Lets Boogie!

Steed Cycles has been a part of the North Shore cycling community for over 14 years, and mountain biking has always been a big part of who we are. Of course Kim's presence in early bike videos such as the North Shore Extreme (NSX) series, and Kranked movies showcased Kim's riding and the North Shore Trails themselves. Boogieman is a North Shore classic trail that has been around for about 13 years. We're happy to get the opportunity to get Boogieman back into great shape, and add a couple modernizations.

We're able to get the opportunity to work on Boogieman through the NSMBA TAP (Trail Adoption Program), and with the partnership of Giant Bicycle.

This is how our first trail day went down:

Fuelled by Caffeine

Thanks to Cowboy coffee, roasters of Bean Around the World, The Bean Around the World Park Gate donated coffee and muffins to fuel our trail work! Watching NSX 3, I remember Dangerous Dan wearing a Bean Around the World T-shirt and buzzing about preparing for a big drop. Kimbo looks a little more calm with his daughter hanging around his neck.

The trail crew's gettin' buzzed. Already helping each other out as you can see, as Brett sweetens the deal for Cory. A nice quality coffee is exactly what we needed before our dig!

About a 20 minute hike to the trail with our gear.

We all hiked into Boogieman together. Sean Gerke our trail master, had the tools for the job in his Dakine Builder's bag.

We muffin'd up before taking to the spades, while Sean gave us a little safety talk, and a direction as to how we were going to buff the trail, and how to go about it. Sean's has a lot of experience trail building. He's worked on such local trails as Bridal Path, Sticks and Stones, as well as the Grouse Grind.

I couldn't be much happier than in this photo.
I've got my bike, my Bean coffee, and I'm with my bro's; not too much missing from this scenario.

TAP Line, Do Not Cross!

Brett laid down the law. Trail Day in Progress, closed! Even-though our sign was at head level at the entrance of the trail, we had a few riders come down the trail. People don't always pay attention to these signs it seems, and although nothing happened, it can be a dangerous situation for riders and builders. Earlier during the trail day Sean felled a tree, which we would not want to see fall on anyone that wasn't prepared. We are trying to improve Boogieman, and hope that for future trail days, riders will respect that, and choose one of the many other open trails that Seymour has to offer.

The original Boogieman trail sign, something we won't have to work on.

Slippery Skinny to be textured with the chainy.

Here are a couple of before shots of sections we worked on that needed some TLC. This Skinny was rather callenging to mount, nevermind riding slathered in grease! We made some improvements there to get onto the structure, and to add some much needed grip!

Classic North Shore mist in the background...

 This ladder bridge characterizes North Shore riding, and the Boogieman trail, but the run out at the bottom was pitted, and eroded. There also looked like a possibility of launching off the top of the ladder bridge, so we smoothed out a transition/run out for riding and launching. A must have for the season's fashions.

A short break for lunch allowed us to re-group, re-energize, and have people capture pictures of us looking awkward as we try to explain some random idea. Connor had time to put the camera and shovel down to grab a bite to eat.

Before shot of the hip jump, run down and haggard,
soon to be filled in with glorious fresh loam on top and under armoured with rock armouring.

This launch on the right on the ladder bridge down ramp is one of the few nice airs you can find on trails these days. It was a focal point to bring more flow back to the trail. We spent a lot of time gathering soil and rocks to complete the take-off and landing.
Eventhough it was a small section of trail that we worked on, trail building and maintenance requires a lot of effort. It took a solid effort for the days work. All in all the trail day went well, and we accomplished our goals while having a great time with a group of friends! We're looking forward to trail day number two. Sean has been doing his own little trails days to lesson the work load for our trails days.
In the mean time check out our trail day video, captured by Connor Macleod. It shows the days work, as well as the after effects of the trail day:




Cheers,

-Scott

Two Bucks Goes Along Way

I am STOKED on fun racing! Two bucks to have a great competitive "ride" with a bunch of other cool people that like riding bikes, and then they give you food and beer to chuff you further.

