Summer 2005 in Whistler with Ticket2RideBC

Finally the wait is over: May is here. The sun is warm, the wind has lost it's chill. The days are long and so again are your rides. Your fitness is coming back after the winter's stealth like embezzlement of your 2 wheeled evening entertainment: again you remember why you love the sport of mountain biking. This can mean only one thing, spring has most definitely sprung and the summer is almost upon us! But where will you be riding in 2005? I'm guessing that at some point over the last 6 months you will have been captivated by your favourite DVD's like Earthed, Back in the Saddle or of course the Collective. But have you ever considered riding in the places where they were filmed?

BC, Canada seems to be the place everyone is talking about at the moment. The Whistler Bike Park is now a Mecca for riders from all corners of the globe, but its not all drop-offs and menacing ladders. The park has some of the sweetest lift assisted trails around with swooping singletrack leading to sculpted berms and technical rock descents. It really is a place where every type of mountain biking comes together to form what is quite literally a mountain biker's playground.

But the Bike Park is by no means the only riding available in Whistler. There are literally hundreds of trails in this part of BC; and if you have the ability to take a 45 minute journey along highway 99 to Squamish, you'll discover a cross country mecca with a myriad of switchback trails extending through pristine forest. Or by heading only 25 minutes in the opposite direction you reach Pemberton, an area of long climbs and buff loamy descents.

No one seems to have a bad word to say about this 'too-good-to-be-true' mountain bike paradise that, with increasingly affordable airfares, is becoming more accessible than people realise. Increasingly, mountain bike brands want to associate their products with the riding, scenery and the relaxed lifestyle that optimises this part of the world.

The riding is almost fantastical, and if you are able to live or take a season stay in the area then you'll have access to a diversity of riding simply unparalleled across the globe. You owe it to yourself as a mountain biker to make the fantasy a reality and aspire to the challenge of this mountainous area. It will inevitably inspire your riding to greater heights, allow you to develop skills previously considered unobtainable and unleash your true potential. So if you are looking for the ultimate XC experience, or are branching into the world of freeride then there is no better place to do it than BC.

Something to Aspire to!

So what's the best way of doing it? I guess it depends on your time and budget. Until recently there were no rider specific lodges in Whistler, making it impossible to find somewhere with all the facilities needed by a rider under one roof. However, developments have been made over the last season by Ticket2RideBC, a mountain bike adventure holiday company, who now operate a bespoke 25 bed riders lodge in the heart of Whistler.

Through their main lodge and a small network of additional properties they offer nightly accommodation through to season stays and have packages set up to suit all your riding needs: from a little mountain orientation; through to fully guided packages with breakfast and evening meal options. In addition to this they have the type of facilities that will really make a difference to your quality of time in Whistler such as:

-a tooled workshop with in-house mechanic,
-secure bike storage,
-a range of Iron Horse bikes for demo and hire so that you can try something new and adapt your riding style without buying a second bike,
-a courtesy service to take you, your bike, and anything else your carrying from Vancouver International airport directly up into the Whistler Valley,
-a hot tub and sauna in which to contemplate that day's achievements!

In addition to this there are guided rides of the Whistler Valley and outlying areas such as Pemberton and Squamish using 4x4 shuttle vehicles, plus heli and float plane trips and even options of taking interior camping trips guided by local pro-riders.

All T2R tours can be taken separately or as part of one of the following packages:
-Basic Big Mountain - all you need for Whistler and the park
-Freeride Shuttle Fun - Get out to the areas where freeride began
-Comfortably Numb - cross country with a twist of BC!
-Gravity Singletrack - comfortably numb + helicopters and planes!
-Interior Tour legendary locations: Williams Lake, Lillooet, Kamloops, Vernon, Kelowna, Penticton, Nelson, Sun Peaks, Silverstar and more!

The company providing all of the above is Ticket2RideBC, their main lodge is known as the T2R Riders Lodge. Their lodge is run for mountain bikers, for mountain bikers. It is relaxed and friendly and open from May to October.

If you are interested in what they have to offer, or you are curious about getting a closer look at the Iron Horse range, then check www.Ticket2RideBC.com, contact them atinfo@Ticket2RideBC.com, or give them a call on 604 932 3641 / 604 902 3369.

Posted by bikergrl at May 11, 2005 11:38 PM

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