Featured photo: Richard Kelly going over the descent down Whistler Mountain with the “Delegation.” September 1987.
Courtesy of Leanna Rathkelly.
In the summer of 1987, some of the biggest names in the emerging mountain biking industry arrived in Whistler. They came to ride, talk bikes, and see what was happening in a destination still better known for skiing. Among those waiting for them was Whistler photographer Leanna Rathkelly.
Rath-Kelly had moved to Whistler in the fall of 1985, hoping to build a career as an outdoor photographer. Mountain biking itself was still relatively new to the valley. Earlier that year, Richard Kelly and Eric Wight had started Backroads Mountain Bike Adventures with a fleet of 10 Nishiki Bushwacker mountain bikes, offering rentals and guided rides. Many visitors had never even seen a mountain bike before.
After Kelly and Wight went their separate ways in 1986, Richard and Leanna started LifeStyles Adventure Company. Their focus was on guided experiences, including rides around Whistler and multi-day trips through the Gulf Islands. Leanna, who began working for the Whistler Question in 1986, handled much of the company’s photography, writing and marketing.
At the time, there were few trails specifically constructed for mountain bikes. Riders explored logging roads and hiking trails around Lost Lake, Cougar Lake and Cheakamus Lake. As Rath-Kelly recalled in an August 2026 interview with the Whistler Museum, riders were still discovering where these new bikes could take them.
“The more they pushed these bikes, the more they realized they could go on hiking trails,” she said.
In 1987, Mountain Biking magazine began planning a gathering of bicycle industry representatives. The magazine wanted a destination where leaders in the emerging mountain bike industry could exchange ideas and get in some good riding. After considering several locations, it chose Whistler.
Working with the Whistler Resort Association (now known as Tourism Whistler) and LifeStyles Adventure Company, the magazine brought about 30 members of the bicycle industry to Whistler that September. Rathkelly remembered it as a “Mountain Bike Symposium.”
The guest list included Tom Ritchey of Ritchey Mountain Bikes, Scott Nicol of Ibis Bicycles, representatives from Marin, Specialized, Raleigh, Scott USA and Kestrel, Tioga and other people involved in the rapidly developing industry.
Rath-Kelly met the group at Vancouver International Airport before they travelled to Whistler, where the Whistler Resort Association hosted a welcome reception. The following morning, they headed for one of LifeStyles’ favourite destinations: Cheakamus Lake.
The ride began relatively easily before climbing a rocky logging road and entering the narrow trail toward the lake. The contemporary magazine account described riders negotiating moist soil, rocks, logs and branches while trying to keep pace with riders such as Nicol and Ritchey.
Rathkelly didn’t ride with them that morning. Instead, she and a friend hiked ahead carrying food. Rathkelly remembered walking in with a new dog in a front pack and another pack filled with supplies.
At the lakeshore they laid out a gourmet picnic for the arriving riders.
“We put out a nice gourmet spread,” she recalled. “And, of course, they arrived gobsmacked seeing this pure mountain scenery.”
The meal included melons, grapes, bread, cheeses and even a double-layer chocolate cake carried into the lake.
For Rathkelly, Cheakamus Lake represented what mountain biking was about in those early years: “To be able to get you into these beautiful, natural, wild areas safely and with pure joy.”
The following day offered another distinctly Whistler experience. LifeStyles had arranged with Whistler Mountain to take bicycles up the ski lifts and guide riders back down the mountain. At the time, the lifts did not have bike carriers, so the bikes were placed on the chairs for the ride up.
The trip became an eight-page feature in the February/March 1988 issue of Mountain Biking. Many of the photographs were credited to Rathkelly, documenting the group’s rides and their time in Whistler for the magazine’s North American readership.
Long before purpose-built trails and the Whistler Mountain Bike Park, the 1987 trip captured mountain biking in Whistler at an earlier stage. Riders were still discovering where the bikes could take them, while some of the people shaping the emerging mountain bike industry were discovering Whistler for themselves.