Today Lukas was ready to ride again. I thought he was going to die if he did not get out and ride. He came all the way over from Germany for this Whistler riding experience, and he was not going to let a little arm fracture get in the way of that.
In the morning, the girls and I rode at the park. I took helmet camera sequences with each of them. I rode behind them on Crank it Up, Karate Monkey, Smoke and Mirrors and Devils Club. They are all going to be stars on that movie, if I can figure out how to splice it all together into a nice little sequence. Bear with me, and I will post it here if I can figure that all out.
In the afernoon, we strapped the splint down tight on Lukas arm, put on my armor over it and set up the bikes for some pedaling trails instead of the downhill trails. Off we headed for the famous trail – River Runs Through It. The trail is a mostly flat piece of singletrack. It is probably only about 10 miles long, but it takes quite a while to get through, because it is absolutely littered with wooden features. Ladder bridges over creeks, goofy little skinny lines over stumps, teeters, meandering bridges that go no where but are absolutely a hoot to ride over.
Prepping for an XC ride – Whistler style. That means it still requires pads etc…
The damaged Lukas, getting ready despite the splint on his arm.
We have gone there each year we have come here. I remember the first time we went there and Liz could barely ride any of the trail. The girls could not either. They referred to the trail as “hiking over a goofy technical trail, with your bike over your shoulder”. Not so any more. They rode way more than half of all the stunts, and in most cases went back to try things a second time if they could not make it over it.
Lukas, Hanna and Ali on the same spot that we used as our Christmas card a few years ago.
Everything worked out for Lukas as well. He loves this kind of riding, and gutted it out with his arm. I think the arm bothered him a little, but as I said, in the end it was not going to stop him. We had a blast.
You might remember pictures of Ali and Hanna going through this tree spot, years ago.
After a few hours of riding at the technical XC trails, Jose and I went back up on the mountain and shredded for 3 more hours – until they shut the lifts down. This was a long day. 10 hours of riding, including 2 hours of pedaling my DH bike over XC trails. Ugh.
I am fried.
Joe
303 Off-road 