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.