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Montreal - Whistler (and Back)
Montreal - Whistler Drive And EndingHello Everyone,
Well for those of you who don't know i have started my trip from Montreal to whistler where i am going to be living for the next year or two.
I have been driving for the past 4 days and i figured i would give everyone an update.
So my first day started in Montreal with a very late start, i left my house at 2 p.m. which made for a long and late drive to start my trip.
I drove from Montreal to a friends place just outside of Ottawa for a short break to catch up, then from there i started my drive to Sudbury.
The drive was long because it was so late, and the bugs were HORRIBLE, my car was no longer white...
Upon arrival at almost 12 and 677km i hit the sack right away.
The next day was the drive from Sudbury to Thunder bay, this was the longest drive of the entire trip at 7 hours and just over 1000km.
The drive, although long, was very interesting as the scenery in northern Ontario was absolutely beautiful in the Lake Superior Park. The scenery made the drive feel very short and i was taken in by the scenery. The shield entering into the lake was absolutely stunning. i also had the chance to see a moose and black bear!
Once i entered into thunder bay i meet up with some local riders and had a short but fun session, but because we were all very tired we called it quits early. I was planning on taking a day off in thunder bat to ride but after talking to the locals i decided i would be better off to spend the extra day in Calgary.
The drive from Thunder Bay to Winnipeg was ok, not horrible but not nearly as nice as the day before.
My camera died half way there so i could not take as many pictures as i would have liked.
Once i got into Winnipeg i found a local skate park and began to ride with some of the locals. We rode around the city a bit and found some amazing dirt jumps, i was in heaven, but we had to leave cause it was getting late.
The drive from Winnipeg to Swift Current was HORRIBLE, the entire drive was flat and was extreamly boring. it became very hot in my car with little to look at and nothing to do.
I am in swift Current now and it is very boring so thats why i decided to write this letter.
Part 2
So this is the first chance I have had to continue my letter and I wish it was for a better reason.
So After I wrote my letter in Swift Current I went out for a drink much to my dismay of the selection of bars, I had a couple of drinks then headed back to the motel for some sleep.
I arrived in Calgary (okotoks) a little earlier then the people I was staying with so I had a chance to hit up there local bmx track, loads of fun got about 1/2 of the track down before I snapped my chain.
The town was incredible, I had never experienced such a phenomenon, EVERYTHING WAS NEW, they were building like crazy, and there were construction crews everywhere. The main strip was not even fully built yet and there were houses as far as the eye could see. I decided to go buy some beer for my friends, and much to my dismay the local depaneur did not sell alcohol, I was very disappointed but found the local liquor store not to far away, the clerk looked at me like I was some sort of alien species when I asked him where the beer was, I guess we are just all drunks in Quebec.
On Friday I headed into Calgary to do ride millennium skate park (the largest outdoor skate park in north America) although it was big I was not highly impressed, and after scraping 300$ worth of stuff and walking for 2 hours to the bike shop (with bad directions, and then coming to the realization that I could not even fix the flat) and then back to my car. Not worth the it in the least, what was really cool though was on my way back I happened to pass in front of a hotel and they seemed to be holding some sort of race or something and there were tons of beautiful cars outside, 2 Audi R8, Porsche GT3RS, Lamborghini Mucilage, Ferrari F430, and many more, I was in heaven.
On Saturday I decided to go try out COP (Canadian Olympic Park) for some more Downhill oriented riding, once I arrived and realized it was the side of a hill I was slightly disappointed, but they did a really good job with what they had to work with. What scared me was the number of kids riding, I swear to god there was 5 kids under 15 for every 1 person over, it was ridiculous, and some of these kids had nicer bikes then I do!, spoiled kids. It was good riding with some really fun passes and making some kids really scared, would have been better if more runs were open.
Last minute Saturday night I decided to drive to Golden B.C. Sunday Morning to ride Kicking Horse. It made for a late night and early morning but once I finally arrived it was well worth the trip.
