Rocks and Gold
As we gear up for our final trail day of the year on Expresso, we thought it’d be nice to revisit this great set of photos from Morgan Taylor and Jerry Willows at our last trail day. It’s been a great year on Expresso and we look forward to wrapping up another section of fresh trail; we’d love to see you out on Sunday.
This past Sunday, we headed up the hill to do the fifth of six NSMB.com/RockShox TAP trail days for 2012. We adopted Expresso along with MEC to double the efforts, and Digger has been putting in time on top of that. Needless to say, a lot has been accomplished this year and we’re really happy with the results. Sunday was a wet one, and the first time we’d seen snow on Mountain Highway this winter. The atmosphere increased the enthusiasm for our trusty trail crew.
Snow on Mountain Highway. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor
Mochaccino is brought to you by… Photo ~ Morgan Taylor
Idyllic winter-Shore vibe. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor
Digger was here. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor
Digger was also here. Perfect 14 foot radius. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor
A North Shore icon, Expresso Smooth remains. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor
A solid crew of 20+ got moving quickly on a line Digger had scouted. By the time we broke for lunch, we had almost a hundred feet of trail roughed in. We’ve got to extend thanks to a reliable group of people who have shown up time and time again for the NSMB.com/RockShox trail days.
Clearing duff. Photo ~ Jerry Willows
Trail boss and photo man Jerry Willows. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor
The process starts with fire rakes and McLeods. Photo ~ Jerry Willows
Removing organic mass to make way for rocks and gold. Photo ~ Jerry Willows
Workin’ on a chain gang… Photo ~ Jerry Willows
Climbing back up to the road, we were greeted by white stuff, and not just on the ground. Just as the burgers were flying off the grill, the heavens let loose and forced us all under the tent, drying our gloves and warming our hands over the BBQ.
Fromme classic. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor
How many people can you fit under an 8×8 tent? Thanks to Steed Cycles for the tent lend. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor
El Taco. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor
Hudson’s first trail day. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor
Grillmaster Roggey. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor
Heckling riders on the road, and then delivering the hot beef. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor
After lunch we gave away one of our sweet draw prizes from SRAM/RockShox. In our two years of TAP trail days on Dales and Expresso, Andrew has been the most reliable attendee. He went home with a 10 speed GripShift setup and an X9 derailleur. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor
As the weather was nuts and everyone was a bit cold, we decided to cut the afternoon short with the knowledge that we had made huge progress in the morning. We decided to work for another hour, gathering rocks and gold to finish up sections and prep for Digger’s solo work in the coming weeks.
Digger giving instruction. (Actually, he mostly just congratulates people on doing a great job.) Photo ~ Morgan Taylor
NSMB’s other Morgan… Morgan Goldie. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor
Ultramontane Interlude…
“I wasn’t like every other kid, you know, who dreams about being an astronaut, I was always more interested in what bark was made out of on a tree.” Photo ~ Jerry Willows
Tools. Ferns. Salal. Trail. Dog. All boxes checked. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor
A solid foundation. Photo ~ Jerry Willows
Digger likes heading up a crew for a day as it means he doesn’t have to go searching for rocks, of which we need a lot… Photo ~ Jerry Willows
Back to work…
Hackin’. Photo ~ Jerry Willows
Jenga. Photo ~ Jerry Willows
A man who needs no introduction. Photo ~ Jerry Willows
Helmet and Roach pads. Safety first! Photo ~ Jerry Willows
Carefully laying rocks. Photo ~ Jerry Willows
Trevor Hansen brought the burgers and the muscle. Photo ~ Jerry Willows
Finishing up. Photo ~ Jerry Willows
Another section complete. Photo ~ Jerry Willows
Digger’s vision. Photo ~ Jerry Willows
And on we move to the next feature, the next trail day. Here we unearthed a slab of smooth granite that leads into a rock roll which will probably see some work. Photo ~ Jerry Willows
Expresso is looking great. We’ve got one more NSMB.com/RockShox TAP trail day – your last chance to win a new fork and other great swag. We’ll most likely be running our next trail day in November, so keep your eyes here or on our Facebook Page for updates.
It’s about time you tried the new Expresso – we have a feeling it’ll be less bitter than in recent years…
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