Mountain Biking - Trail Build Journal

We're building a trail. Here goes...

- Trailblazing -


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Excellent.

Love the blue shoes and red pants. Power Ranger?

AWESOME! good to see another builder. I was out diggin on my project this morning. Cant wait to see this progress.

That power ranger look-alike is my good buddy Dave. He's sporting some orange chainsaw chaps...they reduce the chance for a wayward chainsaw to grind through your leg in the event of an oops.

Right on man! Have you had to deal much with erosion in your trail building ventures?

Surprisingly not as much as i thought i would. Though my trail has yet to go through a super rainy season so we will see. So far so good though. Ive just been trying to follow the natural lines of the canyon the best i can and try and stay right about trees or root lines etc that help hold it together. Maintaining an outward sloping pitch is also really important. You can follow my progress here though its been a lil since ive updated. http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/769318-Backyard-Singletrack/page2?highlight=backyard+singletrack.

Any plans to build wood features?

Ah ok. I'm working with some super sandy soil conditions. The trail follows part of the Stanislaus River here in CA's Central Vally. This river area has been growing wild with vines, brush, wild berry vine, and a healthy crop of what us river rat kids used to call "fire weed!" The soil is super soft, and I'm afraid that as soon as the river bank above the trail sees some rain (if it ever reaches us Californians this "winter"), I'll be stuck with washouts. I'm thinking metal "t stakes, with scrap wood found in the area. Picture, if you will, a simple retaining wall.

More to come.

Your thread actually gave me the inspiration to start swinging the chainsaw around the underbrush like a wild man. :D

IMBA has 2 excellent books on trail building.

Right on. I'll be working on the trail on & off, as I'm still in my 1st year of marriage, and I want to put the majority of my focus on my wife =).

More to come...

You could build some Gabions for your retaining structures. All you really need is a cage of sorts, a mass (stone), and a little bit of anchorage.

I had to google "gabion." Yep. That just might work. I have some wire fencing, and plenty of river rock to build these structures.

Thanks for the idea! =)

I also thought of laying down some burlap & spreading seed grass on the uphill portions.

Teach me to number my days and count every moment before it slips away taking all the colors before they fade to gray


"I tell you, We are here on earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you any different." - Kurt Vonnegut jr.

:lol: The contrast cracks me up. :roflmao: Like gonathan is floating around on a kite and Ken is holding the string.

Hah! I've noticed that before, but never said something about it. I embrace a healthy amount of that good ol' "farting around." I think this hairbrained trail hacking extravaganza qualifies, don't you?

Hey, Ed, here- hold my string and watch this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y237ig3MSF4&feature=youtube_gdata_player