Dear readers,

In case you haven't noticed there hasn't been a new post here for some time now. Between building trail, travelling, and riding, I've barely had enough time to turn on my computer let alone check e-mail. I dished up a little too much on my plate this summer so I'm letting go of my beloved blog. :( But at least I was able to kick my facebook addiction.

It's been a real joy feeding my readers with photos, video and blurbs these past few months. I'd also like to thank you for the wonderful comments I've received that made my day everytime. Feel free to drop me an e-mail if you have any questions, I'm always happy to answer them. See ya on the hill!

Johnny B

Tom Pro's Bike Park Report:

In my last Bike Park Report I had to explain that the Report isn't like a daily weather or snow report, but rather that the Report is meant to enlighten you on issues of importance in the Bike Park. Sometimes the news is big, sometimes it is small and sometimes it is not news at all.

Like right now - it is not news that the Garbo chair is going to open this Friday, unless you just got out of solitary confinement or woke up from a lengthy coma. The word has been out there for some time. What may be worth reading about is what the riding is like up there.

I was hiking up there about three weeks ago and skis would have been a way better form of transport at that time. Two weeks ago was a lot better and last week we actualy took our bikes. The highlight was following Thomas Vanderham down Orange Peel as he was pinning it straight down on snow doing the 'look mom, no hands'! I had the death grip on my bars, just barely keeping it upright. The kid 's got skills. Anyway, there was still a lot of snow, but I was seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

Today (Wednesday), BT and I headed up there on a scouting mission, hoping for good, yet ready to accept bad. The trail crew has been up there with D1s and the D35 spent some time up there as well moving some of the white stuff, but we had no idea what we would find. I have to admit that I felt a bit apprehensive, because we have commited to open on Friday - come hell or high water.

We hit up Freight Train and just rolled through it as there was some snow and running water. Then we split up - BT continued down FT and I rolled into Original Sin. As soon as I dropped in, I felt my cheeks pressing into the padding of my helmet in a huge grin. The trail was raw, a bit slick and the puddles were crystal clear. Some water was running down the trail as there is still some snow melting near by. I pushed my bike up to the ridge, barely even took in the views, and continued. Last time I visited the section just above the Tree Fort, there were cornices hanging over the trail and the snow was at least 6' deep. That was just two weeks ago! As I dropped in, I was happy to see a trench in the snow right down to the dirt. The Trail Crew out did themselves here for sure.

BT cruised in along Bear Cub and reported that FT was a bit raw from Marty rebuilding it in wet weather. No sweat, it will get raked before Friday.

The next section was mint - dry slick rock and no mud - flowing like the beer at GLC. We popped out on Pony Trail and hit snow! It was a lot better than I expexted, because last time a went through there, the snow was 8' deep. By Friday, it should be mostly gone and the step up in the tree island should be good to go.

Goat's Gully next! For me dropping into CG is like meeting a super hot girl at a party - blood pressure shoots up, all senses heighten and I fight for composure. I don't want to mess this up! I have managed to mess up both scenarios in the past and one hurt physicaly and the other hurt emotionaly. This time I was on top of my game and I nailed 'er - Goat's Gully, that is. I absolutely love this trail and it didn't disappoint - gnarly and raw - as it should be. In Deep was the same - roots, slick rock and drops at it's finest. I maxed out the 888 and the Roco while I used all of the 8" available on my Kona Stab on the Tripple Hump, which seemed to have gotten bigger over the winter. Just a perception, I'm sure. BT and I busted a right into Fatcrobat, where Kenny and Travis were fixing some bridges. Mint - is all I can say!

The boys did a great job fixing some bridges and they built some awesome berms. That is what happens when you put a guy that loves wood, Travis, and a guy who loves dirt, Kenny, together building a trail. The rest of the crew were busy fixing the run into and the step up onto the containers. Knowing those boys, it will be just the way they like it - buffed and lofty.

We finished our ride with Too Tight. I know - I should't overuse words, but I will - mint!

Personally, Garbo is the shit and the riding up there is like nothing else in the lower park, except maybe Joyride. It is in your face, ready to spank you in a heart beat, like a big bad bully. But like a bully, it feels good when you spank it. Garbo is no hangover ride, so drink some warm milk with honey and go to bed early the night before riding up there. All of the trails in Garbo zone will be open by Friday.

