tyler Morland, Adam Billinghurst, Matt Hunter, Jordie Lunn and legendary Andrew Shandro. I even saw Thomas Wanderham carrying a golfbag towards the golfcourse. I really didn`t know that being a mountainbike pro was so glamourus.

The riding in the park is not like I expected. I had pictured way too much groomed, bermed and fast courses with freeride jumps. But in fact, the majority of the trails are extremely steep and technical singletrack with rockgardens and drops. Just the way I like it. There is also a fair bit of scary stuff here. Wooden obstacles with "skinnies" far above ground and huge drops with scetchy landings. A real challenge when you are flying "head over heels" down the hill on a 6" travel trailbike. My downhillbike has been out of order since Flagstaff. The rear end is pretty much not good at all. But after a few e-mails of "problem explaining" to the awesome Turner company, they decided to send me a brand new rear frame with bearings. Awesome!! So within a few days, I will be shreddin the park without being held back by anything. (except my own fear:)

The pictures`I`ve added is of my new friends chillin between the runs. (guests and workers at Ticket2rideBC) And also a shot of my new, cool Steve Peat signature helmet.

R.I.P "Vidkun"

Oregon is clearly not the place for my RV. After one week of "top notch" riding in beautiful, but "glossy" Sun Valley, I drove Håvard to Salt Lake City airport and headed north. I`ve been paying attention to the ratteling piston bearing the whole trip without noticing any increasing damage. Just when i was thinking; "hell yeah!! It`s gonna make it to Whistler", the ratteling suddenly became really violent. The engine boiled, died and just barely made it to the nearest truckstop. (fortunately at the bottom of a big hill)

The place was 40 miles west of the OR/ID border, and had the catchy name "Farewell Bend". And this was really a just name. The kind owner of the small service center agreed to claim ownership of the piece of junk for a formality amount of 1 USD and a 90 mile ride back to Boise Airport. Here, I payed a fortune, and picked up a 2008 Chevrolet Malibu rental at Hertz. Not exactly a American "muscle car", like I wanted. But it is still pretty sturdy, really comfy and is hauling some serious @ss down the interstate. Too bad that all the radio channels either plays Hillbilly countrymusic or Christian Rock. "Welcome to FM 99,9! Your number one provider of the best Christian Rock around. Let`s you praise the Lord while you drive".

Anyway.... I`m off to whistler. Hoping to be there by Saturday. Will be so nice to sleep in a real bed, with clean floor and a shower. My RV might not be "the last frontier ever", (saw a similar one in Arizona). But it is DEFINENTLY my last frontier ever!

P.s: (Håvard) I found almost 7 dollars worth of quarters and nickles lying around in cupboards, droors and the floor:)

Keep it country!

Pictures: "R.I.P Vidkun" and me pedaling my guts out at the swooping singletrack in Sun Valley.

Håvard heading home

The riding in Flagstaff was spectacular! But unfortunately, Håvard had a really bad crash and was injured. The doctor told him to stay off his bike for six weeks. (this happened three and a half week ago) Since that, he has been spending his time in coffeshops and such. When I have been riding alone, or with locals.
After Flagstaff, we did a mandetory stop at Grand Canyon. A pretty big hole in the ground:) We ran our RV "Vidkun" pretty hard, and arrived in Moab the same day. Moab offered really cool riding. Lots of technical, long descents with challenging "goodies" on the way down. Everywhere one could meet cool people to ride with, and the small town was littered with nice shops and good coffe. Our stay in Moab lasted for three days. Then we headed east to Fruita. That place was really different in terms of riding. A really compact network of trails, surrounding a free campground with tables and steel fire rings for barbequing. Perfect for traveling bikers like us. But Fruita was really windy, and we wanted to head north towards Sun Valley. We arrived here on may 31st, and we´re still here. The riding is really good! And the scenery is stunning. That´s pretty much all there is to say about that..
On tuesday, I will drive Håvard to the airport in Salt Lake City, and he will jump on a plane to London. It`s sad that he is leaving. But it is for the best, since there is a limit for how much fun you can have when you are on a budget, and not able to ride your bike.
I will be heading north to BC and Whistler. Over two weeks earlier than I planned. Will be hooking up with fellow norwegian rider Trond Hindenes, who is currently traveling in BC. Also hoping to hook up with friends from Cumberland there.
The pics in this post is me and Håvard at Grand Canyon, and me, jumping at Porqupine Rim Trail in Moab.