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Joyride brings bikercross to Whistler

After two years of disappointments, persistence pays off If you’ve never heard a pair of eight-inch shocks bottoming out, or watched two riders bump pedals on a banked turn, then prepare yourself – with some of the best freeriders in Whistl

After two years of disappointments, persistence pays off

If you’ve never heard a pair of eight-inch shocks bottoming out, or watched two riders bump pedals on a banked turn, then prepare yourself – with some of the best freeriders in Whistler, Canada and arguably the world already signed on, the Joyride Bikercross 2001 on July 3 could get ugly.

"The bikercross format is a no-brainer, honestly the most spectator-friendly mountain bike event you could possibly imagine," says Chris Winter of Joyride Productions. "You have four riders coming down at once, and you’re standing just feet away from the course and watching them fly 40 feet through the air. Less than a minute later, there are four more riders. It’s exciting, and it’s unbelievably fast."

Brian Tielan and an excavator are even now building the course at the base of Whistler Mountain to Joyride’s own specifications, and the course will be open when the Whistler Mountain Bike Park reopens on June 30.

"The course design is crucial for our event," says Joyride’s Paddy Kaye. "We want to create passing opportunities so that the hole shot (start) isn’t always the key and there are some unique and wicked high flying features." Whistler-Blackcomb is even bringing dirt from out of town to make the course features as big and as smooth as possible.

Some of Canada’s best downhillers, already in Vancouver to compete in the World Cup triple at Grouse Mountain from July 5 to 8, have already signed on. Andrew Shandro and Dave Watson, Canada’s best downhillers, are on the list, as are freerider Wade Simmons and local "sicko" Gareth Dyer.

"Most athletes we approached were pretty receptive, especially the Canadians. There are rumours of the big rock star Americans coming up as well," says Winter. "That’s why we put the date on (July) third – hopefully media, athletes and spectators that are here for the World Cup will come up to Whistler to see what’s going on."

Anyone with $40 and a full face helmet can sign up and Joyride expects between 100 and 150 competitors. There are just three categories, male, female and junior – "In other words, we’re going to see no-name locals riding against World Cup downhillers," says Winter. The entry fee gets riders onto the gondola, into the race and, after the event, into the post-bikercross party.

For Joyride, this event is the culmination of almost four years of work.

"Both Paddy and I are really passionate freeriders and figured there was a gap in mountain biking, that there needed to be an event to showcase what people were doing in our valley," says Winter.

"We kind of realized that the Whistler mountain bike scene was in a world of its own. It’s pretty normal to find us pushing 50 pound mountain bikes up a hill, but I went down to Moab (Utah) a couple of years ago with my dual suspension and people were looking at me funny, wondering what the guy with the downhill bike was doing there."

Kaye and Winter started to organize an event to showcase freeriding, and decided on bikercross because it demanded the same combination of balance, precision, speed, and nerve as freeriding. The past two years, however, they have had the carpet pulled out from under their feet at the last minute – last year they pulled the plug on the World Freeride Championships, and the year before that they were unable to get Joyride ’99 off the ground.

Sponsors and mountain bike supporters have come around with freeriding getting more exposure every year, and this year Winter says sponsors were extremely receptive to the idea.

Although Joyride would have liked to run the bikercross as part of the World Cup this summer, with the World Cup moving from Whistler to Grouse and the Summer Session bike week cancelled, Winter takes a certain pride in hosting the biggest mountain bike event in the valley this summer.

"We’re the only show in town, really," he says. "There are a couple of other smaller events, but nothing this big. Basically as a community we have to rebuild our mountain bike events, and this is a good way to start."

If the event is successful, Joyride plans to turn the bikercross into a full series with events in other resorts.

Registration will be held between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., and the course will be closed to athletes for training between 3 and 4:45 p.m. The first qualifiers will start at 5 p.m., and the main event will be held at 6:30 p.m.

DJs Mat the Alien and Ruff Ian will be providing music in the afternoon and evening, and Arthur Funkarelli will play the Joyride after-party at Garfinkel’s. Event sponsors include Whistler-Blackcomb, Cove Bikes, Schick Razors, Garfinkel’s Nightclub, Roach, Spy Optics, Bike Magazine, the Whistler Mountain Bike Park, Pique NewsMagazine and CFOX Radio.

"We’d also like to thank the community for their support," says Winter. "We’ve been caught in political struggles over the years and got shut down as a result after a lot of hard work. We’re not doing this for the money. It’s been tough, but there’s also been a lot of support the whole time."