The Whistler Gondola opens on Saturday which should help with the crowds. Check out the Red Bull Elevation BMX contest. The Jumps are massive and it should be an awesome show.

Please be careful when crossing the mountain road in the Bike Park. It is getting busy with big trucks.

Happy Canada Day long weekend. See you up here.

click here to go directly to the source of Tom "Pro" Prochazka's Bike Park Reports

life is but a dream...

After a long and tiring day of building trails I didn't feel ambitious enough to do extended play laps in the park yesterday. Then I had a flashback like something out of fear and loathing. I could hear the gentle strumming of a harp as I drifted off into a past state of being. Reader discretion is advised. Some dramatization may occur in this re-telling of events:

In my flashback it was January, I was back in Quesnel, BC trying to study for a physics exam while the snow was mercilessly falling outside. While lost in papers my thoughts turned to the bike park. I was sitting, with pen in hand, dreaming of how amazing the park was going to be for the '07 season. I would have ridden anything at that moment, even a run down B-line in the pouring rain. I could hear the drone of the chair-lift that scoops me off my feet and carries me to the top. I could taste the grainy dirt in my teeth. I could hear the muffled sounds of hoots and hollers coming from an unseen trail. And the widening of my eyes upon seeing a flock of biker chicks hanging out at the Garbanzo Bike and Bean. All these heavenly sensations were flowing through me while I sat in class dreaming of the bike park, but back in the real world a transit bus driver was angrily blasting his horn at me for only half crossing the street before stopping to think. Instead of going the rest of the way across the street, I turned 180 and headed back towards the village. Even though I was sore from work, and my bike was chainless, I thought it best to listen to my past self and do some laps while the elusive sun was shining on some of the best trails on earth.

helllooooo... sorry it's been a while. It's been rather rainy the past little while so the crew has been quietly working away in the trees. Lower Crank-it-up is coming along smoothly, as expected. There are no opening dates to be released yet, so be patient and great things will come your way.

Some rumours have been going around about a new single track currently being built in the lower mountain. While you may have heard chainsaws running in the woods, that's because the Ministry of Forests has told us that in order to have a healthy forest we need to do some tree spacing. So don't get too excited, all we're doing is a little forest doctoring. yep.

Marty Goutry (as seen in Decline magazine, playing with his dinner) has recently spent some time working his machine magic in the Biker Cross. It is still the same confidence demanding course it was before, only now it's a little more dialed in. So if you haven't ridden it before I advise rolling it first, but once you get it figured out it's a blast!

Phat wednesday's kicked off today, and it seems that everyone and their little brother joined in the classic race down B-line. The skies even cleared up for most of the day, and coupled with the amazing trail conditions (fact: hero dirt really does turn you into a hero) made for one of the better days of the year so far. A few photos of that below, as well as some other digital goodies.


one more reason to know the phone number for Patrol
taken today from the quiet side of the GLC patio
the busy bike park
Vanderham and his prototype. Am I allowed to post this photo?
Top of B-line, Phat Wednesday style
sunny day race photo
are u #28?

Pro Line boneyard drop

I try to be quite promt with my posts, but the 10 dollar pitchers on Merlin's patio tasted way too good today. Anyways, I just finished uploading my youtube video of the soon to be open Pro Line drop at the bottom of the boneyard. Maybe tomorrow I'll hit the step-up onto the platform now that the boys are done building it. Props to Big Red Ted for an awesome job on the drop! This guy really is the best. And I'm not just saying that because he bought be lunch, twice. Listed below are a few photos of the beast that nearly tackled Gareth Dyer's ego. The poor guy came out of an all-winter injury to stare this drop in the eye and tell it who's boss. That's what I like to see.

time to guinea pig this mofo
is niice
another attempt

you can view the youtube link here or watch the movie at the bottom of this page.

P.S. the Dirt Merchant Pro Line is now open for public,
enjoy!

Jumbotron update

New post coming tomorrow with the usual photo and video goodies. This time it's all about the Pro Line drop that goes over top of the jumbotron. Ted Tempany and Jason Jocelyn have been finishing up construction of the drop today, and will be for the next couple of days, so it will most likely be open for this weekend. But I gp'd the drop a handfull of times this afternoon, and it is sweeet. Check back tomorrow for the full update. see ya up there!

