I WANT YOU TO HATE US. SEE THIS? WELL WE WILL BE PUTTING FRESH TRACKS DOWN IT.
YOU'RE MOMMA GONNA SPLIT.

Welcome back to the laboratory. On the examination table today we have the second subject and one third of the Canadian DH Girls traveling circus troupe, Brook Baker. Here is what we found…



Experiment number one: We asked them each to do a continuous line drawing of their first memory of mountain biking using a found object from around their abode.



“My speech says "hmmmmmmm WTF", and my picture is asking how exactly I'm supposed to get around the big log in the middle of the trail.... Then I found out I was supposed to go over it, hmmmmwtf. I chose to draw it on a yogurt lid.”

Experiment number two: Word Association

Piss-pot helmet and goggle combo: Gorbie gap
Bandannas: Cowboys
Street mountainbiking: Oxymoron
Bow legged aerial maneuvers: Why?
Hucks to flat: Ouch
Huckers: Claire (Buchar)
Skinnies: Dangerous Dan
Slopestyle: Boys
Duncan Riffle: Awesome
Duncan Riffles socks: Not looking at his socks
The Seattle Huck Squad: Who
World Cup races: Serious
Phat Wednesdays: Beer league
VPP: Bike geek speech
Tin Donkeys: Rust
Turbo Jager Bombs: When???? I’m in!
Favourite trail in Whistler (bike park): Original Sin
Favourite trail in Whistler area (non-bike park): Valley trail
Least Favourite trail of all time: Anything with really high bridges
Least Favourite trail in Whistler (bike park): Any with crowds
Tarding: Daily life

Conclusion: There is a disturbing normality to her answers but I get the feeling she is a master of disguise and illusion. Therefore I must conclude that she is madder than a box of frogs.

To see more of the Canadian DH Girls in their natural environment go to the zoo HERE.

Posted by SEB

The Canadian DH Girls are a little bit eccentric. They use made-up phrases like “tarding” to mean just about anything, they are a touring air band, and dabble in a bit of installation art in the Whistler Bike Park.

Whistler Diaries decided to apply a little amateur psychology to these ladies in order to delve into their psyches. Here are our findings…

Subject number one: Katrina Strand


Experiment number one: We asked them each to do a continuous line drawing of their first memory of mountain biking using a found object from around their abode.



"So one cold wet rainy day I decided it would be fun to try mountain biking. Myself and Lisa Lefroy borrowed her dad’s cruisers and took them up the mountain . . . this was back in the day that there was a total of two trails in the park. And WOOOOOHOOOOOO it was fun! This drawing is of me having the best time ever in the park that day.

"When I was cleaning out my garage I found a Crankworx number plate to use for my masterpiece . . . it seemed perfect cause who would have known from that very first day flailing down muddy trails that I would be racing and riding around the world and completely and totally obsessed with my bikes."


Experiment number two: Word Association

Piss-pot helmet and goggle combo: Each for their own
Bandannas:My dog likes the trend
Street mountain biking: There’s no such thing . . . you mean street biking?
Bow legged aerial maneuvers: I saw that once at the rodeo
Hucks to flat: No thank you!
Skinnies: Avoid them
Slopestyle: The boner yard
Duncan Riffle: Is my friend
Duncan Riffles socks: Could make for some bad tan lines
The Seattle Huck Squad: The WHAT squad?????????????
World Cup races: Never easy
Phat Wednesdays: Where there’s beer there’s cheer
VPP: What does this mean?
Tin Donkeys: Hee Haw!
Turbo Jaeger Bombs: Is that what happened on Halloween?
Favourite trail in Whistler (bike park): Depends on the day
Favourite trail in Whistler area (non-bike park): Ride Don’t Slide
Least Favourite trail in Whistler (bike park): Clown Shoes
Least Favourite trail in Vancouver/Seatosky corridor area: Circus or anything with skinny minis 20 feet in the air to flat hucks
Tarding: Top 5 things to do.

Conclusion: Seemingly quite sane on the surface but there is more stuff going on in her head than there is inside a sack of wet mice.

