so whats the deal with these old schools? im curious.

[Zaskar]

a little bit of an intro for ya....with biking i jumped in the game really in 2001 riding an XC hardtail just around town doing our ghetto dirtjumps and some shitty trails in point roberts. then i took a year and a half off from an injury then took a long time of just realy layed back riding as most of my friends quit to buy cars or lost interest. i still loved it but didnt have the guides to show me the shore. i didnt really start riding the shore on a super heavy reguklar basis until a little under a year ago after riding whistler all that previous summer and deciding i was gonna just go out and find shit on my own (with some help from a few people, and a WHOLE lot of strangers). spent the past long time shuttling with complete strangers and soaking in as much of the shore culture as i can while progressin my riding. why am i tellin you this? to show that i've been progressing but so has the shore all along and what this leaves me with is big patches of its history that is before my time and a huge curiousosity about the old school trails, the people behind them, the reasons they were abandoned, and all that interest me.

what i'm actually getting at....

i missed the cypress massacre and i only caught the end of serious fears the shore would be chainsawed. now i watch old videos and read old news articles and talk with people and i hear of old abandoned trails and wonder, why? what happened? where? whats wrong with them? and i realize its before my time.

i think its time i just asked what ive been wondering

a few of these trails are...

hangman, aftertaste, the dump, reaper, pre reaper, the fleshy wound, tunnel of love ?

what were they like and what happened? who made them? what are they like now? and what is the story on the side of seymour with hangman and aftertaste. i hear it was built after the deadline to stop new trails and if they found any stunts they tore them down? i also hear the aftertaste builders made their trail very public and it was a political move to get rid of it. but i also hear you get ticketed for riding hangman? how bout aftertaste? whats the story on hangman and aftertaste now?

i hear the dump is grown over and swampy dirt flat wide open between trees and just windy singletrack with no cedar. and reaper/pre reaper apparently are nothing amazing without the stunts, just technical corners and the usual cypress v ruts from lack of maitenance.

i hear theres a trail up in the bitches brew area (like 100m past bitches or some bitches skidder road or somethin?) that was supposed to be cool back in the day as well, im unsure though. i didnt really see anything but it was snowy and all.

how bout tunnel of love? i hear its a ross kirkford (sp?) trail, so the dude who made 7th secret. is that still round? what is it? where? hahaha

hangman and aftertaste and that whole neck of the woods is really what interests me, what else was in there? why was it all closed down? are there any photos of these trails or stories? video footage? got some descriptions of what it was like? and what its like now.

honestly i wanna know the history, its really interesting, i wish i had discovered riding earlier and not missed out on these gems. if i can still ride them now i will and want to.

so if ya wanna pass on some photos of em or some info about em or even show me them thatd be awesome. for some reason the old school i find really interesting, am i wierd? or do i just feel like im shakin off my grommet "new school" label :???: am i turnin XC? hahaha no. but do i wanna know my roots? of course.

i guess i feel like i wanna know where the sport/lifestyle i love is comin from, and i dont feel that i can truly be a part of that it without knowing where it comes from.

PM me if ya dont wanna post descriptions up here. Greatly appreciated.

Peace out.
Cam.

PS. and yes i have read Dangers history of and the oldschool nsmb news and stuff, but even then...the internet is only so new.

[inshane]

sup cam, wana go ride bikes sometime?

[Zaskar]

yesh.

gimme another week, my back is still a little messed. in a week i should be fine.

[Tool]

well hangman is closed to bikers cause it's on parks land and it's a hiking only trail

[FullMonty]

aftertaste was closed because it was built after an informal "no more new trails" agreement with DNV and other landowners. Apparently it was a sweet trail, but yeah, they own the land, so it got axed.

edit: and the doofuses who built it were interviewed in the province newspaper, they even took the reporter down the trail to show him the stunts. I had that article up on my wall for the longest time, I think it's in my closet now.

[corey@nsmb.com]

Nice post!!

This should be a good one, lots of questions in there that I bet the majority of the board would be interested in.

We'll have to rely on the Jedi council to answer these ones...

Any takers with the real-world experience?

[trail worker]

I started riding in the mid 90's,all XC stuff.at that time i heard mention by a friend of mine about a few trails on the 'Shore,but had no idea what was going on.I continued riding in spandies,and eventually lost the aneodised purple barends(sigh).
i took around a year off from riding,but kept my bike at the time,which was an XC rig.
soon enough,i was back into riding,and by that time movies were coming out and becoming popular,i suppose this was circa 2000 or so..around the time of NSX3.
a few "freeride" trails started popping up on the sunshine coast,and before i knew it i was hooked,up in the bushes building trials like there was no tommorow.There was always hushed talk of the shore though,and i remember reading about hte chainsaw massacre on the shore.

I don't know much of the history of the shore,but i'd like to find out..nice post,i'm sure it'll generate all sorts of good stories.

