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Churchill North Shore
20th September 2004 - James
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Churchill North Shore are arguably the best NS trails in the UK, when we asked Cliff if he could explain to us what the site was about, he came up with this stonker of an article!
Support the guys and get on down there and ride!
Firstly Simon and I would like to thank Steve and Sara Bloomer and Tony Cronk (owners of the action centre) because without their co-operation with the land and financial support this project would never have gotten off the ground. We'd also like to thank the guys at MBUK magazine (the best bike mag on the planet) with their help with the advertising side of the project because without the "North Shore How To" features, and the main shoot they did with us, no where near as many people would know about us.
Careful...
Right with that out the way lets get on with it. Background, Me and Si used to be the usual weekend warriors out on our squishy bikes, rucksacks on back, looking for the ultimate UK freeride trail (e.g. a bit of DH with drops, roots, rocky paths etc. When we, along with every other rider in good old Blighty, got the big kick in the mouth (Foot and Mouth to be precise). So there we were stuck in at weekends (or so the important people thought nudge nudge wink wink) watching the catalogue of MTB vids I've collected over the years. We put on the first of the New World Disorder videos made by the Kona Clump team along with loads of other top companies and riders (available from Paligap) when the North Shore sections came on, me and Si were instantly hooked. The next weekend we sneaked into our local forest armed with a bow saw, an axe, a couple of hammers, 2 tubs of nails and a load of rope. Within six months we had a wicked little playground. There was a 22ft long seesaw, a steep 10ft bridge that led to a skinny, then a drop. What was even better was the fact that all this led into a 2.5min long DH track. The first weekend after finishing the trails the forestry commission had took the whole thing down and shredded it. Gutted!
Which is where Steve, Sara and Tony came on the scene. A friend of ours Ian Gregory is a ski instructor on the dry slope at the centre. He told us about woodland at the centre that wasn't used any more and reckoned it would make a great home for the shore. Tan set up a meeting with me, Si and Steve to discuss the use of the forest.
Take a seat, sit back and enjoy Churchill Week!
Within two weeks Steve had set up an account for us at a local timber yard, given us the use of a Land Rover and a choice of trailers and supplied any tools we needed (including Lill and Brim a right pair of tools). After two weeks we had so many ideas we didn't know where to start, so we thought we'd keep it simple at first and built a nice 50ft run in with a 4ft drop and chicken run ladder down the left hand side. We found that the landing to the drop was flat so we added a ladder landing. Eventually there will be another trail coming off this landing or a berm to take it to the next section. At the moment it's an off camber corner that's a nightmare. The next section is a long up and down ladder leading to an 8.5ft quarter pipe drop which if you've never rode ladders before definitely makes your arse twitch. It's got quite a steep run up to it, but if you use the chicken run off the first section and maintain a steady speed into it you'll have your front wheel up off the end in no time at all.
Just after the quarter pipe you come to a small ladder gap jump over a small bomb hole, which takes you to a long 24ft 4" wide low balance beam, this beam is good practice for what confronts you on the second trail. After the beam is one of my favourite parts of our first trail, a 24ft long seesaw with a four and a half foot pivot point. Off the end of the seesaw you come face to face with a small rock garden which will eventually be a big long rock section. Then you've got to roll for 20 metres where you roll round a tree, straight into a 90 degree ladder corner 5ft up which takes you back through the forest then up and down over a section we all call the roller coaster, which has a few 1ft wide bridges chucked in. Rolling off the end of the coaster you go off a 2ft high dirt launch ramp. From this point on the trails get a little more hairy...
Check out the site on wednesday for the second instalment!
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