Crankworx Whistler 2019
This was my fourth year riding Whistler and the best yet! Crankworx is such as exciting time to visit the bike park. It’s quite a feeling to be ripping through the trails then pop out to the crowds, music, and energy of Whistler Village. You’re bound to run into pros, YouTube stars, or content creators like Jason and Matt from IHFT Films. The only downside is the long line for the Fitz lift. However, there was never a line for Garbo or Creekside lifts, so I usually ended up doing laps in these zones before heading back down The Village. On my race days I got to skip the lines, which was great.
In the Garbo Zone I got to check off a number of tech trails that I hadn’t hit before like Original Sin, In Deep, Goat’s Gully, and Fatcrobat…so good! On Creekside I rode the amazing B.C.’s Trail. These are huge runs, something like 1,500 vertical feet (double the size of my local mountain), and going from the top of Garbo to The Village is over 2,700 vertical feet. Of course, every time I’m in Whistler I need to hit Top of the World trail, it’s special and unlike anything I get to ride the rest of the year.
Racing in Whistler is a humbling experience, the local kids are so fast and the visiting riders are some of the best from their part of the world. I raced both B-Line and the invitational Air DH down A-Line. I had clean, very fast runs that unfortunately didn’t place me above the middle of the pack. Perhaps it’s because I was one of the younger riders in my class or because racing these flow trails is so different from the nasty tech I’m racing out east. I’m not sure but I’m excited to learn more in regards to cornering, scrubbing jumps, and carrying speed…the refinements that will help make up the extra seconds on the clock.
When the racing was done, it was on to party laps. I explored much of the Fitz Zone that I hadn’t in previous years, hitting up Schleyer, Joyride, Canadian Open, Whistler Downhill, Dirt Merchant, Fade to Black, Dwayne Johnson, and others. The highlight though was my success at clearing the Crabapple Hits. These are the largest jumps in the park and I proceeded with caution. I didn’t have anymore to tow me in, so I worked myself into them by getting confident on the huge Moon Booter on A-Line and the first of the three Crabapple jumps, which is a little smaller than the other two. Then I just went for it, full send! What an amazing feeling, I floated for an eternity!
After leaving Whistler, I got to briefly sample the North Shore and Sunshine Coast riding, both places left me wanting more. I also have a few things I still need to hit at Whistler next summer…