climberbkr's comments

I'm curious about 7th secret. How much work goes into keeping it so bullet proof? Or at least appears that way. It seems to stay quite consistent month after month.

Sorry I thought it was a sincere question. You said your interested in my thoughts on this but obviously not. By demonstrate I meant to point out exactly what trail sections depict the things I'm referring to. Its way to hard to write that in words.

It doesn't matter what any of us think. The trail votes with how it handles the traffic. If sections turn to crap or hold up that is the only thing that matters.

It is something best demonstrated in person.

I have built and maintained many a trails. I helped complete the Saw Blade on Burke and tried in vain to maintain the trail till the tools were stollen. Flagged Massage Therapy with Sean from Crank'n Carven. Maintained trails throughout the Fraser Valley, Manning park and beyond. Countless miles of Chilcotins trails, spent a weekend chain sawing out the blowdowns to link the Shulaps traverse.
So I have some familiarity with trails from a building and maintenance stand point. To me "shore style" trails means poor line choices and building techniques. Many trails combine both issues. Some more recent trails have terrible line choices that no matter how well they are built the ground simply won't support the traffic. Espresso and Forever After trail are prime examples of line choice issues. I've talked to many people about these two trails and the disappointment in the trails and deterioration is not just my own. Good examples are Asian Adonis where the line choice allows the terrain to help guide the rider and allow a natural speed scrubbing vs the turn at the bottom of a fall line section straight into a turn. My favorite lower mainland riding loop is in Port Moody. The descent on Eagle Bluff to Academy then over to Strong Road, Starz and exit to Inlet drive is a wonderful mix of features, flow and technical XC.
My complaint here is that many of the shore trails can still have the feel without falling apart due to poor line choices. Mission has some really nice trails that are challenging and well built with good sustainable line choices. I avoid many shore trails due to the feeling of guilt of riding a trail that simply can't sustain the riding. In section that are breaking up I slow down and ride very

Wow what a thread. One thing I noticed which I didn't think about with the previous article is trail usage. Rick at Lynn Valley bikes told me a story about an eBike rider who was doing laps around lost lake. They did a lap or two to about 10 of the eBike rider. To me this just screams motor assisted is the wrong way to go here. We'd have to dramatically increase the trail networks to support the things.
Kaz's story about the thing causing a crash is not to be taken lightly as well. Sure lack of familiarity is something that led to the incident. Ones fitness and abilities acts as a natural filter. As one person mentioned they foresee people getting into trouble much more easily then before.
In the end I think there needs to be caution here. Many people seem to be worried about the future trail access. There have been two articles about eBikes and many people conjecturing about the access issues. What I would like is to have an article that investigates the trail access issue. I've been out of that world for over a decade. There are others who have a better relationship with the powers that control trails around here.

Then your lucky. Nearly everyone else I know complains about set boots in the winter. Before I incorporated the three layer system I did as well. My feet would get cold due to the sweat getting into the liner, Eventually the cold front on the outside would meet this moisture and drive the cold into the boot. A dry liner is way warmer then a damp one. As for the comments and thread I just wanted to comment that there are ways to mitigate the sweat factor when you use a membrane of some kind.

No, poly pro sock liner, plastic bag, sock then boot liner. My socks and liner never see sweat. Your foot will not continue to sweat minus a tiny amount. I do ski touring in the spring with this setup with zero issues. I'm not a low sweat person and was skeptical at first but it works.

I've put a number of rides on the Verstar MM and continue to be impressed. The only time I felt a loss of traction was going over a algae/moss covered rock face in the wet. Otherwise extremely confident inspiring in all conditions. Wet rocks and wood work doesn't phase them at all. I doubt I will get these off my rims without serious effort. Which I guess means they stay on till they wear out. I broke one and seriously stressed a second tire lever. Pumping up tubeless was ridiculously easy. The bead was so tight I didn't have to pump extra to get them to air up. Just lazily aired up with the pump.

Inuit have used vapor barrier for a very long time. The key is to have the water proof layer as close to your skin as possible. I ski with a poly pro sock liner, plastic bag then sock. That won't work here so I use a Gore-Tex sock from Rocky over my sock. It works well but I do use a booty as well. I hate wet shoes.

The Taz is much heavier than the Seca head. I don't disagree that more light on head then bar is suboptimal. At least for me the depth perception is terrible when there is too much light on the helmet. I now use a Taz 800 on the bar and Endurenz 700 on the helmet. The broad beam from the Taz is very nice. It be a waste on the helmet. A narrow beam to me is better and won't ruin my depth perception as much.

I won't say banned. I personally have made the choice that mountain biking means riding up and down in the mountains. When you cut out one its just not the same anymore. Thankfully enduro has put the up back into mountain biking instead of just DH which sadly is what many people seem to think mountain biking is. I was very surprised at the attitude change when reading about the EWS and the tough transfer stages. I'm just old school on this whole earn your turns etc. Though not quite as militant as a friend who climbed Mt Waddignton twice from sea level vs the helicopter route so many people have used.

I noticed quite a difference between my Vertstar Magic Mary front and Trailstar Hans Dampf rear. The front is pretty awesome. The rear would slip sideways a bit more then the front. As for draggy feeling I had a personal best climbing Old Buck.

Trail accessibility issues aside. Using ebikes on trails is a bad idea. I read Richards article and I agree. Personally I have shuttled once and that was only to get a free lift ticket which I never used. I biked Blackcomb way back when they had lift access more than 20 years ago. Otherwise I ride as much as I can. Preferably with some good uphills. So I'm no hypocrite when it comes to trail assisted riding.
As for trail accessibility that is an entirely different issue. Typically the trails must be wheel chair friendly etc. Which means most mountain bikers don't want to ride them. Also why does being 71 or older preclude one from riding trails? I hope to ride maybe not at the level I do now but will ride as long as I can.
I was involved in trail access issues 20 years ago and you don't realize just how religious this issue can be. Adding to it with ebikes will rekindle the bikes are bad evil machines all over again. We have it really good right now. With some exceptions such as the situation in the Chilcotin's which is deja vu all over again. Hopefully science and reason will prevail there.
As for ebikes and DH etc. Someone aptly stated many years ago. They will ride their dirt bike if bikes turn into what I would presume are DH bikes of today. It would certainly be a lot cheaper then buying a DH bike. I for one will keep riding up and down whatever trails I like to ride without the need for aids.

Build it and they will ride it so build it to last. I've built and help build many trails over the years and don't believe any should be secret. Also to me loam is what you get rid of first when building a trail and something you never ride. Mineral soil is what you want.