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Home | Races and Events | 2000 North Van Page 1 |
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You're not as good as you think you are... |
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No matter how good you think you are, you can never be sure until you visit North Vancouver, British Columbia. Want proof? This morning I woke up in Whistler. Now it's 9:00 PM. And I'm in an ER waiting room...back in Northern California. I'll start again... |
Little Pink Hot Dogs Click to enlarge and post comments  |
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Last year, on my annual visit up to Whistler, my cousin Kane, his Swiss buddy Tobias, and I watched the "Kranked Two" video with a couple of local riders. That was our first introduction to the N. Van phenomenon and we knew we had to have a closer look. They told us to drop by the Cove Bike Shop in the sleepy sea side village of Deep Cove where we could get directions to the trails we saw in the video. The boys at Cove were surprisingly generous and told us how to find "The Flying Circus", one of the most notorious of local spots...even more surprisingly, we actually found it.
If you've seen this trail, you'd thought it was designed by an alien intelligence. Like nothing we'd ever seen before, it was equally awe inspiring for it's brute Paul Bunyon style beauty and it's extreme level of difficulty, leaving us wondering what kind of sick fools would risk their skin to ride these ridiculous planks. We simply walked the slippery sky bridges and jumped from six foot wheelie drops, scratching our heads in bewilderment. The dream like feeling the dense forest evoked was deeply stirring and haunting…someday we'd return. For those of you that have been to North Van and then returned to the safety of your home, you know how your backyards trails just don't offer the same excitement anymore. It's like half-and-half vs. skim: One is fat and tasty and the other is thin and watered down. For a year I dreamed of that rich half-and-half and told my friends what real trails tasted like. Finally, my annual B.C. trip was drawing near again and this time we called on the Cove bike shop again for something a little more prearranged; a ride with one of the Cove crew, Cymbol Wells and a Cove bike demo with their Down Hill rig; The G Spot. Cymbol is an ex-cross county racer who had the misfortune of having a career ending collision with a car at the height of his racing life. He now rides DH bikes for Kona. I contacted Cymbol a week before my arrival just to be sure we were set. "Oh yeah, the trails are sweet right now, we'll go out for a quick little rip in the morning." Hearing his accent and laid back island like attitude really brought the excitement rushing back to me. I could already imagine it's rich taste… | |
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Smoking Gun > Mushroom Trail Click to enlarge and post comments  |
Finally, my annual B.C. trip was upon me and so was the rematch between me and N. Van. Cymbol met my cousin Kane and I with his little dog Coda and we set off onto the "Mushroom Trail" in Mt. Seymour Park. The plan was to start here and connect to the "Boogie Man" later on. I was literally screaming with anticipation as we entered the trail head like the first snowboarder to discover a virgin bowl of sunny waist deep powder. Coda's bolted after his master and I after him, I stood up and pedaled hard to keep up. One minute later I realized I had no business going as fast as I was. I tapped the brakes as rolled over a slippery rock and there I went flopping Superman style over the handlebars, slapping my knee on a flat wet rock. Dull pain consumed my leg... | next | |
 | Handmade in Vancouver, Canada, the "G-Spot" is the latest exclusive from Cove Bikes. The entire frame is constructed with Aerospace Heat Treated 6013 Aluminum. | For more info, read the reviews |
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