Not the way you want to start day one at the bike park! Jacob the tire buster.
Jill Kintner was enjoying opening day on her custom blue Norco Aurum.
Whistler local and Rocky Mountain Urge EWS, rider Jesse Melamed is fresh off a great finish at the recent Enduro in Ireland, and he decided to just run his Altitude all day in the park and get sendy.
Josh Carlson was impossible to contain today. He was in line frothing with Jesse Melamed before the chair was spinning. Not sure what he's doing here, but halfway through the day and he was still full of energy.
Downhill Mike from Whistler was really excited to hit the bike park today on his Norco Aurum.
Surrey boy, Anthony Messere on his Morpheus Conspiracy DH bike. Is the bike really big, or is Big Tony really small; you decide!
Anton Thelander made it all the way from Sweden to crush A-Line on his brand new Canyon Sender.
Igor on his Knolly.
Mr. Super Casual, Geoff Gullevich made it back from Bali to hit opening day on his Rocky Mountain Maiden.
Stephen Exley on his Specialized Demo.
Specialized Demo
Devinci Wilson
Zerode
Zerode
Trish Bromley on her Transition.
Griffyn from New Westminster
Andrew from North Vancouver with his Ibis Mojo
Joe Patterson with his new Commencal Supreme DH V4
Pinkbike's own Rose with her Polygon DH9
Brandon Watts from freehub mag and his Bellingham posse.
Jay Louden, so confused he doesn't even know his work stand is in the way.
Zach Smith from North Vancouver with his bright Banshee Legend
Nicola form Whistler with her Transition TR250
Dan Prisk from Squamish putting his Giant to the "All Mountain" test
Scott from York, England with his Mondraker
Dylan Forbes with his custom fern wrapped Maiden.
Gulliver on his Maiden with brand new Fiveten ELC in disco clown color scheme.
Hannah from Sydney, Australia with her Kona Operator.
Matte Black Giant Glory Bike Park Edition!
Whistler Bike Parks' own, Trevor Berg taking some time off to enjoy the trails he helps shape.
Mick from Port Coquitlam with this Knolly Warden.
Ben from Bristol, England with his Transition TR500.
Reece Wallace on his Giant Glory.
Will from Whistler with his Specialized Demo.
Lil Shredder! Rafe from Whistler.
Pip Trenholme can usually be found tending bar in Whistler, but today he was in line bright and early (noon for a bartender) on his new Polygon.
Bailey Goldstone and Jaya Guilbert.
The man who needs no introduction (because you'll hear him coming a mile away,) Brett Tippie! Tippie spent all day interviewing people all over the mountain on his Rocky Mountain Maiden.
Katie Holden can't ride her bike so she decided to try and ride Tippie.
Young love in the Bike Park.
Philipp also from Germany with his Norco Aurum.
Kendrick from Germany with his Canyon.
Lucia from Slovakia on her Trek Session.
Jackson Goldstone spent all day shooting videos and photos. Hopefully he actually gets to have some fun tomorrow! If you look closely, there's some prototypes in this photo somewhere...
The #1 most stoked person for the bike park award goes to... Rob Dunnet. Straight outta Taiwan.
Some of us only noticed the bike! But seriously who cares what he is wearing to ride? At least he's out there having fun. Its all the others who are the suckers for buying stuff they don't really need, just to fit in with the latest trends. (I'm old enough to remember when our community mostly wore lycra)
@djm35: Actually, we all wore Ben Davis shorts before Mini Shred came along, but you're right about Palmer's descendants - he broke that shit open for them.
Do people say that because they're a new brand and it's slightly hipster to say they're cool, or because they actually think they look good? I really don't see the appeal in them my self.
@Jack-McLovin: I think they look awesome, and I love the fact there's no derailleur to snap off. Plus it rides so f*cking well. Corners like nothing I've ever ridden and plows through the rough stuff like a damn monster truck. They're heavy though, a build with Fox dhx2/40s, and all alu components can easily get you to 43lbs.
"Katie Holden can't ride her bike so she decided to try and ride Tippie." A caption like that really needs it's photo to provide some context as to what's going on
I'm checking one of those boxes but she won't ride... no matter how much I try to convince her to come ride DH with me she always says "but babe I don't have a death wish"
Be careful what you wish for. Having a gf that rides is mostly cool, but is sometimes a pain. "Wait up for me" one day followed by "why are you waiting for me?" the next. "Take my picture here" followed by "why are you taking my picture here?!" "You need to encourage me to push myself and try harder things" followed by "why the hell did you take me down this awful trail?!" and so on....
I'm always baffled with these photo epic things as to how people afford all these expensive bikes, equipment and still can afford to go to whistler! I gave up dreaming long ago about owning bikes like these and going on trips to whistler, don't understand how it's possible. 25 years mountain biking and the only biking I have done outside my home is 1 day at Mammoth Mountain on a normal holiday.
My life sucks! Whine over..
Its called no kids, getting ur shit straight right out of high school and getting a kick ass job befor u hit 30...One that awards 3 weeks holidays to start as well as banked overtime to use as paid time off..That's how u get to whistler on crazy expensive rides..
So I mostly ride trails around the Phoenix AZ area, but this coming weekend I am going to hit up Sunrise Bike Park as well as one in Durango CO. These are my first visits to any bike park and I was wondering if the community could give me some feedback as to which style of helmet is suggested? I don't think I'll be doing any huge jumps, but that isn't to say I won't be doing any any jumps...
Do full face helmets greatly reduce ones peripheral vision? I was looking at something like a Giro HEX vs. going Full Face... Although, after looking at all of these photos, everyone has Full Face helmet it appears...
I think he's quite short and he's also holding the bike at arms length. Those Fox helmets are also on the large side. When he wears it in slopestyle comps it always looks oversized to me.
Rob here: I have not been working with Banshee for a while now. They are still making great product and I keep in touch with the guys there. For the past couple of years, I have been doing contract work for Polygon and a couple of different companies and riding bikes.
@home-team: Aah... Never expected a reply from you personally. It's one of the awesome things about Banshee that's always blown me away - The guys are willing to speak to us about any concerns we may have (even when they're no longer with the company). Thanks for that and I wish you the best with your future projects.
@brianclaw: Banshee is truly one of the few companies out there that communicate directly with their customer base and their customers stay loyal to them for that. I have tried to bring that quality with me to the companies I work with now and I think it has paid off. I owe my start in the bike industry to Banshee and have stayed close with them over the years. Thanks for the kind wishes ...
@anchoricex: What do you mean?Tthere's pic's here of a Session, Aurum's, Demo's, a Torque, a TR250, a Double, a 2008 Big Hit, Zerode's, a Legend, and an Operator - All 26" wheeled bikes...
Yep you guessed it!
Enjoy your winnings, hometown is Melbourne Australia.
Is that you Marcus? get your skinny arse over here! whistler is dreamworld
cheers bud Deus is where is at!
yeah buddy represent!
yeah just here with the rest of Australia haha
only the best rentals in town buddy! Whistler Village Sports is where it's at!
...Whipster?
...Whislster?
...Hipstler?
try 18, we did...
Plus it rides so f*cking well. Corners like nothing I've ever ridden and plows through the rough stuff like a damn monster truck.
They're heavy though, a build with Fox dhx2/40s, and all alu components can easily get you to 43lbs.
Do full face helmets greatly reduce ones peripheral vision? I was looking at something like a Giro HEX vs. going Full Face... Although, after looking at all of these photos, everyone has Full Face helmet it appears...
Thoughts, anyone...?
Thanks in advance...