After collecting his winnings in the inaugural Richie’s Rally Vertical Challenge, Ariel Lindsley laughingly wondered if there had been a mistake.

The versatile cross-country and downhill rider from Santa Cruz, Calif., emerged from the West Side woods and climbs as the champion in Saturday’s (Aug. 14) race, even though he was relatively unfamiliar with Whistler’s trails.

“I was pretty convinced I was going to get my, for lack of a better term, my ass handed to me,” Lindsley joked at the post-race festivities at the Whistler Brewing Co. headquarters in Function Junction.

No one did. His total time of 29 minutes, 17 seconds, over three stages of primarily downhill racing — plus many more minutes of untimed climbing up to start the downhill blasts — handed him the win just ahead of Whistler’s Matt Ryan and Dylan Wolsky.

Ryan ripped into second with a total time of 29:25, and Wolsky wound up third with his time of 30:47. Pemberton’s Sylvie Allen pulled off a first-place finish among the female riders with a total time of 35:43, followed by Whistler’s Brook Baker in second and Katrina Strand in third, while Mahon Lamont captured the junior title.

“I just really like the format Richie put together for this, to be able to ride the uphills at a good pace – because they were steep, you couldn’t really go slow – being able to ride with people and kind of mix it up, then really blast it on your run from top to bottom,” Lindsley said.

The new event, which attracted 32 riders with the promise of technical West Side riding and an all-mountain test, was developed by legendary Whistler-based freerider Richie Schley with master course planner Grant Lamont. It challenged riders to race through three courses on classic West Side trails, separated by big but untimed climbs up to start each section of racing.

In the aftermath, it was most commonly described as a fun ride, where the competitors could enjoy casual climbs while chatting with friends, then rip up the downhill sections.

“This type of racing is quite popular in Italy and France — I go there often and I haven’t actually done one. I like the format because it’s kind of like going for a ride with your buddies; you actually pedal up in whatever tranquil fashion and then you bomb down the hills,” Schley said.

“I think that’s the majority of what people do on mountain bikes, so it’s kind of going back to the beginning.”

The first course sent riders down Billy Epic and Rebob; that was followed by the second run down Cheap Thrills, along Beaver Pond Road and out lower Danimal. The third course pitched riders onto High Society, Yoda’s and middle Danimal to the finish line on Stonebridge Drive.

When the climbs were factored in, that made for more than 7,000 feet of all-mountain riding off the Flank Trail, through fast-flowing trails, rock faces and steep drops.

Allen said the event involved some of her favourite trails, so she approached it like she was “just going for a ride” instead of charging through a race.

“It was different than any other race, because you could be casual on the up and the downs were super fun,” she said.

Allen also enjoyed having essentially a downhill race outside the Whistler Mountain Bike Park. She said some of the racers from outside Whistler – like Lindsley, who was in town as part of the demo team for Santa Cruz Bicycles — were “pretty blown away” by the quality and fun of the local trails.

“I think a lot of people maybe came to this race because it wasn’t as intimidating as the big Samurai races we have, or Four Queens… They didn’t have to race uphill. It was a downhill race, but outside of the park – and how nice is that to be on trails that are pristine out there, really cool features, and not have to deal with lots of dust and people and braking bumps everywhere,” Allen said.

Mahon Lamont, whose total time of 35:07 locked up the junior title, said he was somewhat tired by the end of it all, especially since the third stage had more uphill sections than the first course. But most of all, he said, the event was “really fun” with its technical riding.

“You just had fun, you rode with all the guys on the climbs, and went by yourself. They gave you tons of time to ride so you weren’t pushed. Just get into your groove,” said Lamont, Grant’s 14-year-old son.

Schley, who finished fifth in the men’s category, has visions of events such as this launching talented Whistler riders onto an international stage for all-mountain riding.

“Part of the thing is we have such skilled riders here and we have such good terrain, it means Whistler riders could be good at this on a world level… This is such a new thing,” he said.