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Bike Festival coming together

New events, features added to schedule The final details for the Whistler Mountain Bike Festival are coming together, according to organizer Richard Juryn of Shore Events – the only problem is that the event keeps getting bigger.

New events, features added to schedule

The final details for the Whistler Mountain Bike Festival are coming together, according to organizer Richard Juryn of Shore Events – the only problem is that the event keeps getting bigger.

"I’m a little on the busy side these days," he said.

The main events of the weekend are the B.C. Freeride Challenge, the Remax Village Criteriums and the Whistler 6 Hour Enduro. Side events include a bike toss, a tricycle slalom, a product expo, a mountain bike photography exhibition, and a Beer Cup competition featuring 10 B.C. breweries, an all-ages barbecue and video exhibition, and musical guests She Stole My Beer.

Not a bad lineup of events considering that Juryn has spent less than three months organizing the festival.

"I’ve been getting a lot of help from people in Whistler, and the mountains, and the people organizing the event with me," said Juryn. "We were open to ideas from the beginning, and it’s just grown as people have suggested more things that we could include.

"It’s the first festival for us, so we really started with a blank slate. If something works, we’ll do it again next year, and if not then we’ll have to come up with something else. Personally, I think it’s going to be great."

On Friday, Sept. 27, the festival will kick off with event pre-registration and the B.C. Freeride Challenge Course will be open for competitors to practice. There will also be a mountain bike industry tech talk and forum. The photography exhibit will likely open as well, at a location still to be announced.

The action gets underway on Saturday morning with the B.C. Freeride Challenge in the Whistler Mountain Bike Park. The Challenge will be timed like a downhill, but includes several sections where riders will have to choose between riding a stunt or taking the long way around.

According to Juryn, more than 50 people have already signed up for the event and more than half of them are youth between 11 and 15 years old.

Juryn has also received several e-mails on behalf of "passionate" freeriders telling him exactly what has to be included on the course in the way of stunts to be legitimate.

Right now the tentative course is Upper Joyride to Schleyer to Good Call to Crack Addict to Hornet to the GLC Drop, although that might change before the competition day.

The organizers are also putting videographers along the course to film the competitors, and the footage will be shown at the all ages barbecue that evening.

Following the event, burnt-out mountain bikers are invited to take part in the Bike Toss in the village – "At these events there’s a lot for the participants, but not as much for spectators. This is a more spectator-friendly event that’s a lot more crowd friendly," said Juryn.

That afternoon, the ReMax Village Criterium takes over Whistler as mountain bikers put on their slick tires and race around town. This event is a replacement for the Fat Tire Criterium that was lost along with the Whistler Summer Session two years ago. The route is still to be announced.

On Saturday evening, event participants and the public are invited to the Whistler Conference Centre for an all ages barbecue, some video footage of the day’s events, and a Beer Cup event featuring 10 or more B.C. microbreweries. Tasters pay to get into the Beer Cup, and get a testing glass and a scorecard. All proceeds from the Cup, which is sponsored by Elements magazine, will go towards WORCA and their trail building initiatives.

Once the barbecue and Beer Cup are wrapped up, as well as a possible mountain bike movie premier, She Stole My Beer will take to the stage for the rest of the evening.

The Whistler Enduro takes place the following day, where solo riders and teams of two and three see how many laps of a cross-country course they can complete in six hours. The course starts in Whistler Village, heads uphill slightly before turning back onto Blackcomb Way and the first trail, Moss In Yer Crack. Afterwards the route crosses Lorimer Road, and does a circuit of Centennial, No Horses and the White Gold Traverse before heading back to the village via Rebagliati Park. Juryn estimates that the route is approximately six kilometres in length, and that some of the better riders will be able to complete laps in just over 20 minutes.

While the Enduro is taking place, Juryn will be running a fun tricycle slalom in the village near the start and finish line of the race to give the spectators something to do while the race is in progress.

Throughout the weekend, spectators can enjoy the expo site which already includes more than 25 tents from mountain bike companies, as well as bungee trampolines, a climbing wall, and trials riding and freeride demonstrations.

The only other event on the schedule for Sunday is the Enduro awards followed by the festival’s volunteer party.

If you want more information or to save some money pre-registering for any of the events, visit the official Web site at www.shoreevents.com before midnight on Sept. 14. The cost of registering for events goes up $5 or $10 after the deadline, and another $5 on race day.

Volunteers are also needed, and you can register to help out on the Web site in the registration section.