Examples of Structures built and construction techniques used on the North Shore, North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
The purpose of this article is NOT to show the most difficult stunts or the most burliest jumps.
It is to show the difference between good and a bad construction techniques. Many of these techniques are biased towards the conditions found in the rainforest environment of the north shore of Vancouver; which is steep, has topsoil with high organic content and many native evergreen cedar trees in second-growth forests.
There are other articles which discuss construction techniques and some articles which discuss why structures are used on the North Shore. For example:
- See this article from Pinkbike
regarding trail building.
- To discuss trail building go to this NSMB.com
builletin board
Part 1 of this Article shows some common mistakes.
MISTAKE # 1- NOT USING NATURAL WOOD
(USING TREATED WOOD)
Many builders find it easier to use treated wood from home. Treated wood means stuff like pallets, old hockey sticks, two by fours etc. While this works, such treated work doesn't tend to last in the rainforest environment and it doesn't look as nice. Also the chemicals used to treat wood may be toxic to fish and if any of those chemicals leach into streams; then you can get into a lot of trouble with authorities.
One of the important things to consider is the aesthetic value of the work. Not only should it be functional it should look cool! Treated wood has a very sterile quality to it, while great on the deck, it just doesn't fit in in the wilderness. Almost all of the best looking ladders and longest lasting are built of cedar.
The ladder bridge below is well-built and is hard to criticize. It is wide, the rungs are close together, there is traction material close by and it nicely bypasses and shuts down two eroded lines to each side of it by going up and over a log and a stump. However, the surrounding area has lots of cedar and the builder could have used the cedar instead of cut up two by fours.
Once people realize the value of using natural products around them, like cedar, they start to understand that cedar looks that much better and lasts longer.
MISTAKE # 2 - TOOTHPICKS
(BUILDING A LADDER BRIDGE BY USING RUNGS THAT ARE TOO FAR APART AND ARE TOO SMALL)
A common mistake is to make the rungs too small and too far apart. Most builders who do this are just impatient. The best way to correct this mistake is by taking more time!
The structure below is a ladder bridge - built to avoid a marshy area by directing the rider along a downed tree and down beyond the mucky area. You can also ride off earlier if you choose by airing off the ladder bridge or riding down the ladder ramp.
This picture shows the entrance onto the bridge. So far so good, the ladder is solid. The rungs are cut evenly so they look good (gotta have some pride in your work) and the supporting log is very beefy.
The picture below is the view looking back at the ladder bridge and the exit ramp. However the exit ramp needs some work. If this were a high-traffic ramp it would almost certainly have to be repaired within a year. The rungs are too far apart and not thick enough. Since this is more of a beginner trail, most riders on this trail will start braking as soon as they go off the ramp and wear out the top part of the ladder fairly quickly.
The picture below shows a ladder with what are often referred to derisively as "toothpicks". This is an old section of the trail where the builder attempted to make a line along the log. Although a nice attempt, the the rungs nailed to the log are falling off.
A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself, can my dog (or my kid) walk on this ladder without plunging their feet through the ladder and breaking their femur? If there's a good chance of some leg-breaking action then you have to suspect that you might want to put the rungs a little closer together or invest in some good metal splitting wedges!
The rungs don't have to be too close together. Ideally the rungs should be 1.5 inches apart but who's counting?. This will allow mud to fall through but feet and arms should not.
MISTAKE # 3 - LACK OF "FLOW"
"Flow" is a very mis-used and very mis-understood word. I believe the term was first coined by Dangerous Dan and is used to describe a stunt or construction placed in such a way so someone riding a trail can smoothly go from trail to stunt to trail to stunt - flowing like a river.
A lot of times, a lousy rider will say that a trail lacks "flow" thus confusing their own lack of skill with a tough trail. A trail where this term was often used was the "Pink Starfish" of 1999 to 2000 or "Circus" in its earlier stages. Another way of saying this is that a Poor Carpenter Blames His Own Tools.
However, there are times when it is quite obvious that even expert-trials level skills are not enough and that a stunt and where it is placed wasn't quite thought out. In the picture below; the rider has a hollowed out cedar log with a mulched out hollowed interior, then pull up on to a ladder bridge; immediately tail-whip onto a skinny and off another ladder. Since this area is almost always wet, almost no-one can make this move and most people end up walking around the tree to the right of the picture!!!
Here is another example of a stunt that was good in theory but not executed as well. This picture shows two alternate lines through a mud bog. This is about as dry as this section gets.
The left line is almost always under water as it is low-lying. The right line goes over a log that is trenched (the trench isn't a problem - a half-decent rider can carry speed through that); but it exits at at an angle that is more than 90 degrees onto the next section of trail. The exit section is almost always greasy with wet mud. Another situation where the builder provides an alternate line to the right that is close to unride-able.
