Believe the Hype (June 2000)

Nowhere in the world is there riding like the North Shore. The trails, with their Dr. Suess inspired stunts, make riding anywhere else seem as adrenalin soaked as lawn bowling. And the gap is widening. As riders hone their superhero skills they demand loftier drops, skinnier log rides and steeper pitches - and trail builders are delivering. A few short years ago a six foot wheelie drop was massive - now they are becoming as common as Grannies at a quilters convention. There's even an 11 year old hucking 10 regularly. This insatiable hunger for more air has lead one builder to scope out a 30 foot monster. The impossible is being realized on Vancouver's North Shore.

Riders want to know what is happening here like skiers and boarders with Whistler or the Alps, golfers with The Masters and traders with the Dow Jones.

This is Mecca. The Big Apple. The Buckingham Palace of technical mountain biking. Manufacturers like Norco, Rocky Mountain, Marzocchi and Manitou have tuned in their marketing radar to what's going on here and have started advertising their stuff as Shore worthy. Sex sells baby and there is no riding on the planet hotter than right here.

Trails like the Circus and Swollen Uvula and riders like Wade Simmons, Dangerous Dan Cowan and Carys Evans represent the very edge of human potential. Call it extreme if you must - we call it NORTHSHOREMOUNTAINBIKING.COM.