NSMB.e.MAGAZINE - Freeride, Extreme and North Shore style Mountain Biking

Aside from our relentless rain and the mandatory rush hour bridge crossings there are few downsides to living on the Shore. One pitfall is that you get used to a certain trail quality. You can't just go to some place others call Mecca and expect it to meet your needs. Here you get a high level of feedback from the trail - and you can't let the bike ride you either. I've become leery about travelling to ride because of this. It's a bit disappointing when you discover sub-par riding after a travel marathon - but any riding in an exotic locale is better than none. When I'm travelling to ride a highly anticipated bicycle like the new Trek Remedy I'd gladly pedal on a tennis court - but I had high hopes for our trip to Chihuahua State.

According to the internet, Chihuahua's Cathedral is one of the best examples of Baroque in the North of Mexico. Built with pink quarry stone, it took almost 100 years to build. While the Spaniards went to war against the Apaches and Comanches all funds went towards muskets and gun powder. We didn't go inside but apparently there is this sweet German-built organ inside. Imagine getting that from Berlin to Chihuahua in time for the consecration in 1742. Actually I'm not sure if it was consecrated on that date because according to Wikipedia this term refers to the 'blessing by a bishop of a fully paid-off church building (e.g. parish church).' I'm not sure if the Catholic mortgage burning party was in 1742 or if the structure was completed on that date. Either way those are the prettiest cell phone towers I've ever seen. Photo ~ Cam McRae.

Cerveza, la playa and huevos rancheros; my Mexican experience was relatively limited before this. Aside from a jeep trip to Puerto Vallarta from Mazatlan I had spent almost no time away from your typical tourist destinations. Tales of endless single track and abyss-like gorges able to swallow the Grand Canyon whole had me optimistic about our destination. In the end the area etched an indelible mark in my psyche. Sometimes you leave a place and know you'll have to come back. Copper Canyon is such a place.

After half a day in the Dallas Ft. Worth airport we arrived in Chihuahua Mexico and were ferried to the Quality Inn. The next morning, after a short walk around the cathedral, we shuttled four hours to Creel, just North of Barranca del Cobre - what we gringos call Copper Canyon.

Copper Canyon is home to the Tarahumara people - one of the largest intact indigenous groups in North American. The Tarahumara are unique in that most of the 50-70,000 members still live a traditional lifestyle. The bright colours they wear make them visible from a distance and their innocent manner charmed us all. Riding along, an hour from a road, a young mother and two small children would appear as if from nowhere - or a small and withered gentleman leading a horse - wearing only saddles on his feet despite the razor-sharp rock. In their tongue, which is alive and well, they are the Rarámuri which translates to runners on foot. Because of the long distances between settlements a tradition of running between villages for communication and transportation evolved. This tradition lives on in ceremonies and competitions in which members of the tribe may run for a few hours or several days without a break; the men sometimes kicking a wooden ball while the women propel a wooden hoop with a stick. These were the trails we'd be riding on - developed beginning 400 years ago when the Tarahumara came to the Canyon to escape the Spanish invaders.

We stayed in little cabins on the edge of town. It's not a postcard sort of place, Creel, but the surrounding area is so stunning it doesn't have to be. I don't recall ever being so consistently amazed by the natural beauty of an area. The hills around Creel are covered in pines and spectacular rock formations and you'll find trails in every direction. On day one we did a short loop and then a longer one after some lunch. When we stopped our groups were divided into two and I was at the tail end of the 'first group' - those who were leading the charge. Lepage's glue was oozing through my veins and I was having a very hard time getting used to our starting altitude of 2500 meters or 8000 feet. The ride after lunch was filled with short technical climbs and the Remedy excelled here. I surprised myself a few times and the bike never let me down - my legs were the culprit every time. This ride was our first contact with the Tarahumara. Seemingly in the middle of nowhere we'd come across a meadow and a simple dwelling or someone travelling, like us, on the trails. Interesting Wile E. Coyote rock features were everywhere and it seemed like a 15 year old kid with a wrecking bar could send them all toppling. I admit it crossed my mind.