As promised,

here is a trail update full of the photos and video that you just can't find anywhere else. I won't save the best for last, because the best is just too damn good. What I'm referring to is the new Pro Line on Dirt Merchant. Pro Line on Dirt Merchant!? what What WHAT!? That's right. Yesterday, the trail crew you know and love, decided to put a wooden booter about 8 feet before the dirt booter that sends you over the Creek Gap on Dirt Merchant. I comprised a short video that can be found on youtube right here for full screen, or at the bottom of the page. You can view the photos below:

construction
more construction
time to man-up and prove we can ride what we build
...and I get paid to do this!
Rider: Johnny B
Photographer: Jason Josling

Aside from the new booter on Dirt Merchant, the trail crew has spent a lot of time rebuilding sections of Devil's Club. There were some sloppy sections on the trail that just cried out to be bridged over. so we did. and here's the proof:

cedar stringers
deck the trails with slats of lumber
mission complete!
our artwork
some company on the trails
it's like a walking teddy bear
new corner bridge
finito
for you to enjoy

y'all come back again now y'hear

proof of progress coming soon...

yo yo yo! I've been kept very busy moving into my new house and working 7 days a week, so I haven't had much computer access time to post new photos or information. But bear with me. A full update on the progress of our Devil's Club re-build will be coming soon. Hint: I love to build bridges! Check back for the full update!

P.S. thanks for reading my blog and posting the wonderful comments. They totally make my day! Oh, and check out what I worked on last weekend with Big Red Ted Tempany and Duncan MacKenzie... here,

Fresh new photos!

The weather has been awesome, and the trails even better! But surprisingly enough, the mountain hasn't been the least bit busy. If your smart enough to ride during the week, you'll get spoiled with perfect conditions and non-existant lift lines.

In other news..... the boneyard is nearing completion and will soon be open for public. And I have plenty of excellent photos to prove it! Let me begin...

Gap-O-Tron construction (here, and here, and here, and here, and holy crap this stuff goes up quick!) I'm not sure if I'm supposed to leak this information, (and I may get in trouble for this later) but there's a chance that a down-sized version of the Gap-O-Tron, as seen here and here, will be open for public as a "PRO" Line. I try to keep some things secret from the public that we hold as a surprise. But some news, like the Gap-O-Tron possibly being open for public, will be announced shortly anyways, so what the hell.

Some photos of the boneyard nearing completion:

-Here we have the BIG Crankworx gap, the Biker Cross expert line, and the normal Biker Cross line. Another shot of the same right here.

-This is the launch pad for the BIG gap located smack dab in the middle of the boneyard. In photo is local ripper Adam from Whistler Diaries. Here is another shot of Adam and the 30-something foot gap.

-Here and here, are photos of the many Cowan-style dirt jumps found in the lower boneyard.

-John Cowan building the hitchin' post. Hitchin' post complete.

-Cowan and his sidekick Tom working on the landing for the good ol' roadgap

-And finally some overview photos of the upper half of the boneyard, and the lower half of the boneyard

I'm not much of a writer, but pictures are good at saying the words for me. hope you like!

Biker Cross Photos!

Here's a look at the stellar Biker Cross course Cowan and his crew have built for us...

here and here is the beginning of the course. rollers and doubles a plenty!
massive berms!
three steep rollers, or you can double, even triple them!
same section as the last photo, but from the opposite end
a double-able set of rollers before the first stepdown
two stepdowns then a bigger stepup
the stepup (note: it's bigger than it looks)
I call this the riser berm!
the finishing jump
view from the bottom
another view from the bottom

have an opinion on the course this year? leave your comment below

news and photos

I haven't posted much for recent photos or information these past couple of days because I've been working like a dog 7 days a week. I've been working as trail crew building the trails on the mountain 4 days a week, and on my 3 days off I've been working for John Cowan (as seen here showing Duncan how to properly "judo chop") in the boneyard building the bikercross and slopestyle. But great news, the bikercross will be open as of tomorrow! Not only that, but some of the boneyard will be open too. The bikercross this year is off the hook. Expect high speed whoops, huge berms, step-ups to step-downs, and other features, all in proper 4X fashion. :) Also, as I've been informed, crabapple hits has been overhauled and is super buff, along with angry pirate which has also had a lot of work done to it. Overall, the mountain is in excellent shape right now, so grab your bikes and head on up!

here (1 ,2) are photos of the staff housing box, which is back bigger and better than ever.

and here is a crankworx ad in the Pique Newsmagazine (you may have to download the full size image in order to read the article)

The best deal around

This has got to be the best accommodation/lift pass deal in existence! I wont say anything else because the advertisement says it all, check it out...

