FEATURED KNATION RIDER

Grassroots Rider/Builder: Daniel Shaw Location: North Vancouver, BC Your social handles: @danielshaw17 What Knolly do you ride: Fugitive LT





What is your proudest race moment? I just found out that I won the 2018 Canadian National Enduro Series overall championship! This is a huge accomplishment for me and I am super proud to be recognized by them. I trained hard this past year, raced consistently and as a young rider, I cannot wait for next season. I’m hoping for another big year!

When did you get into riding and building? Growing up on the North Shore has been a dream playground for me. As a kid, I always loved exploring our backyard trails, building new lines with my best friend’s Dad and started racing at the age of 15. I learned the art of crafting a good trail, ensuring that we create solid design, planning and execution at every level. At an early age, I was inspired to ride hard, develop my technical skills and cultivate a love for the sport. Moving into my twenties I embraced this passion and committed to a race and builder career.



In 2017, I was honored to be hired as a full time North Shore Mountain Bike Association (NSMBA) builder. This non-profit community organization makes our trails accessible to everyone. For this year, they’re aiming to reach 15,000 volunteer hours (and 2500+ members) by organizing trail days and events throughout the season with local riding groups, shops and businesses. With this hard work and dedication, they’re supporting all levels of riders and building our network in a positive, healthy way.

What’s your proudest trail project? One of my favorite personal projects that I’ve been recently working on is a local trail called Bobsled. This is one of the most well used routes on the Shore because it’s popular with riders of all levels. There are so many new and young riders ripping it up on this track. I love building the berms to perfection and ensuring that the trail is running super smooth, so that when I see kids riding hard with huge grins on their faces, I know I’ve done my job well. It’s my way of giving back, to a community and sport I love.



Does building trails full-time makes it hard to get race training in? Honestly there are days that my body is tapped but as soon as I get rolling on my bike, my love for riding takes precedent. For the 2019 EWS season, I’m aiming for a top 30 result. It’s a huge goal but I know this past year I’ve learned a ton and gained new experiences that will make me stronger. Last month at Crankworx Whistler, I struggled in stage one/two and knew I had to not only focus but crank through the last three stages to reach my goals. I ended up riding hard, gained time and finished strong.





In the years to come, I know that I’ll always be involved in our local trail network riding new lines and helping preserve the classics. Our ride community is growing and I am excited to see how we can work collectively to continue to build a thriving network.