Coastal Crew in Mixed Feelings

Logging and forestry can be a love-hate relationship in our region. On one hand it’s unfortunate to see our massive forests mowed down, but on the other hand the hundreds of years of logging have brought us access to so many parts of the mountains we ride around our home turf. Without logging roads we wouldn’t be able to ride even half the zones we make use of on a regular basis, and that applies to a lot of places in the world too. We are able to explore deep into new zones to find unique features to build and natural lines to ride. Through our hikes and time spent in the woods it’s not hard to miss the constant amount of flagging tape on trees, which marks out future cuts. It is easy to ignore the flagging because you never know when a zone will get logged.

  Mixed Feelings is an ongoing unscheduled series showing the unfortunate side of building in BC’s forests: logging.

In one particular section of forest we spent many man-hours building a variety of features that we filmed for From the Inside Out. We didn’t get to film all of the features we had built due to injuries, time and weather, so a few lines we left un-ridden, and undocumented. Recently we got word that the zone had become an active logging site so we had to check it out. Unfortunately a new logging road had been plowed directly through the zone we built our features in, leaving them un-rideable, and basically un-repairable.

We made use of the last bit of riding we could fit in before we had to say our last goodbye to a zone we put so much effort into. It is bittersweet but we know when we head into the woods we are on borrowed time, no matter how deep we go, and that we are fortunate to be able to build and ride as we wish.

The opening section of From the Inside Out was one of my favourites. Sad to see the zone destroyed, but you know the Coastal Crew will keep building and shredding….