"Play and Stay"

file size is approx 2.5mb so it may take a while to load with a slower internet connection speed

today's stuff: less words, more photos

It was a statutory holiday today which translates as... no work for me. Which is great, because I wanted to ride today anyways! In the morning, I briefly looked for some accomodation for the summer then immediately hit up the bike park. Posted below are some photos of Duncan Mckenzie re-building sections of "old school", Tom Pro laying down crush gravel on the landings for the GLC drops, and some other random stuff.

Duncan re-building "old school"
another of Duncan re-building "old school"
Tom Pro laying down the "red" carpet
another of Tom Pro laying down the "red" carpet
final preparations for the opening weekend (note: this crush gravel works really well!)
John Cowan's version of how the Giro box should be
the beautiful view from atop the trails

P.S. Over the next month or so, Duncan Mckenzie (who more often works as bike park patrol) will be re-working sections of his trails "Old School", "Devil's Club", and "Smoke 'n' Mirrors", for your riding enjoyment.

Random photo post

here are some random photos I snapped the other day...

the stencil
the new staff housing box
staff housing side angle
revamped giro box Cowan style
deer in the park
deer in the park
makin progress on crank it up
trail crew bikes and truck

back in action

For the past couple weeks nothing significant has happened to me, so I haven't spent the time to post anything new. But now that I'm back in the bike park my life seems to have shifted into a higher gear.

I had my first run in the park yesterday, accompanied by my first patio beer; and I'm still not sure which was better. The ride was awesome, but biking and beer go together hand in hand. Tom Pro and I rode Upper Shleyer to Karate monkey to A-line, and let me tell you, it was gooooood! The majority of the trails have weathered the winter quite well and are ready to take you on from 9 until 6 on the weekends, and from 10 until 5 during the week.

On my first day back at work yesterday, Shem Parker and I started the day by clearing the trails of all the trees that had fallen down over the winter (as seen here). It was actually quite entertaining cruising around in the quads through deep patches of snow and mud as seen here on "easy does it". Just to be able to open the park as expected, Shem has been busting his balls clearing away fallen trees like these ones, that were 20 feet past the landing for the Dirt Merchant step-up. What a redneck! I can't go on without giving major props to the rest of the trail crew, the patrollers, and everyone else in prepping the trails and park for another big season.

Anyways, as our morning tapered into the afternoon Shem and I decided it would be a worthwhile project to amp up the A-line entry drop (as seen here and here and here and here). We jacked up the take off over a foot higher than it was before so it is no longer rollable, and more of a mandatory feature. The wooden landing is bordering on the skinny side but we'll do something about it later if there are any complaints.

Other than that, John Cowan and his crew have been making incredible progress in the boneyard (here and here) with hopes of an earlier than usual opening. I had some great photos of Cowan running an excavator building some stunts, but my memory card decided it didn't like the photos very much so I'll have to re-take them tomorrow. Also, for those of you who plan to ride in the boneyard this year, expect everything to be amped up in typical Whistler Bike Park fashion. For example, (and I'll try to snap a photo of it tomorrow) the staff housing box is built up on a platform which considerably increases the size of the stunt. So if your confidence is soaring and your skills are honed, be prepared for a fun time.


Random stuff:
Here is a crankworx ad taken from the pique newsmagazine. Here and here are some articles taken from the sports section of The Question newspaper in Whistler. Here is a video of Shem Parker and me cruising down easy-does-it on ATV's looking for fallen trees.

And just in case they decide to get angry with me, here are their internet addresses: www.piquenewsmagazine.com and www.whistlerquestion.com

For more information on the Whistler Mountain Bike Park, log on to www.whistlerbike.com or call 1-866-218-9690.