The drive to Golden was absolutely stunning, the scenery was amazing with the huge beautiful mountains towering above you, it was incredible, and I also stopped for the first time during my entire drive to take a picture because the bridge they built offered an amazing background to the scenery.
I stopped in kicking horse to ride and I was extremely happy I did, the terrain was challenging but extremely well build and it was soooooo long it was like nothing I had ever experienced; at 45 mins each non stop run it was spectacular. Everything was super well built with berms and mad made obstacles littering the tails. The scenery was amazing, you exited the gondola at the peak of the mountain and you started by going across this massive ridge with 200 foot drops on both sides, all the mountain around still covered in snow, winter time must be amazing there also. There was so much snow that they had to shovel out the main bike trail from the summit to where most of the other trails start. There was more snow still on top of the mountain then we got all year in Quebec. I meet up with a bunch of the local riders and found some amazing trails.
At the end of the day I decided to head for Kamloops that night for lack of anything better to do.
Kamloops was very interesting because it is basically a desert, there are no trees on any of the mountains, it hard to describe and really cool to see, there are rolling hills but instead of trees or crops it was just shrubs. I was planning on riding in Kamloops but I could not find any people to ride with so I decided to head on to Whitsler.
Because I was coming in from the west I toke highway 99 which is incredible, you are driving along cliffs that are 400 feet high with no barriers, its up and down with constant areas where they can close the road in winter because of snow, there are tunnels in certain areas not because you are going under a mountain but because of avalanches and falling rocks. The speed limit for the high way is 50km/h, not because of pedestrians or traffic, it’s because you can’t go faster then that. There are areas that are marked at 20km/h, and when they say 20, they mean 20, not 25, not 30, 20. I was in second gear revving at about 6000 rpm and accelerating because the hills were so steep.
I arrived in whistler a little earlier then expected so the camp was not exactly ready for me, I decided to check out the village and ended up doing some dirt jumping on my dually (hard tail was broken) after coming to the conclusion that dirt jumping with a downhill bike is next to impossible I headed back to my room.
I went out that night to grab a couple of beers around the village to get an idea of what happens in Whitsler at night, but it was still to early (and cold) and the village was relatively quite.
On Tuesday I was scheduled to sign in with the camp, but only around 4:30, so I tried to get my pass for the season, because I was with the camp there was a way to get it for less expensive but it required more work. While I was waiting on a call I decided to go dirt jumping again, this time with my hard tail (I managed to fix it) I was planning on leaving to go get cleaned up for sign in but I kept putting it off because I was having so much fun dirt jumping. At about 3:30 I hit a jump with to much speed and over cleared it by about 5 feet and landed on my front end, my bar and stem got thrust into my gut and I was extremely winded. I was able to get a ride to the hospital from one of the guys who was also riding there, once I got the hospital, the toke a couple of x-rays then decided that I needed to go to the Vancouver hospital for further inspection. I was taken there via helicopter and when I arrived they cat scanned my stomach. I had ruptured my spleen, removed a chunk of my liver, collapsed my lungs, and messed up my bowels.
I spent 6 days in the hospital doing absolutely nothing, I did not have my glasses, my contacts died after 3 days, everything hurt and my brain began to play tricks on me because of the drugs and boredom.
The finally let me out on Monday and I managed to make my way back up to whistler alone on the bus, and highway 99 is not as fun when your in an extensive amount of pain.
I meet up with my camp again and they were extremely nice and helpful and I am grateful they were so cool about it.
Today is Tuesday and my dad is flying into Vancouver tomorrow to meet me and I will be driving back to Montreal this week.
I am confined to a bed for the next 2 weeks, and 6 months before I can do any sports. My summer is shot so that is why I decided to head back to Montréal
Thank you,
Justin
Well for those of you who don't know i have started my trip from Montreal to whistler where i am going to be living for the next year or two.
I have been driving for the past 4 days and i figured i would give everyone an update.
