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Churchill North Shore Part 2
22nd September 2004 - James
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You go up a ladder until you're about 5ft off the ground where you get hit by a tree on a 30 degree bend. You've got to roll your front wheel along the left hand side of the ladder to avoid tree bark in your arm. Once passed the tree you cross a 1ft wide ladder which has a 5.5ft past vertical roll out. After this you have a corner ladder which leads to a 4ft drop and if you pedal like a rottweiler is trying to bite your arse, you get the distance off the end to land in an off cambered landing. If you don't you land to flat with a big ole pecker to chinbonk. Pedal along through the woodland and you come to an 80ft ladder which at it's highest point, is around 10.5ft, with a nice 6ft gap drop at the end of it which quite a few people including myself have come up short on, so make sure you get your speed up along the last 30ft of the ladder. Once over the gap you've got the splitter which has two exits to the finish line. On the left hand side you have 3 steps built on a really steep graduated part of the woodland. Each step is only a bike length long and they turn at a slight angle as well. You don't want to drop down all 3 steps as you will leave yourself short for the last, you want to roll the first two then get your front wheel up for the last one. Or you can go off to the right, up and over a ladder to a small drop, roll another 25ft then you're at an 8ft rock drop which we call "The Graveyard" due to the nasty flat landing which we will be sorting shortly. Or at the side of the drop there is a laddered chicken run to the car park. That's the end of the first trail which we have named "Rolling Endor" after the Ewok village in 'The Return of the Jedi'.
The infamous steps, just watch the tree..
We spent a few weekends road testing what we built. Then came Bike 2002. We went to Bike 02 armed with boxes of flyers about the centre and North Shore. As we were drooling our way around the show we bumped into Doddy from MBUK magazine. We told him about our trails and invited him and the guys up. Two weeks later while planning and starting the second trail we got a call from Dodd at MBUK. He told us all about a set of features he was planning on Blighty riding spots and said he would like our trail to start them off. So a date was arranged for two weeks later. Two weeks passed and Dodd turned up with the hucking duo of Chris Smith (Azonic pro rider) and Jim Davage (Curtis pro) along with Simon Dodd (one shit hot snapper) the photographer; oh yeah and the "old hairy bastard" (Jims dad) but that's another story. Anyway as the day went on we sessioned every section of the Shore and got loads of wicked photos and video footage, Azonic the hedgehog manualling the see-saw was on of the best bits. There were a few good crashes as well. Jim took off the end of the see-saw at speed only to make friends with a tree at 20mph (how his peak never stuck in the tree like an axe I'll never know). As the day ended we all went to the bar above the slope (oh yes guy's we have a beer house as well) for a beer and a chat. We've made really good friends with the guys at MBUK and Chris and Jim, and again we would like to thank them for their support with the project. So far there has been numerous 'How to' features on the shore, we've also been on other shoots and hosted the loop da loop with Kona's John Cowan for the MBUK cover shot (but again that's another story).
Part of the new trail 'A-Line'
Anyway enough of all that and back to the trails. The second of our trails we have named the Reaper due to the shape of the first section looking like the reapers blade. The Reaper can either be started from the beginning of the Endor trail, you just have to bear off to the left before the see-saw, or you can enter it from our newly built drop practice area. The first section is a 55ft 7" wide 3.5ft high balance beam which has a curve towards the end, which is why we have given it the name of Reapers blade. This takes you to a long slight uphill climb where you get to a fanned small corner named Fins Edge as Finler from MBUK built this corner. On to a 20ft long level ladder with a 4-5ft gap jump with a smooth ladder landing. Pedal on the ground for another 70-80ft then up to the high-rise 10ft up, this leads to a wheelie drop, land on another smooth ladder where eventually there will be another trail running off here it's another kind of splitter. Over to the left will be the new trail, over to the right is a 90 corner with a really steep rollout (if you've got a long bike then you may have to get your rear wheel up when cornering). Then bang your on the up slope to the helter skelter. Go round under the bridge you came in on and up on to the rickety bridge. From here it's pretty smooth until you get to another cornering 4" wide balance beam. This beam goes from 4.5ft high down to 2ft so no pedalling required. Once you have conquered the beam there's a small ladder gap then your at our favourite section of the whole park. The wall ride to huck. The wall ride goes 12ft up and round to the left, it is a real work of art, a master piece.
The wallride to huck
The key to riding it is to go in hard and fast, stay to the right, climb high then start to turn to the left at the end. Once you have mastered this section it's guaranteed you'll session this bit for hours. When you land off the huck you've got a sharp right hand bend which takes you back on to the Endor trail at the corner after the see saw. Soon you will be able to come off the huck and into the first of many DH trails down to the bottom of the woodland. So there you have it, the complete History so far of the Action Centre North Shore. We've got loads of plans for the up and coming sections, new types of see-saws, hucks, beams and even moving bridges but we will keep you posted on FTMB.net with future plans!
Another piece of A-Line, continuing the development at Churchill..
Can I take this last opportunity to thank richie@silverfish.com and the guys at Kona UK's head quarters Paligap for their support.
We look forward to riding with you soon.
Cliff + Simon
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