Yes, we all like to challenge ourselves and fun things happen on Cypress. Fear is weakness and on the North Shore we don’t show weakness. And I see you over there, hardcore North Shore rider, scoffing at this apparent fear of a mountain. The easiest line down Cypress will try to kill you at least a couple of times, and if it doesn’t, you’re probably lost. The time I tumbled down the mountain so hard that my shoes fell off on Fifth Horseman. The time I caved in a full face helmet on Sex Girl. The time I crumpled my ankle on Wild Cherry. Almost every major crash that I can think of took place on Cypress. But my tastes have changed! I seldom venture over to Cypress now because I value my limbs and ability to walk without a limp. In the peak of my freeride days I was riding there once per week at least. No, we’re meeting at noon at the bottom of Cypress and put that extreme rainfall warning out of your pretty little head. It’s fully another to be the slowest media schmuck on the industry ride that is taking place on your home trails.Īnd not even the easy stuff! We’re not talking about a few mellow laps on Seymour. I really started to shit my pants a little bit, because it’s one thing to be the out of shape media schmuck on the industry ride. He would have had similar things to say about everybody else if I let him get around to it. But when something concrete emerged, I started to realize that maybe I was getting in over my head a little bit.Įven just the invite list messed with my head, and Cooper (I think unknowingly?) decided to play psychological games in the week leading up to the event: “Seb Kemp? Seb Kemp is an animal! He’ll rip your arms off and slap you across the face with your own hands, all while laughing and plunging down a cliff face on his bicycle!” A few days later he followed with “Matt Beer! Matt Beer is so bloody fast! He’ll get there an hour late and still beat you down the hill.” Which aren’t actual quotes, but capture the gist of what he said. At first, it was easy to put these thoughts to the background as the plan wavered and changed and adapted. On that theme, one shouldn’t approach the launch event for the brand new Megatower without similar levels of trepidation. If you’re using it properly it should probably set your heartbeat racing a little bit even just contemplating upcoming rides. It’s a bicycle made to go fast and hit the big shit. That can be taken a number of ways, but what I’m driving at is that one should approach the riding of a Santa Cruz Megatower with a little trepidation.

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