Halloween Eve

No real updates for today, I guess or yesterday. Just trying to re-establish myself into the daily grind.

I went up to the Barnardsville project both yesterday and today and finished flagging Phase 2. That is going to be one nutty build. Lots of crazy rock outcroppings and some HUGE oaks. For now I will be doing some finish work and trying to catch up to the machine. The score goes like this. Machine is run by a local guy, old loggin dude. It's a five foot, nine inch wide excavator that has been laying down some good looking trail. But, most of it is only half bench so it will be interesting to see how it seasons. I want to just deroot the tread and leave the backslope a little more rustic. It is for the most part properly sloped, just want to see if the backslope pushes everyone to the outside. If not it should naturalize more quickly still allowing a solid two and a half to three foot sustainable tread. We will see how it goes. I was a bit aprehensive to the size of the excavator at first, but seeing the rock in the next section the extra horse power will be welcome. Friday I will head back up to do finish and get some more photos.

Tommorrow I will be doing mostly office stuff and picking up the key to the Forest Service gates to start looking at the budget for the Green's Lick bulletproofing. I think it is going to be crazy expensive but I hope to get some serious help from SORBA main.



The Photo shows the "hardening" technique on jump landers. I am also thinking some sweet chokes with huge rocks and armoring a few new berms. I think a group of 150 people descending on Bent Creek for a Saturday workday would be AWESOME! Get involved and you can play too.

South Dakota...WOW!!

Having traveled the country I have been to what are considered some of the "coolest towns" in the country. I even live in one of them. But, Rapid City showed me a better time than I ever could have imagined. The place had great riding, great sites, and great people. Thank you South Dakota.

I was there to look at a site for a potential dirt jump park in downtown. It was perfect. There was great emergency management access the location was easy to access for users and the terrain and dirt were ideal. Everyone from FMG Engineering was amazing; super nice and very helpful with regards to creating a professional looking conceptual drawing. The people with the local club, Dirk and Tim especially, were fantastic. After creating a concept for the park and looking at some additional sites early in the week, it was on to a mechanized training in the Black Hills National Forest. The views from Buzzards Roost were outstanding and I think it could potentially be one of the best riding areas in the region.

Now for pictures. I was at Mount Rushmore so there is a shot from there. One of the boys building some sweet machine cut trail. One that lends itself to a great joke: "howmany mnt. bikers does it take to change a Ditch Witch track?" And what ever other great photos I could cram on here. There will be a lot more about Rapid City in the future as I hope to go back there and be the contractor on the dirt jump build.

Again, Rapid City is amazing......if you go look up Acme bikes, Tim is an awesome guy and the shop has that real bike shop vibe.

-Ben

Any Given Sunday

Wow, last night I went camping down along Yellow Gap with some friends. Then woke up this morning and went to Bent Creek to ride the pumptrack that the neighborhood made a few tweeks on. They removed the berm-roller roller-berm and replaced it with one long berm. Feels pretty good but could use a few tweeks to the bottom berm to make it feel long and tight, bit of a dead spot in it right now. But, while I was there three little girls came rolling up and one of them was PINNING IT! I shot this picture of her charging the berm at the bottom.

Then, went to Kennilworth and finished up the pumptrack in the private backyard. We BBQ'd and it got broken in really nice. As always a few tweeks will be perfect. I am learning these things take an eye and patience to understand it is a dynamic network for the first month or so. I hope to get some more of these on the ground thanks to this track.

Well First thing tommorrow A.M. I am off to Rapid City South Dakota. Gonna hopefully help the local club figure out how to design and get permission for a legal jump park. Wish me the best...I really don't enjoy flying. This also means I will be out of touch for a while....soo maybe have a great story for ya'll when I get back.

-Ben

Another Day In Paradise.

Today was GREAT. Woke up with Skye and had a wonderful morning. Her and Kate had a bunch of great stuff to do so I made my way out to Barnardsville to Chip's and looked over some of the best trail I have honestly ever seen. This is not just because I designed it this is because you can't mess up the palate you are given there.

Also, I just downloaded a few images from two of the pumptracks I recently did. One is in Bent Creek the other is in a backyard in Kennilworth. These things really are becoming sooo fun to build and it is coming together so quickly with the great people I have been privileged to work with.

Today I guess is more of a visual day. I also just went and rode Green's Lick, Wolf Branch and Sidehill. Three of the trails I will be helping S.O.R.B.A. maintain this year. I am psyched on what is possible in Bent Creek. The ride? Well, eight got munched on the climb...I love knowing how to ride a mountain bike; and six got munched on the descent....Oh life is good AT SPEED...BRRAAAPPPPP!

Hope your day was bright, clear and fall-like too..

-Ben

In the beginning

Okay here is my foray into the webbed world. I am here to tell about life, work and play, while perhaps gaining some insight from self exploration along the way. Feel free to look up any of the links I have added. I will be updating the blog as often as possible, however life has other plans at times. So if I've recently worked with you or your group please don't be upset if it takes a bit to get a story up.

Today was good. Working on Ben Hinker's pumptrack this morning and got a little rain. That is actually a great thing, but it did keep me from getting everything one hundred percent dialed. I will be finishing things up Sunday morning. This will make pumptrack number three in Asheville. I have a few ideas to throw around out there in the future. Pumptrack / Alleycat race? How about a try for the pumptrack world championships during mountain sports festival.

Enjoy the ride and we will all make the world a better place. -Ben