Under tight time constraints to get the initial build finished Paddy Kaye's Joyride crew have sculpted, manicured and slaved into shape a wondrous looking course that will be the grand finale for the ten day spectacle known as Crankworx. With another season of building experience for the big show under their belt Paddy Kaye and his boys have taken what they learned and put it to good use.
In a certain respect the course for this year's Red Bull Joyride follows a similar pattern to last year's and for good reason. The riders enjoyed it.
In a move that should be mimicked by most builders Paddy relied on feedback from the riders. The top five from last year's contest were invited to give input on what they would like to see changed and the consensus was that the speed needed to be controlled a little more and the course needed a monster booter.
The start of the course is similar to last year, but it has been shifted to the lookers right which enabled the guys to build more traversing of the slope into the lines and help control the speed.
The Boneyard provides is a very challenging piece of property to build on, it is a consistent pitch that's a touch steep for setting up jump lines. To combat this the Joyride crew have tweaked it so that they traverse the slope more and then there is the biggun!
The satellite dishes were incorporated into the course design again this year and a new option was added, a big ole take off that splits the centre of them and comes in at a measured sixty feet from take off to landing. This should help quiet down those who have been saying that there isn't enough airtime in the world of slopestyle, we're talking moto sized air.
That's sixty feet from here to there.
With the initial build of the course complete, the hydroseed sprayers came in and laid down their magic, so with a little sun grass should be sprouting soon for a nice touch of colour. It is not an easy thing to design and build at this magnitude, but through hard work from the Joyride Bike Park's guys (which included the seasoned eye of Jordie Lunn who was a huge help having developed an eye that helps place take offs and a skilled hand on a machine) and the Whistler Bike Parks staff the course will hopefully only need some minor tweaking before the event. From the shape of the course this will be another epic year for the Red Bull Joyride Slopestyle. Hopefully we can see some new tricks thrown down again!
Something's different here.
There are two options for the showtime booter now. A kicker to the left or step-up the ramp here to the top of the Kokanee Shack.
Paddy Kaye explains how they flattened out the radius of the ramps so that riders can go deeper this year.
Looking off the lip of one of the hits on the right line option. Brandon Semenuk came out to take a look and said, "the course is a great balance between big and technical"
Looking down the course. Left, right and centre there are lots of options for the riders to choose from but still keep their flow going.
Looking up from the Skiers Plaza.
Paddy surveys an empty square, it won't be long till it is full of people though.
can't wait to watch this!
