Joel Says : The Tanabe section is named after the guy who first cut it, and the rest of the original trail for that matter, Dr. Tanabe. Dr. 'T' as we would call him in the bike shop is one of the fastest riders around and a technical wizard when it comes to the intracasies of bike parts. However you would never guess from his age: I believe he is right around 60! Nate and I spent a lot of time grooming this trail, and it needed it. Originally after is was first cut it was still almost indistinguishable from the rest of the woods however after hours of work we managed to create it into a smooth, quick section with a new exit/entrance to the rest of the UH trail. This was also our first venture into the building of stunts. We managed to haul a ton of logs, rocks and dirt (with tools we found lying around) to build a big berm, and reinforce other off camber parts. Nate painstakingly hauled and shaved down a section of Mango tree that intially was part of a small bridge and was later incorporated into a very difficult stunt; a bridge I helped Dr. Tanabe build that went through a 'Y' section of a short tree. The quality of the stunt is top notch though, with the treated lumber Dr. T bought, and Nate's mango log, the death bridge will be there for years and years. Although the information is still classified, Nate and I did start contruction on a secret stunt somewhere around the extended section, but that is a story for another time. |
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Nate Says: Mike Tanabe set this part of the trail on a particular Friday when I was in his Bike Class. He told the class that he was taking us somewhere on campus that no one had ever ridden including himself, and I scoffed to myself (I had been everywhere). He showed us the new section and we took the first ride through that section of the trail and he asked that we ride it as much as possible in the future to help trample the grass. A week later and tons of hours of maintenance Joel, Sadie and I made that trail look like it had been there for years. We raked every part of it in one afternoon, created a banked corner, straightened out some of the anti-flowing corners, and groomed it to perfection. All while keeping our eyes out for centipedes hiding in the weeds and grass. Later, I hauled a six foot long by two foot thick piece of a mango tree a quarter mile from another section of the trail to create a bridge through a 'Y' section of a tree (pictured below). The tree had to weigh in at over 200lbs before I hacked it to a flatter, more rideable shape. Now this section has nice, fast flowing turns, a bridge leading to a 3 foot drop, a rock garden and banked corners. All of which we have to thank Tanabe for creating the initial template for us to build on. |
Near the new entrance to the trail, at the end of a small road which runs along a deep drainage ditch. When I first arrived in Hilo I thought that road 'was' the UH Trail! |
Approaching the V-shaped tree which would later have a bridge run up and over it. Prime centipede territory! |
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The first initial bridge and the mango tree laying next to it. Nate shaved down that whole, incredibly dense tree with a machete. |
Directly after the bridge in the previous picture is the birm. We would later build it even large. Right over the birm was a tree just heavy with avadcados. I miss those so much. |
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Right after the birm, a smooth curvy section that would get really muddy after the rains. |
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