First, let me say that practicing at COP for the Whistler bike park experience is like looking at pictures of your aunt in preparation of having sex with Angelina Jolie.
I opted for the big bike rental, lift ticket and 3 hour clinic/guide. The clinic ended up being 3.5 hours and thanks to a mid clinic readjustment (I sorted down a level) I was able to learn from 2 riders with 2 very different styles (I found this to be very helpful).
I'm o.k. on a trail bike, but I wasn't anywhere prepared for what this hill has to offer. The trails are tight, flow and are covered in a fine dust & sharp rock combo that's almost as bad as wet roots. Out here little bikes are 5" freeride rigs and only really good riders are on them. While it might appear that this is to deal with all the big drops, insane stunts and massive doubles I think the truth has more to do with trail quality. Out here any pothole under 12" deep and 12" wide isn't really a pothole so you need a bike that will just roll over them when you miss them, which is easy given the layer of dust hiding everything.
Sound like fun eh? It was a total blast! I asked the coaches to help me jump, and that they did. I'm not flying through the air or anything, but at least I'm comfortable letting the bike leave the ground, which wasn't the case a few weeks ago at COP with Mr. Stubbs. My back, hands and knees gave out before my willpower did but I'm still pretty happy with the solid 6 hours I put in.
Tomorrow I'm going to hit some "cross country" trails; ideally Comfortably but I have a sneaky suspicion I'll be back at the rental shop with a lift ticket in hand
-J