Gotta get outta Quesnel!

The second half of my final exam is this Monday, so I'll be moving back to Whistler shortly after that. Even if I'll be shoveling snow off the trails for days on end, just to get the mountain open for the 19th, it'll be sweet to be back. I'm still not sure how I'm gonna get back to Whistler though; I might have to ride my bike. ha! There was a guy who rode an Intense M1 from Ottawa to Whistler, so the 500 kilometers that separate my house from Whistler can't be that bad right? Right!? I thought so. Hopefully it doesn't come down to that, but we'll see.

Frontburner

I've recently posted a short movie of some of the locations I've ridden around Quesnel. While the quality of the movies is nothing amazing I've taken a lot of time to compile the segmented clips into something more viewable. The weather's been perfect for riding lately, hovering around 15 degrees Celsius and partly cloudy, so I've taken the liberty to fully check out the riding scene in Quesnel. How it's grown since I've been in Whistler! I've already spent many hours this spring building bigger - yet still safer and easier - jumps around town, while trying not to disgruntle the local municipality too much. Okay, well maybe a little just to keep them on their toes, but that's good for them right? It builds character. This is how I see it: more jumps equals more people riding bikes, equals less people driving vehicles, equals less road maintenance for the municipality. So ultimately it's a win-win situation. But yeah, check out the video clip posted below, it's just over 2 minutes in length, so not a long load. I plan on squeaking in a few more days of filming and riding before I move back to Whistler, so that I can add more content to "Frontburner" and finish it up. Also, I've been trying to capture footage of my buddy Pat the photographer, but he keeps injuring himself and getting stitches and all that, so he's pretty much a ghost in the movie so far. But the meteorologists say this weekend will be another hot sunny one, so once again my battery charger will have to stare down my energy-sucking camera so that nothing can get in the way of recording more bike riding memories.

tomorrow, tomorrow,

I love you tomorrow, you're ooooonly a day awaaaaay(screamed at the top of my lungs). I can't wait for tomorrow! The only thing I HAVE to do is get lots of video footage and photos. My buddy Pat and I (as well as a crew of groms) will be making our way around Quesnel hitting up everything and anything that sends us airborne. I've got a couple locations in mind that have a large potential for accumulating airmiles. Yipeeeeee! I'm just checking the weather now, sunny and 13degrees, perfect. It's only Quesnel riding, which is nothing spectacular, but I'll be able to get some great footage regardless. Plus, I found a nifty way to mount my little digicam onto my handlebars (as seen here and here) so we'll see how that works. I did some testing on the handlebar mount today and it held up surprisingly well with minimal bouncing and moving around. Alrightythen.. I'm off to prime my bike for the beating it's gonna receive tomorrow.

video camera shopping

My only means for capturing photos and video is the little Sony I mentioned in my previous blog entry, so I'm going shopping for a new camera. This summer I will be shooting lots of helmet cam video, as well as experimenting with different and unique ways to capture the spirit of park riding on film. My old camera just isn't up to the task. I will be posting frequent video on this site so I want the video segments to be higher quality for everyone's enjoyment. If anybody has a recommendation on what video camera would best suit my needs, please send an e-mail to whistler-rider@hotmail.com Anyone have experience with this model? This is my current choice because it looks most up to the task. Here's a larger photo of the camera

first real ride of the year

Up until now the only riding I've done has been commuting to school on my obese demo9. But today a posse of up-and-comers and I did a little bit of trail riding around the Quesnel area. Got some video footage of it (posted at bottom of page). It was a beautiful 16 degree sunny Saturday, so in celebration of summer's arrival I wore my Whistler staff issue hawaiian t-shirt. I love this shirt! But I still can't wait to get back to Whistler; it's only 16 sleeps away. :) Oh yeah, and while biking around we witnessed a sweet fist-fight, midday, downtown Quesnel (typical Quesnel behavior). But I couldn't get my camera out in time or I would have posted that too. As a side note, I should mention that all video was captured by my buddy Pat Mayhew, who did a great job with my little Sony camera

new trails

I grew up in a small town of less than 500 people. Of all those people I was one of the few who liked to aggressively ride a mountain bike. So naturally, I didn't see much point in building my own trails if I was gonna be the only one riding them. That, and I had no idea how to properly build a trail. Instead I would setup makeshift jumps made from broken pallets and salvaged plywood. I didn't care how well they worked as long as they somehow got me airborn.

