Mountain Biking - trail shots: don valley trails - toronto, canada

here are some more of the shots i took from the ride saturday with mindbogger, vortec135 and hooligan.

the don trails are pretty heavily trafficed trails - some more than others. most of these shots were taken on the well known trails that everyone and their mothers have ridden. lotta riders, hikers and dog walkers pass through these trails daily - hence the superwide highway look of most of the singletrack trails in the shots.

long skinny over a fallen log, mindbogger rode this one, cleaned it first try (didn't get a shot of that though). near the end it's about 4ft up.
http://www.dropmachine.com/media/data/505/1687picture_031.jpg

one guy we met on the trails, chris, riding over a small up and over bridge over a fallen log just after the long skinny above.
http://www.dropmachine.com/media/data/505/1687picture_032.jpg

short, but tough uphill just approaching the redway loblaws (which was just behind me when i took this shot):
http://www.dropmachine.com/media/data/505/1687picture_025.jpg

steep hills sign by the redway loblaws trailhead:
http://www.dropmachine.com/media/data/505/1687picture_022.jpg

sign close up.
http://www.dropmachine.com/media/data/505/1687picture_023.jpg

a couple shots of one of the steep downhill decents around the redway loblaws (for those of you who've ridden the don before). you can't really tell how steep these are from the pictures...
http://www.dropmachine.com/media/data/505/1687picture_028.jpg

same steep, slightly different angle:
http://www.dropmachine.com/media/data/505/1687picture_027.jpg

part of the trail heading up to the steep above:
http://www.dropmachine.com/media/data/505/1687picture_024.jpg

http://www.dropmachine.com/media/data/505/1687picture_026.jpg

singletrack just before the don DJs (DJs were directly behind me when i took this shot):
http://www.dropmachine.com/media/data/505/1687picture_016.jpg

if weather's good this saturday, i'll be going out for another ride. i'll try to take more shots if i do. mindbogger, vortec, down for another 3 hour (or more) romp? ;)

Sweet riding!

Cool pics. :D

I am from Kansas, what's a "downhill"?

Remiinds me of some trails in Cleveland. :)

For sure. No doubt about it. But you realize it was more like 1 hour of riding and 2 hours of sitting around? ;)

nice trail. Interesting technique on the one laddar. Weaving wood eh?...hmmm

Looks like lots of fun, we've been wanted to check out the Don for a while, but now even more !! :D

I'll try to get some shots of waterdown posted in the next few weeks, they have done a lot of maitenance & building there recently.

Anyone racing or checking out the downhill race at kelso this saturday? I hope is doesn't rain too much

some of the guys on dropmachine ride waterdown quite a bit. they're always raving about it. hopefully, i'll be able to come out one day and check it out.

hey, where did you enter the trail at? I want to check it out.

hey, where did you enter the trail at? I want to check it out.
there are a ton of different ways to access the trails. we entered through one of the trail heads in seton park. there's another trailhead we passed through by bayview & pottery rd. and another trailhead we passed by the redway loblaws. we ended back at one of the other trailheads at seton park.

I looked at some guys pics and he had like 60 or so. On one of the signs it said

"XC=Fa*s" and "XC=Panties" I'm scared :(
hahaha

Some of that stuff looks very rideable for me though and for sure I'll hit up those trails at least once this year. Relatively close in the scheme of things.

I'm from Toronto as well. Bought a moutain bike a few weeks ago and I've been dying to go on the trails. I wanted to hit the Don Valley Trail this weekend but it's going to rain so I'll wait until next weekend or if it warms up again this next week. I have a Trek 3700 http://www2.trekbikes.com/Bikes/Mountain/Hardtail/Alpha_Aluminum/3700/index.php

I don't know much about trail riding but I hope my bike can survive these trails that I want to ride. Do you think it will hold up.

Where exactly off of Bayview do I enter this trail?

On one of the signs it said

"XC=Fa*s" and "XC=Panties" I'm scared :(
hahaha

haha, that's the steep hills sign i posted above. looks like they've tried to clean off whatever graffiti they could.



