Whistler Bike Park

More of these pics can be found here.



One of the last times that we took the bike up to Whistler, Thomas was riding a little wooden bike and gathering all sorts of attention from the big riders all around us. He was a little attention magnet, and it was very cute to see him confident in his little skills even around the experienced riders decked out in their full body gear and heading up the mountain. This time, Tommy came packing his big boy bike, and was eager to try out his growing riding skills. I was eager to check out the bike track that we'd passed by on one of our last visits, where there are jumps of various degrees set up for the jumpers.
It was amazing. Thomas went up the big starting hill, then looked down and decided he'd better just walk his bike down. After a bit of fiddling around in the puddles and on the little trail beside the jumps, we could see he was inching his way back up towards the starting hill. With determination in his step, he climbed his bike back up the starting hill, as the rest of us watched with part awe and part fear...or maybe that was just my mama heart pounding away in my throat. I was his cheerleader, though, and as he stood up there gripping his handlebar, I cheered him on with total confidence. At the same time I was praying that this would not be the day of his first broken bone.
And off he went. You could almost see him talking himself into it, and then we was off, too quickly for us to grab the video camera or shoot the big shot. I think we all figured he wouldn't do this, not this big jump for the adults. Down he went, then up the side of a jump, hitting two feet of air before landing it and heading down the backside. We were screaming at him by now, laughing and clapping our hands. He rolled through the valley between the two jumps, headed up the steep face of the next jump, but didn't have enough momentum to take the lip of it. He then tipped the bike and rolled with it down that same face he'd just went up. Oh, you can bet we were cheering for him. We know he didn't have a clue that he was going to do that jump when he took off. He hadn't realized he was going to actually hit air and "jump" when he went down. And he had no clue what to do with himself once he'd cleared it. He just went with it and let the bike take him where it wanted to. Thankfully he held on tight, thankfully he had the presence of mind to land the jump and thankfully when he didn't make the second jump he rolled with his bike instead of panicking. It was perfect. Other than a spoke stick in his knee from the slide down the jump, he was unhurt and proud of himself. Funny thing was, several groups had stopped their trek towards the mountain to watch him. Rhonda told me she could hear them chatting away about this "little dude" and that they couldn't believe that he did it!
John has also posted pictures of Tommy at the skate/bike park. When we got there, Tommy took a look down and didn't like that he was going to have to share the area with the other bigger riders. He took one look down at the layout, listened to me when I assured him he could go down there as well but would just need to be more watchful of others, then dropped down into the midst of the ramps and jumps of the park. It was so great to see this little boy watching the big boys, then gradually build his own confidence up the more time he spent peddling around them, through them and with them.

You might wonder what Cooper was doing all this time. Oh, we pulled out a new wooden bike for him and John put it together in the hotel room. His legs are just a tad bit too short, but he so wants to ride. While I was filming, dear Rhonda was pushing him around on it, then actually took him down into the bowl to ride with the big boys. It must have been back breaking, but she kept after it, swooping him up onto the ramps, then laughing with him as they swooshed down again. On one particularly steep ramp, she got him up, but lost traction and they toppled down the slope. Of course, Cooper came up smiling, still wrapped around the bike. I have that one on video, too, so that will be fun to watch. He also slid down the big dirt jumps on his butt and played in the mud puddles, as well as sat on the ground and made rock sculptures.

Watching Tommy race around the park, I had a lot of different things rolling around in my mind. His confidence in himself was a delight to see, as well as the thought he put into it before he headed down. His skills are impressive at this age, and I can only imagine how they will grow in the coming months. He was the only little boy riding around, though, amongst older boys and adults. I don't have a lot of good experience with skate parks, skater kids or bikers in general, and I have to balance his love of riding with my fear of that particular "culture" embedding in my son's life. Also, as I watched the big kids taking the jumps and flying their bikes through the air, I could only be thankful that this year is not the year that I have to worry about Tommy taking flight like that. I realize that it may be in his future, and that I have to be okay with the inherent risks of being a boy, but I was thankful that this year the only air he caught was big, but not not yet death defying! Wait until next year and the story may be different. Check out the flckr photos John included!