Being Active in Nature + Good Friends = A Real Good Time

By Austin Waite

By KAVU

September 3^rd, 2024

Growing up, family vacation consisted of road trips to Idaho to see family, with a summer full of fishing, camping, backpacking, and flippers – a game I have only known my family to play. You take old inner tubes of tires, cut them up and tie them into a sort of rubber band, and slingshot them at each other. Think: dodge ball gone country. Even though Indiana did not have mountains, those trips came to define my childhood, and I rarely feel more at home than at a lake, high up in the mountain. My favorite smell was what I came to call “the smell of the mountains,” a mixture of Ponderosa pine, dry dirt, and fish. Although I love living in Hawaii, I miss those mountain summers.

So when my friends mentioned a quick trip to Whistler, British Columbia for some mountain biking, my ears perked up. My work at the time was four days on, followed by four days off, so it fit perfectly to squeeze it into those days off. “Oh, and by the way we leave in a couple of days, we are taking a red eye, and going straight to the mountain.... so buckle up!”

Driving from Vancouver through the mountain pass to Whistler, memories of living in Alaska and Utah came back, but when we got out of the rental car in Whistler, all I smelled was the pure curiosity and simple joy of childhood.

Being Active in Nature + Good Friends = A Real Good Time

Three of us came from Hawaii together, and we were meeting two other friends that were already in Canada; a couple that also lives in Hawaii. Excitement was high and we each in turn mentally rushed the rental shop workers as they fit us into our chest protectors, helmets, and made sure our bikes were fitted correctly. With a quick “thank you!” we jumped in line for the lift.

All but one of us are relatively new to mountain biking, but we all consider ourselves athletic, and with two full days of mountain biking ahead we were confident we would learn fast, as long as we could stay injury free. I am the type of skier who does not want to take the time to look at a map and plan my lines. I just want to go and make each decision as it presents itself, and I found myself wanting to do the same with mountain biking!

Which, of course, might not be the best idea.

I was grateful for Tom, who had grown up mountain biking in Canada. He had done in-depth research of every line, where to warm up, goals to work toward, and most importantly, progressions to get there. “I would love to try for A-Line by the end of tomorrow,” he shared eagerly as we rode up the lift.

“Sounds great,” I said. I was barely listening as I distractedly watched a group of five bikers in proximity fly.... and I mean fly, down a trail. They leaned hard into a berm, dust trailing behind consistently before it abruptly stopped as they each, one by one, were launched into the air from what I was sure was a deceivingly large jump. “That’s A-Line,” said Tom, nodding to the trail I was watching.

I straightened up in my seat, deciding I should probably start paying attention if that was the goal by tomorrow. We were told we could roll over every jump if worse came to worst. The greatest fear then simply became getting yelled at by a much younger, much faster, much better rider... or even worse, a group of them. But we wisely decided to start out easy, with a warmup run, working our way through the progressive lines recommended to us which would help build our confidence and let us know if we were worthy to even give A-Line a try.

The next few hours were spent learning to trust the bike and ourselves, starting with less intimidating berms and small jumps. By early afternoon we were confidently working our way through our list of progressively difficult trails and hitting tabletops, drops, step ups, and jumps at faster and faster speeds. We were feeling good, and we all only had two slide outs and one crash (injury free) all day. We were disappointed when the lift was closed due to lightning, but we were excited to rest and hit it hard the following day.

After a quick shower, we settled in for a relaxing dinner, enjoying the fresh, cool mountain air. With tired bodies from jet lag followed by a day on the mountain, we relived our favorite trails of the day and our minds buzzed with giddy excitement for what the next day would bring. With the comfort of food and open space, our conversation turned to deeper subjects. These are some of my closest friends with whom I have shared special memories and adventures. And yet... to that point, I had never had such deep and open conversations with them. It had been an exhilarating day interacting with nature, and normally back home after surfing, diving, or our new obsession of mountain biking, we would have each given a quick goodbye and sped off to our respective homes and responsibilities. But that evening, with tired bodies, we had the open space to slow down, talk about both the exhilarating moments of the day, and deeper subjects like family and personal life, strengthening our bonds. Life responsibilities cannot be ignored, and sometimes we just have to rush if we want to get that surf or workout in. But I think.... if I could, I would tweak my formula given at the beginning slightly to read:

Being active in nature + Good friends + Open space =

A great and memorable time

We never did try A-Line. The second day, one of us had a hard fall and ended up spending the next five hours in the clinic before walking out with the diagnosis of a black eye, a broken hand, and some bleeding around her kidney (she is doing much better and making a full recovery). After that fall, we put the brakes on a little, and our attention turned to technical routes. It was good to introduce some variety. And by the end, we were all struggling just to make it down the mountain.

We ended the day with Donair’s for dinner, followed by an invigorating plunge in the cold, silty river... and then hot tub. Even though we had just spent the last two full days together, more open space allowed our animated conversation to continue late into the night, debriefing on life.

Sitting in the airport, waiting to board my flight home, I was shocked at how much we had fit into just three days and how refreshed I felt, invigorated and excited for life. It felt like it had been a month long trip! We had squeezed every little bit out of the three day trip that we could, and as a result I was grateful for exactly where I was in life in that exact moment. We do not have to go somewhere new or far away to get that feeling. For me, that feeling comes from breaking my routine and getting outside, having the experiences I want to have, not just dreaming of them.