I'm from Toronto as well. Bought a moutain bike a few weeks ago and I've been dying to go on the trails. I wanted to hit the Don Valley Trail this weekend but it's going to rain so I'll wait until next weekend or if it warms up again this next week. I have a Trek 3700 http://www2.trekbikes.com/Bikes/Mountain/Hardtail/Alpha_Aluminum/3700/index.php

I don't know much about trail riding but I hope my bike can survive these trails that I want to ride. Do you think it will hold up.

Where exactly off of Bayview do I enter this trail?
your bike should be fine. the don trails are mix of easy, intermediate and tough trails. i'm hoping it doesn't rain this weekend. but if it does, i guess i'll just take my bike in to get serviced. it's in dire need of some love. i'll also see if i can get my new cranks installed (finally) if that's the case.

if you're going to be riding the don for the first time, it'd be good to go with someone who knows the trail system somewhat. it's not very difficult to get lost because of all the intersecting trails.

nice pics good trails too

Im from Toronto too and i rode those trails last summer :)

I'm a newbie, so i got owned.

Glad that they replaced the bridge in the first photo this year. The bridge there last year had developed about a half-foot of side-to-side sway, and I got pitched off of it fairly regularly.

The trick with the don trails is that there are some steeper uphills mixed in with the stunts. If you ride a big bike they could be ugly little climbs. If you bring an XC bike the hills will be easier, but you may want to skip some of the stunts.

Hi!

Just looking at your pictures reminds me of a cross country (5k running - not mountain biking :D) high school county championship course I ran this year. We squeezed around 300 kids through a bunch of singletrack for the majority of the race.

It was a heck of a race - but the most fun ever. Sadly, our team's fastest runner passed out at the finish line of heat exaustion.

I know that it isn't the most relevent thing but still...

Anyhow happy riding!

Whats with the ramps over the downed trees?
Your supposed to go over them o'natural. Where i ride they just find smaller downed logs and make it so you wheel wont catch on the main tree. But then again, i think the forest workers would have a fit with a unnatural structure being out there, so maybe thats the reason.

If we had trails like that around here id own a Nicer bike.... LOL


:( I got trail envy :(

just got back from a nice solo ride. hit up a secret freeride trail i rode last november... ended up walking the majority of it haha. then hit up some of the usual trails and took some more shots. enjoy :D

these shots are all pretty much the same section of trail. mindbogger and that guy i met on my last ride, chris both cleaned these skinnies.

http://www.dropmachine.com/media/data/505/1687don_solo_ride_2005-05-21_-_027.jpg

http://www.dropmachine.com/media/data/505/1687don_solo_ride_2005-05-21_-_026.jpg

http://www.dropmachine.com/media/data/505/1687don_solo_ride_2005-05-21_-_025.jpg

http://www.dropmachine.com/media/data/505/1687don_solo_ride_2005-05-21_-_024.jpg

http://www.dropmachine.com/media/data/505/1687don_solo_ride_2005-05-21_-_023.jpg

http://www.dropmachine.com/media/data/505/1687don_solo_ride_2005-05-21_-_022.jpg

http://www.dropmachine.com/media/data/505/1687don_solo_ride_2005-05-21_-_021.jpg

http://www.dropmachine.com/media/data/505/1687don_solo_ride_2005-05-21_-_020.jpg

Is that as steep as it looks?

Swiff which part looks steep?...Do you mean that one roll in style laddar that bridges over the log, thats looks sick.

Gotta say I love the woodwork. Really nice to see the guys building using branches. I can stand skinnies and laddars made from flat wood. The difference in difficulty is huge between well made (like above) and a simple 2x4 slapped together. :)..

What are those trails like in November (1st week) and can they be ridden on a SS (I don't mind hiking cause my climbin blows) I might be doing a trip to TO (well Guelph) that week and might try to squeeze in a ride or two.

Also Chris=mindbogger?

The 5th one down looks like it's way past 45º (btw, I can do the degrees sign. eat it lol) I'm going to hit those trails up at least twice this year.

Yeah thats the one I was referencing. Looks like fun stuff :)

Mindbogger cleared that skinny? Didn't he try the little thing beside it? Only that guy on his hardtail cleared it after numerous attempts I think.

I am from Kansas, what's a "downhill"?

lol, I am from Pennsylvania. "What does flat look like?"