So my first day started in Montreal with a very late start, i left my house at 2 p.m. which made for a long and late drive to start my trip.
I drove from Montreal to a friends place just outside of Ottawa for a short break to catch up, then from there i started my drive to Sudbury.
The drive was long because it was so late, and the bugs were HORRIBLE, my car was no longer white...
Upon arrival at almost 12 and 677km i hit the sack right away.
The next day was the drive from Sudbury to Thunder bay, this was the longest drive of the entire trip at 7 hours and just over 1000km.
The drive, although long, was very interesting as the scenery in northern Ontario was absolutely beautiful in the Lake Superior Park. The scenery made the drive feel very short and i was taken in by the scenery. The shield entering into the lake was absolutely stunning. i also had the chance to see a moose and black bear!
Once i entered into thunder bay i meet up with some local riders and had a short but fun session, but because we were all very tired we called it quits early. I was planning on taking a day off in thunder bat to ride but after talking to the locals i decided i would be better off to spend the extra day in Calgary.
The drive from Thunder Bay to Winnipeg was ok, not horrible but not nearly as nice as the day before.
My camera died half way there so i could not take as many pictures as i would have liked.
Once i got into Winnipeg i found a local skate park and began to ride with some of the locals. We rode around the city a bit and found some amazing dirt jumps, i was in heaven, but we had to leave cause it was getting late.
The drive from Winnipeg to Swift Current was HORRIBLE, the entire drive was flat and was extreamly boring. it became very hot in my car with little to look at and nothing to do.
I am in swift Current now and it is very boring so thats why i decided to write this letter.
Part 2
So this is the first chance I have had to continue my letter and I wish it was for a better reason.
So After I wrote my letter in Swift Current I went out for a drink much to my dismay of the selection of bars, I had a couple of drinks then headed back to the motel for some sleep.
I arrived in Calgary (okotoks) a little earlier then the people I was staying with so I had a chance to hit up there local bmx track, loads of fun got about 1/2 of the track down before I snapped my chain.
The town was incredible, I had never experienced such a phenomenon, EVERYTHING WAS NEW, they were building like crazy, and there were construction crews everywhere. The main strip was not even fully built yet and there were houses as far as the eye could see. I decided to go buy some beer for my friends, and much to my dismay the local depaneur did not sell alcohol, I was very disappointed but found the local liquor store not to far away, the clerk looked at me like I was some sort of alien species when I asked him where the beer was, I guess we are just all drunks in Quebec.
On Friday I headed into Calgary to do ride millennium skate park (the largest outdoor skate park in north America) although it was big I was not highly impressed, and after scraping 300$ worth of stuff and walking for 2 hours to the bike shop (with bad directions, and then coming to the realization that I could not even fix the flat) and then back to my car. Not worth the it in the least, what was really cool though was on my way back I happened to pass in front of a hotel and they seemed to be holding some sort of race or something and there were tons of beautiful cars outside, 2 Audi R8, Porsche GT3RS, Lamborghini Mucilage, Ferrari F430, and many more, I was in heaven.
On Saturday I decided to go try out COP (Canadian Olympic Park) for some more Downhill oriented riding, once I arrived and realized it was the side of a hill I was slightly disappointed, but they did a really good job with what they had to work with. What scared me was the number of kids riding, I swear to god there was 5 kids under 15 for every 1 person over, it was ridiculous, and some of these kids had nicer bikes then I do!, spoiled kids. It was good riding with some really fun passes and making some kids really scared, would have been better if more runs were open.
Last minute Saturday night I decided to drive to Golden B.C. Sunday Morning to ride Kicking Horse. It made for a late night and early morning but once I finally arrived it was well worth the trip.
The drive to Golden was absolutely stunning, the scenery was amazing with the huge beautiful mountains towering above you, it was incredible, and I also stopped for the first time during my entire drive to take a picture because the bridge they built offered an amazing background to the scenery.
