I just don’t “get” it – can someone who does help me to appreciate the appeal? My thought has always been too slow to get any flow, too fast to be like trials, lots of risk on high skinnies without the rush payoff. Why am I wrong

Riding on ladders?

What’s that about?

Does nowt for me. Even as a way of crossing boggy ground I hate riding it. Get to a plank up a tree style- Why? But them mountainbiking as a pastime is fairly pointless really.

the north shore is awesome!

I dont get riding pallets in the sky either

Perilous plus predominantly pointless planks. Possibly partly permissible provided planks passover peat pits.

I have no idea why I did that.

How many of you have actually been to the North Shore? When you ride the trails there, everything does flow.

Then again, what is there to *get*? I personally don’t see the appeal of riding round a muddy field for 24 hours, but respect the fact that others do. It’s all bikes, just different flavours.

A lot of northshore is pretty naff in my opinion. Remember it was originally conceived as a way of making or connecting a trail together and avoiding the unrideable or sensitive bits of ground. The mega high ultra technical stuff was an extension of this. Maybe the boardwalk across the boggy bits that TJ speaks of is more like the original NS than the twee foot high ladders and see saws you might see at a trail centre.
However done right it can be amazing – look at a video of Jedi riding Herts Shore and it’s impressive.
I like to try it but the height thing puts me off. I know it’s all in my head but it’s hard to get past. Can’t see why it’s so repellant to some, it’s no different to ride on than a mildly pebbly track. If you hate riding on the boardwalk stuff maybe some skills training on managing your grip levels may be in order! 😉

I have no idea why I did that.

An abnormal appetite for aimless alliteration?

suitably sublime shore skills shine

clunky clicky corrected

Clunky Clicky!!

its requires the same skill set as riding mtb. its cycling so whats to not like

North shore, for kids innit..?

I don’t like the high stuff… Well rephrase that, I don’t like it when it’s something that could have been built a foot up that’s been put 6 foot up for no other reason than to make the price of failure higher. I don’t object when it’s part of the feature to actually use the height change.

(this is because I can ride happilly along an inch wide strip at ground level, or a skinny at a foot, but give me a 2 foot wide bit of shore 10 feet up and I’ll fall off 😉 )

But I do enjoy the balancey stuff, as Jedi says it’s riding an mtb. Balance, control, occasionally techy bits. It can do things the ground can’t, which is good.

It can be fun but is often implemented badly in trail centres over here imo. I saw a pic somewhere of a big bit of boardwalk completely covering a big lovely looking slab of bedrock. 😕

I’d like to try Mabie Darkside though.

just makes me shake

Yeah there’s boards 6″ above a bog, and there’s North Shore. It’s like saying you don’t like singletrack or something.

WCA built some North Shore stuff once. It was very, very dangerous.

I would say the same as Jedi, except I have never found a trail I have ridden that requires the same skill set as those that require the balls to ride 10, 20 or even 30′ up in the air, yes it translates to what you ‘do’ in mountain biking, but in no way
are you prepared for the consequence’s of falling that far if you get it wrong!

Respect to those that can.

Slow and no flow eh?

Wade Simmons

I think what Jedi does is absolutely amazing and as he says its all just mucking about on bikes. However I have zero desire to do it. Its just a skill I am not interested in acquiring.

tj, but it is the same skills in all mtbing!

guy that rides tandem in not wanting to ride scary stuff shocker 😉

I’ve never tried any high stuff as it scares the living crap out of me.

Even the hillside boardwalk on Fort William Red nearly had me in tears…

Simple – it’s just not out there. Mtb, to me, is about being out in the Mountains.

NS Vancouver is clearly different – looks fantastic.

NS here is more akin to Trials imo – still riding bikes though so it’s all good 🙂

tj, but it is the same skills in all mtbing!

The difference is the level (Both physical height and the amount of skill) of skill required! 🙂

Looks great when you see those fearless riders nailing the high up stuff

Not for me though Self employed and it would be fast track to Hospital
that and fear will keep me off the high stuff .

Would like the low stuff where the price of failure is a swim in a bog

Historically I’ve always thought that I approve if the woodwork (or for that matter, other obstacle) is “in context”. There is some at keilder like that, it crosses a soft area on the black route.
Ive never particularly liked unatural looking or feeling trails, However recently I’ve started to get past that illogical mental block and begun to appreciate more “manmade” features like tabletops.
Originally I blamed my preference for liking the aesthetic, but as my confidence and skill level has increased the appeal of more technical features has overcome my need part of my need to see pretty, natural looking trails.

I’ve not ridden coed landegla recently(which I regard as very unnatural looking and feeling) will give a go this w/e and see if I enjoy it as much as the more ” natural” (easy?) stuff I usually frequent.

It’s no different from any other man made trail out there. You can use wood to create fun or challenging trail features in an otherwise boring landscape. It’s not all stupidly high skinnies, it can be very fast and flowing. It’s no different from digging out a berm or creating a jump from dirt where there wasn’t one before.

There are also the more practical side of it where you can use it to elevate riders off the boggy floor or create crossings over an immovable object but its not always done in a fun way.

It’s just messing about on bikes, don’t let it keep you up at night. 😀

tj, but it is the same skills in all mtbing!

It may well include the same skill set as “normal” mtbing but it also needs immense orbs of steel. I like riding bits of planks a few inches above the ground but the same ones even 3′ up make me pucker rather badly and as a result crash.

Obviously it still gives those who can ride 20′ high skinnies some sort of rush otherwise there’s no reason* for them to be 20′ up.

*ok a few trails may require it.

“Lifer – Member
Slow and no flow eh?

Wade Simmons”

I don’t think the Ewoks will be best pleased with cyclists tearing up their village.

I used to love it, and it did my riding skills no end of good.

Having been to Canada and ridden on *The* North Shore, I now find large amounts of it pointless. The real thing is very largely practical – getting across a swamp or a ravine, or bridging a gap between 2 big rocks. Makes sense – allows a trail to be created and sustained where one otherwise couldn’t exist.

If it has a purpose – ie making an otherwise unstainable trail viable, then great – bring on as much of it as you like. The playpen mentality of building some non-challenging ladders 18″ above an otherwise flat, featureless piece of ground and calling it “freeride”? Nah.

I still have very fond memories of Hertshore though. Electrifying, terrifying, and just such a brilliant vibe. Not ridden there in ages 🙁

I don’t think the Ewoks will be best pleased with cyclists tearing up their village

What they going to do about it ay? Furry wasters

It looks like they’ve all been killed off anyway. 😥

That’s climate change for you

North Shore has no appeal for me. It’s great for crossing boggy areas etc to keep the flow and maintain the trail, but putting it in for the sake of it as a techy trail feature doesn’t float my boat.

Gulp…

I’d like to give it a go but I’m not great with heights. Just walking across Herts Shore was bad enough for me 😛

The stuff on the North Shore of Vancouver is AMAZING and worth seeing even if, like me, you only ride the jessie xc stuff but stop to look at the big stuff.

I think riding North Shore is fantastic.

I am crap at it, too much fear, but I’ve “got it” a couple of times and to me it seems to be about freeing your mind of the fear and realising it can be as easy as riding along the white line on a road – when you get that sensation it is an amazing buzz.

Long live diversity in cycling! And in everything else.