i've modded a hill! ('nother bike thread)

[tommymanta]

right ANOTHER thread for the appreciation of mountain bikers.
3 months of unemployment, no mates, no car to work on, nowhere to ride and no beer money resulted in me buying a folding trail spade and a mini saw and taking matters into my own hands.
i went into the wilderness, hiked into the most inaccessible part to avoid dog walkers (seemingly the only human life to ever visit the place), found the steepest hill, pointed my spade down it and started hacking. 9 non-consecutive hours later i arrived at the bottom and was ready to start riding.
i now have a fun and challenging trail minutes from my house hidden in previously impenetrable bush so i'm the only person alive that knows it's there.
anyway here's the evidence;

this is a 'before' shot of the first straight.

it was impossible to see where the trail would go s you couldn't walk around so i just started hacking and made it up as i went along.

this is it after some graft


this is a before shot of the steepest section


and this is it afterwards

i wasn't going to cut any trees down but i found the majority were dead and being held up by crazy vines and huge branches broke off in my hands which made the going easy. still took ages to clear millions of spiky wires and leafy stuff.

this is an attempt to show the gradient but it doesn't really translate how hard it is to ride



so i set out to use months of pent up energy and succeeded but then i landed a full time job so i've only been back to ride it a couple of times. i went up this morning in the mud and it was so much fun.

i'm a bit scared of going over the bars and impaling myself on a tree stump and nobody ever finding my body.

any thoughts?

[eddbmxdude]

Nov 14, 2008 14:04:18 GMT tommymanta said:

any thoughts?

COOL! ;D
I love riding down really steep hills on my bike, especially if there's loads of trees to avoid!

[reanimation]

What a star!, tis a scary time to ride as no traction or braking available without sliding, infact i slid on my ass laughing last time! tree stumps coulda made that more painful

[mym]

where abouts in sunderland is that then?

[street]

Excellent efforts, well done!

[tommymanta]

cheers for the compliments. i've never built a trail before but i'm sick of driving for hours to get to good spots so I thought i'd try to make something in my local woods. there's loads of green space where I live but nothing that was naturally fun to ride. hence the need for modding.

Nov 14, 2008 14:38:10 GMT mym said:

where abouts in sunderland is that then?

hmmmmm, you're not like, the 'bush police' or anything are you?

Nov 14, 2008 14:18:41 GMT eddbmxdude said:

COOL! ;D
I love riding down really steep hills on my bike, especially if there's loads of trees to avoid!

yeah so do i but this thing is daft. i haven't managed a clean run yet, as in making it down without dropping my feet, sliding out or hitting a tree. i really shouldn't be riding up there on my own!

[Filthyjohn]

Try answering the odd text if you want someone to ride with!

[MiniDave]

Hero! Congrats on the job, too.

[tommymanta]

Nov 14, 2008 15:44:50 GMT Filthyjohn said:

Try answering the odd text if you want someone to ride with!

my phone is as silent as the grave.

[Filthyjohn]

Is there summat up with it? Last weekend in sheff Neil tried to ring you and it wasn't working.

[alecw35]

theres the devils dump down the paths near me. is a big flat area at the bottom of a steep hill. I ride there sometimes. not on the hill though. Not fit enough.
The kids have got paths on the hill. Theyve made a wooden path there. Also 2 steep ramps on the flat ground.
But a huge tree has fallen between the hill and the ramps. must be 6 feet thick. so no point attacking it with a hand saw.

[Tim]

That looks like Lordswood

Might be out trailbuilding tomorrow actually, once ive found my mud tyres !

[jizzy gillespie]

Nov 14, 2008 18:48:32 GMT alecw35 said:

theres the devils dump down the paths near me. is a big flat area at the bottom of a steep hill. I ride there sometimes. not on the hill though. Not fit enough.
The kids have got paths on the hill. Theyve made a wooden path there. Also 2 steep ramps on the flat ground.
But a huge tree has fallen between the hill and the ramps. must be 6 feet thick. so no point attacking it with a hand saw.

build a mud ramp up it


that looks like a wicked little trail, a lot like my favourite out of the way downhill at hampsterley( great trail with a mental jump off the road between 2 fast sections) ;D its a great feeling hanging out over the back wheel, front just skipping the ground and no f*****Gway am I getting round that corner!!! theres a great spot in hamtser with some riduculous washed out steps that wrap around a tree. felt like the king first time I made it down those without beeding. ;D ;D ;D

must get out on my bike.

[Filthyjohn]

Why have we never had an RR meet at hamsterly? The 4X track owns.

[alecw35]

yeah geuss I could build a mud ramp up to the big tree trunk.

Its about 4 feet above the path though

[Marshall]

Good going, nothing more satisfying than building your own track. I've helped do a few over here now, I've stuck some photo's below of the latest track which I still haven't had time to ride....

Road Gap:




Rock Drop, steep landing straight into a bermed corner





Series of steps on corner





A few line choices.






Some good old Off Camber




Road Gap built, looks like it'll be a nice floaty jump and will be rebuilt with good wood when/if the DAFF let us use this as a permanent track.







Some pics of the structure linking two sections of track together......


















And a couple of clips....

www.pinkbike.com/video/37049/

www.pinkbike.com/video/37058/

[Fennec]

Well done!
[boring and sensible] My friend ended up in a coma for 6 weeks after coming off his bike on a homemade trail and hitting a tree head first! Be careful! [/boring and sensible]

[trg1984]

this isnt something id normally be interested in but its look brilliant, and very well made hope u have alot of fun on it

[mtet1101]

kool! i wanna go!

so about 2 years ago we started with this



then about 1 year ago it looked like this



and up until about 6 months ago they were still there, at which point they were flattened so more bloody houses could be built . sorry for the thread hijack

[deathgaytothemax]

well if you get stuck and want someone to ride with and weild a shovel.give me a shout,my sundays are quiet and dull as i don't work them anymore.