Friday and Interesting developements...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV19InMqicI

Don't know why, but all you web savy or finance oriented folks check out how they have disallowed inlaying the video into the HTML code. Yeah, notice the advert....yeah, capitalizing on the masses...boo...

On the other end of the spectrum check out an ancient Chinese Art...they had the book at the Trails Symposium...awesome world we live in, depth...suiseki.com

Closing a chapter...

arfreeriders.com


Today is catch up. This will mark the end of a very busy push to work through the fall. First, an awesome discovery, fire hoses and the fire department make a spectacular water source. Dump 1500 gallons easily onto a park over a cup of coffee.


Now the hard truth. Projects over 2 weeks in the spring or fall get rain. Its not the water that seems to hurt as much as the momentum kill on the project. This is one to be thought heavily about through the winter. Over the next week it is catching up on the work at hand and trying to outfit the new truck for Santos. Photos of this to come. For now I leave you with the photo. I don't know why but there is an epic in the making.

Where to begin?

The end of the work at Burns Park. I suppose that is a good spot.

IMBA and Progressive look over the progress.




Check this out. Look in the "ActiveStyle" section to read about yours truly from an alliterated perspective. The author certainly picked up on some very specific themes from the build. But it does make the story more interesting.

Now, I will move on to the National Trails Symposium. This is the largest gathering of trail users of ALL types in the country. There is everything from horseback riders to canoe paddlers. I had the pleasure (thanks Scott) to present about Pocket Bike Parks. It was my first time presenting in public and it was exhilarating. I even dressed up. It kind of blew everyone away and was a blast, pun intended.

It was so interesting to meet people with so many varying perspectives that all seem to point in the same direction and it was a delight to be a part of such an eclectic crowd.

Today, I bought a new truck and am currently making my way home. Then, on to Santos. Hopefully I will have some time later for a more in depth recap of all of the things that happened this last week. But, for now, have a great week and Wednesday check out freewillastrology.com to see what the stars have to say about your week.

Enjoy the links and the electronic trail you can build with them.

The Vision...

North Little Rock Certainly has its fair share of people with "vision". The folks here are great at seeing big things and working towards making them happen. I have been very happy to help a few people see their visions realized.



Tomorrow marks the arrival of the Progressive boys. We got a few rain drops through out last night and today, but it seems to have helped more than hindered. Look for some big air in the next post.

“The Bombing Range” Weekend Workparty

WOW! What a great weekend. We got so much done. I don’t know if having more people could have helped. We shaped most of the stuff we could by hand and really, got things dialed. The pump track and intermediate line could still use a bit of tweaking, but they always can. We had a total of probably 40 people show up to lend a hand or check things out throughout the weekend. The riding in the evening really set the stage for this place to be quite the little scene.



Saturday started out a bit slow. Then, the boys from Russellville showed up and seemed to bring the troops with them. We got the beginner line flowing and started work on the intermediate stuff. The first two hits started feeling choice and the beginner line felt great. There will be transfer and hip options galore in this place.

After the workday yesterday we treated folks to an evening show of bike movies and BBQ, turned into a great way to shut down the park last night.



Today was also good. We had about the same turnout for workers and got the pump track riding. We also got the big step-up at the beginning of the expert line going. This was great because it was a single hit the boys were able to sky.



Oh, my favorite part of the weekend? Using a fire truck a second time to water a project, yeah I am really gonna have to try and make that happen some more.



Next week I will be working with the guys from Progressive Trail Designs to get the expert and advanced lines hitting well, then we will be full steam ahead going into the weekend and the National Trails Symposium.

Everybody's working for the weekend....

Okay the sun has set on the first real push week of the Burns Park Dirt Jump Park a.k.a. "The Bombing Range". This place is gonna be awesome.

Here is a text book example of a Dirt Jump Roll-in, notice the only water that will be running down the face is the water that falls on it. It also lends to a really cool pump for the first move and prevents idiots from charging head long into the jump line. "Speed check please, thank you....."



Here you can see the lines coming together and the advanced stuff in comparison to the beginner lines. After the workdays this weekend the place should look very different.



Lots of photos to come next week. Hopefully some choice riding ones.

what a crazy last couple days.

What a NUTTY last couple days. I won't go into to many details but for those who know, here is the aftermath. For those who don't ask me about the picture of the black hole in the future.

Yesterday was a bit of a productivity bust, but in true crazy build style today I had seven guys on site cranking out some awesome work. I hope to have a good day tomorrow even in the rain.

Here is a photo of one hard workin' hammer slinging dude. This is Ryan and he is the man. Check him and his work so far out.




We have the roller line done and really sessioned it like crazy tonight, it was nice to get on the bike and rip tonight. We also started dialing in the pumptrack and laying out the advanced line.



This is Kit, the other guy who has been pushing this thing through. He has managed to sell ice to Eskimos. He is the best. Check him out in the skidder. He is really having a good time in this little machine.



Tomorrow it is getting the advanced line on the ground. Finishing the tool shed/double wall ride/step-up platform. This place is gonna be SIIIIIIICK.

NLR Full Speed Ahead...I don't know what day it is.

Well things have been hauling over the weekend. The park is taking shape and over the next couple of days, it should all start tightening up. This weekend the plan is a huge volunteer day both Saturday and Sunday. I hope there will be around a hundred folks. Here are photos of the work so far, not just the tools that are doing it.

NLR DJ Park Day 3

Argenta, AR Dirt Jump Park…North Little Rocking out. Well, the last couple of days have been insanely good. I was called in to help build a DJ park in North Little Rock at Burns Park and was given a “good luck” on the way. Two weeks to drop a premier DJ park in the locals laps. I think it’s gonna happen.

So far I have changed the design a couple of times, picked out the actual site in the base of an old shale quarry, graded and prepped the site (Thank You NLR Parks and Rec.) and begun digging a HUGE borrow-pit. I also found out the Ark. Dept. of Environmental Quality has been to the site with white gloves and now have to really consider all of the storm-water management for an old quarry, DOH!

Digging down and I found dirt very similar to that in Rapid City; a lesson is coming out of this one, I’m just not sure what the solution is. Saturated dirt that is buried six feet down in borrow-pits makes for hard stuff to work. So I am going to try and figure out how to keep mixing it to break it up and dry it out; and hope it doesn’t rain.

The Dirt Jumps have a lot of potential, and will tie into a larger free-ride area inside the quarry over the next five to ten years. The opportunity to build something here is amazing and the city already wanted the space to be an “extreme sports park” in their master plan, so they have been great to work with once I got on the ground. It seems to be a theme, at all of the jobs, that you can’t really get a lot done in the prelim until you get to meet people on the ground.

Okay the photos…TOYS, I mean tools and A BIG HOLE they dug.