The trails around Creel were set in such a remarkably beautiful setting that it was at times difficult to pay attention to our reason for being there; the Trek Remedy. Six inch bikes are nothing new but Trek went back to the drawing board for the 2008. The most revolutionary feature is what Trek calls ABP. The rearmost pivot runs concentric to the rear axle giving what Trek calls the least brake affected travel possible. The seat stays and chainstay come together at the dropouts and they sandwich a cartridge bearing on each side. The entire system is bound together by the QR skewer - but nothing will fall apart without the QR in place. Yanking the wheel to fix a flat was a piece of cake, the only difference being the complete removal of the skewer to extricate the rear wheel. The idea behind ABP is to limit what Trek calls 'brake effect,' the stiffening of the rear suspension when a bump is encountered under braking. According to Trek, as the forward rotation of the rotor increases the stiffening effect on the suspension also ramps up. If you limit the rotation you limit the stiffening. An unscientific way of measuring this is to place your rear wheel against the wall, grab a mitt full of rear brake and compress the suspension, then notice how far your wheel moves from the wall. According to this theory more distance from the wall equals more brake effect. Not everyone agrees on this interpretation of brake effect - nor does everyone agree that brake effect is necessarily a bad thing - whether it is 'jack' or 'squat.' My own experience on single pivot bikes leads me to believe that brake effect is exaggerated on steep terrain where any forward pitch from the brake pushes your weight onto the bars. Trek's data analysis comparing the 2007 and 2008 Remedy bikes shows the 2008 bike to be much more active under braking than last year's rig - which has to be a good thing. ABP has no real influence pedalling and the bike did pedal extremely well. I guess you'd expect that from a 28lb (without pedals) Trek.

The first couple of days we did what were essentially XC rides, traversing the hauntingly beautiful hills and valleys around Creel. On day two I wisely chose the 'second' group. There will be no peleton and aside from Richard Cunningham, who is exempt from any freeride fashion rules because he's a member of the MTB Hall of Fame and a font of wisdom, all lycra shorts were tastefully concealed. Our ride was long and steady with the exception of an all too brief stop at what was essentially a natural skate park. We were just warming to the terrain but it was time for lunch and we heeded the call.

Our short descent lead us to the Valley of the Monks where we were treated to a tasty catered lunch. The second group, which was most of the Euros along with Ron Koch from Mountain Bike and Mark Jordan from Decline, took a wrong turn and ended up shouldering their bikes for a nasty climb up narrow crevasse. Israel from Spain had a basketball-sized rock graze his leg and the entire group was less than pleased with the half mile detour.

We pedalled back to our cabins and some of us got ready for an afternoon shuttle. I was expecting full participation but only four journalists stepped up for another ride. Nobody was stoked when we took a wrong turn and had to backtrack uphill after a full day of riding but once we finally got pointed down we were treated to the most challenging descent of the trip. The bike performed admirably but the gnarl amplified two of the bike's weaknesses; the tires and the bars. It must be tough spec'ing tires on a bike when you know it won't hit the dirt until after the money is laid down. Most riders will make their decision in a bike shop where the lift and bounce tests are the primary selling points. The tubeless Bontragers on the Remedy (Jones ACX , 26x2.35”; 120 tpi, folding) were light and very low profile and on our final day of riding I lost count of the number of flats the group had after we hit double digits. Sure it's easy to swap tires before you take a bike out of the showroom and they are an inexpensive upgrade - but for testing purposes the rubber on these bikes really limited the performance. The tires were bouncy, had inferior cornering grip and they did nothing to instill confidence. I guess a positive spin on this is that even with the crappy tires the bikes rode well. The bars on the other hand were far too narrow. You can always cut a bar down but it's pretty tough to add any length.

Left to Right - Brian Buckle of Trek Europe, Designer Dylan Howes and Product manager John Riley talking strategy with Andrew Shandro in the Valley of the Monks. Our hosts were amazing - everyone from Trek - particularly Michael Browne who had to look after us - as well as Arturo and the other guides and Chris Winter from Big Mountain Adventures.

Other than that the component spec on the Remedy 9 was dialled. The Fox 36 Float up front exceeded my expectations in every regard. I know the 36 to be a very stiff single crown and Trek's E2 design makes it even beefier. The steerer begins it's journey down to the crown at a 11/8 diameter and then a few inches above the crown it begins to flare to become a 1.5. Trek has pursued this design because they can build a fork with almost as much stiffness as a full 1.5 but without the weight penalty.

