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  • Any tips for Whistler and Vancouver?
  • sambino
    Free Member

    The wife and I are off to Vancouver on honeymoon and are spending a week in Whistler. Has anyone got any tips on trails, bike hire, restaurants etc that might help us out.

    We’re both trail riders rather than downhillers, is it worth getting lift passes?

    Cheers

    Sam

    wl
    Free Member

    Buy a map and visit Levitt Lake (think that’s how you spell it) near Squamish for a picnic and swim. One of the best, most beautiful places I’ve ever been. Great riding at Squamish too.

    _tom_
    Free Member

    Worth a day or two in the bike park I reckon just for the sheer joy that is Crank It Up and Blue Velvet/Black Velvet. As for the other trails, River Runs Through It was fun but I did it on a soaking wet day so had to avoid a lot of the woodwork. The Lost Lake trails are pretty good and loads of them can be linked together, plus you can stop off and have a swim in the lake to cool down. If you like techy stuff then try Comfortably Numb. I didn’t do the whole lot as I couldn’t be arsed pedalling a DH bike around it but the bits I did were great! Cut Yer Bars is ok. Big Timber is a long road climb to the top of Kadenwood (just outside Creekside) but a pretty fun singletrack descent. Again I think I would’ve preferred it in the dry.

    It might be worth going on a guided day with someone like Bear Back or Ticket2Ride. There are so many non-bikepark trails and I wish I spent more time on them when the weather was good, and I wished I had some local knowledge to help me out with finding trail heads etc.

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    thekingisdead
    Free Member

    Lamplighter pub in gas town. Very friendly women 😉

    Edit: just seen youre om your honey moon

    Rod
    Full Member

    It’s worth a day in the bike park for the experience, but there are tons of amazing xc trails around Whistler (and beyond). The Lost Lake trails are pretty good for easing yourself in (mainly blue grade) but the classics include River Runs Through It (fairly flat but lots of trail features), Kill Me Thrill Me and Comfortably Numb (that is 25km of continuous technical singletrack – really stunning). Locals can point you in the direction of the trail heads (navigation is easy once you find them) or there was a free leaflet/booklet when I was last there.

    Given it’s your honeymoon, definitely eat at Rim Rock in Creekside – our favourite restaurant anywhere (consistently voted best in Whistler). You can get good sushi (Sacchi Sushi or Sushi Village) and there are plenty middle of the road decent restaurants like Earls, Keg etc. We’ve not done much in the way of higher end restaurants in the main village as they are mega pricey and we’d rather go to Rim Rock. GLC patio is great for beer (and decent bar food) and Merlins in the Upper Village has the best nachos. Cinnamon Bear Lounge and Crystal Lounge are nice chilled out bars. Make the effort to find Wildwood for breakfast (in the tennis club) – it’s fantastic.

    If you’re riding in Vancouver, Seymour is a pretty good starting point – blue/single black level trails like Ned’s Atomic Dustbin are great and not too extreme(and Deep Cove is a lovely spot too – if I remember rightly, you can rent bikes from the original Cove Bike shop which is in Deep Cove).

    Coyote
    Free Member

    Definitely have a day in the bike park. Also take the lift to the Garbanzo zone. Stunning descents.

    Bike rentals are not cheap but strongly recommended, after all when you gonna be there again! Make the most of it.

    Have fun!

    wl
    Free Member

    +1 for Garbanzo zone – mint trails – but it’s not exactly xc. If you can get to the Chilcotins, great backcountry trail riding there.

    100mphplus
    Free Member

    As mentioned above, http://www.ticket2ridebc.com do regular guided rides to Pemberton on Tues, Squamish on Thurs and North Shore on Fridays. Dependant upon weather they also do a Heli Drop off Rainbow Mountain on a Tues too.

    You can also hire a Commencal from them, they even have the new SL available to ride.

    sambino
    Free Member

    Good stuff, thanks.

    Keep it coming.

    steezysix
    Free Member

    It’s by no means gnarly, but the ride around Stanley Park in Vancouver is a nice way to spend a couple of hours. There’s a bunch of hire shops in the area if you’re not taking your own.

    JCL
    Free Member

    If you’ve never ridden the bike park, ride the bike park. Get armored up and see what another world a DH bike is.

    olddog
    Full Member

    Long time since I’ve been but micro brew is really big on west coast, look out for independent brew pubs, good beer, good food, good vibe.

    I loved Vancouver BTW, almost emigrated after spending time there and in Seattle. Hope you have as good a time.

    fasthaggis
    Full Member

    Get out to The Chief,it’s a great walk ,and you can watch some of the climbing on the crags if you take binocs. Squamish has some great trails ,you can get maps in town. I liked Squamish a lot more than Whistler.

