The Scott Gambler is the big rig and although this year it has magically shed some pounds over last years bike it is still a big bike. With its massively hydroformed down tube and huge monocoque top tube its presences is always looming below you. This year it weighs in at 42lbs and is spritely thanks to the DHX RC4, up front I have some Fox 40's with 2011 internals which are extremely plush. With the new internals they feel more like a plush Boxer and are no longer harsh or mechanical feeling at any stage of there travel, definitely a positive improvement to an already superb fork. DT swiss wheels stayed true and round all year thanks to Paulo from Spicy sports. RaceFace Atlas FR handlebars, stem, and cranks were faultless as always. And new this year was the super grippy narrow Raceface Sniper grips, exquisite! Magura brakes have mega stopping power even though I'm running smaller rotors these always work. Saint derailleur and shifter totally inspiring shifting in all conditions and it still feels like new. Continental Der Kaiser tyres what can I say buy'em, try'em and you will love'em, these absolutely hook up in every condition, from dry and dusty to greasy roots, rocks and slop!
The bike charges down rough, technical trails with ease and the low slack geometry makes it ideal for the steep technical riding I like to do. And this brings us to the two trails which I'm gonna feature here... I don't have photos of either because they both require you to ride them start to end and once I'm there I never want to stop and hike back up this mega steep terrain only to take mediocre photos that look like your riding on flat ground! Now, thats not entirely true because these two trails are sooo steep that it would still look steep in photos but who wants to stop when you have such great trails to ride.
Ride Dont Slide aka RDS is one of the worst kept secret DH tracks on Whistler mountain, you can find it on all the maps and trail guide books and many articles have been written about it. Most of the guide books say its a XC trail and it is far from it! It's definitely a DH trail and it had a makeover 3 years ago and this year it also had some more work done to it. In the years I've been riding it, RDS has seen alot of traffic and is much wider in places than it used to be, which gives you more line choice but most of the new lines are easier and are taking away from the trail itself.
RDS is remote, epic, steep, gnarly, fast, old growth forest that will change your view on DH trails. To start with you have a 30 minute hike up highway 86 and from here you will see the steep entrance dropping into the trail. It's not a good representation of the trail that's gonna follow but it is some sort of squirrel catcher at least. And then you have the all year round boggy section, there must be a spring close by because this never really dries except for the sneaky highline. The first serious steep chute follows shortly and is a two tiered chute with the first section having two options, either a super high line over some massive roots and through the narrow trees or into a small catch berm and then through the narrow trees. Bringing you onto the second part of chute one, sustained steepness which is about 4 stories high and it's long, this is the true squirrel catcher. This whole trail is made up of long, steep, rooty, technical chutes with some small catch berms interrupted with fast, flat out, pedally, pumpy sections and a few stream crossings. There is some nice steep rock faces that have an optional ride around, but the steep is why you ride RDS so the rock rolls are mandatory! Also a nice hip and new this year a tough canyon gap. I cant describe the whole trail I dont have the literacy know how and really you should go ride it to find out yourself just how addictive and amazing this trail is. RDS is around 30mins long with a couple of regroups, riding it trailhead to end is around 20mins nonstop with only shoulder checks to make sure everyone is still there and trust me this is sustained intenseness, it is a relentless DH track of the upmost fun...
To get back to lake level and Dusty's pub! there is two options and for me generally only one, unless there has been some real scary moments for the accompanying riders or its getting dark. So the first option is Big Timber fast flowy and over before you know it which in itself is an awesome trail but if you want to keep the gnar going then you must definitely hit Boyd Creek trail aka BC trail. BC trail will bring you more of the same steepness and rock rolls and exposure as RDS but much narrower, less used and even tighter in sections! It also starts immediately so you don't lose any elevation. BC trail is made up of three distinct sections divided by service road crossings and it takes nearly 20mins to complete all three so your getting good intensity for your bang! As I said early I don't have photos of these trails but they both work out to have a incline grade of roughly 25% which is superbly steep. RDS starts at 1670m ends at 960m and BC trail starts at 955m ending 240m lower down just above Dusty's pub... the beer will never have tasted so good!!
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