In one way things have changed. Now there's a whole bunch of grom's cruising around on frankenstein hardtails with no trails to ride, using pallets and plywood just like I did. By frankenstein hardtail I mean a beat-up frame with a christmas-present-suspension-fork, a disc brake in the front, v-brake in the back, littered with random stickers, different model crank arms on either side, and - well, you get the point. The thing about it though is that these kids love to ride. Only they lack the trails and proper wooden structures needed to develop their skills. Since I build trails for a living, I feel I owe them some properly built trails and stunts. I've already begun construction on the new mini-network of trails that will have a variance of difficulty levels (green, blue, black diamond - but mostly green and blue), and some basic man-made wooden features. So here's to the new generation of riders.

...and what a crazy 6 days it was!

Before we even arrived in Whistler, we crashed by buddy's pickup on the winding Duffy Lake highway. We were super lucky though, the truck got totalled in the crash and the three of us managed to walk away unscathed. I'll post some pictures in a couple days, as well as some video clips. I happened to be filming with my digicam while it all happened, so I've got some amazing footage (which can be found at the bottom of the page). It's some pretty gnarly footage and I'm quite proud to have it on video. Wait, let me rephrase that. I'm not proud of it, because we were driving like idiots, but it's cool to have it all on tape none-the-less. This is the third major accident I've been able to walk away from without a scratch, so at least I have one of them on video. This being my third accident has sure made me think about life though. But aside from the minor delay in getting to Whistler, the rest of the week was awesome (as Whistler usually is). Late nights partying, beautiful women, the mountains, the scenery, the beautiful women, the late nights partying, and all the other amazing stuff Whistler has to offer. I've come to realize that life would suck without this place.

6 days in Whistler!...

Today in Quesnel it was -12 degrees celsius. Tomorrow it's going to be.... drum roll.......... -12 celcius (cold shudders). If I knew old-man-winter I'd break his hip right now. But there's a light at the end of the tunnel. This is winter's last bite (knock on wood) and summer will soon be here. But I can't wait to go back to Whistler; like an itch beneath the skin I just can't scratch it. Seeing as Easter weekend is coming up, and I'll already have friday off school, I'm skipping class for the rest of the week. I'm leaving for Whistler tomorrow, and I'm not coming back until Sunday night. 6 days in Whistler, yay me! (pats self on the back).I don't know what I'm gonna do for 6 days but I'm sure I'll find ways to occupy my time. For example, my mega babe of a friend Brittiny (aka Boozy) has a big bottle of jagermeister waiting for my arrival. So I'm gonna bring a case of redbull and see what kind of madness we can stir up. Jagerbombs for everyone! For those of you that don't know what a jagerbomb is, it's a glass 2/3 filled with redbull, with a shot of jagermeister that you drop in it and drink. In other words it's liquid energy. Lookout Whistler here I come!

the low-down

I'll start off with who I am, because you have no idea who I think I am. ha! Actually, I'm just another joe-blow mountain biker who's addicted to, and possibly in love with, the bike park. I moved to Whistler from Quesnel, BC a few years ago, worked as a parking attendant for Whistler/Blackcomb in the winter, saved up some money and bought a demo9 from Evolution. I worked my first summer as a liftee, which was super fun! Then snagged a trail crew job the following summer.

So for the summer of '07 (my fourth season) I'll be posting regular updates and stories on the many happenings in the world renowned Whistler Mountain Bike Park. Here you will find blurbs on trail conditions, weather, epic rides, parties, the amazing people who ride in (and work for) the park, new trail information (unless the new trail is planned to be a surprise) and anything else to do with the park. With so much happening on the mountain, and in Whistler in general, you really have to experience it for yourself. But if that's not possible, you can get your fix here. Hope you like


Questions and comments are welcome, so tell me what you think. oh, and just as a side note, even though I work for Whistler/Blackcomb I am in no way a spokeperson for the company. All photos and news are my own personal opinion.