MTB Whistler: Days 4-5

 On Thursday we spit our time between technical trails and flow trails again, this time riding Call Me Maybe (too hard) and Palm Corners and Earth Circus.  I was developing callouses on my hands from the pounding I was getting from the bike. I told the bike shop I suspected my suspension was bottoming and when they checked it they said no, it's the opposite --- there was too much air in the tires! I guess the big advantage of owning your own DH bike is that you can get the bike dialed in. But there's no point owning a DH bike in the Bay Area --- there aren't any ski lifts and every ride starrts or ends with a massive climb. I've even got to the point where I'd rather ride my Roadini off pavement! 

On Friday, we got our lesson with Tommy --- he had agreed to meet us at Creekside. There was a bit of drama in the morning as Bowen had lost his goggles. I would later find the (after buying a new set!) at the top of the lift sandwiched between Bowen's back and his backpack! Bowen and I got a lesson in technical bike handling on Devil's Cup, and it was quite enlightening to see how slow you could do this.

Then we got a jump lessons. "We've been doing it all wrong." said Bowen. Apparently as you approach the lip of a jump you're supposed to push down with your arms and legs to compress the suspension and then rise up smoothly as you hit the lip and let the bike come up to you. Bowen did a couple of beautiful jumps on crank it up while I fumbled and flustered like the old uncool Dad that I was. Then I had to wait a long time at the bottom of Crank it up because Bowen had crashed. He made it down safely but he was too beaten up to ride the rest of the trip. We took the bus back to Creekside because the park was now closed because of lightning, and then returned the bikes. Bowen and I went to the Samurai Bown for dinner because our lunch was a grocery store lunch at Whistler village.