So here I am in mountian biking heaven, Canada. Im currently staying with a mate Tom up in Whistler staff housing and having an absolute ball. Ive been riding every day at least 3 hours and now have pretty much all the trails sussed. Ok I havent ridden them all yet but im getting to know where they are. Some of them are pretty tough trails with a mix of man made bridges, rock faces, rock drops and very rooty sections. Ive been mainly riding the smoother more groomed trails as I build back up my fitness and strenght ready for this weekends marathon race called the Chekamus Challenge. Its a 80km race from a Town called Squarmish which is about 700 meters lower than Whistler. The first 40kms of the race is meant to be pretty open riding but ive ridden the last 40kms a few times and its mainly trails with a hell of alot of climbing as well. Im really looking forward to it. But its not all training up here. Whistler is not the place to cut back on the drinking. Any night of the week there is a bar going off in the village with huge crowds, packed dance floors and a nasty amount of alchole. The last 4 nights have all been spent up partying with Tom and Andrew till after 3am and then sleeping through till mid day or later. I feel a bit guilty for not utilizing my days more, but then I remember that the nights are getting fully utilizd so I get over it. Unfortunatly today its raining and pretty hard so im having a day off teh bike. Its not that I need the day off cos my legs are tired, but it does mean I can have some more sleep. One thing about this place is that its full of Aussies. When you go out you meet more Aussies and Kewies than you do Canadians. In fact if your not an Aussie or a Kewi you are a rare bread around here. Most of the guys here at the moment are here to ride in the MTB park which would have to be the world mecca for Down hilling. There are hundreds and hundreds if not thousands of dowh hillers in the park every day and another great thing is a huge percentage of them are chiks. Its really good to see. Ill get some pics soon and get them up so you can see just how cool it is. well got to get back to bed now, rest needed for yet another nights adventure.