Transformers.....

I used to love that cartoon as a little kid, I was always fascinated. Well here is mine. This is a 12' long feature that can unfold to a 18" to 1 1/2" skinny ride. More Photos to come from this weekends Mountain Sports Festival.

Can you see it?

Yesterday was nicely refreshing, I got back to some work after chilling pretty hard for two days. I spent a bit of time on the computer and then followed up with a mountain bike ride and some diggin'.

Our home pump track in the park is in need of love, seeing as how I haven't really been able to pay attention to it, I started doing a bit of digging yesterday. It felt really good. I shaped on the lower berm a bit, it still needs loads more work to get the berm to feel consistent. It was originally two berms, with rollers for drainage, but the neighborhood folks couldn't really get it to work for them, so they made it one berm, but didn't make up for the two different radii. So, I worked with that some, and also started working out the upper area with the wallride. This never work. I don't really know why, but I aim to work through it in the next week or so. I think this little project will occupy my thoughts until NTD next weekend. I also need to build a few features tomorrow for the Mountain Sports Festival this weekend.

Drying out....

OUCH....My brain hurts.

This is the most physically and mentally exhausted I have ever been after a project. It is all in a good way, but over the last three weeks I lived life in the Red-line. Virginia and a bunch of great, super laid back land managers to Rapid City, South Dakota to participate in a Greek Tragedy...I think it is great the freeride trail is called the Phoenix, because it means the riders are used to things rising from the ashes, or FLOOD in this case.

The last two days in town were really exhausting from a social level too, we had nothing else to do because of the rain so it was Party Time. OUCH...

I am now back in North Carolina trying to do my best to recover and get the document for the folks out there lined up to give a certain level of continuity to the project. I hope to have finished photos to throw on here in about three weeks. I will be seeing these folks again in Park City and that will certainly be a HOOT!

It will still take a few days to recover from this one, but things are definitely good.

Rapid City Dirt Jump Build Day FINAL

AND THEN THE RAIN CAME...

Where to begin? I finished all the signage and was fully ready to install it when mother nature broke loose. Rapid City got over four inches of rain yesterday and needless to say with the DJ park in a flood plain they got flooded. Things held up remarkably well however. I am actually psyched I got to be on site for a big rain event like that. The levels were unbelievable. The entire site was flooded above grade and the water actually probably helped things to really solidify. Now the park will need to be closed for a week to settle, then next weekend hopefully folks can get all the finishing touches on everything and there will be a ribbon cutting on the 30th of July.

I can't wait to post fully finished photos. Here are some of the flood of '08.

Rapid City Dirt Jump Build Day 11 - 13

Yeah, things have been crazy, I will try and get ahead of the ball on this update. Things are almost finished. Jeff showed up on Monday and jumped right on it. Within 10 minutes of him being here we saw a rattler at the creek crossing into the jump park. Needless to say he is going home with a souvenir. We looked over the expert and pro line and he got his mind pretty well wrapped around the whole thing. Then, yesterday, it was GAME ON...we got the three main features in that line finished and they look great. The evening brought a sweet session with people riding all of the lines. Today, the boys are working in the pit while I am trying to get things wrapped up. The weather looks like it will be turning against us for the time being as well, but we will see if she holds. So, now I am off to do the signs and run a few errands for the fellas.

Rapid City Dirt Jump Build Day 10

Today was mostly a ride day. We did move a bit of stuff around in the intermediate set, and the hydro seed also got laid. For the next week things will be crazy as Jeff is in town and we need to finish the expert and pro sections.

Rapid City Dirt Jump Build Day 9

Things are coming along nicely. A great looking fence now surrounds the park and really helps to make it pop. The upper pump track was finished yesterday and it is now getting dialed in by the locals. They are beginning to understand pump track obsession. The local kids are killing it too. Check out the 360. Today is dialing in the intermediate line, working out things overall and beginning to push into the expert lines. What a great day.

Rapid City Dirt Jump Build Day 7 & 8

GAME ON!!!

The beginner line is done and the intermediate is on its way. The kids have already begun ripping the stuff that is finished and this weekend will probably see 100 folks at the site. Enjoy the photos.

Rapid City Dirt Jump Build Day 6

Today was mostly house keeping and getting the beginner line dialed in. The moisture was really a problem today and we got rained on a little bit as well, however it was the last of a slow moving front and they are calling for great weather the next week. Here are some photos of the work from yesterday, check out the bench. There was a HUGE log ride that maybe four people had ever hit called "Great White" we decided to pay homage to it by using the log and remnants to create benches in various locations around the park. This is really getting to be a ton of fun. We are shooting for the beginner line to be ridden this afternoon and to work on placing the dirt for the intermediate line today. The weekend is coming fast and we will see how the crowd pans out.

