7th Secret is a North Vancouver staple. If you know your way around this rough piece of work, you can find incredible fluidity. You just need to know where to go. Come along down this piece of North Shore history.
Riding my Focus Bikes SAM² Filmed on my GoPro HERO8 and Max.
I rode 7th secret for the first time on Friday and it was a really fun trail. Then ripped down Expresso to Baden trail all the way to the parking lot. Fromme has so many different types of trails from tech to flow to challenge you.
Excellent video of a classic trail. The GoPro effect is so weird. I makes really steep stuff look less steep but there are parts which look like they're downhill but you've been there and know they aren't, like the entrance to the long log (the first one). The GoPro effect basically compresses the full range of possible steepness into "vaguely downhill".
I ride mine up there pretty often and I'd say it's about 95% either interest or indifference in the real world. The occasional chirp but usually if you make a joke out of it folks will laugh along.
It's just bike riding, and I'm there just as often on a bike with no motor.
In fact come to think of it, I rode 7th on mine twice yesterday!
It is. For sure not the hardest on the Shore but I went up on a spring day after a ton of rain thinking it wouldn’t be that bad, but I lost my front tire on some woodwork and put my ribs into a gnarl that was sticking out. Your comment is spot on, there’s a lot going on with 7th Secret.
@vw4ever: Funnily enough 7th is one of the best riding trails in the wet, that and ladies only are my go to wet weather trails! There's so much rock and wood that it holds up pretty well and it's all surprisingly grippy, so long as you're careful on the brakes
@notthatfast: for sure! Yeah, I hadn’t ridden the Shore in a while, and didn’t have my groove on, was probably riding a little timidly since my memories of the trail were rusty and got owned. Lesson learned- let off the brakes and commit (at least a little)!
@Gulevich87 Sweet vids. Sam2 a cool bike - bummer Focus gave up on America before buildIng major reputations for quality bikes. What rear shock setup do you run, does tech pack fit?
This is an interesting story. The current Secret Seventh is a significantly rebuilt and repaired version of the 1992 original though not as much as Crinkum Crankum and Kirkford below it. Seventh was super loamy and fun that first autumn but rapidly succumbed to erosion and sections became either unridable or just ugly and uninteresting. The repairs, particularly the added skinnies, rock revetments and generally improved drainage serve to make it more technical and interesting than the original. It's also in a beautiful and spectacular section of forest, especially this year which has been quite wet. A few weeks ago my 11 year old nephew was asking about my favourite North Shore trail, which I had to think about, but indeed, this was the one.
@The-Foiling-Optimist:1992 wow! I started riding 7th about 32 years ago on a Klein hardtail with a Futureshock, ie 1.5 inches of travel and cantilever brakes. It was rutted, rocky and rooty what is referred to as janky now. As the “improvements” were made we complained that the gnar was being eliminated but we accepted that flow trails were the future. This is the trail we ride the most because it’s the highest trail and ithen the mid level trails can be ridden afterwards.
Not especially steep, it criss crosses the fall line but towards the end it falls away steeply beside you. One does not want to slip off the first of the long fallen tree skinnies.
The best trails on the shore are the secret trails with no name or map I know a few near 7 th secret that are mucho beuno compared to the janky 7 th secret .
I'm a fan of shuttle killers but surprised to see no e-bike hate in the comments!
It's just bike riding, and I'm there just as often on a bike with no motor.
In fact come to think of it, I rode 7th on mine twice yesterday!
Your comment is spot on, there’s a lot going on with 7th Secret.
Funnily enough 7th is one of the best riding trails in the wet, that and ladies only are my go to wet weather trails! There's so much rock and wood that it holds up pretty well and it's all surprisingly grippy, so long as you're careful on the brakes
You definitely have to choose your moments for braking.
Living on the north shore sharpens your skills pretty fast let me tell you! Haha