Whistler MTB – Day 8

Friday, 03 August 2007

AM – rainy, 20-23C, still
PM – overcast, 23-25C, still

As predicted, the morning was rainy. The wispy, high-altitude clouds that rolled in yesterday afteroon were the precursors of the moist front that arrived from Hawaii via the Pineapple Express. I awoke before dawn to the sound of rain falling on the vinyl furniture out on the terrace. I closed the window and returned to sleep. We eventually had Pizza muffins then went down to Blendz for Belgian dark chocolate mochas. We wandered around the village, eventually ending up back at Opa! in Marketplace for lunch. It was busier this time, but the workers’ routines were getting more established, so I got my food quicker. The weather was clearing up and the ground was drying up, so we headed back to the condo to gear up for an afternoon spin. We could have easily taken the whole day off, but it seemed like such a waste since we came all this way to BC to ride.

Heading out past the golf course, we went North along the Valley Trail and skirted Emerald Forest. Taking the left turn that connects to Alta Lake Road, we climbed briefly before turning left into Emerald Forest. We did a few loops around the forest, but several of the trails were being closed and returned to a natural state, so the riding was limited. One trail put us out onto the road to A River Runs Through It down a cobbly downhill. We climbed up to Alta Lake Road and turned South and milled up the climb toward the Rainbow Trail parking lot. Yesterday’s ride had taken a lot out of me. My legs weren’t sore per se, but were only outputting about 60%. My ass was definitely unhappy. No saddlesores, but tender nonetheless.

At the parking lot, we started the climb up Bob’s Rebob. Into the shadows under the towering pines, the trail immediately began to climb, at first gently, then abruptly. There were few plants growing in the dark here – it was mostly brown with decomposing bark and pine needles.Turning onto an old logging road base, the trail grew more gentle, and open top the sky above. This pitch was not unlike the upper reaches of Whip Me, Snip Me. We passed three obvious drop-ins on the right. The trail map showed at least 2 of these, which I wasn’t certain. The trail switchbacked left and became narrower. Passing under a fallen tree and around a narrow, crumbled landslide area, we arrived at the next switchback. The trail got steeper and more cobbly from here, so after a break, we backtracked.

We were planning on taking one of the drop-ins to the road and try Mel’s Dilemma. The first was a straight, steep drop down the narrow crown of a ridge. It looked a little sketchy, but doable. We opted to try another route. The second drop-in entered the trees at a g-out, then quickly became indistinct. We descended the last one. It was nearly at the bottom of the climb, so the vertical component was not great. It was more a sweeping log jumps and rock-overs – fast and fun like the slalomy section in Mililani near Joe’s Black Water. Popping out onto the road, we turned left and headed toward Mel’s Dilemma. There was a trailhead we saw on the climb up to the Rainbow trail parking lot. I had assumed it was connected to Mel’s, but when we went up it, the sign indicated it was the bottom of one of the Bob’s Rebob trails. Hmm… There was a fork on the drop-in we took. Maybe this was that turnoff, or maybe one of the upper two drop-ins.

We entered Mel’s Dilemma at the Southernmost entrance and twisted through the narrow technical singletrack into the woods. This side climbed through a swampy section to the back of the Alpine Meadows subdivision. Turning downhill here, we found the more dry upper trails. There were numerous loops encircling the rocky outcrops here, which we played on until we got our fill. Back out onto Alta Lake Road, we headed North and dropped into the Emerald Forest on the way back to the village. The pool area was empty when we got there. It was a little on the early side since our ride was short. I swam a little in the lukewarm pool before getting into the hot tub.

Dinner was a large “Class 4” pizza from Avalanche Pizza. Good as always, but on the expensive side. The beer went down well.

D= 11.04-miles, Vavr = 6.1 mph, Vmax = 32.8 mph, T = 1-hour, 48-minutes