The SRAM drivetrain, with Matchmaker, a nice touch, performed flawlessly as did the Avid Juicy Carbons. Shimano XT cranks kept the weight down and the stiffness up while Trek's Bontrager line was scattered throughout; wheels, tires, bars, stem, grips and saddle. The custom integrated headset comes from Cane Creek.

Full Floater is the third innovation you'll discover on the Remedy. Rather than a fixed lower shock mount, the chainstays extend beyond the seat tube to greet the Fox RP 23 XV. This allowed the engineers to tune the leverage ratio of the shock to perform differently at different points in the travel. When compared to last year's Remedy the 08 starts with a lower leverage ratio (right about 2.9:1 according to Trek) and then the ratio begins to fall to about 2.6:1 at 100mm when it begins to flatten out, essentially allowing a ramp up to finish the stroke for a bottomless feel.

While the bottom end of the travel was rarely challenged on our rides it responded like a champ when it was. There were no indistinct points in the travel and it swallowed any medium sized bumps with ease. To tell you more about the downhill characteristics of the Remedy I'd need to give it some time on the Shore - something I hope to arrange.

Full Rocker technology allows the leverage ratio to be tuned to ramp up at the end of the stroke. The EVO rocker link is 15% lighter than the previous Remedy rocker and it increases stiffness by 50% over the 07 model. Photo ~ Sterling Lorence.

Clearly a goal with this bike was uncompromising stiffness. The Evo rocker link is one forged piece that is both more rigid and lighter than the previous Remedy rocker. The E2 fork interface and the Evo link combined to make the bike stiff enough to inspire confidence when riding on the edge of a cliff.

The tools of the Tarahumara trade. Photo ~ Sterling Lorence.

I was truly beaten down when we returned from our two shuttles but I find Margaritas made with fresh lime to be a rejuvenating elixir. As more cerveza and tequila went down the fire began to grow - but I hit the wall before the flames reached their zenith. Day three was to be the genuine trail fiesta and I wanted to be well rested. Several times it seemed to us gringos that we were on the edge of the Canyon during our rides around Creel. Those in the know just smiled and shook their heads. Shandro assured us we'd be blown away when we saw the real deal. For the shuttle to the Canyon I rode along with Arturo Gutierrez, the capitano of mountain biking in Chihuahua, and he told me that supported four day descents into the canyon were part of his usual tours. That's four long days in a row heading primarily down. After an hour in the trucks we rolled in to a grassless meadow of pure white sand. We unloaded the bikes and began a technical climb up a foreboding rock column. Once we reached the top we encountered a Tarahumara walking with his horses and a dog - heading purposefully to some unnamed destination.

We arrived at a slick rock saddle between two large outcroppings and it was time for lunch. After our snack things got hairy. We rode on a tightrope of single track to another landing, this time with the bottomless pit to our left, and I was happy to be on my Syncros flat pedals. It was more up than down and any false move could have been disastrous. The technical challenges were denser still here and while every one was okay on the way out, there was a near miss on the way back. I heard a sickening sound behind me. A bit like a bicycle being tossed over a cliff. I looked back to see a smiling Paul Burwell standing bikeless on the narrow ledge of trail, his bike nowhere to be seen. Luckily it had hit a tree about 200 feet down or it would have gone the full 3000 to the valley floor.

The first part of the trip back was just almost as fun as the way down. The grade was gentle enough that the flow continued. Then things ramped up and each section was an aggressive grunt. Still fun, but at this point in the day the legs were starting to feel rubbery. Eventually it seemed we were on top again but it turned out to be a false flat - and the smooth climb was just the ticket for the leg shavers who promptly took off. My tank was empty and it was all I could do to keep the cranks turning over.

At this point José, Riley and I lost the trail and ended up coming down some truly gnarly lines in terrain Ryan Leech would love. Back at the white sand a cooler full of cervezas awaited us and there were smiles all around. Our taste of the real Canyon was even sweeter than expected, and I kept dreaming of continuing the descent for several days. That day will come and with a group of friends I'll roll down into another world with Arturo and the boys from Big Mountain Adventures. Hopefully sooner than later.

I have decided to break this article up into multiple parts. I'd like to say more about the frame, the performance of the bike, the technical specifications and provide some pricing and availability information as well. And I have more shots from Sterling to share along with a few stories from the campfire and the moustache competition.

Trek already has information on their site about the three Remedy models. Have a look see here.