Those trails look awesome, If lived in Canada, I'd be on them a lot

Only got one word for you hooligan, huh? What little thing?

And to the riders (I know so many questions) you come down the laddar bridge and either roll away or go up what looks like a large rock, is that a dropoff or a steep rolloff...

Maybe I'll appreciate these stunts more next time I ride there after seeing them so well-photographed. I never stopped to notice the old-school craftsmanship before, we just kind of bounce over them as we grind on through.

Edit: Mael, as I remember you just kind of roll over a rock there, no drop. In fact, I don't remember that skinny as being particularly steep, just a bit off-camber.

I did build some ladder bridges (shorter ones) in the Highland Creek valley in the east end of Toronto, back about five years ago. A combination of rotting, theft, and a flash-flood eventually did them all in.

in november, the well known trails are usually in pretty rideable shape. the lesser known trails and less ridden ones usually have a lot of leaves lying around that need to be cleared.

all the new shots i posted are of the same bridge section... just different sections of it and different angles. the bridge is actually pretty old. i'm not sure who built it, cause its been there for as long as i can remember. i also took some shots of the freeride trail i rode (more like walked :o ) but i not really sure if the guys building it really want me posting those.

chris is the guy riding the little bridge over the fallen log, wearing all black in the first batch of shots i posted. mindbogger is the one riding the teeter in the other shot i posted in the huck thread.

hooli, if i remember correctly, bogger rode it. i think his rear washed out a bit near the end of the first section before the rock, but he pretty much cleaned it. then chris came along and rode it all the way through to the end of the second section. that was the first time we ran into chris on the trail remember?

the rock, if you check the first picture, you'll see the same rock. it's got a small bridge on the otherside. i guess you can drop it if you're going fast enough, but i think most people just roll it.

the don should be doable on an ss. pretty much everyone rides there, on just about any type of bike you can think of. the hills are usually short and steep. so the climbs can be tough. toronto's pretty flat, so we don't got a lot of elevation to work with :mad: .

forgot to mention...

mael, if you're in town and want to check out the don, hit me up and i'll be glad to show you some of the trails if i have the time. if not, i'm sure the guys on dropmachine wouldn't mind showing you around. many of them know the trail system better than i do anyhow.

red is the way chris cleared.

I think mindbogger cleared the black thing.

Yes, mind bogger cleared another skinny, but it wasn't the one that you showed in this pic, which is what you said bogger made it accross.

How thick is that red one? Doesn't seem to look too hard. Is that one of the harder ones?


How high is that bad boy off the ground?

forgot to mention...

mael, if you're in town and want to check out the don, hit me up and i'll be glad to show you some of the trails if i have the time. if not, i'm sure the guys on dropmachine wouldn't mind showing you around. many of them know the trail system better than i do anyhow.

We'll see, I am in town for a week for the first time in years. Bringing my bike might not be an option if I wanna spend time with the family haha

Thanks for the offer, if something does come up and I can ride I will let you know :)

The red one is a little higher than 4 feet. Oh saying "it doesn't look hard" is a really "stupid" thing to say. It's very intimdating to bike on that thing, everything LOOKS easy, but it's not. It's half mental, half physical. I thought it looked easy, but then I realized it wasn't.

Its about 20cm wide, pretty wide, but it' still scary.

red is the way chris cleared.

I think mindbogger cleared the black thing.

Yes, mind bogger cleared another skinny, but it wasn't the one that you showed in this pic, which is what you said bogger made it accross.
in the picture you attached to your post, both bogger and chris rode the skinny you marked in red. bogger cleaned it first try, chris stopped about 3/4 of the way through before stopping. after he stopped, he continued on and cleared it. the one you've got marked in black, bogger rode that one and took a nose dive at the end (as the skinny finishes in a small drop).

in the second batch of pictures i posted, of the skinny going down the hill just after you go under the big bridge, both bogger and chris rode that one too. that one, chris cleaned both sections on his first and only try. bogger cleaned most of the first section before his rear washed out a bit - if i remember correctly.

