Rocks and Gold

As we gear up for our final trail day of the year on Expresso, we thought it’d be nice to revisit this great set of photos from Morgan Taylor and Jerry Willows at our last trail day. It’s been a great year on Expresso and we look forward to wrapping up another section of fresh trail; we’d love to see you out on Sunday.

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This past Sunday, we headed up the hill to do the fifth of six NSMB.com/RockShox TAP trail days for 2012. We adopted Expresso along with MEC to double the efforts, and Digger has been putting in time on top of that. Needless to say, a lot has been accomplished this year and we’re really happy with the results. Sunday was a wet one, and the first time we’d seen snow on Mountain Highway this winter. The atmosphere increased the enthusiasm for our trusty trail crew.

  Snow on Mountain Highway. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor

  Mochaccino is brought to you by… Photo ~ Morgan Taylor

  Idyllic winter-Shore vibe. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor

  Digger was here. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor

  Digger was also here. Perfect 14 foot radius. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor

  A North Shore icon, Expresso Smooth remains. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor

A solid crew of 20+ got moving quickly on a line Digger had scouted. By the time we broke for lunch, we had almost a hundred feet of trail roughed in. We’ve got to extend thanks to a reliable group of people who have shown up time and time again for the NSMB.com/RockShox trail days.

  Clearing duff. Photo ~ Jerry Willows

  Trail boss and photo man Jerry Willows. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor

  The process starts with fire rakes and McLeods. Photo ~ Jerry Willows

  Removing organic mass to make way for rocks and gold. Photo ~ Jerry Willows

  Workin’ on a chain gang… Photo ~ Jerry Willows

Climbing back up to the road, we were greeted by white stuff, and not just on the ground. Just as the burgers were flying off the grill, the heavens let loose and forced us all under the tent, drying our gloves and warming our hands over the BBQ.

  Fromme classic. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor

  How many people can you fit under an 8×8 tent? Thanks to Steed Cycles for the tent lend. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor

  El Taco. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor

  Hudson’s first trail day. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor

  Grillmaster Roggey. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor

  Heckling riders on the road, and then delivering the hot beef. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor

  After lunch we gave away one of our sweet draw prizes from SRAM/RockShox. In our two years of TAP trail days on Dales and Expresso, Andrew has been the most reliable attendee. He went home with a 10 speed GripShift setup and an X9 derailleur. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor

As the weather was nuts and everyone was a bit cold, we decided to cut the afternoon short with the knowledge that we had made huge progress in the morning. We decided to work for another hour, gathering rocks and gold to finish up sections and prep for Digger’s solo work in the coming weeks.

  Digger giving instruction. (Actually, he mostly just congratulates people on doing a great job.) Photo ~ Morgan Taylor

  NSMB’s other Morgan… Morgan Goldie. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor

Ultramontane Interlude…

  “I wasn’t like every other kid, you know, who dreams about being an astronaut, I was always more interested in what bark was made out of on a tree.” Photo ~ Jerry Willows

 Tools. Ferns. Salal. Trail. Dog. All boxes checked. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor

  A solid foundation. Photo ~ Jerry Willows

  Digger likes heading up a crew for a day as it means he doesn’t have to go searching for rocks, of which we need a lot… Photo ~ Jerry Willows

Back to work…

  Hackin’. Photo ~ Jerry Willows

  Jenga. Photo ~ Jerry Willows

  A man who needs no introduction. Photo ~ Jerry Willows

  Helmet and Roach pads. Safety first! Photo ~ Jerry Willows

  Carefully laying rocks. Photo ~ Jerry Willows

  Trevor Hansen brought the burgers and the muscle. Photo ~ Jerry Willows

  Finishing up. Photo ~ Jerry Willows

  Another section complete. Photo ~ Jerry Willows

  Digger’s vision. Photo ~ Jerry Willows

  And on we move to the next feature, the next trail day. Here we unearthed a slab of smooth granite that leads into a rock roll which will probably see some work. Photo ~ Jerry Willows

Expresso is looking great. We’ve got one more NSMB.com/RockShox TAP trail day – your last chance to win a new fork and other great swag. We’ll most likely be running our next trail day in November, so keep your eyes here or on our Facebook Page for updates.

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It’s about time you tried the new Expresso – we have a feeling it’ll be less bitter than in recent years…