Day 4 of the crazy adventure that is a fella's mountain biking trip to Whistler. We started the day like any other : a cheeky blast down Crank It Up. Breakfast of champions! Suitably warmed up we took the Garbonzo lift to the dizzying heights of the mountain to hit Freight Train. As it happens, we took Original Sin - a steep, boulder lined technical black diamond. I was soon out of my element with the suspension punishing descents and took a nasty spill. Pausing briefly to asses damage, I realised nothing was broken and pressed on. But my nerves were shot. As we continued down the black runs I felt shaky and couldn't enjoy the trail. Seeing certain death instead of lines, I kept pulling up short on drops and serious technical stuff. Not fun. So, once we hit the top of Fitzsimmons I opted to take Crank' to the bottom to regain some mettle. A nice, flowey run, teamed with a pint of liquid courage at the village soon set me straight.
In the afternoon me and Spangles sessioned A-Line. Such an awesome trail it's not hard to see why it's Whistler's signature trail. Super fast, steep berms and epic jumps. With each run we gained more confidence and started clearing a few table tops. It's good to feel progress has been made this week. The jumps on A-Line no longer feel super steep and scary, but fun and challenging. The jumps on the blue runs - which at first seemed big - now seem tame and something to play with.
Today is our last day of shredding. My Nomad has performed awesomely all week. Can't fault it. It does look upright when standing in the lift lines next to the downhill rigs. And I have hit the limits of it's travel may times, especially on steep techy stuff. This says more about this rider's ability than anything lacking in the bike. But some extra travel and slack geometry would be nice. It would certainly instill a bit more confidence as it forgives my lack of finesse on steep black diamond trails. So, today I'm renting a carbon Santa Cruz V10. I want to see what difference it makes to my riding. Plus, those rigs look bad ass and I want to huck one over A-Line a few times!
In the afternoon me and Spangles sessioned A-Line. Such an awesome trail it's not hard to see why it's Whistler's signature trail. Super fast, steep berms and epic jumps. With each run we gained more confidence and started clearing a few table tops. It's good to feel progress has been made this week. The jumps on A-Line no longer feel super steep and scary, but fun and challenging. The jumps on the blue runs - which at first seemed big - now seem tame and something to play with. 
Today is our last day of shredding. My Nomad has performed awesomely all week. Can't fault it. It does look upright when standing in the lift lines next to the downhill rigs. And I have hit the limits of it's travel may times, especially on steep techy stuff. This says more about this rider's ability than anything lacking in the bike. But some extra travel and slack geometry would be nice. It would certainly instill a bit more confidence as it forgives my lack of finesse on steep black diamond trails. So, today I'm renting a carbon Santa Cruz V10. I want to see what difference it makes to my riding. Plus, those rigs look bad ass and I want to huck one over A-Line a few times!
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