Anyone been to Canada? after info please.

scale20

Me and the mrs are looking at heading over to Canada probably whistler for a weeks riding next year, probably begining of September '11.

The sort of riding we want to do is mainly XC routes, mainly for the mrs.

I have looked at www.bearbackbiking.com they seem to do some pretty good packages. Im after knowing if the trails out there are like our trail centres where you can follow marked routes. Failing that i am happy to go on guided rides.

I have looked at flights to Vancouver and its about £1200 return for the 2 of us, anyone know roughly how much airlines tend to charge to carry bikes on flights?

Any info or experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers.

Dobbs

I've been!
There's some great riding there, we had an RV and travelled around a bit.
Do not miss out Squamish; the riding is ace. I rode crouching monkey, hidden squirrel and a fair bit of the test the metal loop. Trail maps available from tantalus bikes (prob the best bike shop I've ever been in). Don't get tunnel vision for whistler, it is great but there's some amazing riding all over the place.
Whistler wise, I rode kill me thrill me and all of the lost lake (zappa) trails. I wanted to do more (and hit the bike park) but I was with the mrs, so couldn't tear the arse out of it.
I didn't have a guide and to be fair, didn't need one. I would advise that you take a mobile though as some trails are a bit remote. I also rode some pretty scary stuff in Nelson!
Be warned; XC in british col is a bit different to XC here, it's far steeper, more technical, narrower and generally grizzlier.
BA charged me £65 each way for the bike.
Have a great time. I guarantee that you won't want to come back.

meanredspider

My brother lives in Vancouver but I've "only" been to Whistler for the boarding. My brother gets stunning flight prices with a company whose name I can't remember but I think it's a package holiday company. I can find out if you are interested.

The other thing is that we took the "snow bus" from Vancouver - it leaves from the airport and a couple of stops in town. I'm guessing it does something similar during the summer.

I'd imagine it's an awesome place to ride - check out Google Earth for pics of the terrain - I used my Garmin Forerunner 305 to track my board runs that look a bit odd on Google Earth as there's no snow in that pic.

scale20

Cheers for the replies, I would love to get an RV and do my own thing. This being our first trip out I think the plan will be to get to whistler and spend the week there, i wint be able to kick the a$$ out of the riding because the mrs is only at a certain standard of riding so if it gets too technical she will bin it. Im sure I will get the chance to get some me time in.

Meanredspider It would be brilliant if you could find the name of the flight company you have mentioned.

I am looking at a package type trip where you book with a company who will pick you up from the airport, take you to the accomodation and then show you the ropes, once e are there we can look at spreading our wings a little on the next trip.

meanredspider

OK - found it. The company he books with is "Canadian Affair" and at least some of the flights are operated by Thomas Cook. I hope that helps - if it doesn't, nothing lost.

Dobbs

I'd say start with the zappa trails around lost lake, see how she gets on.

Pokerface

scale20 wrote:

anyone know roughly how much airlines tend to charge to carry bikes on flights?

Airlines usually charge around £100 each way for a bike.

(I lived in Canada for 30 years and have been MTBing at Whistler, but it was a long time ago and can't answer your other questions. Sorry)

psymon

i do know when i went in 2002 booze was free on the plane, result.

sara flowmtb

We've been, stayed with bearback and it was great. If you don't know people there i'd recommend going guided for XC no question. We definitely got more out of the trip from riding with people that knew their way around. Zappa trails are easy to find your way round and very like UK XC: perfect for a first morning, for less experienced riders or for a non-guided day mid week. For the rest of it, it's a bit different (and in our opinion much better!) and you at least want someone to tell you about it first, preferably show you. Having a guide also makes your first time there easy. We see it all the time with people coming to Morzine, you can have a great time self-supported, but will have a better time/find better trails if you at least have someone to point you in the right direction. Plus, Whistler XC is less easy to find your way around than here. Although the DH is def easier to find your way round in Whistler!

I'd also say that the restaurants and supermarkets are eye wateringly expensive in Whistler so going catered with a company like Bearback will also be a good move.

We also loved Squamish and especially a few days spent up at Spruce Lake, but you need more than a week to do all that!

jairaj

+ 1 for booking through Canadian Affair. I paid £330 return for flights from Gatwick to Vancover on the same week the Winter Paralympics were on.

My friend took his snow board and was charged £30 each way for "sporting equipment" I guess this includes bikes?

I also met a guy who been staying in Whistler for 4 years, skis in the winter and bikes in the summer. He said there are tonnes of waymarked and natural trials for all kinds of riding from knarly freeriding to good old fashioned XC. Yes the bike park is awesome but there is also massive amounts of normal XC riding too which people seem to forget about but its not just localised around Whistler mountain the whole area has lots riding about. So might be worth getting a few days guiding to take in some of the less well know stuff then maybe a few days on Whistler mountain doing the waymarked stuff.

Flax1980

mate of mine has, said it was epic!! not sure exactly what he did but can probably find out.

timpop

I am a BC boy and lived in Whistler for 12 years; I can definitely say you'll be hooked right away. It's awesome there. You'll barely scratch the surface in a week so I'd agree with the others in getting a guide for a couple days to find your way around. Lost Lake is a good intro but there are some good, moderate rides in the valley to explore.

Check out the map:

http://www.whistler.com/resources/pdf/maps/whistler_bike_trails.pdf

But then there's Squamish; lots of good trails down there too. A friend built one last summer, from the pictures it looks pretty nice but I'm not sure if it's finished yet. It should be by the time your there. However, you'll be so busy you might not even get the chance to ride in Squamish. You'll be back though.

I'm heading home next week for 15 days with Air Canada, it's not cheap but I've been with Canadian Affair and they're pretty good. I'll be on the Island visiting my parents for 8 days then over to the mainland to finish off with my friends. Plenty of skiing to be had but I don't think I'll be riding.

Some friends of mine run Fanatyk Co in Whistler, Skis in the winter and Bikes in the summer. Check them out, they're good guys.

Sorry for the waffle but I'm excited about going next week and for you guys next year. September is a great time to visit.

Have fun!

ben306

Another one for Canadian affair.

I've not riden in Canada, but my missus lived there for 12 months before I went out there and did a 9 month stint with here before coming back. we worked out in toronto.

Canadian affair are by far the cheapest you'll get for flights and generally pretty good when it comes to luggage and that. Coming back we obviously had loads and were some 10kg over each and we got charged for 3kg. Also they let me have additional luggage for fishing equipement, all free of charge.

orange123

Been to canada twice and its awesome

Canadian Affair v good

Cycled at Whistler something for everyone. Zappa trails. Longer cross country - watch out for cougars and bears. Bike park for downhills and body armour.

Also cycled around Banff and Jasper where the scenery is great, and you make up your own trails.

We hired bikes - loads to choose from particularly in Whistler. You probably wont want to cycle everyday as there is so much to do.

Have fun