I often cut through a small strip of woodland alongside the road to get to a mates house, there’s currently a bit of a track which has a few old jumps (the builders of which have probably now discovered girls and beer and given up on them!) the existing track has the potential to be really fun, but needs a bit of grooming. I have no idea who owns the land or whether or not they even know the track/jumps are there. I’m tempted to do a bit of digging to make them flow a bit better, nothing too much, mostly making the existing jumps a bit less harsh and far more ride-able (including making the daft doubles with deep pit between roll-able!). So my point is, should I do it and if so please share some tips for not drawing too much attention and things to think about to make it slightly less hard-work and fun to ride. Thanks.

I don’t see any issues if you are thinking of making something existing safer and note ridable. Get some extra bodies to give you a hand and don’t rush it. Are there any trail building groups nearby? That way you could maybe pick up some tips and recruit some helpers. If the landowner hasn’t flattened the existing stuff you’d probably be OK if you approached them but there’s probably no advantage in doing it at the moment.

little and often so as not to draw attention if you spend to long i.e all day your going to run into the land owner sooner or later and they might not be happy 👿 so better to stop while passing through and change/modify little bits at a time so it doesn’t get noticed 😉

Cheers both, there’s not much mountain biking in the immediate area (apart from a few bridal-paths etc) so no trail building groups, although I do have a few mates who’d help. I like the idea of little and often, however what’s the best way (is it better to hide a cheap spade somewhere and hope it’s not found or get a folding spade and stick it in a backpack)?

ex army folding spade can be used for digging,hoeing and general chopping/thrashing(nettles) and folding saw for pruning tree branches both fit in a decent sized pack would add a swiss army type knife for general small cutting jobs and some para cord for tying things together,all of the above can be brought super cheap from your local army surplus store or ebay.
wouldn’t hide anything as if found will either get nicked or give the game away to what your up to,pack it in pack it out and tidy up after your self and don’t go in mob hand too many of you and the land owner will find out like I said ninja style works best good luck 😉

p.s should add look at IMBA website for tips for trail building 🙂

As above, army surplus folding spades are good and a folding saw. A bow saw can also be useful, and maybe some pruning shears for little stuff. Oh, and some gloves, or your hands will get shredded.