Panorama IV

Usually I have lots to say about any given trip, I do my honest best to wax endlessly about how great it was, how much fun we had, how fantastic the participants were… Except this time, for some odd reason, I am speechless. It was, to be brief and to the point: The best trip I’ve ever been on.

From Bob, one of our bus drivers, with his kind demeanor, helping out wherever he could, getting us from Winnipeg to Calgary to Panorama smoothly and safely… With the help of his equally kind co-driver “Grrr Grrr” Jeff to Dave and Catherine and Tenzing and My roommates Annandale and Jenn who helped organize everyone… What a simply tremendous group of individuals we had (see, here I go) Just a blast of a trip. Panorama (no longer to be called Manorama for reasons best left in the hot tubs) is heaven on earth if your definition of Shangri-la includes breathtaking views, sensational weather, fantastic hot pools, amazing mountain biking through a trail network that defies description… Superlatives everywhere.

Sure, the fine folks at Panorama thought it wise to scatter our group throughout the village, doing their best to prevent us from congregating elsewhere than at the common-area BBQ, the volleyball courts and the before mentioned hot pools… But our group spirit would not be broken. We STILL had a blast.

We started our trip at Gord’s on Saturday afternoon… Driving straight through to Calgary where C.O.P. awaited us with a disappointing and depleted skills park (many of us remembered last year’s park… It was so dialed-in, allowing most of us to hone our skills before hitting the lift)… But we would not be denied… and made the best of what was available. We then hit the lift and savored every run, getting better and better at pointing our bikes downhill without sphincter interference.

The day at C.O.P. was followed by a bought of shopping at Safeway followed by the most excellent Mexican food at Salt and Peppers… mmm delicious chow, even for non-Mexican food aficionados such as myself.

Next stop: Panorama. Where the check-in supervisor pushed the limits of apologizing through healthy doses of bullshit “but your units are all next to each other” (not exactly true) “yes, these tickets are for MTB’ing” (again, not true) and “there’s absolutely nothing we can do about anything except maybe I can apologize again”. You know things are going to get ugly when the good cop (Dave) starts worrying the bad cop (me). We took whatever rooms she gave us and walked out before things got uglier. What ensued was just as sad as it was unnerving… We’ll spare that story for Ryan, our groups coordinator at Panorama… Let’s just say it was the worst check-in experience I’ve ever experienced.

Monday morning arrived just as scheduled and everything was right with the world… Funny how a good night’s sleep and waking up to paradise will even out one’s perspective of things.

What followed were 5 days of amazing riding with even more amazing buddies, afternoons spent laying in pools, rocketing down water slides, sampling of beverages and the partaking of delicious BBQ’s, evenings filled with laughter, hijinks and horseplay, stories and lies that shall remain unrepeated… Followed by more riding, better riding, personal goals bested, some minor injuries, more laughter, hooting hollering, speed, fright, a few mechanicals, a few close calls, a few spectacular moments, a few memorable achievements, more challenges and more fun that you could shake an Ellsworth at.

And then it was over.

You could hear mumbling’s of “one more day” “one more week” some were thinking of joining Matt and Ming in Whistler even though our body parts were only somewhat functioning… We all wanted more… More of each other’s excellent company, more riding… One more ride down Hay Fever or Denali’s Drop (ok, maybe we’d had enough of Denali’s Drop), one more ride up the high speed Quad, one more run down Quadzilla for sure… Or my personal Favorite: Insanity.

We’re going back. Hell, I think everyone is going back.

This time we’ll be ready for insensitive, lying, apologizing check-in and non-existent housekeeping but we’ll also be ready for the best lift-serviced mountain-biking on the planet and yes, we’ll take our good friend Bob along again (provided he can get us a bigger bus… Or at least a unit that will take us home without the drama of having to stop every 60 km’s to fill the rad with water).

One thing we won’t do is increase the number of participants (much) for 2007. One bus is enough for now… and since most everyone has indicated they’re coming back… I can hardly wait.

On a personal note this trip was groundbreaking for me on so may levels as I aced “Insanity” over and over again, I did 80% of the wood structures, I didn’t hut myself (much) and I finally found the perfect bike for me (my Ellsworth Moment) It rode BETTER than the RMX with Fox 40 I had last year and it allowed me to do absolutely everything my courage allowed me to do. I found in Catherine an amazing riding buddy while savoring the absolute pleasure of riding with some of my most favorite riding buddies of all time: Dean II, Dave D, Annandale, Jenn, Paul and Matt Goyer… oh and then there was this guy Ming and everyone else I had the pleasure of riding with… And then there was this moment when a slightly inebriated guy named Tripat came to me and thanked me for introducing him to these people who have affected his life in such a positive manner… It’s with much humility and thanks that I replied “You’re welcome, buddy.”

Never a better trip I’ve ever been on. Never a better group of friends could a guy wish for.

Looks like I wasn’t at a loss for words after all.