This was my first Toonie race, and it was looking to be a track of chocolate pudding on the trail. I needed a new tire anyhow, so it seemed fitting to fit a Schwalbe Nobby Nic 2.25 on the front to cut the mud. They Nobby Nic's turned out to be light, and confident. At one point I was so stoked to be smashing a straight line though some slick mud, passing people, and just ripping!

I had to represent Steed Cycles no doubt, plastered in mud or not, the green really shines through.

The race was a fun mix of trails in the Valleycliffe area of Squamish. Times were between 40 minutes and 1.5 hours. Although passing is difficult, most everyone is considerate and courteous to allow the more competitive riders to move by.
The race finished up and moved to the Apres at the Squamish Ocean Front center.

Nestles in the inlet the location for the after race party had great views of what Squamish has to offer.

Dig in! Everyone worked up an appetite during the spring style races, and Naked Lunch was there to cater to our needs! Thanks a bunch Naked Lunch!

Brett and Dan found a comfortable spot to enjoy the beer, Chilli and Salads.

Fellow Steed rider Bill Letham, who is a Toonie veteran, was sporting the colours on Wednesday as well. It was good to see familiar faces, but the atmosphere encourages people to mingle and chat.

On our cribs tour, we found out that this is where the magic happens, provided by Howe Sound Brewing.

Naked Lunch had more food that we could possibly consume, which is right up my alley. I never like feeling like I'm shorted on food. I think I left feeling like I wish I had left a plate behind... Too much chilli doesn't make for the best car ride home.

Some people come straight from the race, and others go home to wash up first. There are girls at these events you know... You might see some different choices in foot wear. Sweat pants and bike shoes, who's looking?

Brett put him self in a temporary food/beer coma. Contrary to popular belief, that isn't a bad thing.

There was a great turn out for the week's Toonie, despite the wet conditions. I heard there have been around 100 people turning out each week so far.

What more can you ask for? Double-fisting chilli and beer!

We had our fill of chatting and filling our gullets, so we took to the road. But, not without a short stop to one of the sponsors.

A Three Beavers Imperial Red Ale for the road please.

One last stop before we were straight outta Squampton, a stop for some gas. 8 cents cheaper! Chances casino won't be getting any of my savings!

The Squamish Toonie race serious is a great time, and a good way to keep you in shape. I'm stoked to take on this weeks Toonie on Wednesday. Maybe this time I'll bring my B-game, (that doesn't stand for beer game by the way... I think?) and improve my results.

-Scott

TAP Progress Report

This is a re-Post from NSMB.com

Trails for all, Trails forever.

Words by: Mark Wood

The NSMBA is proud to announce the new Trail Adoption Plan is up and running.  “The Eagle is flying,” says Wade Simmons, NSMBA Trail Ambassador. Recent work has begun on Bottletop and Circuit 8, with more trail days coming this month on Pangor, Boogieman, Corkscrew and Dale’s Trail. 

“Many hands make light work,” says Andrew Handford, owner of Different Bikes as he heaves a pick axe over his head digging for gold to patch eroded holes in the trail bed on Bottletop during the NSRide/Different Bikes work day on April 30th. 12 volunteers heaved buckets of gold under Darryl Marlatt’s guidance to repair the entry traverse by removing soggy sections of organic to be replaced with hard packed mineral dirt.  Marlatt is head Trail Maintainer along with Geophysicist Daniel Lui and have worked with Metro Vancouver to establish a work plan to improve the trails’ sustainability. The final touch included crowning and outsloping of the trail bed, two simple, modern building techniques that optimize water dispersion. The resulting improvements ensure future maintenance will be minimized while current flow is maximized.

The NSMBA has just purchased $5000 in tools for the task ahead, ensuring every team has the resources to revitalize the trails.  Matt Preston, head Trail Maintainer for Circuit 8 and builder of Sticks & Stones, has been busy with Rocky Mountain Bicycles fixing up one of the few XC trails on the shore, despite the wet weather. “Part of the solution is rerouting unfixable or poorly aligned sections.”  Preston will be using a combination of ladder bridging and McLeod work to correct drainage and alignment issues, improving the trail experience for all user groups.

