Alright Folks,

Lucky enough to wangle a week or so riding Whistler early Oct before it closes, but should I hire a bike out there or take mine?

I’ve got a nice 09 Sunday with Boxxers that I love, but it will be a hassle to fly with it. Also, how likely am I to break it?

I can hire a V10/Glory (with full insurance) for about £300 by the time I pay to fly my bike across.

£300 is a decent amount of cash, but it’s only a wheel and a rear mech if I crash…

Also, has anyone stayed at a decent bike friendly/bike safe hostel?

Cheers guys

Flying your bike costs £60 return and only takes a bit of time to pack up. Definitely worth it over riding a shonky rental that’s probably been heavily abused. And has backwards brakes.

I stayed in a self-catering house/condo at Southside Lodge and it was great. Close to the grocery store, awesome sushi place and the Southside Diner that does amazing bbq pulled pork sandwiches. Bike friendly and there were already tyre marks all over the walls etc so no worries there! And the owner Maxwell is such a nice guy 🙂 5km ride each way to the bike park though but I was fine with that – you can always get the bus, they all have bike racks on the front.

Bike are relatively cheap.. add in the hassle of getting it to Gatwic, Manchester or wherever you fly from. Then, add teh cost of a biek on the Pacific Coach lines airport transfer $20-$30
Rentals can be in great shape, although don’t expect massive inventory as most rental fleets will have been sold on by october.
Own bike is always best, if you don’t break it then thats £300 of upgrades….

Hostel wise.. HI in the athletes village. Nice but to far away to be useful IMO.
Southside lodge as Tom mentioned, but still in creekside which is also next to useless if you’re pedalling a big bike.

Look up the UBC lodge also.. Nordic, so also a pain to get to/from but thats the challenge with budget accommodation.
Staff Housing from Whistler blackcomb might be your best bet on a budget.. but take a hazmat suit 😉
Another option is to touch bases with us.
Our packages will be done at the end of september, but we haven’t confirmed what we are doing at the end of the season.
We might have rooms to rent.

If the 21st – 28th September works, we have space in our main catered chalet. End of september is when the weather starts to turn. October and it’ll likely be wet!

email in profile if you have any questions:)

October and it’ll likely be wet!

I’ve had a few sunburnt days last week of the season… probably cursed you now though 😛

Riding to and from Creekside isn’t too bad, I did it every day for 2 months on my heavy old Bullit! Either take the valley trails for the scenery or the highway for a slightly flatter ride. Would obviously be better to be able to walk right out onto the bikepark lift though!

Thanks all.

I’d heard that the rentals are actually pretty good, although they’ll have had a lot of miles on them by the time I arrive…

Had been looking at the HI hostel as the front runner 🙁 Doesn’t have to be super cheap accomodation, had just looked at hostels as i’m there to ride rather than flounce around a fancy hotel! Also a great way to meet randoms as i’ll be travelling solo.

Looking to head up from 4th-11th/12th Oct. Praying for some autumnal sunshine!!!

Is it worth having a hire car or will I not need it/hate having to find parking?

Cheers

I would normally say take your own bike, but what is spares availability on Sundays like these days? If anywhere is going to break something on your frame it’ll be Whistler Bike Park.

Just in case anyone stumbles across this while searching for next season, here’s a wee update:

I decided to hire a bike rather than fly mine and have to deal with it for 3 weeks with only 1wk of that riding, which was a great choice.

Demo’d a bike from GBB via the Whistler booking system, rode a Gambler on Day 1 and a V10 carbon for the other 6 days. Cost around £300 more than flying my bike out (assuming I made the 23kg limit…), saved huge hassle, included crash insurance and I got to ride a top of the range bike all week.

They swapped the brakes before I arrived, looked things over each eveing, bled the brakes mid week over lunch when I requested it and I could ditch the bike every lunchtime and evening without having to worry about it getting nicked. Highly recommended!

Re the end of season weather, I have everything from glorious sunshine, to pissing rain and lots of snow at the top of Garb zone. But I packed for Scottish riding and all was well.

A great trip, if you get the chance to hit Whistler, do it!

There really are trails for everyone, just be wary if you hit the expert blacks/pro lines, there are some big features you wouldn’t see across here!

Riding alongside bears was also great fun 😀

Oh, and end of season is super cheap with the lift pass.
Although I was only riding a week, I bought an end of season pass, which covers the last month or so the park is open. Even with me only riding 7 days it still worked out cheaper that the triple play, if you could stay longer it’d be a bargain.