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favorite loops for groms

June 2, 2016, 4:15 p.m.
P_D
Posts: 108
Joined: July 31, 2007

Ten years ago you'd never see little kids riding the shore, but for sure times have changed. To the moms/dads out there, just wondering what are your favorite loops for your little shredders? Each kid is different so YMMV as always just curious what other parents are getting up to with their progeny, especially in terms of trail access and minimizing the amount of walking/pushing for smaller riders.

I know Fromme has been discussed at length before. Bobsled, King of the Shore, Floppy, Kirkford, Krinkum Krankum, Expresso, sort of in that order. We've already done most of that stuff, but we live by Seymour so I'm keen to figure out some better kid friendly shuttle options. High School Trail is fun, but too short. Bridal Path is not a bad choice, but all the up/down/up/down technical XC can be a chore for small riders. Fishermans Trail or LSCR is good for beginners. What's the next step up when your kid is ready to shred a Seymour mushroom lot shuttle run? Asian Adonis or John Deer?? Via Corkscrew/Salvation/Pingu? Or Upper Dales berms to Power Lines connector? And what about getting out at the bottom with a minimum amount of hassle traversing to exit points?

Recently we tried Forever After (bypassing Dales). He walked the sketchy parts but rode some cool tech lines too. It was fun, and it's nice that it dumps you straight into High School Trail, but Forever After is undoubtedly a lot of trail for a little guy (8 y/o). I was proud of him, but I want to take him down something easier next time. Curious what are your fav routes for your aspiring young rippers, on Seymour/Fromme or elsewhere. Cheers.

June 2, 2016, 5:03 p.m.
boomforeal
Posts: 5740
Joined: May 28, 2005

we do all of the laps on fromme you mentioned

recently tried seymour for the first time, beyond hot laps of highschool trail. the ride up old buck was the crux, but my 8yr old toughed it out. deer john to john deer was a hit. i might try forever after in the fall

sfu is good too. we used to climb up dead moped, etc. and then ride and walk up the TC, but that kind of sucks. now you can pedal up singletrack from the parking area near the bottom of nicoles, and ride either nicoles (challenging, but not as much as i thought he'd find it) gear jammer, etc. which is a consistent favorite

"Nobody really gives a shit that you don't like the thing that you have no firsthand experience with." Dave

June 3, 2016, 10:18 a.m.
Skip
Posts: 396
Joined: May 27, 2003

The rebuild of John Deer was designed to be friendly for less experienced riders, and I'm so happy to see a lot of kids riding the trail - I don't ever remember seeing kids on the trails above Bridle before. I've been thinking about providing an easy option to ride around the steep bit of the Severed entrance to aid access to JD so I'd be interested to hear what people think of that idea.

After JD, you might try exploring Blair Range trails as an easier way out once you're down to Bridle, Golf Course Trail/ or Blair Range Trail/ and Blair Range Descent It might take a little exploration but could be worth it to avoid Bridle suffering

Sustainable will be around forever.

June 3, 2016, 10:55 a.m.
skidrc
Posts: 299
Joined: June 21, 2010

don't forget the nelsons, pseudo [HTML_REMOVED] rollercoaster, all conveniently located in squamish!

June 3, 2016, 11:07 a.m.
boomforeal
Posts: 5740
Joined: May 28, 2005

I've been thinking about providing an easy option to ride around the steep bit of the Severed entrance to aid access to JD so I'd be interested to hear what people think of that idea.

that (and the loose steep bit on BP after the bridge) was the only part of the loop that my little guy walked, so selfishly i think that's a great idea

i ran into you and penny last week on bridal, but to reiterate: thank you for your work on and excellent contributions to the seymour trails!

"Nobody really gives a shit that you don't like the thing that you have no firsthand experience with." Dave

June 3, 2016, 3:36 p.m.
heckler_s-better-1_2
Posts: 1577
Joined: Dec. 16, 2004

I used to do Richard Juryn downhill and then across the road to the ridge trail on the West side that drops you down to Lynn Creek with my friends little dude (he is now all grown up racing Canada Cup dh), he was 7 or 8 at the time, the uphill was manageble. BTW, 10 years ago there was little kids riding the shore, just not very many of 'em.

"only the good riders wipe out on the easy stuff" - Heathen

June 8, 2016, 11:28 a.m.
P_D
Posts: 108
Joined: July 31, 2007

Cool. Some great tips in here, thanks! I've heard a lot of good things about the trails mentioned in Squamish. I need to get my boy up there and check it out.

Big picture, getting kids out on the trails, what could be better. In terms of making specific entrances (like Severed) easier, I don't know. Imo I generally wouldn't be an advocate for that if it's just one or two isolated sections. I would definitely keep some of the old challenging lines. Variety is the spice of life. Go-arounds in some spots are a nice touch though, e.g. if the trail is used as a primary connector to access other easier trail options. Even on easy kid/noob friendly routes, it's nice to have the occasional steep tech section here and there as something to work up to. As far as I'm concerned, if you have to get off and walk a few times, great, to me that's perfect. If you have to walk 1/2 the trail, that's too much and you know you're probably on the wrong trail.

The important thing is the barrier to entry for new riders is lower than years past, and I think most people agree that's a good thing. But I don't think we need to make every section on connector lines rideable for all levels of riders. Accessibility is the important thing. Accessibility can still be good even if there's some sections you can't ride. To me a good example of where dumbing down a line can make sense is the new paved mushroom trail. I really loved trucking down the old school teeth rattling chunder-gnar (sad to see it gone boo hoo), but if I wanted to take my son that way, it was too rough, too much hiking. Now it's just a plain jane access line to get wherever you want to go. I'm ok with that. But if there's not at least a few intimidating adventurous sections that are "too hard" for new riders, that's too boring. The sweet spot imo is where you have accessibility and fun options for newer/younger riders (where they can ride the majority of a route without extensive hike-a-biking), while keeping the harder lines to work up to, throw in some of optional tech lines and rock rolls for advanced riders, and there's oodles of fun to be had for almost everyone, families/kids included. On a number of trails now, it seems like that's sort of where things are heading and it's great. I'm looking forward to doing some exploring and experimentation to find new go-to laps for my boys.

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