“I see you instantly reaching for two-finger braking, and I’d like to start today by introducing a one-finger system,” said Luke “Shep” Sheppard, the Specialized Bike Academy program manager, and my instructor for a one-on-one lesson on lift-accessed downhill riding at Northstar California on a hot and dry July day.
He lines up my pinky finger with the outside of the grips and talks about feathering the brake with a light-but-commanding touch on the modern high-powered hydraulic brake lever.
Shep, from England, has taught bike and snowboard lessons around the world and instantly exudes a smooth knack for simultaneously explaining what might seem a daunting task — navigating steep trails at high speeds — whilst not forgetting the fun-first component of biking.
I’m still indoors, standing on the bike for this exchange, and I welcome the chance to hear corrective instruction at every turn — or before I even make turns. I yearn to better my skills via the convenience of chairlifts and expert coaching, and I am also interested in the trails themselves, and how they evolved alongside mountain biking, from their humble origins to the current dazzling state of berms, jumps, and warped, off-kilter lengths of wooden ladder sections on display at Northstar.
We hop on the Tahoe Zephyr Express that accesses dozens of trails for more than 1,000 feet of vertical. The day’s progression starts slowly, but builds quickly. We move from a wide fire road to chunky singletrack thrill rides to trails like Live Wire, a flagship flow trail with dozens of man-made features. It hits me, upon winding the day down, that our order of trails roughly mimicked the evolution of mountain bike trails over the decades.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF (MTB) TIME
Downhill mountain biking is now its own category, with the sole focus on — yessir — going downhill. Downhill bikes feature at least seven inches of travel in the front and rear suspension and are built with bombproof components — as opposed to the styles of the different categories of trail, cross country, and emerging E-bikes.
In the ’70s on Marin’s Mt. Tamalpais — when modern mountain biking was taking off — “downhill” wasn’t a thing, and it was just a form of biking that didn’t take place on the roads. Bike-specific trails were decades away, and so the sport was often done on wide and steep dirt roads. “Going straight and going fast, that was what mountain biking used to be,” Sheppard said.
As the sport evolved, the bikes and trails followed suit, and the dominant type of trail became singletrack, often utilizing existing hiking or horse trails, before bike-specific trail construction came into play. These trails are often riddled with roots, bumps, rocks, and other imperfections. “Crunchy” and “organic” are adjectives used to describe the raw nature of these trails.
Enter flow trails roughly ten years ago, the current en vogue style. As written by the International Mountain Biking Association, “as the sport of mountain biking has evolved over the past decades, it has driven the development of a new style of trail with features and concepts that push the limits of traditional singletrack. An increasing number of public land agencies, ski areas and communities now embrace the importance of trails built specifically for mountain bikes — trails that flow.” These trails are silky-smooth and embrace a roller coaster mindset with little pedaling — and often even minimal braking — as the rider fits into the contours and gravity-induced speed of the trail.
And while your mind might be blown to hear it, a sharp departure from the long-held way of doing things has caused some contention among the ranks. Detractors say flow trails — referred to as a “sculpted sidewalk” in an article on pinkbike.com, a leading mountain bike website — are dumbing down the innate challenge of singletrack, but proponents tout the features, creative design, and smooth feel.
EMBRACING CHANGE
Northstar’s bike park — which has been around for almost 20 years and is the largest in Northern California — is building almost all of its new trails with flow in mind, said Sheppard, but they maintain upkeep on their popular singletrack as well.
To finish the day, I did a repeat lap on Live Wire, a chance to get some repetition on what had heretofore been a new trail each lap. The bike crushed the small washboard divots that form from repetitive usage, and allowed the mental confidence to blast through the bumps.
A few small table top jumps ease the rider into some of the larger features (another trend is to build table top jumps as opposed to gap jumps, as table tops don’t have a hollow gap in between the takeoff and landing, thus upping the safety). I practiced pre-loading the suspension and releasing a moment before the front tire went off the lip, as recommended by Shep. I came up short and a little crooked on the small jump, but due to the table top build and the smooth and wide construction, a crash was easily avoided. Later on Live Wire I banked around several head-high berms and tried to utilize the biker-separation move, where, on a right turn the bike leans right, but the rider tilts left, creating more traction through the tires’ contact points. That invoked a euphoric suspended-gravity feeling for a moment.
Having spent virtually all my bike time thus far on singeltrack, I felt the budding twinge of being a flow convert, but then I lost my line on a tight turn and clumsily drifted off the trail. Through low grass and rocky undeveloped terrain, I felt like I was back on a technical line, my heart rate spiking before recovering. Would I prefer all smooth flow trail or rough-and-tumble singletrack? All of the above, I thought, before making my way down.
To check out Northstar’s parks and lesson programs, visit northstarcalifornia.com.
