Steed Cycles has been a part of the North Shore cycling community for over 14 years, and mountain biking has always been a big part of who we are. Of course Kim’s presence in early bike videos such as the North Shore Extreme (NSX) series, and Kranked movies showcased Kim’s riding and the North Shore Trails themselves. Boogieman is a North Shore classic trail that has been around for about 13 years. We’re happy to get the opportunity to get Boogieman back into great shape, and add a couple modernizations.
We’re able to get the opportunity to work on Boogieman through the NSMBA TAP (Trail Adoption Program), and with the partnership of Giant Bicycle.
This is how our first trail day went down:
Thanks to Cowboy coffee, roasters of Bean Around the World, The Bean Around the World Park Gate donated coffee and muffins to fuel our trail work! Watching NSX 3, I remember Dangerous Dan wearing a Bean Around the World T-shirt and buzzing about preparing for a big drop. Kimbo looks a little more calm with his daughter hanging around his neck.
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The trail crew’s gettin’ buzzed. Already helping each other out as you can see, as Brett sweetens the deal for Cory. A nice quality coffee is exactly what we needed before our dig!
| About a 20 minute hike to the trail with our gear. |
We all hiked into Boogieman together. Sean Gerke our trail master, had the tools for the job in his Dakine Builder’s bag.
We muffin’d up before taking to the spades, while Sean gave us a little safety talk, and a direction as to how we were going to buff the trail, and how to go about it. Sean’s has a lot of experience trail building. He’s worked on such local trails as Bridal Path, Sticks and Stones, as well as the Grouse Grind.
I couldn’t be much happier than in this photo.
I’ve got my bike, my Bean coffee, and I’m with my bro’s; not too much missing from this scenario.
| TAP Line, Do Not Cross! |
Brett laid down the law. Trail Day in Progress, closed! Even-though our sign was at head level at the entrance of the trail, we had a few riders come down the trail. People don’t always pay attention to these signs it seems, and although nothing happened, it can be a dangerous situation for riders and builders. Earlier during the trail day Sean felled a tree, which we would not want to see fall on anyone that wasn’t prepared. We are trying to improve Boogieman, and hope that for future trail days, riders will respect that, and choose one of the many other open trails that Seymour has to offer.
The original Boogieman trail sign, something we won’t have to work on.
| Slippery Skinny to be textured with the chainy. |
Here are a couple of before shots of sections we worked on that needed some TLC. This Skinny was rather callenging to mount, nevermind riding slathered in grease! We made some improvements there to get onto the structure, and to add some much needed grip!
| Classic North Shore mist in the background… |
This ladder bridge characterizes North Shore riding, and the Boogieman trail, but the run out at the bottom was pitted, and eroded. There also looked like a possibility of launching off the top of the ladder bridge, so we smoothed out a transition/run out for riding and launching. A must have for the season’s fashions.
A short break for lunch allowed us to re-group, re-energize, and have people capture pictures of us looking awkward as we try to explain some random idea. Connor had time to put the camera and shovel down to grab a bite to eat.
| Before shot of the hip jump, run down and haggard,
soon to be filled in with glorious fresh loam on top and under armoured with rock armouring. |
This launch on the right on the ladder bridge down ramp is one of the few nice airs you can find on trails these days. It was a focal point to bring more flow back to the trail. We spent a lot of time gathering soil and rocks to complete the take-off and landing.
Eventhough it was a small section of trail that we worked on, trail building and maintenance requires a lot of effort. It took a solid effort for the days work. All in all the trail day went well, and we accomplished our goals while having a great time with a group of friends! We’re looking forward to trail day number two.