I stopped in kicking horse to ride and I was extremely happy I did, the terrain was challenging but extremely well build and it was soooooo long it was like nothing I had ever experienced; at 45 mins each non stop run it was spectacular. Everything was super well built with berms and mad made obstacles littering the tails. The scenery was amazing, you exited the gondola at the peak of the mountain and you started by going across this massive ridge with 200 foot drops on both sides, all the mountain around still covered in snow, winter time must be amazing there also. There was so much snow that they had to shovel out the main bike trail from the summit to where most of the other trails start. There was more snow still on top of the mountain then we got all year in Quebec. I meet up with a bunch of the local riders and found some amazing trails.
At the end of the day I decided to head for Kamloops that night for lack of anything better to do.
Kamloops was very interesting because it is basically a desert, there are no trees on any of the mountains, it hard to describe and really cool to see, there are rolling hills but instead of trees or crops it was just shrubs. I was planning on riding in Kamloops but I could not find any people to ride with so I decided to head on to Whitsler.
Because I was coming in from the west I toke highway 99 which is incredible, you are driving along cliffs that are 400 feet high with no barriers, its up and down with constant areas where they can close the road in winter because of snow, there are tunnels in certain areas not because you are going under a mountain but because of avalanches and falling rocks. The speed limit for the high way is 50km/h, not because of pedestrians or traffic, it’s because you can’t go faster then that. There are areas that are marked at 20km/h, and when they say 20, they mean 20, not 25, not 30, 20. I was in second gear revving at about 6000 rpm and accelerating because the hills were so steep.
I arrived in whistler a little earlier then expected so the camp was not exactly ready for me, I decided to check out the village and ended up doing some dirt jumping on my dually (hard tail was broken) after coming to the conclusion that dirt jumping with a downhill bike is next to impossible I headed back to my room.
I went out that night to grab a couple of beers around the village to get an idea of what happens in Whitsler at night, but it was still to early (and cold) and the village was relatively quite.
On Tuesday I was scheduled to sign in with the camp, but only around 4:30, so I tried to get my pass for the season, because I was with the camp there was a way to get it for less expensive but it required more work. While I was waiting on a call I decided to go dirt jumping again, this time with my hard tail (I managed to fix it) I was planning on leaving to go get cleaned up for sign in but I kept putting it off because I was having so much fun dirt jumping. At about 3:30 I hit a jump with to much speed and over cleared it by about 5 feet and landed on my front end, my bar and stem got thrust into my gut and I was extremely winded. I was able to get a ride to the hospital from one of the guys who was also riding there, once I got the hospital, the toke a couple of x-rays then decided that I needed to go to the Vancouver hospital for further inspection. I was taken there via helicopter and when I arrived they cat scanned my stomach. I had ruptured my spleen, removed a chunk of my liver, collapsed my lungs, and messed up my bowels.
I spent 6 days in the hospital doing absolutely nothing, I did not have my glasses, my contacts died after 3 days, everything hurt and my brain began to play tricks on me because of the drugs and boredom.
The finally let me out on Monday and I managed to make my way back up to whistler alone on the bus, and highway 99 is not as fun when your in an extensive amount of pain.
I meet up with my camp again and they were extremely nice and helpful and I am grateful they were so cool about it.
Today is Tuesday and my dad is flying into Vancouver tomorrow to meet me and I will be driving back to Montreal this week.
I am confined to a bed for the next 2 weeks, and 6 months before I can do any sports. My summer is shot so that is why I decided to head back to Montréal
Thank you,
Justin
Author Info:
Whistler, BC, Canada
Must Read This Week
ps:have a fun time coming back through sask..(kidding)
Kinda in the same boat as me. Im missing out like 8 months due to f*cking up my knee
I hate injuries. hahah
Hope you get well soon!
I'm sure even without a bike whistler would have been the time of your life. Way to chump out.
What are you going to think about all the good times you missed, when your looking back on your life?
Healing vibes Spag you'll be strong for next summer