[Zaskar]

yeah im the same trail worker (julien? is that the name? cant remember). took a while off and my injury had me out for a long time. really alot of it mental, as it spooked me out of biking alot. my epiphany of riding really didnt happen until the start of july, thats when i discovered just how big a system the shore really is. theres more than just ladies/circus/upper oilcan on fromme and more than CBC/Neds on seymour and cypress didnt seem so mysterious and "taboo" anymore. before july i'd only gone up to the shore about 5 or 6 times in my life to ride (though i'd been a camper/hiker almost my whole life).those were almost all from riding from lonsdale queue to the fromme gate then up the switchbacks due to lack of a car. you can understand now why i didnt go very much hahaha whistler was much more appealing and local (aka. 10 mins from my house aka. shitty) stuff were my bag (cause whistler was easy to get rides to, and the local stuff was lame but i could ride my bike to it). the shore seemed like a hyped up small patch of outdated and out of touch trails that were taking the backseat to the whistler buzz and the big hitter NWD philosphy.

now its reversed.......kinda

after a summer of 3 or 4 days a week of riding the shore, no job and basically just a mountain bum. whistler seemed out of touch with the shore (but not freeriding, its dead on) to me, mostly due to lack of funds hahaha the huge network of trails on the shore has got me all pumped. after riding tons of them and sessioning my favourites for months the winter and 3 weeks out of riding has had me really thinken bout whats goin on up there and how it all came to be, really wondering why certain trails are gone and such. i explained it before.

and good on ya for trail building, ive done a bit, so i know my rock work and basic wood work. my goal is to bring a trail back to its full glory this year. with no college, just one job, a van i use too much, a gas bill i cry and ignore, as well as liven at home it's a dream of mine that i plan to achieve. got a few trails in mind, but this isn't really what the thread is about at all, just kinda relatin to the discovery of how big biking is and then trail building like you were sayin.

jeez. life story. shiiiit son. serious post WHAT

[trail worker]

yeah i took my year off in around '98 or so,got too heavy into drugs and stuff,didn't care for riding at all but,a friend came over and saw all my MTB mags and asked if he could have some...i said sure,he got really into riding and since then i've been riding with him for as many hours as i remember.
started riding again in lat late 99,and by 2000 i was watching NSX3 more than a 13 year old kid watches the first porno he gets his grubby little fingers on.
my parents literally thought there was somehting wrong with my head...i'd go riding in the snow,rain hail,sleet,and go building for 9 hour days every other second of the week.To say that I was obsessed would be an understatement.

[(oasta|_]

Upper bitches brew has fallen on hard times as late, but is still totally ridable aside from a fairly rotten logride and some broken old school ladders. I'd consider it a prime candidate for a hard core rejuvenation. It has some killer lines and is pretty exposed.

I've gone through the same phase as you... but I'm about a full year ahead. ;)

I searched for the roots of the shore and i found it in a good hardtail ride down Bookwus -> Grannies. Totally blew my mind. No armoured trail leading to elevated bridges, no obvious "trail" at all. It just flows down between the trees.

I can't wait to see what comes from this. Wicked thread.:thepimp:

[Zaskar]

word on the street is upper bitches has been claimed by dave diplock for 2 years. i agree with you though, thatd be a rad project. also word is some local hommies may be taking it over. but this is all cryptic code for silence. so we'll see what happens.

to add some more to the list of...what happened...i also hear of a trail called "Frenchmans Paradise" just above The Dump and comes out on to the 6th switchback. and "Fungus" on seymour.

hahaha i dont ride a HT, i'll do it on my DH bike.

[Niggz]

I think the dump was basically abandoned because of a crappy location. WAY too far to ride for a trail that is mainly flat and goes through a lot of muck, with little or no good cedar in the area.

[(oasta|_]

Originally posted by Zaskar
hahaha i dont ride a HT, i'll do it on my DH bike.

Blasphemy! :lol:
I've actually got an old ridgid Nishiki i'm building up just to see what it was like. I'm hoping it'll hang together for an entire run.

Fromme is crazy with old trails. I've actually just randomly picked spots and rode off into the forest. Came across quite a few gems that way...

I was just thinking that there should also be a list of trails and who originally built them, as well as who eventually took over. A "family tree" if you will. :???:

[Zaskar]

hahaha yeah ive had those days, i go out riding, and my sole purpose is to take advantage of the many hours ahead of me and get totally lost on some trails and just have a cell phone and keep a good idea of "roughly" where i am.

found some cool stuff that way.

found some pretty wacked out ghetto newb 10 year olds with playmobile construction set shit too hahaha

[pete]

fungus would be on seymour

french mans paradise could be a name for per gynt, walk in the clouds, or sqeaky elbow, but it couldnt be a diff. trail because per gynt is the last one that comes out on the 6th and its also the closest to the dump. with that said, this trail could come out on the bitches road, but i've never seen it

[Tonestar]

Per Gynt is a "hiking trail only" now, I rode it 2 summers ago, after coming down from the World Cup, it is best left to the hikers.

