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E-Z Does It flows with ease

Sure, I may look the part. I’m leaning against a dual suspension Kona Joyride. I’m decked out in arm pads and leg pads and my head is swaying under the newly discovered weight of a full-face helmet.

Sure, I may look the part.

I’m leaning against a dual suspension Kona Joyride. I’m decked out in arm pads and leg pads and my head is swaying under the newly discovered weight of a full-face helmet.

But squinting up at the Whistler Mountain Bike Park on a steamy Friday morning, I certainly don’t feel the part.

Riders are flying off jumps, kicking their bikes out to the side, landing in a blaze of dust and making it all look so effortless.

I know I’m taking the easiest route down on the new E-Z Does It trail; nevertheless the bike park is still an intimidating place to hang out when you are looking from the bottom up.

"In some ways we’re our own worst enemy," said Bike Park Managing Director Rob McSkimming, as he prepares to take us up the mountain.

With almost 40 trails and a vertical rise of 1,200 feet, Whistler’s park is the ultimate place to play for freeriders and downhillers from near and far.

But their style and gonzo approach may have edged out some of the less confident bike riders.

"In skiing there is this perception that there’s something there for everybody, whereas in lift-accessed mountain biking right now the perception is that it’s mostly extreme," said McSkimming.

Judging from the village view, I’d have to wholeheartedly agree.

"Hopefully over time we’ll be able to change that perception and people will be able to realize that there really is something there for almost all skill levels."

To address the problem this year the trail designers at Whistler-Blackcomb created E-Z Does It, a truly green trail, billed as "the perfect trail to introduce people to the thrill of park riding."

Most of the sections in the six kilometre long trail are now complete and ready to ride.

"It’s the longest and most expensive trail and the least famous... so far," said McSkimming.

E-Z Does It racked up a total construction bill of $70,000 to $80,000 because of its length and also because it was primarily built with machines. One of the major concerns in making the trail was to minimize the vertical and that meant filling in low spots and cutting out high spots instead of following the natural line of the mountain. And so the average pitch on E-Z Does It is 5 per cent and reaches a maximum of 14 per cent in certain sections.

"If you’ve ridden a little bit on a mountain bike, this is the perfect trail for you," said McSkimming, adding that this is a good warm up trail for people who aren’t used to downhill bikes.

This is my second time in the park (the first time saw me execute a slow-motioned endo on the blue trail Ho Chi Min.) It’s my first time on a dual suspension bike with disc brakes. And after nursing a broken hand throughout June and the first two weeks of July, E-Z Does It sounds right up my alley.

Before tackling the trail though, long-time Whistler guide and supervisor of the guiding program Tom Radke first assessed our abilities at the green skills centre close to the top of the Fitzsimmons Chair.

He taught us to place the centre of our feet on the pedals, rather than the balls of our feet, a common trait from cross-country biking. He showed us how to stand in the centre of the bike for optimum balance on the downhill. And, perhaps most importantly, he showed us the position we should be in when braking on those sensitive disc brakes on the downhill course, leaning back and over the seat.

It seemed like basic stuff but Radke said you would be surprised at how many people fly down the hill with their butts firmly planted on their seats.

With the basics under our belts, we made our way to the trailhead and started the meandering descent down E-Z Does It.

From the get-go this trail has a totally different feel to it than anything else in the park.

There’s no panic trying to move out of the way as riders bomb by you in a fanatic race to the bottom of the hill; this trail is wide enough that you can move easily to the side.

The turns are sloping and smooth, designed to ease you down the hill with no roots or rocks to negotiate and far less chance of doing an endo.

There’s even time to look around and take in your tree-lined surroundings.

The best part of all is that this trail gives you time to concentrate, practice your form and get used to the way the bike rolls down the hill, with brakes that respond to the slightest touch. At times you can catch glimpses of what other people are doing in the park. At one point E-Z Does It snakes underneath a bridge on Dirt Merchant, an imposing black trail and you can breathe a sigh of relief that you’re not crossing their paths.

Beginners can gain confidence. Families can ride together. And cross-country mountain bikers who thought the park was just for the best of the best can get a taste of the action too.

Like snowboarding, which was once perceived as extreme, it’s just a matter of time before more people realize that there is something for all levels in the park, said McSkimming.

"I think there’s still a lot of potential in the market," he said.

"I think we’re just scratching the surface of it right now."

This year the park topped out at 1,100 people one day during the Gravity Festival.

It’s numbers like these that are prompting the expansion up to the Garbonzo Chair next summer.

Along with the black and blue terrain there will be some green trails too.

So at the risk of offending cross-country riders everywhere, there really is something to be said about riding up a mountain on a chair lift instead of the nose-to-the-bars, sweat-soaked slog to the top.

It is after all just a day in the park.