dminor 

I suppose this should go in the 'Daily Ride reports' but this was no everyday, ordinary ride for me; so I thought maybe it should get its own thread.

So the Bike Park is closed for the season, Crankworx 2009 is just a memory, the leaves are falling and the sporadic rain is settling in at Whistler. Just got back from another week in one of my favorite places. This time around, it was time to go out and get acquainted with the ‘other’ trails out of the Whistler valley.

First on tap: Cut Yer Bars. Quite by accident, I picked the right trailhead for CYB - - the direction preferred by the locals; which is a steep, switchback and techy climb to the top of a rocky knob.



The bomb down the backside descends into a snakey wind through the trees. I was expecting it to be tighter - - it can be done fine with wide bars - - but still it was real cool and flowy. Sorry no pics; I just couldn't stop . I got to the other side of the ridge and thought I'd lost the trail but a local guy came up on his bike and we chatted some and it turned out I'd ridden the whole thing and I'd just gotten to the end. Onward . . .

I quizzed him about how best to get to River Runs Through It and it turned out I was pretty close and it put me at (once again) a good end to start from.





I was a bit worried about all the wood and how wet it was (plus wet leaves all over everything) but that 2.5 Nevegal on the front stuck pretty good. Just wished I'd had something a bit grippier than that old High Roller on the back, because climbing up some of the ramps got a bit interesting if I had to crank on the pedals.



Log creek crossing:



Wheel path is about 6" wide under those leaves at the far end . . .



In a nod to Scrub, I had to include an obligatory shot of the local flora:



The stunt I fell off of. Rear tire spun out just about the time I got the front up over the stump - - and I went off the side OTB.



This is a 2-part post because I found out BikeForums doesn't like 14 images in a post. Oh well. See below.

ed 

sweet!!!

dminor 

On Saturday, I spent the late afternoon doing part of Comfortably Numb. I'd spent most of the day riding the bike paths in the valley with my wife and didn't realize until later how much that had used up my legs. Anyway, when I warmed up on a couple of short, technical little connector trails (Why Johnny Can't Read and I'm Not Satisfied) that spit me out at the trailhead. The sign says "Preferred direction of travel - - Opposite direction: from north to south." Ah well, I would have needed another day to do that (they say it's a good 4-6-hours doing the whole thing). I headed on up and soon found out why the preferred direction was the other way: all the stunts were built to come down off the ridge and the rock faces were more for descending too.

I climbed and hike-a-biked and grunted my way up to the first shelf and a breather and photo op:



Onward and upward . . .



More gnarly climbs, slick roots and hike-a-bikes backwards over ladders and up rock faces. An hour or so and 1,300 feet of elevation later I get to the top of a knob overlooking the whole Whistler valley . . .







After getting my breath back, snapping some pics and eating a Clif bar, it was time to head back down before dusk caught me. Sorry there's no pics from the ride back - - I was just having too much fun to stop. Suffice to say there were some steep rock faces and one ladder-to-rock-to-ladder roller coaster that gave me cause to pucker more than once.

Quite a contrast from the usual Whistler 'shreddin' the gnar,' I decided to dub this experience 'techin' the gnar.' Can't wait to go back and try it some more.

P.S. - - Reply to my own thread. Thanks Ed! Duh, why didn't I think of that?

mtnbiker66

killer dude.............

sscyco

I can smell the jealousy seeping from my pores.

bobfromwaco

Awesome Love the pics!

victim

Yea deseves it's own thread for sure!

Terrapin Ben

looks fantastic!

4evrplan

Looks like a lot of fun for sure. I love the views. Kinda reminds me of some of the state parks I day hiked with my dad as a kid, but I think most of those were foot traffic only. Keep the pictures coming.

kenhill3

Awesome, Doug!

Stunning scenery.

craigcraigcraig

great stuff, one day i hope to get up near the real MOUNTAIN mtb riding.

calleymn

i wish i was there

mystolenbikes

WOW! awesome and beautiful trails, glad you had a great time.

born2bahick

NIce Doug, great pics.

cryptid01

Methinks someone's turning into a Whistler junkie.

Some of those views look familiar. The river on River was bank to bank RAGING when we rode it. Scary fun. I enjoyed the xc stuff as much as the DH out there. Thanks for the pics d.

Maelstrom 

Doug,

Glad to see you enjoyed the trails and got some great pics. I see you ended up hitting all the trails I suggested. Looks I need to think up a few other routes for ya. I think the only one you missed was kill me thrill me. Good long technical xc trail with optional steeps and sknnies. Leads into the beginning of comfortably numb.

The trail you rode used to be called Forplay...before it was connected by the big ole bridge adn turned it into a 45k xc trail. The other trails are short but fun. Lost lake has installed some real doozies, I learned some very good technical skills in lost lake when I first started

Next time you come out, its my treat for the beers.

The the rest who remember me...nice to see some familier faces ...Good to see yall

Maelstrom 

oh on the hike, what terrain did you get up to? did you hit the rock gardens or the dead wood? Or did you get even higher to the moss? Just curious, been a couple of years since I hit that trail.

Oleanshoebox

that is dope.

dminor 

I'm not really sure. The first ledge I got up to out of Lost Lake was right up at the top of the (new?) frisbee golf course. From there, I kept climbing up until I got to that steep ladder that compresses into the big rock and has another ladder on the downside of that. Kinda interesting pushing up the side of that steep mother. Farther up is a string of rock faces and after I got up over those was when I broke out on top of that ridge. I started to go farther, but it was descending back I think north and east into the next draw and I didn't want to get way down in there having to climb back out ahead of the dark.



Yer on for the beers. Guess I got giddy and lost my sense . BTW, you surprised me - - thought I remember you saying before you were more of a rye man.

Maelstrom 

Lets just say...I had a wee too much rye over the last couple of years. I save that for flavour ..

ya the descent back would have brought you to a dead wood forest...if I remember right, you hit the half way mark ...fun ride

never

Does that mean we have to bring both bikes next July?

dminor 

^^ It might be appropriate. I had both there in August - - but the DB just got relegated to townie duty.

Maelstrom 

You will want both, or one that can do everything ok. A downhill bike on a couple of these trails will ... suck horribly ...

dminor 

^^ True that. You do NOT want to grunt up and over on trails like Comfortably Numb on just one ring.

Definitely want to hit up Kill Me Thrill Me and tie it with the whole Comfortably Numb; plus want to check out Gargamel. BTW, saw some pics yesterday of Trespasser. Not saying I want to do it but wow does that look spooky BIG. Have you ever been on any of it?

Maelstrom 

No, can't say that I have. I think it was a rebuild of another trail though, and I rode the original so I am sure I have been on pieces of it.

https://www.rotorburn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=190404

Pics if people want to see it