The red one is a little higher than 4 feet. Oh saying "it doesn't look hard" is a really "stupid" thing to say. It's very intimdating to bike on that thing, everything LOOKS easy, but it's not. It's half mental, half physical. I thought it looked easy, but then I realized it wasn't.

Its about 20cm wide, pretty wide, but it' still scary.

Why so defensive? I said it looked easy. In the pic the ramp looks like 1 foot and a half off the ground and 1 and a half feet wide. That's why I asked how wide and how high.

Just relax, we're not all out to get you.

red is the way chris cleared.

I think mindbogger cleared the black thing.

Yes, mind bogger cleared another skinny, but it wasn't the one that you showed in this pic, which is what you said bogger made it accross.

I cleared the red and the black. However, the one beside the black that is not marked is the one that destroyed me. I did not lift my front up in time and face planted in to the dirt.

Rasheed, I wish i made it out last saturday. Boy do i regret it now.

Also Chris=mindbogger?

nope, mindbogger = me ;)

Chris is some other dude.

had a nice little ride through the don today with hooligan and another buddy, alan. finally hit that teeter... hooli got photos but hasn't sent me them yet. mael, you were right... total mind!%$#. wasn't so bad at all. although it is kind of weird slowing down at the top and waiting for the teeter to come down. fun nonetheless.

i didn't take too many shots... but i did manage to get a couple short vids. also took this close up shot of the little up and over in one of the first batch of pictures posted earlier. thought mael would like to see the woodwork up close :D .

http://www.dropmachine.com/media/data/505/1687image_004.jpg

Now those 2nd pics look alot more like fun. The 1st set had me worried for a moment that you'd never actually rode a "true" singletrack.

...you come down the laddar bridge and either roll away or go up what looks like a large rock, is that a dropoff or a steep rolloff...

I thought it was a jump. :o

Those look like some fun, smooth trails with interesting features. Good stuff.

Now those 2nd pics look alot more like fun. The 1st set had me worried for a moment that you'd never actually rode a "true" singletrack.
not so sure how you could have cleared those worries just from looking at the second batch of shots i posted... they're all of the same 20-30' bridged section of the trail - just from different angles. :rolleyes: hahaha.

found some more shots i took on my last ride that i had forgotten about on my other memory card... just some more shots of the woodwork down in the don.

a new bridge that was built not too long ago. guess the guys who built it were tired of riding through the mud pit that the little dip at the bottom becomes after a good amount of rain.
http://www.dropmachine.com/media/data/505/1687image_013.jpg

http://www.dropmachine.com/media/data/505/1687image_012.jpg

some shots of one of the longer skinnies on an off cambre section of the trail. this one took me about a year of exploring to find as it's just a bit off the main trail, kind of hidden away from people who aren't really paying attention to their surroundings.
http://www.dropmachine.com/media/data/505/1687image_011.jpg

http://www.dropmachine.com/media/data/505/1687image_010.jpg

http://www.dropmachine.com/media/data/505/1687image_009.jpg


sorry for the big size :o .

That trail excites me...

and bigger is better, screw the 56k people I want size :D

i posted this shot in the huck/drop/stunt thread, but i'm bored so i thought i'd post it here too. photo credit: hooligan.

shot of me hitting the teeter that is shown in the first batch of shots that bogger was hitting.
http://www.dropmachine.com/media/data/505/1687teeter3.JPG

too bad there wasn't any audio to go with this shot, or you woulda heard the "whoaaa" i let out just before i felt the teeter coming down. i felt like i was going to topple as i slowed down at the top, which is probably why i was looking over to my right in the shot. heh.

The fact that I live so close to these trails (20 min bike ride) was a major influence for me just buying my first "real" mountain bike :)

The funny thing with that long skinny is that by mid-summer you can't see the end of it from the starting point due to the vegetation.

The first time I rode that thing I was following a buddy, it was starting to get dark in the woods, and I blindly started down this skinny that had no visible end and seemed to be getting higher and higher above the forest floor....

man i love that natural woodwork...you can keep the 2x4 constrution.. something about that natural stuff excites me in ways you really probably shouldn't know about

Aha, the secret skinny trail...I saw other pictures that said it was also hard to find. I'll find it one day. And when that day comes, I'll say, neat, I found it. And then not ride it, because I suck too much.

lol