Rapid City Dirt Jump Build Day 5

We are really making some progress, the roller line was completed yesterday and all of the dirt on that side of the project has been moved. Today the goal is to get the beginner jump line completed. I also finished up the signage and will hopefully be getting some proffs back from the city in the next few days. We are getting out of what the machines will be capable of and moving into the handwork portions of the project. So far the volunteer turn out has been astounding. Every day after school there are no les than 20 kids on site working super hard. But, that also means we have 20 riders getting better every afternoon. Enjoy the pictures from yesterday, and enjoy your day.

Rapid City Dirt Jump Build Day 4

Monday, Monday.....Lalalala.

Great day in the park yesterday. Things looked dreary at first and I certainly had my doubts about whether the weather would hold off or not and at last it did. The sky turned sunny and a bit breezy, helping to dry things out some more. The soil is turning just about perfect, a bit of moisture, but not soup. Here are a few photos of the completed and enjoyed pumptrack, the finished log rides and the borrow pit. Hopefully today we will finish the borrow pit and get all of the dirt placed on the easiest side of the DJ park. Come on out if you are from the area, check things out and throw a little dirt.

Rapid City Dirt Jump Build Day 3

Okay, another day in the books. Things went really well. We got the lower pump track finished and most of the area graded, now it is a matter of moving LOTS of dirt for the jumps. A lot of folks came out and there was generally a great level of stoke. Here are a few pictures.

Rapid City Dirt Jump Build Day 1 & 2

I flew in yesterday at about 3:00 and it was GO!!! from the get....go. I went to the site with Dirk, here he is happy and ready.



Then, I went to buy a new camera so I could actually snap some shots for today. I am going to do my best to update at least every other day, as much for myself as for anything else. The build is going as planned. Rapid City has gotten a ton of snow in the last little while and has received a bit of rain in recent days as well, so things were a bit soupy, however, we achieved most of what I wanted to today. I wanted to get the silt fencing in, dig a test well and grade the site down. The silt fence was no problem. We have some moisture issues to deal with however. We hit water at about six feet at the back of the well and about 18" at the front. Seems there is a layer of clay under all of the good silt. So, tomorrow we will dig out the borrow pit and may have to rotate the dirt to let it dry out for a few days. Ah, mother nature, she always has a sense of humor.









Tomorrow it is log rides, grading for the upper pump track and starting the borrow pit. Wish us luck, and positive vibes. Finally, a BIG THANKS to Dirk, Tim, Kelly, Matt, Bill, Jerry, Dave and ALL THE RAPID CITY FOLKS.

Ben

Stop and GO!!!!!!!

I just got home from here in the last little bit and am worked. I went with Trail Dynamics and did a bit of trail building training to get the state park staff rolling. The Virginia state park folks are some of my favorite people to work with in the country.

I now need to sack out to get up at 4:30 tomorrow morning to head to Rapid City, South Dakota. I will be away from home for 2 weeks, it will be a bit surreal, but the great thing about it is the development of some skills and a new relationship. I will be working side by side with Jeff Lenosky in the last part of the project. I hope things go well so I can have a pro rider that is well skilled to bring in on other large projects like this. I think he will have fun.

For now arriva derchi...(sp?), I will do my best to keep things updated with photos.

PMBAR....

Last week was fairly chill, but it was the calm before the PMBAR storm. The Pisgah Mountain Bike Adventure race is one of those local events that is truely creative and unique.

My day started at 5:30 in the am, on my road bike pedaling over to my buddy Andy's house to pick up my car, yeah left it there the night before. I wasn't taking the race very seriously. I arrived at the race venue in "the cove" around 7:15 after a quick stop to the grocery store for some supplies. When I rolled up it looked like the circus had come to Pisgah. From there I went into a frenzy of preparing and realized regardless of the checkpoints, I was gonna have fun today.

The checkpoints ended up being in just the right places to allow my team mate and I to get in a nice little 7:30 hour ride. It was great, we were all in a little pack throughout the race and had a blast. My memory of the race will always be there, but you would be reading a novel to get it into print. I will think of some good moments in the day to try and pass along.

Today is crazy. I am leaving for VA around 2 this afternoon, and then when I get back I immediately leave for the South Dakota job. I still need to finish packing and I still don't have a working camera. Wow, lots to do. I apologize for the scattered state, but well....lots to do. Enjoy your day, and ride your bike.