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The Other Side of Whistler - An XC rider's tale
July 11, 2008Published by rickyfederauNow most of the people that read this web site go up to Whistler and ride the chair and huck off whatever and crash their brains out and yada yada yada. Well I had a different idea, the plan was to pack the car up with an XC bike and the road bike and my kayak just in case and see what can happen and it was all good.
I have not had this much fun in a while, mind you I am now quite wrecked but it was all worth it! At the start of the season my goal was to make the Canadian Olympic team. So I looked all around and chose the bike I thought would be best. The Devinci Moonracer SL4 is what I got. I chose it for the light weight simple design. The bike was 22lbs out of the box with pedals! I hit up the Norba in Fontana with some good form and ended up leading the race for a while but kind of bonked and finished 7th.   So off for Europe I was and I did not fare so well. Long story short I did not make the Olympic team and now I have some other goals, like having fun and not waisting my life sitting in a airport. It's kind of cool that I get to really give this bike the real test from World Cup racer to Whistler trail rider. I also got this thing called a job where you have to go in and make other people happy, so when I had 3 days off in a row I need to do something fun. So up to Whistler I went.  Once I got up there I stayed with my good friends Nancy and Tony Routley. As soon as I got in the driveway Keith Ray was there and we went and floated our kayaks down the uber high green river. After that it was back to the Routley's to change into the Lycra and head out to the weekly Thursday night loonie race. I have never done a loonie race before, but I have heard all about them. What normally goes down is 300 people pay 2 bucks and they race around for like an hour, then after they all go to a place for a post race apres, yeah I know apres is french but it means drinks and food, so yes it's quite a lot of fun. This week's race was a little different because they were doing a fund raiser for www.bicycles-for-humanity.org and there was no official apres cause the money they normally spend went to the charity and same with the prize money I would have won for winning. Yeah, that's right I won the loonie race by 11 seconds, I broke my chain and had to run the last 10 minutes and barely hung on for the W! I guess that's what you get for throwing down the power. Normally you win 50 bills for winning but it all went to the charity, so I feel a little good about myself. So no official apres but there was plenty off food and drink that people brought to the finish and the post race BS is always top notch. They raised $2,300! Everyone should do a Whistler loonie race in their life time.    Day Two was going to be an epic day out on the road bike. We were going to ride up the Duffey lake road and back to Whistler, it's like a 140km road ride with a 14km steep climb up to Joffre lake. Tony and I meet Tyler Alison at Dusty's and some how ran into an injured Jeff Beaty who was just waking up off the sidewalk from a late night bender at Dusty's. Tony is in the 50-60 category and has won medals at master world championships and Tyler is 16 and is the great hope of the nation to win medals at Olympics in like 4 years. We rode out and I just tore those guys a new one up the climb up to Joffre. The weather was so nice the whole ride but it just pissed ran on the descent into Pemberton and we all froze to death, but then the sun came out at the bottom and it was 25c. We stopped at the gas station 35km from home and loaded up on some sugar to get us back. Tyler being the Junior, it was up to him to get the crazy stuff, so pizza pretzel and a family pack of licorice was the order of the day. We had an insane head wind on the way home and I had to tow those boys back, for Tyler it was the longest road ride he had ever done. Tony and I get back and Tony opens up the fridge that was loaded with beer from Team Whistler sponsor Whistler Brewery. We sat there and drank it, what a great day! Oh yeah before the ride I kayaked down the river again but we went at 7 am and was riding road bikes by 10, sometimes you just got to pack the adventures in.       Day three I had just one more thing I wanted to do and that was really test out the Moonracer on some of the hardest trails in Whistler. I met up with local legend Eric Crowe, aka “crowe man” and we did “Thrill me, Kill me” and it's all just rocks and roots and little bridges and short ups and short downs and hard, hard single track. Thrill me kill me took like 45-1hr to do, then it was up to “comfortably numb” and its more of the same. CN is 24km long and they say it takes 4-7hrs to do, so its not for the weak. Crowe man ran out of gas and cut out early but I kept it rolling and finished the trail in about 2hrs and 15min. The bike was unreal! I would say it was perfect for the trail, nice and light and stiff for the climbs and then nice plush suspension to take the edge off on the flat and downhill stuff. I also am loving the tire set up I am rocking right now with the Maxxis Cross Mark on the front and the Larsen TT on the rear. I thought I was on to something with this set up but I saw like 5 people at the loonie race with the same deal. It is pretty sweet! After this ride my arms were worked, and my hands are so sore from braking and shifting so much, you are just on the gas the whole time, its quite a ride. OK I am going to pass out for a couple days now.       -rickyfederau.pinkbike.com |
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kakah
(July 13, 2008 at 1:15)
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Good read Ricky, although you make me feel lazy and I know I ride too much! Do you eat sugar cubes and pasta all day while hooked up to an IV of Redbull? Just wondering.......
Im more of a DH guy but there is some thing about finishing a more enduro type of race with long climbs and some technical downs all on a 22lb. bike!
Im gunna have to take out my brothers XC bike and go for a long ride.
Im gunna have to take out my brothers XC bike and go for a long ride.
hell yeah good to see the "other" side of whistler...and note the other side of that girl in the first pic. oh yeah whistler very good article and good idea backing it hope u make it next year. 
Got any problem with your sexuality? I've been on several mountain trips, let's call it kind of downhill jams with my friend who rides xc bike and he was doing so well on dh trails (except jumps of course) I could hardly believe. Any kind of biking can be perceived "lame" as long as the rider is not good enough to ride anything he needs to hit or wants to do. But saying something "gay" shoud implicate it's wrong? If I were homosexual, I would call you "f*ckin hetero". So get your bike and go ride, maybe excess of testosteron will vaporize from your veins. Aloha.