Work begins next week on Pangor by the Mudbunnies and Ryder’s Eyewear. “Our goal is not to use any rock armouring,” said Chris Barker, long time Trail Builder who is working with Sven Luebke and a powerhouse workforce of ladies that prove time and again, you’ve got to be tough to wear pink.  Jaclyn Delacroix (Aussie Dreamz) has been chief organizer of the efforts of the ladies and it will be exciting to see what this crew is going to do with one of the largest and extremely coalesced work force on this long time favourite and one of the most heavily used routes down the mountain.

Many riders await to see what will become of Boogeyman as Sean Gerke and Steed Cycles grab the bull by the horns on one of the most challenging routes on Seymour that needs some significant rebuilding of woodwork as the many stringers and slats have passed their expiry dates.  A late entry to the Trail Adoption has been the addition of Giant Bicycles as co adopter, eager to join forces with Steed & Gerke to get ‘er dun! 

One of the most used entry points from the Mushroom Lot is Corkscrew, a well known trail that epitomizes technical North Shore wood work.  Rob Hlus, builder of Natural High and Immonator, whose specialty is technical woodwork, will apply his engineering skills to bolster the existing character of the trail with support from the only non bike entity in TAP, Bank of Montreal, who are a welcome addition as the Adopter of Corkscrew.  Stan Yee, Branch Manager at Lonsdale & Esplanade, has been a catalytic force in making this union happen.  Having the Bank of Montreal being part of the plan underlines the community connection between the residents of the North Shore, the business community and the people who use the trails.

Finally, all eyes will be on SRAM and NSMB.com as they begin work on Dale’s Trail, an old school classic.  Digger and Jerry Willows will share the efforts as Trail Maintainers, bringing a wealth of experience to the table, considering Digger was a part of the original effort building the Baden Powell back in the early 70s as a charming little Boy Scout, whom I’m sure had the same twinkle in his eye back then filling his first bucket of gold, and Willows is a long time shore builder who has also starred in many NSX videos.

The plans for the trails will be posted soon on this page http://nsmba.ca/trail-adoption-plan

2011 is a year of revitalization on the Shore as the NSMBA works hand in hand with the Trail Adopters and the District of North Vancouver, Metro Vancouver and BC Parks to improve the trail network utilizing modern, sustainable techniques, while maintaining the original character of the trail. Trails for all, trails forever.

Carbon Puzzle

Carbon fiber is cooler that a popsicle in a snowstorm, we all know that. Its got that cool weave thing goin' on, and it's light right? There's a lot more to this fancy material than that. Who better to know than Giant bicycles.


Giant is the world's largest bicycle manufacturer. Not only do they make a tonne of bikes, they start from from scratch on all of them. That means making the alloys for their aluminum bikes (think fire and melting stuff), and manufacturing their own carbon sheets to make their carbon bikes (think large loom of wondrous lightweight material).


This top-end TCR Advanced SL is a great example of Giant's ability to manufacture some of the best quality bikes available.


Being such a large manufacturer Giant has incredible buying power, and the budget for advanced engineering, and development.


They don't only make their bikes, but other large brands as well. If someone else is claiming supercalafragilistic-carbon-nano-tubular material, and its made by Giant, don't think Giant would use that technology or better in their own frames.


A frame that is as clean on the inside as it is on the outside means optimization of strength to weight ratios and ride quality. If a frame has a bunch of junk in its trunk that you don't see on the outside its only weighing it down. If its got all this plugged up inside, but its still competitively light, could it truly be as strong and a better finished frame? And if the material is lumpy in some parts, with air pockets in the carbon, and thick resin in some parts, but not in others is it going to have a consistent ride quality?


Giant's attention to detail is second to none. We were fortunate enough to get their highest quality TCR Advanced SL frame in stock in the different sections that its produced in to see the details for ourselves as to what sets the Giant frames apart from the crowd.


By having all these details in line, Giant can produce optimum frames that are highly engineered, made with quality materials produced in house, assembled by hand; with Strength, Weight, Stiffness, and Ride Quality in mind.


And by Giant producing all the frame and material in house, they can bring the value up and the price down. Whether its a Trinity time trial bike, or a defy 3 the same values go into every bike.

-Scott