Gee, I Like Your Pants

Short Version:
We ride some XC trails; hunt, kill, and eat food; watch some racing; are put to bed in the world's coolest sheets

Long Version:
Relaxing being one of our strong suits, lying around in the sun was soon past its prime, so we headed back in to Whistler Village, and set off to ride some of the Lost Lake XC trails. This trail network serves as the primary close-in cross-country ski area in winter, and in summer provides a comprehensive system of trails suitable for all levels of riding* ability, from wide flat-track gently-undulating scare-free main thoroughfares through to narrow, winding, technically-challenging byways - many of which are named after Frank Zappa's various outputs. There's also a 28-basket disc-golf course that we crossed twice on our expedition, which had us raring to fling some plastic discs around. First, though, there was hunger to be assuaged.

There were still a lot of people in Whistler Village, some ensconced in various eateries and others sitting or wandering the lanes of the pedestrian-only village. One of the wanderers we spied was finishing off a slice of pizza, which answered the "What to eat?" question, but not "Where to obtain?"
A few minutes of searching was rewarded with another pizza-enabled passerby, this one with half a slice remaining, and then another two feeders, only just getting started on their delicious cheesy treats. Pretty soon we'd found the source, and we retired, pizza in hand, to park benches by a fountain to inhale them before heading back to the Boneyard to watch the Pros racing the Giant Slalom**.

The music we'd been subjected to at Crankworx so far had started promisingly, with Amon Tobin playing as we first arrived, but had quickly degenerated into the type of noise that young people these days seem to be partial to. It was a very pleasant surprise, therefore, to find the slalom racing accompanied by heavy rock hits of yesteryear, with Jane's Addiction, Slayer, and pre-crapness Metallica featuring during the heats. The womens' final was run to the tune of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song," and the mens' to Iron Maiden's "Run to the Hills." Happy Puppet.
In contrast to the DH and jump riders, the slalom racers were on XC-style bikes similar to ours, and some of the pushing and shoving to get the best line at the first corner was very reminiscent of riding with Janine. It was interesting to note that of the entire field of not-sure-how-many, only two were riding hardtail bikes (ie no rear suspension), and both of them ended up in the finals (one in each, and one victory, in the mens' final), which made me think that the extra rigidity must provide a performance benefit, but only for those who are good enough to realise it.

The chairlift was still cranking, with noticeably-reduced but still significant numbers of people using it to haul their bikes up the hill. A surprising number of these were women, which I thought was pretty cool. Also providing much entertainment was the young chap - we guesstimate 4 years old or thereabouts - frolicking about in a clear area amid the crowd on his tiny pedal-less bike. It had rudimentary suspension, and he was pulling some pretty cool stunts including 180-degree jump-turns from a standstill and 360-degree wheelies***. Scary to think what sort of stuff he'll be capable of when he's older.

After the final it was back to Alta Lake, where a brief Puppet swim coincided with some stolen internet for Nene, and then on to Tim and Janna's house (Hi Tim and Janna!), where we had a drink or two with Janna's folks (Hi Rick and Fran!) and their friends (Hi Ted and Trudy!) before turning in for the night in the loft, on a bed with really cool flannellette sheets covered with pictures of bears and salmon. Trudy and Fran matched Nene for snoring decibels, so it was a musical night all through the house.












* = And hiking; pretty much all the trails we've struck over here - with the notable exception of the Whistler Bike Park - are multi-use, which begs the question: If trails in North Amerika can be shared between user groups without significant rancour, why can't the same be true in NZ?

** = The race was sponsored by Giant Bikes and I'm still not sure whether the event is actually called the giant slalom, a la the ski race, or whether it's just the slalom (a la the other ski race). Clever marketing.

*** = Video footage online, according to some ladies. Kudos to Janine for eavesdropping.