If you haven’t noticed by now, the Whistler Bike Park has recently been going though a lot of changes to its trails. At the beginning of the season, before the bike park opened, they announced that they were going to be evolving the bike park to better suit 650B Wheel by slightly adjusting berms and jumps. Great, just what we need, right? Later on, another announcement was made that the jumps on A-Line were going to be made so that they were “easier” for less experienced riders by raising the landing so it’s more visible and getting rid of the blind jumps. After this happened, I was a little bit suspicious of what was going on. As the spring/summer of 2015 went on, I started to notice the destruction of the well known trails.

Last year, the GLC drop was destroyed. What used to be a semi challenging and exhilarating hit that we all looked forward to at the end of a lap, is now a pitiful 3 foot drop/jump that I would have done when I was 8 years old.

Before

After

Crank It Up, which used to be a super fun fast lap that sucked the energy out of you because of all the scrubbing of the short steep lips, is now a trail filled with jumps that are really just rounded bumps, most of which aren’t even worthy of two orange flags. I don’t enjoy riding that trail anymore.

Even the world famous A-Line has been toned down with less kicky jumps, longer, slacker berms, and the shrunken rock drop to accommodate slow and less skillful riders who do not belong on the trail.

Guess what; A-Line wasn’t designed for ever mountain bike rider! Like the rest of society, the Whistler Bike Park is trying to be friendlier not offend the easily offended or weak hearted. A-Line wasn’t designed for the average person, or even intermediate riders. You see that black triangle on the signs? That means ADVANCED riders. Not people who are going to fly 2 feet off the lip, land on top, chuckle to themselves and roll down the backside. Earn your right to ride it by developing your skills on easier trails, then give it go! It seems like riding A-Line is more of a bragging accomplishment more than anything actually being able to successfully clear all the jumps.

I don’t see these lip rollers on Dirt Merchant because if people tried to roll the lips on Dirt Merchant, they would wreck themselves. Does that mean I should stick to Dirt Merchant and leave the slow lane of the highway which is A-Line? No. They are completely different trails. There is no Dirt Merchant race because it wasn’t designed to be ridden beyond a certain speed. The lips of the jumps are way too steep to be ridden at race speed. If you let off the brakes and pedal into the jumps, there is no way to squash them, you will fly 30 feet in the air and land flat or into the lip of the next jump, which I came close to doing on my first lap after they re-built it. I prefer if somebody rides in front of me on Dirt Merchant because if they don’t, I will let off the brakes and overshoot every single jump. There is nothing like the feeling you get at the end of a day doing full speed top to bottom laps on A-Line, and unfortunately, that is becoming harder and harder to do.

I understand that the Bike Park is trying to make the park safer, but do so on trails where people need the safety. Letting and encouraging slow and inexperienced riders on advanced and expert trails is dangerous for us, the riders who the trail was designed for. The people who really belong on those trails.

I can think of at least 3 times this month where I have come full speed into the A-Line rock drop to see a group of “Joeys” gawking at the top of the drop. Fortunately, there were some sensible people in the group who were looking up the trail and able to warn those in the way so that they could get out of the way before I hit them. What if I hadn’t been so lucky? If I hit a human going full speed off of a drop, I will not be able to get up and shake it off and accept apologies. Great damage would come to my body, my bike, and their body. For someone like me, who is trying to make a career out of riding, a blown knee or brain damage is something I would really like to avoid and may ruin my hope and dreams entirely. Does a first time Bike Park rider or a weekend warrior out for an adventure really want to be responsible for, or endure the wrath I would lay on them if this happened?

I have also had multiple times where I come upon a slower rider, who hears me and tries to get out of the way, and end up crashing while trying to get to the top of a berm because they get scared and want to get out of my way as quickly as possible. I don’t want this to happen. The danger goes both ways.

If these inexperienced riders continue to think they can ride advanced trails because they’ve “totally shredded A-Line”, what will happen when they build up confidence and take themselves to Crabapple Hits? I think we all know what would happen. I had to help a kid who hit those jumps a hundred times with no problem down the mountain with two broken legs because he was slightly off position and was sent over the bars. If it had been a Joey, who knows how bad it would have been. Will that happen? Maybe, or maybe not. But if the Whistler Bike Park already is having insurance issues, do they really want to find out?

I have heard, and also speculated that the reason for this modification of “dangerous” features is for insurance reasons. This makes sense, but at the same time is infuriating. This is mountain biking! It’s not a matter of IF you get hurt, it’s WHEN and how badly. The trails crossings and merge points are safe, the wood features are not falling apart, and the big holes in the berms and jumps are quickly repaired. What kind of person would sue a facility because they don’t have enough skill to successfully do what they came there to do? Would sue a rock climbing wall facility because you slip and scrape your knee on a rock because “it’s obviously too small for my foot and I deserve to make it to the top because I am awesome”? No. You signed the waiver, you should have understood that this is an extreme sport which is not meant for everybody to be able to do! If you’re not skilled enough, work on it and get better. Don’t sue a facility because of your inability to accept failure.