For more aboot these ladies clickity clack here

Posted by SEB

Since the release of Kranked 5 in 2003, Bjorn Enga has been on a bit of a hiatus from making mountain bike films; among other things he made an acclaimed instructional yoga film with Vancouver-based yoga sensation Eoin Finn. FACT!! So its no surprise that Enga and Radical Films decided to hit back with something that is very different from the previous Kranked films. But what did he hit back with? The sound of one hand clapping? Well sort of.

Gone are the crappy digital skeletons riding bone bikes, thrash metal soundtrack and A.D.D.-esque style of editing that defined its predecessors. Instead Enga and his cronies decided to try and set a precedence for film making and mountain biking in general by asking a bunch of top riders to imagine and execute what’s possible to do on a mountain bike, and to think deeply about the directions mountain biking can be pushed.

If whistlerdiaries.com was a commercial enterprise I could end this review right now by saying simply that in many ways this film does achieve this goal and that you should go out and buy it on our on-line store…

…But that wouldn’t really be telling the truth would it? And it certainly wouldn’t be any fun.


The riding in this flick impressed me. The stand out for me were: Ben Boykos whole section is a banger; James Doerfling line which is fast, flowy and full of big air; Kurt Voreis’ Alley-opp 180 gap (even though he shags the stem a little too much), massive wall ride hard way 360, and alley-opp wall ride; Jamie Goldman’s massive flips whether it be over big doubles or off a huge drop; Rennie and Peaty riding so fast and so close that it’s like they are playing kiss chase.

Riding low lights are pretty thin on the ground in this movie but what I didn’t really like was Kurt Voreis putting his foot down on a 360 tire tap and Eric Porter putting his foot down on a hitching post hand plant. These are by no means easy tricks to pull but I just don’t understand why the filmmakers would choose to keep these shots in. Although the idea of the film was to ride one continuous line you know for a fact that it wasn’t filmed in one continuous shot, so why didn’t the director scream at the rider to get his act together and pull the damn trick or they will find themselves walking home. I would.

As far as progression goes the two riders that I think really push the concept of progression in mountain biking is Ryan Leech and Mike Kinrade. They both use this film as an opportunity to showcase where riding can go by lifting the lid off any of the existing definitions and ideas of what mountain biking is.

Although I think Leech should not be allowed to speak because he is so nerdy that I want to give him an atomic wedgie, and his breathing whilst he is riding makes him sound like he about to give birth, his trail is far from nerdy and I almost had a few babies whilst watching it.

I have never really been a fan of Mike Kinrades riding but after his section in Kranked I respect him a lot now. His section is a proper big mountain line in the backcountry with exposure, big gaps, high-speed wide-open alpine sections, booters, and gladed sections. It’s obvious that the inspiration comes from big mountain skiing. His section is an ideal one to end the film with because it makes a bold statement about one direction that mountain biking has been slow to explore and this is exactly what mountain bikes are capable of nowadays.

Unfortunately what let this film down are the editing and the soundtrack. The editing is very poor for the first two thirds of the film. A lot of the cuts seem to be very poorly timed. Some shots are cut too fast and others linger on the screen way too long. Also the tempo of the slow-mo seems a little off on some shots. But the biggest issue I had with the editing was that it seems like the soundtrack was pasted on after all the sections were edited. The editing pays little attention to the musical rhythm or beat. But I don’t blame the editor really because if I was doing the editing I would of placed most of the soundtrack on mute whilst I was cutting the film because it is abmismal. There are a few tracks that I think go well with the ‘feel’ of the section but mostly it is absolute dribble on a compact disc. The most offending track is the one playing on Eric Porters section (same one as the teaser) which sounds like it was recycled from an early 90s neon X-treme movie. Not exactly what I would call progressive. I do like the concept of using one artist to compose the whole soundtrack but I think this was probably to avoid costly music clearance.

Overall, I think these last two criticisms let this film down, and by let it down I mean this film becomes one just to borrow and not buy, It’s definitely a film that I would recommend every mountain biker watch, but its just not quite worth buying, but maybe that’s because I am a salty old cheap skate. See if I care if you blow all your money on such frivolities, just make sure there is money in your pocket to buy a round next time you are at the bar.

Posted by SEBYKINS