August Long Weekend - Bromont WC and Whiteface Mountain.

August Long weekend me and Drew planned a little intense weekend around the WC Bromont but what a weekend it was. Friday we started off making the 4 + hour drive to Kingston (damn cottage traffic had us arrive in Kingston a good 2 hours behind schedule.) But the beer was in the cooler with ice and Geoff and the girls where waiting to BBQ dinner and one thing led to another and no one got to bed till 4 or 5 AM. However, being the troopers we are me Drew weren’t going to let a little lack of sleep stop us from making it to the WC so we where up and off at 8AM to make the DH Finals. We arrived and promptly tracked down some people to see how the Ontario riders and they represented well with where doing and we found out Rob Fraser from the team finished 112th (no small feat at 17). His training partner for the weekend Marcelo from Columbia, qualified for the finals on his Banshee Legend, Sheila squeezed in to the women’s final (and ended up 19th), Dean Tenant and Drew Pautler from Primary Devinci also qualified for the main, and Justin Brown rounded out the Ontario showing in 110th.

So after our quick update we hiked the course to see what had changed from the Canada Cup we raced early in the year, and they defiantly made enough changes to make this a great WC course. I wish I could have road the course. The bottom section had a new drop added that was about 6 to 10ft and the landing was in corner going the other way, a couple nice gap jumps, the berm after the long rockface that saw a lot of injuries at the Canada Cup was built up, and then the rockface that you road down after you shot out of the opening single track had a pro line option with a 15 to 20ft rock drop.

We ended up at the new drop just in time to watch the pro women launch of it without any signs of fear. And Rachel Atherton continued her dominance wining the women’s category. We had hiked down to one of the more tech sections for the men and watched the top men make everything look so smooth and witness some awesome riding up close. Sam Hill was the man of the day with the seemingly regular top 4 standing atop the podium Hill, Peaty, Minnar, Gee. Then Marc Beaumont rounded up the top 5. Next up was the 4 X course which was awesome, and we saw some tight racing, huge bails, and stood beside the Santacruz Syndicate as they drank and funneled beers through air horns. After dinner and pint we where off to Whiteface New York, for a day of DH riding.

We didn’t arrive till after midnight and after only a few hours of sleep over the last 40 hours I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow. Sunday we where greeted with rain for our day at Whiteface, but that was going to ruin our spirits so geared and headed up the Gondola to the top and followed Mikes first run suggestion of the complete 26 where it intersects with 27 the second time to 4 (or something) for our first run and found out what whiteface is all about. Now I would have preferred have a warm up run before being thrown down the mountains toughest run (I’d suggest going 23 -24 – 25 as a good warm up). With the slick mud, rock, roots and rain 26 had to be the toughest trail I’ve had to navigate. Not steep but tough with lots of big rocks and some steep of camber stuff. I’d love to go back and rip through it in the dry. Or at least dry enough that my hands are slipping of the brakes and handlebars. So how do you sum up Whiteface, the hill with the most potential east of the Rockies? Lots vertical, Lots of potential for Growth, some awesome trails, and non existent line ups (we walked straight onto the lift every time). What’s missing? Well first off too many sections are tied together with fire roads and flat singletrack across the mountain (The fire roads wouldn’t be so bad if they where smoothed out a little) Some faster lest tech trails you can fly down, get some air with tables and berms, more Intermediate/Beginner Terrain I wouldn’t have wanted my first day on a DH bike to be there, and more riders. I wish Mike the best of luck, he was great, and is putting a lot of passion into the park and hopefully he can get the numbers he needs to continue growing the park till reaches it’s potential. For those of thinking of doing the 5K downhill race go for it.

After our ride we where headed back to Kingston for a DH ride in Kingston on J&J’s Farm trails which where a lot fun, just too bad I felt like S@#$ and couldn’t get a good ride in. Maybe I’ll be able to find time to head back in the fall before the snow falls.