I love DH, freeride, street, jumps and XC!, it all rocks because it all means I'm riding. All the top pro's train on road and XC bikes anyway so dickhead above stop living by what other people think of you and just enjoy riding!!
i ride park, street, riding a nice slice of singletrack or doing a steep climb is just as exilerating as anything else, its so nice to bike with diversity, you know that you will never get bored, its not xc or dh, or road that rules, its biking itself that is awesome!!
Great Blog and for the guy that says XC is gay well it isn't as easy as it looks
1 It is a very physical enduring type of riding
2 The DH sections aren't so easy when your clipped in and you also have a saddle up your ass
3 You have XC to thank for DH
Oh yeah it is summer time and lets forget about what type of riding is "cool" and lets get out on the dusty trails.
1 It is a very physical enduring type of riding
2 The DH sections aren't so easy when your clipped in and you also have a saddle up your ass
3 You have XC to thank for DH
Oh yeah it is summer time and lets forget about what type of riding is "cool" and lets get out on the dusty trails.
since i got back to my riding roots and started xc again i have noticed that i am much quicker on the dh bike and a lot more confident on the freeride stuff. anyone who does both can definately tell you that xc riding requires so much more riding skill than monster trucking your bike through some technical section or simply just jumping over it with a longer travel rig. aside from ripping on the knuckle draggin dh kid great story i wish i could do more of the same my self.
holy crap! a 22lb bike?? that must be SOOO much more fun to ride UP hills than my DH monster... i still reckon i'd have more fun on the down's though! 
Then again, with your fitness level, you'll probably live a lot longer to enjoy it all!!! 
Seriously though, a truly epic ride! much respect! makes even me want to get my dusty old King Kikapu out and go for a long ride in the forest!!
Then again, with your fitness level, you'll probably live a lot longer to enjoy it all!!! Seriously though, a truly epic ride! much respect! makes even me want to get my dusty old King Kikapu out and go for a long ride in the forest!! wow! another installment of, "how I spent my summer vacation" by Ricky.
learn to write you blow hard.
and did you really drop your teammate in the BCBR? nice move!
learn to write you blow hard.
and did you really drop your teammate in the BCBR? nice move!
Actually I'd say that source is pretty reliable although I don't know the details myself since it's XC. The article isn't written nearly as well as most of the pinkbike ones on here, granted it's not Decline mag and there's no official editor but this has to be the most poorly written news article I've read on here in a long time. Honestly, there's a lot of awkwardly written, incomplete, and run-on sentences in there that any of my high school english teachers would have beat me senseless with a dictionary for writing... Not to mention the whole thing has pretty lousy flow to read.
Seriously, what is this? You couldn't be bothered to edit your article when you forgot something, so you threw it in the most brutal sentence at the end of your paragraph? "Oh yeah before the ride I kayaked down the river again but we went at 7 am and was riding road bikes by 10, sometimes you just got to pack the adventures in." Maybe I'm being harsh because spandex just plain creeps me out, but you have to agree with the learn to write comment above.
Seriously, what is this? You couldn't be bothered to edit your article when you forgot something, so you threw it in the most brutal sentence at the end of your paragraph? "Oh yeah before the ride I kayaked down the river again but we went at 7 am and was riding road bikes by 10, sometimes you just got to pack the adventures in." Maybe I'm being harsh because spandex just plain creeps me out, but you have to agree with the learn to write comment above.
Wow! Are these the adventures of Ricky Federau or Ricky Bobby? And I'm glad your not of the Olympic Team pulling moves like droping Dre. Mabey once you grow up you will be ready for that.
I think you missed the point of riding in Whistler.. Its about being out there with other riders... not trying to 'tear people a new one' on a social ride.
Perhaps use young Tyler as an example - the most promising rider in Whistler and so quiet, MODEST and understated! Everyone respects him for that!
Congrats on the Loonie win - thanks for joining WORCA for $40 to help support the trails and maintenance work on the trails you rode over the weekend.
Perhaps use young Tyler as an example - the most promising rider in Whistler and so quiet, MODEST and understated! Everyone respects him for that!
Congrats on the Loonie win - thanks for joining WORCA for $40 to help support the trails and maintenance work on the trails you rode over the weekend.
I hear what you are saying and yes Ricky comes across that way in his writing but it's how he talks. When he says that he tore Tyler a new one he's laughing and smiling about it and it could be that he won a race by one second and he'll give that reply. It's not meant to offend and I'm sure that Tyler and Crowe understand this even if you and lots of the other readers do not.
Sweet sounds like a fun trip. The writer sounds like he is a little full of himself going on about how his stamina is miles above all his fellow riders. wonder if he goes on about himself as much in person. He may have beat tyler on the road bike but i would like to see him keep up to tyler on his DH bike or be able to land a flip on your first attempt. my two cents
I believe an article about how Whistler is more than the bike park is long overdue so thanks to Pinkbike.com and the author for doing so.
However, the writer comes across as a bit of a ....
Was this really an article about Whistler outside the bike park? or was it an advert for the authors sponsors? or was it an opportunity for the author to brag and boast?
I think there was alot of unnecessary remarks made by the author throughout this article.
Maybe he is a joker, but maybe he should learn to come across a little better, especially in an article which could essentially be portrayed as an advertisement for his sponsors.
However, the writer comes across as a bit of a ....
Was this really an article about Whistler outside the bike park? or was it an advert for the authors sponsors? or was it an opportunity for the author to brag and boast?
I think there was alot of unnecessary remarks made by the author throughout this article.
Maybe he is a joker, but maybe he should learn to come across a little better, especially in an article which could essentially be portrayed as an advertisement for his sponsors.
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