Old quarry – new trail(building)

I invited a couple of riding buddies over on Saturday to help with testing duties. Didn’t have the camera though so took a run up this morning in between rain showers. First vid is from the tipity top but since messed up the last drop i had another go on just the lower half (it’s got a bit more gradient). I really need to get fitter 😀

Apologies for any swearing

Had to remove them ^^ in case my kids heard daddy cuss 😳

Fear not as i’ve seamlessly combined them and added some music for your viewing and listening pleasure.

That, Sir, is very cool. Good work.

Good stuff – it puts the trails we’ve built in our local woods to shame!!

Like. Jealous too 🙂

Yeah, that looks really fun.

Fantastic,..how much are the bacon and egg butties at the cafe going to be? 😀

As I can’t see a barrow, I presume you used your gorilla tub? Top work 🙂

Thanks lads. I must say i’m pretty chuffed and relieved with how it’s turned out so far – especially the last half as i didn’t ride it until Saturday. Would have broke my heart if it didn’t flow. Luckily it’s really fun and seems to work (all those dry runs pretending the spade was my bars paid off 😀 ).

Bacon sarnies will be free! And yes it was mostly done with a bucket and spade. The barrow gave up after the first day.

If you’re think of building a trail – do it! I’ve enjoyed every minute so far (except from having to wash poo off the dog every time she goes up) and now i’ve somewhere really handy to get my winter adrenaline fix.

Looks great. I was looking for inspiration for a trail I am building in the forest. It is very open with lots of nice sandy/clay soil and the odd big boulder/rock. So far built a gap jump over a dyke, a drop off and a few pump humps. Your track does not look like it has that much drop, is that right? The place where I am building is a bit like that so have you any tips for making/maintaining flow and speed? So far I have built some small berms and tried to sculpt the bumps so that you can pump them. I think I will have to concentrate on each bit. I did the gap jump when I built it but now it is a bit wet so can’t get that much ‘controlled’ speed.

With the local trails we have built (East Sussex) I often find there is “Too much” height loss, so you are needing to lose speed, not gain it. A flowy trail with only a gentle slope builds speed very quickly.

Your track does not look like it has that much drop, is that right?

Yeah. The top section if fairly flat and pedally but the gradient gradually increase as you get towards the bottom. It was kind of intentional as i was trying to milk the terrain as much as possible. The only place you need to brake is just before the first two small drops so it’ll save on pad wear 😉 I just left a bit of space before each feature to squeeze a few cranks in if needed.

As for maintaining flow, look out for natural crests and dips in the land and try to incorporate them if possible. Anywhere you can get some free speed is good. Build your landings and berms solid so you don’t loose any speed on them. I wouldn’t worry too much about sculpting them just yet. They’ll find their own shape when you ride them a bit. Getting the drainage right will help too, but if you’ve got sandy/clay (jammy git) you shouldn’t have too many worries.

I did the gap jump when I built it but now it is a bit wet so can’t get that much ‘controlled’ speed.

It can be tricky building at this time of year. What works now probably wont when things dry out a bit and visa versa. I’m already thinking of increasing the size of the jumps on mine, but i’ll probably save that until late spring.

Stick up a few pics sure. Always like to see other peoples work 😀

Here are a few picks of what I have been up to today.

This is a trail I have been working on for a bit. Nice swoopy trail though forest with nice rolling dips. Big rock that I turned into a little drop:

Over a road and over a small gap jump.

I heighten it a bit as the landing was up hill.

Been cycling past this for a while wondering if I could dare drop it.

Cleared a run up and did one line. Will have to go back to do the other one and leave the biggest to the DH riders.

And this is the rock from the bottom.

Love that mini cliff. Be a shame not to go off the bigger side. It would take a bit of graft but 10′ would only be about 6-7 once the landing was built and you’d get some squirt of it. You could do an alternate round side and down the slight slope at the front (in the 4th pic) and hip onto the landing of the 10’er 😀