Blackfly, I get where you're coming from. You and I are a lot alike. We're both middle aged doomers. We both ride (or used to ride) a 45 or 50 pound Foes Fly circa 2003?? Are you still rockin the Monster T? Those bikes were enduro before there was enduro, just a mere 20 pounds or so heavier, but I digress. And we both like to complain, probably more for sport than anything, sometimes with a propensity for excessive verbosity. I, like you, had some fav TTFs or chunder gnar sections that I once quite liked, but sadly are no longer. I get you man. You and I are like two peas in a pod, lol.
In all fairness, you do have some valid points. BUT, where you and I completely differ is in your bleak post apocalyptic assessment of the future. I have a challenge for you. Go watch some Kidsworx events in 3 weeks and tell me the future is not bright. Not all those kids live in Whistler. Go to Fromme on a Sat or Sun morning and count how many 10 and under riders you see and tell me if you still think the North Shore has no future. Like Cam said, it may not be exactly the future you would have decreed if you were king, but not only is the future alive and well, it's never been brighter. While the past is busy complaining, the future is too busy riding their bikes to even notice, and ripping harder and faster and younger than ever. In our neighborhood, the kids are developing and progressing on the very same worthless good for nothing trails you singled out for scorn and derision-Bobsled, Espresso, 7th, etc, similar story on Seymour.
You say 7th Secret is too easy and not gnarcore enough? Well, try riding it on a 20" or 24". Or Bobsled for that matter. I'm just a no skill perma-noob, but no matter, last time I rode Boblsed at full speed, I couldn't stop grinning. You don't have to take a big turd on trails that aren't your favs to make your case. Everyone knows we'd love to keep some old shore tech as well as hopefully some new advanced options. Figuring out the best way to do that is not always easy.
Soon the future generation is going to be older and stronger and ready for more adventurous lines. Granted, the multitude of choices may not be as plentiful and abundant as in times of yore, or in the style you might prefer, but it's not like we're in Toronto (sorry no disrespect Torontonians), some barren flat wasteland with nary a mountain or hill of consequence to be seen. There are some legitimate concerns and issues, but it seems it's almost definitely not for lack of honest effort. It's pretty evident that a lot of good work is being done by a lot of good people, so I'll continue to support the NSMBA. It is true that the shore will never be quite what it was. Is this good, is it bad, is it the end of the world as know it? I don't know. Change is the only constant. The shore is dead! Long live the shore!
I am only going to respond to this to prove a point. First of all, I am no doomer. I still ride, big bikes, work out 3 times a week and get 2 days of trail maintenance in a month. The trails I ride now are what the Shore should of ended up being, but when the house you are building simply doesn't come together after repeated tries, you move on to a new house. You also forget that when you talk of a bike that is a hardtail with limited travel you forget I am well seasoned in the fully rigid ride. My first mountain bike was a Red Factory Kuwahara BMX bike and then a rigid bike with cantis for years. I am so past he fully rigid ride to prove how hard core I am. And the fact people today can take a bike with a rear axle mounted kid trailer down Bobsled tells me something is really wrong. End of the world? Most likely not, since the Shore is getting so expensive I don't see how families can live there. But the point you miss is lost on most: without the challenge or danger there is NO SKILL BUILDING, and like school, if you don't learn the periodic table or basic algebra there will be no further development, to say nothing of evolution or growth. YOU DON'T GET THIS. You cannot expect growth or skill development on paved trails devoid of not only challenge or risk. Whom said life was easy or fair, or without risk? So we expect life to be fraught with peril but the biking to be easy and all inclusive? Sorry, but when you abase oneself to the expectation of the masses you get the lowest common denominator, that being the least path of resistance, and that is what we see today on Fromme, in particular.
I think too many give Monica the credit that they elude to. But then I harken to the example of Ambleside and fires: it took only one (1) old lady to continually complain to get fires banned for good (but for some reason Farsi folk are allowed to do it once a year when everyone else cannot but that is another topic for another day). So it is not without precedent.
Long live the Shore? What Shore. Do you see people speak of it like they did 15 years ago? The fact they don't is exactly why I am concerned. Just another place to ride. And when people from abroad come here and find that out, what are they going to say when they go home and tell of a completely paved Seventh, groomed Espresso, family (and baby trailer usable) Bobsled. Core Shore?
The Shore still lives, in spirit, in other areas that have not been popularized but it is still around. You might have to drive but you will find it.
On a side note: for anyone thinking Cypress has any hope, give it up now. With all the dirty foreign money coming in ALL of Cypress will be developed, right up to every boundary, so long as the international interest is there. Whatever any group, person or city council tells you is an outright lie. No private landowner is going to turn down development in this hot house market because some bikers think they have a voice. We never mattered and have never been a part of the equation, at least on Cypress, since the trails are on private land. I wish I could be more positive on this but this is financial reality, and when the bottom line is the bottom line, there is no getting around it. Bike trails vrs. profit? Get real….
Time for my ride.
And yes, P_D, I still love my Monster T simply because unlike most things it hasn't broken or blown up. And you would be surprised. We are not two peas in a pod. There are far more like me out there than your comfort zone would like to admit. If you ride Fromme on a regular basis you don't meet them. For good reason.
