In 6th grade I discovered the North Shore, Vancouver's coveted mountain biking area comprising Mt. Fromme, Mt. Seymour, and Cypress Mountain. For whatever reason, Fromme was what intrigued me the most and what has stuck with me to this day. The trails were legendary and awe-inspiring, even by today's standards using today's technology. Guys were hucking the craziest of stunts on hardtails and 26" wheels. Everything was experimental and tested the limits of both the bikes and riders.
And yet sadly, there are few places out there that compile all the materials on a single trail in a single place. Some of it's on Pinkbike, some on YouTube, some on Facebook, some in people's garages on hard drives gathering dust. This is my attempt to gather as many materials as possible in a single place for reference and posterity.
If you have more materials that aren't shown here but you think should be, please contact me and I'll add them.
Bounties
I offer what I consider generous bounties for information or material (videos) related to each trail. Expand the trail sections to see the payout and requirements. Please contact me with the bounty requirements attached in order for me to review.
I will not release any bounty information or material to the general public unless the information provider explicitly approves it.
GMG
Bounty information:
Payout: $1000
Requirements: An uninterrupted, unpublished (i.e., I can't find it anywhere on the internet), top-to-bottom POV run, including all stunts and features. I will prorate the payout if it's a partial run that I deem novel. The video must be downloadable.
Notes: I suspect that there are existing, high-quality POV runs for the upper section of the trail. For the lower, I wouldn't be surprised if the NSX guys had uninterrupted footage, although I don't know what the helmet/body cameras were like back then.
GMG stands for Gabe (Szczurek), Mike (MacGregor), and Gerry (?), the three guys who built the trail.
Start at 5:12
The Flying Circus
Bounty information:
Payout: $500
Requirements: An uninterrupted, unpublished (i.e., I can't find it anywhere on the internet), top-to-bottom POV run, including all stunts and features. I will prorate the payout if it's a partial run that I deem novel. The video must be downloadable.
Requirements: An uninterrupted, unpublished (i.e., I can't find it anywhere on the internet), top-to-bottom POV run, including all stunts and features. I will prorate the payout if it's a partial run that I deem novel. The video must be downloadable.
Notes: N/A
Disconstructed Wheel
Bounty information:
Payout: $100-1000
Requirements: An exact latitude and longitude of the location of the Wheel, even if it's not still standing. Proof in the form of a video is required and can be verified using the videos. The payout will be less if the wheel is not still standing and more if it is.
Notes: As far as I can tell, the Wheel wasn't built specifically for NWD—it appears Sam built it before the film. That being said, there's almost literally nothing on the internet that I can find on it. Pictures are sparse, there's one video from NWD, and only rumors of its location. I even reached out the Sam's sister to see if she knew anything, but never heard back.
Comments about the location:
rideunited (Apr 29, 2010 at 6:42) The wheel trail is in Nelson B.C.
footplant (Jun 5, 2008 at 13:04) Blue river BC.... its the hampsterwheel....if thats not blue river... then..... its a new one else where
Coastal Crew: Kranked 8
Bounty information:
Payout: $500
Requirements: An uninterrupted, unpublished (i.e., I can't find it anywhere on the internet), top-to-bottom POV run, including all stunts and features from both lines. I will prorate the payout if it's a partial run that I deem novel. The video must be downloadable.
Notes: As far as I can tell, the trails were built specifically for Kranked 8 on the Coastal Crew's property since they're (mostly) not featured in any other videos. In the second video below the CC says "we have a dialed zone where we had built some unique lines in for our segment in Kranked Revolve. We as riders, builders and filmmakers felt that these lines deserved more than just a handful of shots in a movie."
Extra Bounties
The following trails were probably built just for the scenes they were used in, but that doesn't mean the remnants of them aren't still remaining deep in the woods.
First, Wade Simmons' NWD 7 one-shot segment:
Bounty information:
Payout: $100-200
Requirements:
$200 for an uninterrupted, unpublished (i.e., I can't find it anywhere on the internet), top-to-bottom POV run, including all stunts and features from both lines. The video must be downloadable.
$200 for an exact latitude and longitude of the location of the trail, including access instructions, even if it's not still in rideable condition. Proof in the form of a video is required and can be verified using the NWD video.
Notes: N/A
And second, the Wade Simmons' et al.'s NWD 8 segment:
Bounty information:
Payout: $100
Requirements: $100 for an exact latitude and longitude of the location of the trail, including access instructions, even if it's not still in rideable condition. Proof in the form of a video is required and can be verified using the NWD video.