It took four years for Paddy Kaye and Chris Winter to finally get their Joyride Bikercross off the ground, and for the past three seasons it has been one of the highlights of the mountain bike season.
With their contacts in the pro mountain bike community, they managed to draw the top World Cup downhillers to Whistler, as well as the top freeriders from around B.C. There was also a strong turnout of local riders, with divisions for juniors and amateurs as well as pro men and women.
This summer Joyride is moving on to Sun Peaks Resort after discussions with the Whistler Entertain Bureau Whistler-Blackcomb, Tourism Whistler and the RMOW were unsuccessful. WEB has hired a company to run the Crankworx mountain festival that will run bikercross and slopestyle events in Whistler.
"I guess were following the path of least resistance," said Kaye. "I have to say that we were a bit disappointed, but not really surprised."
Kaye will be working alone on Joyride this year, as Winter has withdrawn to work on other projects.
"The positive side of it is that were seeing a lot of support from Sun Peaks the whole community is jumping on board.
"In the long run, its good for the sport to take events and riders and expose them to other parts of the world. Were still expecting world class athletes, and were building a whole new track there for the event."
The Sun Peaks bikercross will take place on July 10, piggy-backing on the World Cup mountain bike events at Calgarys Canada Olympic Park from July 1 to 4 replacing the World Cup events held at Grouse Mountain for the past three seasons.