Gears turn at bike carnival
Crankworx Whistler Aug. 7 to 16 | Whistler (various locations) Info: crankworx.com
1 Bike fiends. Crankworx is a travelling mountain bike carnival that brings together the world’s top downhill and slopestyle riders. There are competitions, concerts, parties and a chance for fans and riders to meet and talk gears.
2 Whistler. Crankworx has grown to include two other mountain towns, Rotorua, New Zealand and Les Deux Alpes, France. But Whistler, its home, will always be “the epicentre of gravity mountain biking” in Crankworx’s oily heart. As the festival’s website puts it, “the Whistler Mountain Bike Park’s craggy cliffs and root-riddled rainforest mark ground zero for the hall of fame of mountain biking, as 4,900 vertical feet of bold, brash mountain terrain fuel 10 days of boundary-defining riding each August.”
3 Dirt Diaries. For this short-film competition, mountain bikers compete to capture the essence of their experience. Teams were given two months to put together fiveminute videos to tell their story.
Submissions are judged based on storyline, videography, riding and editing, then screened at the Whistler Olympic Plaza. General seating is free; ticketed seats in a licensed viewing area are $7. (Aug. 11, 8-10 p.m.) View last year’s winner here: https:// vimeo.com/103355043.
4 Deep Summer Photo Challenge. Six photographers were given three days to put together a slide show that looks at mountain bike culture in the Sea to Sky Corridor, from Squamish to Pemberton. The slide shows will be presented at Whistler Olympic Plaza Aug. 12 (8-10 p.m.).
5 Rolling wheel of cheese. This one’s for the non-dirt-and-gravity-obsessed. In the Canadian Cheese-Rolling Festival, which coincides with Crankworx, competitors race downhill after an 11-pound rolling wheel of cheese for a chance to win Whistler Blackcomb season passes and, of course, the prized wheel of cheese. There are men’s, women’s and children’s races. Spectators can also sample cheese at the cheese farmers’ market, while a seminar tent features cheese specialists, farmers and restaurateurs talking about all things cheesy. (Aug. 15, noon to 4 p.m.)