 Rider: Ryan Walters Photo: Andrejs Verlis |
Technical Ecstacy Trisha Petrella |
Standing at the trailhead, you exhale slowly, your warm breath turning white in the crisp spring air. The frosty soil beneath your tires sparkles in the early morning sunlight, and the fresh, damp smell of loam and rotting leaves rises from the warming ground. Your heart beats a little faster as you scan the trail below; despite the fact that this maze of crisscrossing single track is squeezed into an area a little under a square kilometer, there is over 66 feet of potential air time. Adrenaline rushing, blood pounding in your ears, with every muscles straining and poised for action, you drop in; welcome to Technical Ecstasy.
Some of the TE crew.
If you've already whipped out your Cypress trail map, or are furiously sorting through your memory to recall this trail, you might as well quit now. It's a bit further east than Cypress (and no, I don't mean it's on Seymour or Fromme). It seems that the Shore has extended itself another 5000km from our Vancouver mountains, and found a new home in Kitchener/Waterloo, Ontario. Technical Ecstasy is a prime example of how the BC freeriding scene has impacted the entire cycling community.
This unbelievable set of drops, ladder bridges, berms, and teeter-totters is the ongoing project of rider and trail builder, Andrejs Verlis and his crew. The trail was originally built, along with many others in the area, by Adam Trotter, Brian King, and James Forbes in 1998. Shortly after starting it, the three moved on to other trails, and Andrejs decided to continue what they had begun.
Inspired by the work of Dangerous Dan Cowan, and Todd 'Digger' Fiander in the North Shore Extreme video series, he decided to combine his passion for riding and natural aptitude for building to create a freeriding escape in the heart of suburbia. What started out as a few guys desire to get their freeriding fix, has now evolved into one of the hottest riding areas in Southern Ontario.
But TE (as the locals call it) is far more than just an imitation North Shore fun park. Because of limited green space, and the high demand of various user groups on that space, these Ontario riders have developed creative ways to maximize the versatility of this trail. One of the results is a stunt called the Transformer. At first glace this structure is a standard ladder bridge to a 7ft. drop-off, however, it comes with one unique feature, an extension piece (which explains the name). The riders slide and lock this extra piece into place to increase the stunt from 7 to 10ft. Sound dangerous? If you disregard the inherent risk associated with our sport, this is a very safe trail. A rider would never need to worry about the structures themselves; TE is meticulously built.
Andrejs claims his stunts could withstand the weight and force of a motorbike. In fact, the structures look so solid that these builders have had to plan the entrances carefully, not only to scare off inexperienced riders, but to prevent motorized bikers from giving them a try. It only takes a few moments of listening to Andrejs talk about TE to see that his passion for building includes a strong focus on quality.
"Poorly built stunts are part of what has given mountain bikers a bad rep. in the community," comments Andrejs, "not only do they make us look bad as a group, they increase the risk of someone getting hurt, and technically that could lead to someone getting sued." Which, of course, is one of the prime reasons most municipalities are against building stunts on trails in the first place.
For Andrejs, Technical Ecstasy is much more than just a fun trail-building exercise; he also sees it as a public relations experiment. The freeriding scene in Ontario is exploding right now, with young enthusiastic riders itching to find places to ride and build. Through TE, Andrejs feels he is making a statement to both the public, and his fellow riders. TE is a carefully planned, strongly built, environmentally conscious trail that raises the standard for other potential riders/builders, and also tells the public that mountain bikers are not just ignorant, arrogant adrenaline junkies.
Although TE has some distinctly east-coast features, it does share one common, unpleasant trait with its west-coast counterparts; the trail is potentially facing destruction. Up until recently, TE was believed to have been built on private land, and therefore, free from the threat of government chainsaws. Right now, the trail is still standing, but the local riders wonder if a day will come when they will arrive and find it in pieces. It seems ironic that a trail created to help encourage an attitude that would prevent the needless destruction of trails may soon fall under the axe. Surprisingly, Andrejs reaction the threat of his trail's destruction was rather stoic. "If the trail is cut I will simply move somewhere else and make a private trail on private land."
Although this might not seem like the most aggressive stance, the attitude behind it is the reason freeriding in Ontario has survived and continues to grow. Adaptability and flexibility are the hallmarks of their riding scene. These traits have allowed these riders to see and create a freeriding trail without the assistance of mother nature. TE may be a fun riding area and a public relations experiment for Andrejs and his friends, but to this observer, Technical Ecstasy is a strong reminder that freeriding isn't about always finding the perfect trail, sometimes it's about creating one.
Check out this short video featuring Technical Ecstacy.