[Super C]

Originally posted by FullMonty
aftertaste was closed because it was built after an informal "no more new trails" agreement with DNV and other landowners. Apparently it was a sweet trail, but yeah, they own the land, so it got axed.

edit: and the doofuses who built it were interviewed in the province newspaper, they even took the reporter down the trail to show him the stunts. I had that article up on my wall for the longest time, I think it's in my closet now.

Ya after taste was hacked due to the agreement, and the stupid new paper article, mostly due to that dam article.... but being one of the builders we were stupid for ever bringing up the news, but can u blame us we were only 14 and 15 and i guess wanted some credit for our work...we learned our lesson the hard way from that one.

You can see after taste in torque 3, there are a couple shots of hoots hiting it and the fist shot of the video where a guy ( dan, one of the builders ) eats it very hard on to his face.

[bullit_kid]

Originally posted by pete
fungus would be on seymour


pete PM me what you know about fungus

[Jerry-Rig]

Good post Cam.... would like to see some of these old trails fixed up for sure. Seems that bikers forget these gems and just ride a couple of circuits (CBC to Boogie or NEDs, UOC to Ladies to Lower Ladies, Whistler gromms, etc)

Would be nice to see someone step up to the plate to fix up some of them but I'm not holding my breath.

Old school trails are just as fun as the new school ones IMO.

[trail worker]

I am willing to do some work on any of the trails,as long as the workdays fall on either monday,wed or friday.
living on the sunshine coast,i have a hard time getting over there but arrangements could be made if help is needed.i wouldn't be able to make it every week,but maybe every second week i could put in an 8 or 9 hour day.
if anyone wants to take any projects on,but needs a bit of help lemme know.

[Jerry-Rig]

I would suggest contacting NSMBA, ie Sharon. Thats also her username on here. She can get you started on the process.

Maintaining/Building trails on the North Shore is a very hot topic right now.

Cheers !

[trail worker]

Originally posted by Jerry-Rig
I would suggest contacting NSMBA, ie Sharon. Thats also her username on here. She can get you started on the process.

Maintaining/Building trails on the North Shore is a very hot topic right now.

Cheers ! I've already been in contact with her for quite some time.i have my own trails to keep building/looking after up here,but i don't mind helping someone out on the shore every now and again.Because I don't live in vancouver,it's impossible for me to make it over there to do work without planning well in advance...that's why i'm putting the offer out...i can't make it over there on a regular basis to do the work that a trail needs,but if someone else takes the project on i don't mind helping...

edit:I mis-read you're post...this has gotten too confusing for my poor mind,i'll sort it all out tommorow.:P

[Zaskar]

trail worker yeah i know you've PM'ed me. i'm still workin things out. so i'll let ya know whats up when it's all figured out.

[Zaskar]

Originally posted by Jerry-Rig
Maintaining/Building trails on the North Shore is a very hot topic right now.

;) so is martha stewart

but nah i figure...a fixed up trail is 10 times better for the environment than an ass rangle mud pit thats just gettin torn to shreds.

i PM'ed you by the way

[Zaskar]

Originally posted by Super C
Ya after taste was hacked due to the agreement, and the stupid new paper article, mostly due to that dam article.... but being one of the builders we were stupid for ever bringing up the news, but can u blame us we were only 14 and 15 and i guess wanted some credit for our work...we learned our lesson the hard way from that one.

You can see after taste in torque 3, there are a couple shots of hoots hiting it and the fist shot of the video where a guy ( dan, one of the builders ) eats it very hard on to his face.

ahh dude at 14 or 15 it'll happen.

was this article the 2 page spread of the extreme north shore in the vancouver sun a long time ago? i seem to remember seeing an article wayyyyyy back

[LeeLau]

After taste was a pretty cool trail. I got to ride it once. I regret not going back immediately after the Province article came out as I knew it'd get chainsawed quick. You guys did good work on it.

Originally posted by Super C
Ya after taste was hacked due to the agreement, and the stupid new paper article, mostly due to that dam article.... but being one of the builders we were stupid for ever bringing up the news, but can u blame us we were only 14 and 15 and i guess wanted some credit for our work...we learned our lesson the hard way from that one.

You can see after taste in torque 3, there are a couple shots of hoots hiting it and the fist shot of the video where a guy ( dan, one of the builders ) eats it very hard on to his face.

[Jerry-Rig]

Originally posted by Zaskar
;) so is martha stewart

a fixed up trail is 10 times better for the environment than an ass rangle mud pit thats just gettin torn to shreds.



I agree with you 100%. The two problems are letting people do the work (permission from the District) and the people who do the work. Some people are great at ground work and some are not.

[Coop]

Neat post Zaskar, interesting, I dont live there but I'm going to be watching this thread and eating up the nuggets of historical info.

[couch@nsmb.com]

One of the guys that you want to talk to is Nat Bailey on this board. He helped build Neds in the 80s and even has video footage of the first mountain bike race on the shore called the mosquito 5000 (I think). I saw the video at Christmas and it has a bunch of the original hardcores such as Chaz (owns the Cove bike shop) crashing in his spandex - funny and educational.

Rich