    MrDomino
    Free Member

    The bike park is great, even if you arent a downhiller there are trails to suit. When we did it you could hire the bikes and a guide (who you didnt have to use, just came as part of the deal). Worked out quite well as they can judge your abilities and point out trails to suit.

    Theres loads of good riding in the valley, the lost lake trails for a start are (in my opinion) on a par with most UK trail centres.

    Also worth a look are ‘Big Timber’ from CreekSide (need to grind up the road to get to it) for a great downhill run and also ‘Kill Me Thrill Me’ which is north of the village near the heli-port. There is stacks more, we got a book called ‘Whistler Mountain Biking’ by Brian Finnesone & Kevin Hodder which seems to cover most of it.

    Not riden in Pemberton but Squamish has loads to offer, deffo worth giving ‘Half Nelson’ a go (like a giant pumb track and you should be able to Google it) and as I recall ‘Wonderland’ was pretty good. If you go into (I think) Corsa Cycles, they have maps.

    We’ve been about 5 times now and keep coming back for more 😀

    sambino
    Free Member

    We’re only riding for about a third of the trip so it’s tough deciding how much of our own kit to take and what to hire or do without.

    Will the bike shops lend out tubes and tools or should I just take my usual camel back with everything in it? What else, gloves obviously, pedals? Helmet? Knee pads?

    I’ll miss my usual stuff but I won’t miss lugging it around all the time.

    MrDomino
    Free Member

    As I recall if you hire then you get the bike and thats it… I guess you could take the tubes, pump and multi-tool with you from the UK. First time we went we did that and took helmets, shoes and pedals as well, you can hire a helmet but how many sweaty heads has it covered before 😉

    MrDomino
    Free Member

    Actually, further to that, if you hire a DH bike you do get FF Helmet gloves and knee/elbow pads as I remember.

    Burts
    Free Member

    Whistler does a “Sampler” pass: 3 runs for $30 as I recall. If you like it, you can pay the difference to get a full day ticket ($55/day?) All the details on their website. If you don’t have a full-face helmet, you can rent them for $15/day from the bottom of the lift. You can also find armour for rent in lots of village shops.

    The easiest warm-up trail is Easy Does It (Green). Basically a wide double-track winding down the hill, but there are some fun singletrack sections that intersect with it part way down. After that, you want to try these blue trails:

    B-Line – berms and small jumps.
    Crank It Up – Bigger berms and jumps
    Ninja Cougar > Karate Monkey > Samurai Pizza Cat – twisty, rooty singletrack

    Coyote
    Free Member

    Ninja Cougar > Karate Monkey > Samurai Pizza Cat

    One of my favourite runs. Guaranteed a smile at the end of it!

    _tom_
    Free Member

    IMO the best combos are Freight Train > Dirt Merchant > A-Line and Blue Velvet > Black Velvet > Too Tight (including the log ride if it’s not too wet) > Crank It Up 😀

    BearBack
    Free Member

    If you’ve the budget and both love riding, do an overnight out at tyax.

    Float plane out from Whistler, ride warner, overnight at the Tyax Lodge, then float plane back.

    If you need a couples sensitive guide for a Whistler XC day get in touch!

    2nd the rim rock.. pretty much the same menu since if first got here 10 years or so ago.. but it works.

    100mphplus
    Free Member

    Not sure who you’re flying with but it costs less than 2 days bike hires to get your own bike on the planes, (£46 on Canadian Affair / Air Transat), you’re then got 32kg extra for all of your bike & gear.

    benkitcher
    Free Member

    Lamplighter pub in gas town. Very friendly women

    Highfive!

    Must re-visit 🙂

    sambino
    Free Member

    Update-

    Thanks again for all the tips. Vancouver was great, so relaxed and so much good food. Whistler is lovely if a bit over sanitised. It’s a resort so everything is right here but you do have to pay for it!

    We did a 3hr guided ride with Whistler bike guide which was good. Mrs Sambino thought the trails were a bit too technical, not really flowy, but she would quite like an Elsworth Epiphany. Yesterday we did a bike park taster which was amazing, we’ll be doing a half day in the park tomorrow. The easy downhill trails are a great way to get used to the big bikes and the steep stuff. There looks like there’s enough Blue trails for about a week so we won’t get bored even if we don’t get any more adventurous.

    They are really happy to take absolute beginners, and kids, up to the top of the mountain on downhill bikes and it works. It’s a lot of money but everyone should come here.

Viewing 24 posts - 1 through 24 (of 24 total)

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