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And itwas Fordwho found the underwear that became thenamesake of an infamous uphill.
“Riding along therewas a set of old, grungyundies, just sitting there. Andback in those days, bikes
were higher-geared, theydidn’t climbworth a shit. So I got a stick and grabbed the undies.Gerry
Goloski, JimTwining and a couple other guyswere trying tomake it up the hill.Twiningmade it the
furthest because hewas the smallest, sowe got the stick, and stuck the undies in the ground tomark
where he got to.Until next time, when someonemade it a little further.They swung there in the
woods for a couplemonths or something.Gradually as peoplemade it up further, the undiesmoved
upuntil theywere finally at the top.”
The trail has beenknown asUnderpantyHill ever since.
WhileFord andhis friends kicked a few trails inhere and there, theymostly rode the existing
doubletrack and theBruceTrail. Itwasn’t until themid-nineties that guys likeTerryGibson started
cuttingpurpose-built singletrack.Gibson, who’s known as SwearyTerry atCollingwood’sKamikaze
Bikes, just celebratedhis 70thbirthday.We should all wish tobe as fit asTerry at 70. “In themid-
to-latenineties the only trailswe hadwere theBruceTrail and a lot of doubletrack,” he recalls. “So
we started carving some singletrack. Itwas LoriMackie,CamHalliday andmyself.Wewere reading
about singletrack this and singletrack that all over the place, weweremadly into that. Sowe just
decided todo it.We tried todo it so itwas sustainablewithwater run-off. I don’t thinkwe ever cut
a tree down.We’d just find away around them.We hadno suspension sowewere looking for flowy
trails, not that techy.We didn’t knowwhatwewere doing, but figured, ‘Howhard can it be?’”To this
day that early singletrack is the backbone of the trail system atThree Stage.
“Itwas probably around2002when I put the first technical trail in,” saysGibson. “AndKamikaze
[Bikes] loved that because everyweekend guyswouldbe breaking crank arms, bustingup chainrings
andderailleurs.”ForGibson, theMillenniumTrail was the last trail he built. “TheMillennium
Trail goes down almost toUnderpantyHill. It’s a high-speed rockn’ roll trail. After that itwas just
maintenance,” he says. “I couldn’t go in therewithout stopping to fix something. It drovemenuts.
Now I let someone else get to it.”
And there are other guys todo it. “Some guyswent in afterme, putting in trails around the top, a guy
calledTodd, I don’t knowhis last name, I haven’t seenhim for years, he’dbe in there,” addsGibson.
“Sometimes I’d go ride in themorning, I’d see his car there, I’d come back at night andhe’d still be
there.He spent a lot of time in there.”
The list of names of people building trail grows every year.Guys likeBillTucker,HarryCummings
andSteveVarga have all put in their hours.Over time, as the trails have packed in, they’ve become
wider and smoother than ever before. And the tales of feral pigs, thenakedman andpoker runs
have attainedmythical status as they’ve passed fromone generation to thenext.The constant is that
someone is alwayswilling to add anew trail,maintain anoldone andkeep the dreamof an incredible
singletrackmountainbikingdestination alive.
“Over the years I’ve ridden everywhere,” saysGibson, “and Imean everywhere. I’ve travelled a
lot. Iwas on the road trucking and I’d always havemybikewithme. I’ve biked inArizona,Utah,
Colorado,California; I’ve hit them all. I’ve always said the trails aroundhere can comparewith trails
anywhere. And that’s not just the trails I put in, but the trails that have been added since then. It’s a
fabulous network.”
To theThree Stage trail builders of past, present and future, we here at
MountainLife
salute you.
There is little doubt that these are some of the best trails inOntario.
In other words, it was out with gas power and inwith pedal power.
TOP
MarkDanby, 1994. ROBBUCHANAN.
MIDDLE
RobBuchanan's
hands in the foreground andBert Tatham in front. Shotwith a self-timer
and aNikon F3bungee-corded tohis chest, 1992. ROBBUCHANAN
BOTTOM
RobBuchanan. CAROLYNBUCHANAN
