Done with Wakefield

And, I'm spent. Well, the berms have been cleaned up and reworked and the final product has received unanimous approval from the riders.



The week ended with a couple of other cool things too. Check out the size of the turtle in this shot. A HUGE snapping turtle was crossing the road on Saturday and then today we walked down to the 495 jumps. Whenever I am around a "local spot" I like to check it out. Bummer on this one is because it isn't well designed it was too wet to hit today. Ironically the conditions were perfect for digging, yet nobody was. Whatever. I do miss having my own place to call "the home jumps" at times.

Showmewhatchaworkinwit.....

Wednesday was a crazy start to the Wakefield project with IMBA. Common to working around lots of machines was....broken machines. The day started out well enough, our job while here is to do maintenance on the berms on the power line cut at the park. One of the berms was to be totally rebuilt and reshaped to fix some of its issues. So the morning started well enough working on getting the site prepped and then moving dirt when, snap, CrAcKlE, POP! The rental skid steer track broke. DOH! So we worked around the issue and the rental comapny came to look it over and told us they would fix it the next day. Then, the 650 started overheating. What a day.







But, alas all was not lost. Thursday came together beautifully and all machines are now fixed and up and running. Jenn got all but two of the berms cleaned up and the new berm is now shaped and seeded and strawed. I will be taking photos this morning and getting them up later this weekend. For now it is back at it today, then a work party weekend.

Okay, stop and take a breath...

What a crazy week. While in H'burg I was convinced to layout and drop dirt on a new pumptrack deemed "The People's Pumptrack". I got a few little treats in exchange and hopefully helped relieve some people of a little stress.



Then, it was off to the MORE-IMBA Stokesville festival to spend the Memorial Day Weekend. We helped the good boys at IMBA build a couple of skills elements, and while at it we had the wood, SOOOO.....I built a sweet kicker.




Finally, I got to get some good long rides in, along the VA mountains and saw some amazing views. I leave you with this one. Next week is off to a few days work at Wakefield Park in VA then on to Philly, Chambersburg and NH.

Meditate on this.

Watch and learn.

Harrisonburg...the one week office

I am in Harrisonburg hanging out for a few days before the Stokesville festival working on getting things in line for later this Summer and early Fall. Yesterday I spent the day working on the computer and working on our trailer, then went off and played at the flow track in Harrisonburg. Here is a photo of one of the kids rippin' while Rich is talking to the city folks about what the facility has and what it needs. Maybe more about that later this week.

Richmond River Rock Revilry...or R4

What a Blur of a couple Days, James River trails are SICK, Nate and Jimi, you guys enjoy your canvas.

Above and below are photos from the weekends River Rock Speed-style contest put on by Jeff Lenosky and Sports Backers. This festival was a first annual event and reminded me a lot of the first of the Mountain Sports Festivals in Asheville that occurred in downtown. I have known a few of the riders in the contest for a long time and was asked to help by judging...RAD. This was a competition of which I have been dreaming for years, combine speed and trickery in a contest to find the truly most well rounded rider. These guys NAILED IT. Great job ya'll.

This event combined with a few other festivities did a great job involving the crowd and drawing interest to mountain biking and the cycling lifestyle. I was so glad to attend this event and to get to participate in such a great festival. Thanks to everyone who made it possible.

Well....

Okay, so a few things have shifted in the schedule as they tend to do when the year is in swing. So we found ourselves in Raleigh as planned. Man, that could be REALLY COOL. Hopefully more to report there soon. Then, the Outer Banks for a day, loads of good meditating there, I will elaborate later. Finally we have found ourselves in Richmond, the city Asheville wishes it was. Check the photos of a climbing area downtown, and mountain bike trails DOWNTOWN, and a kayaking river DOWNTOWN, and a sports festival DOWNTOWN....but wait there is more. Check out the photos and I think we will stay here for a couple days. Photos of the weekend festival to come.

Opening Day...City Lake Park

Great to see everyone come out and enjoy a little time in the park today. Now it is on to Raleigh then some R & R at the Outer Banks and finally up to Fairfax, VA.

Albemarle Day 10...DONE

Well, the build is done. We finished right about quitin' time and I am now drinking a COLD BEER.....Ahhhhhh. Some more tweaking than usual will be needed as there just weren't many riders out there today, but I feel like I am leaving the park in capable hands with Josh and Jamie. Good Luck guys. Tomorrow will involve riding and maybe a little bit more dialing in. For now enjoy the pre-may lay photos.

Albemarle Day 9

What a GREAT day, we got the rock section done, just need to set dirt around one more feature and most of the pumptrack is dug. Now it is time to start dialing in the pumptrack and setting up the seed and straw. This weekend is going to see kids going NUTZ on the Albemarle Pocket Bike Park. Tomorrow afternoon will be all about the ride.

Albemarle Day 8

Well only a couple more days to get everything wrapped here in the middle of the state. Today was good, we finished the rock garden and got the switchback practice area done. It will get a few more lifts tomorrow, but wanted to let it get rained on a bit to settle before we finished it. We had a few folks stop by this after noon to help and inquire and it never fails that once you get to about half way people can see the vision and get excited. Tomorrow will be good, enjoy the photos.

Albemarle Day 7

Today was too much work to snap many photos, we positioned all of the rocks and are now digging the pumptrack. BIG PROPS for Josh, Justin and Richard for all of their help today, you guys really put the wind back in the sails. Thanks.

In the afternoon, we got some more rain to help the moisture level in the soil, so we'll be digging heavy tomorrow.

Albemarle Day 6

Pretty simple day, got the log rides done, just a couple more little details. I did get to ride the logs today and that makes me happy. Here are the fruits of toil and the start of the soil...ha. Well tomorrow is mas pumptrack diggin and starting the rock section. Should be fun.

Albemarle Day 5

I am searching for prophetic words tonight and can't seem to find any. So I guess you get a Sunday evening play report from the day. More log ride area. today we finished prepping the area to drill and place rebar. So I guess you could call the area "done". The log overs will be moved into the sides of the rollers on the pumptrack, but I need to get the flow on that done first so, that will wait for assembly. The only other possible mod is to have to add short cut sections in the log turns to help folks navigate them, but I have to flow check it first and see how hard they are.

Today's play by play involves a lesson in timber framing. Use a razor blade to make your cuts, not a butter knife. The following sequence shows marking the cut with the little saw and a nice tight fit equals hammertime when done. That is a good thing.




This is just a shot of the work site mid day with production in full swing.



What I think will be the most popular feature. It follows all I learned at IMBA for a structure of this style, 24" off the ground and widens to 12" at the peak, very fun to build.



Finally a top view of the "mostly" finished log ride area. Next is pumptrack start and the rocks will begin on Tuesday.

Albemarle Day 4

Logs, logs and logs. Today consisted of trying to get the log rides squared away and ready to drill for rebar on Monday. Check out the photos of timber framing bliss. Dovetail joints and wedging an H together to steady the logs and prevent rocking and rolling.




This is the end result of today's efforts. A few log overs in place and the log snake on the ground and bound together.



This shot covers what the rigging system looks like and has a few riders in the background proving that folks do in fact ride mountain bikes in the town of Albemarle. I am really psyched about next weekend.



Tomorrow we try to get the U-turn together and begin work on the elevated log feature (rainbow).

Albemarle Day 3

Good day. A few photos and not much to say. Oh, except I look like a DORK in the skyline photo, it's amazing how much that winch has come in handy.