Trails Update: August 19, 2022

Back To school already?

A sign that summer just flew by: Our University bound crew members moved their last buckets of the season! Camie is back at Brock (Go Badgers!), while Spencer and Adam will start engineering at UBC. Thanks for all of the heavy lifting guys!

It sure doesn’t feel like summer is over just yet though. The crew has been filling their boots with hot dust all week in Tunnel Vision. The “High” fire rating has meant shorter work days, slowing down our progress on the upper reroute. Did I mention the dust? It will take some serious rain to pack the tread down so don’t hold your breath for this project to be tire ready.

Speaking of tire ready… We finished the Crankworx trail day project (area 56). You’ll find the new access point just further up the road, which brings the trail away from the public works yard's annual snow dump pile and mellows out the climbing grade.

“We have the same initials!”

I have cried so much over the last week. I tried to escape the pain of losing my dear friend by venturing into the woods and found only wasps. Dave would have giggled seeing me dash through fireweed and thistle, sobbing, chased by spicy critters.

I met Dave Reid during the Four Kings. The enduro race included the untimed “world premiere” of A Rockwork Orange (my first build). Serendipitously, I got to the trailhead with Clark Lewis and Dave, who were both Squamish trail builders. I went into full tour guide mode, bombarding them with stories of delicate moss removal, smashed fingers, friendly squirrels and even a tree falling on me. Clark got bored of my long winded oversharing and soon rode off, but Dave was soaking it all in. We bonded over our passion for trail building and our friendship grew with each session of woodland show and tell.

Our conversations mostly started by texting a photo of a beautiful mossy roll. This would be followed by some cartoons, memes and more pictures of moss. Excitement would grow with a flurry of questions about adventure, about work, about life... I’m a one thumb phone-typer so my responses were often 3 or 4 texts behind… Confusion would grow until the inevitable: an actual phone call.

Our communication evolved to planting inside jokes into our trail crew updates. There is no one more front of mind to me than Dave when I compose these weekly posts.

Dave facilitated the WORCA and SORCA trail crews training together and always strived to improve the state of mountain biking all over the Sea-to-Sky.

Like my big brother, full of experience and wisdom… he could “kick my ass” in any situation and made me want to better myself. He was a great collaborator… inquisitive and kind.

Dave was also a genius-level adventure curator. He’d never tell you exactly what was on hand.

“We’ll just go up for a little while. I think there’s a viewpoint…”

He liked sharing his secret spots and loved the element of surprise.

“How many sandwiches will I need tomorrow Dave?”

“At least 1… or 3.”

I always hoped it was 3.

You’ll forever push me up the steepest climbs and guide me to the best viewpoints.

I miss your laughter. I will hold space in my heart for your family ❤️