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A quarter century of spinning fatties

RMOW Policy and Program Development For 25 years, Whistler has been on the cusp of a fat tire revolution which has helped crank the evolution of this valley from a sleepy summertime ski town to a bona fide, four season mountain resort.

RMOW Policy and Program Development

For 25 years, Whistler has been on the cusp of a fat tire revolution which has helped crank the evolution of this valley from a sleepy summertime ski town to a bona fide, four season mountain resort.

This was no happy accident, though. Through a committed continuum of cosmic coincidence which combined stunning Coast Mountains geography, easily accessible Crown land, cycling citizens who built trails and rode them, smart business moves and a local government made up senior staff and politicians who just love mountain biking, Whistler has gone from a ski town that rides to the town that rides when it comes to mountain bikes.

Long-time local Ian Bunbury, who owned one of the first real “mountain” bikes in this real mountain town, a 1981 Specialized Stumpjumper, says it’s easy to see bikes are big in Whistler. “Last week there was a Loonie Race après happening at the base of the mountain with an industry party nearby… it was wild to see more bikes than people filling that little square in the village.”

While the image of bicycles taking over the resort may be far-fetched, Whistler has managed to create quality, accessible trails, bike friendly design and avant garde action when it comes to mountain biking innovation. Early on in our spin to four-seasondom, golf was billed as Whistler’s summer saviour, but it’s mountain biking which has helped our town roll quickly on a four-season path toward success and sustainability. Whistler’s warm weather mountain messiah didn’t ride into town on a golf cart — she hammered in on a Kona.

A 2006 Sea to Sky Mountain Biking Economic Study, conducted by the Western Canada Mountain Bike Tourism Association showed clearly the value created by bikes. The trail systems of the North Shore, Squamish and Whistler, are estimated to have collectively generated $10.3 million in spending from riders that live outside of the host community over the period from June 4 to Sept. 17, 2006. Spending by visitors to Whistler accounted for just under two-thirds of the total, around $6.6 million, excluding the Whistler Bike Park.

Bunbury’s Stumpjumper was one of the first mountain bikes in Whistler and he says some folks scoffed at the thing. Soon, local trials motorcycle riders started an off-road trail network so they could ride, well, off-road to protect their uninsured butts from the man. Then in 1983, Whistler’s first homegrown bike shop, Summit Cycles, opened and the fat tire bikes caught on with the local population and pedals became pre-eminent in the woods around Alta Lake.

Six years later the Whistler Off-road Cycling Association (WORCA) was founded by a group of dedicated fat tire fiends and together they worked to protect and enhance mountain biking here, planting the seeds that grew into one of the largest mountain bike clubs in North America. WORCA Loonie races are an incomparable phenomenon and an important contributor to Whistler’s social fabric.

While most of the early trail development was unsanctioned, it is notable these trails were built for and by local bikers. Unlike other mountain towns, common ground, co-operation and understanding were the tracks upon which we rode. The RMOW worked with the International Mountain Bike Association and WORCA to create environmentally sound and broadly accessible trail guidelines, currently being updated to align with Whistler2020. Unlike many other mountain bike towns, our local government supported mountain biking and we are not hemmed in by a circle of inaccessible private land. Recently, all levels of government have committed capital toward the design and creation of the Sea to Sky Trail, from Squamish to D’Arcy. Add to this a lack of public road access to Whistler’s alpine, which limits goofy truck shuttling, and we are an up and down mountain bike Mecca.

In 1999, the Whistler Bike Park opened and the whole world changed for the freer. The MBTA survey results, in combination with the rider volume figures, indicate that Whistler Bike Park riders spent nearly $16.5 million in the summer of 2006. The freeride movement certainly ain’t free. Case in point is Crankworx, which wheelie dropped into town July 21-29. The village was frenzied with bikers, booths and booming beats which mixed together and created a giddy atmosphere that celebrated all things bike and promoted the most efficient machine for transporting a human being. While numbers for this year are not yet available, they will certainly eclipse those of 2006 when 55,000 unique visitors attended Crankworx, of which more than 23,000 traveled solely to attend the festival, resulting in non-resident expenditures in excess of $11.5 million.

Frank Savage, a planner with the RMOW Resort Experience Department, and one leader in the creation of Whistler’s Recreational Cycling Plan, says cycling tourism is vital to resort visitors and locals alike. While a great job has been done so far, there is still work to do to make our trails as accessible as possible to riders of all skill levels and increase wayfinding information and on trail, directional signs.

To be the best, and stay there, takes co-operation and a lot of hard work. We need to honour Whistler’s mountain bike pioneers, like Dores Burma, Bob Eakins and Charlie Doyle and the hundreds of others who have guided us on this trail by building and maintaining environmentally sound, diverse and evolutionary routes in these dank, green woods. Stay tuned.

To KNOW MORE about other actions that are moving our community toward Whistler2020, or to find out how we’re performing visit www.whistler2020.ca.