in Quarry Ridge (Moderator: Schrader)

I'm hoping someone can point me to the correct line for riding the wood berm that sets you up to actually use the dirt berm right after it.  Everything I have tried so far winds up pointing me more or less perpendicular to the next berm so I have to jam the brakes rather than along it where I could ride on the berm and carry my speed through the turn.  I usually come in to the wood in the middle, drift high at first, then cut down to come off the end near the bottom corner.  To set up the next berm do you actually have to come off the inside of the wooden berm before the end of it?

Fully agree.  Best you can do is go high - I think to hit it correctly "as designed" takes some pretty good skill, you've got to be doing more turning than downhilling.  I find also that the natural flow feels straight into the middle of the next berm rather than the top of it. 

With skills and practice at that kind of riding, you can hit it right though.  I felt that the berms in Outback at CR don't all flow "naturally" into one another but if you concentrate on the line and bike handling and correct speed, you can ride them pretty nicely.   

In my experience you can design features that are either pretty forgiving or demand more from the rider.  That particular turn you're talking about is more the latter.  ( I suck at hitting it right on a 29er)

Agreed that it shoots you into the middle of the next one. One possibility is to add a second tier of an actual curved wall ride that will point you in a better direction for more experienced riders. Any objections to this?

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I don't particularly like the way that berm rides either.  It's a really cool concept, and I was excited about it at first, but it just doesn't seem to ride well.  Is there any room on the trail to adjust the berm following it?  I'll have to look around more next time I'm out there and see if I can come up with any suggestions.  I'm sure the experts here will have a MUCH better idea than a newb like me, though.

Good to know that my difficulties on this section aren't solely due to my own lack of skill.

Hello fellow MTBrs, I'm coming to the Madison area for a MTBn trip from the Peoria, IL area. I've never been to any of your trails but I plan on hitting as much of them as i can in three days. Especially Quarry Ridge. I was just wondering how the trails are this time of year. We are planning on hitting the Quarry, Cam-Rock, Blue Mound, Kettle Moraine, the Farm, and Levis mound if we have time to drive up there. We will be here on October 12th, 13th, and 14th. Are any trails closed for hunting or anything? and how would i go about getting access to the Farm?

Saw this feature in a video the other day, I think it would be sweet to modify the feature to be more curved and flowy with beginner and advanced options like this one, although a lot of work.

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The berm mod would be cool and take time... I'd still vote for more mileage first.  It's a lot of work for a split second of riding.  A nice long uphill on the south side and a one way trail at the base heading back towards that new climb would add quite a bit of trail.  Not sure how realistic approval is, but one would think more miles would please everybody.

Jeff- the water drainage gullies we made worked well!

Agreed, there are bigger fish to fry.

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I'm all for more mileage but if no one thinks the transition form wood berm to dirt berm flows well, some effort to fix that would come first in my book.  I would rather have a little really good trail than a lot of awkward trail.  I agree that more trail should come before a crazy expansion on the wood berm though.

For what it's worth, I agree with Bin exactly.  I don't think there's a need to go crazy with the wood berm, but I think getting it flowing well so that everyone is happy with it wouldn't be a massive investment of resources.  If it were up to me, I'd rather see a really awesome smaller local trail than a slightly larger trail that doesn't ride as well.  It's not like that berm is the worst thing ever, but I think a small change to get it to flow better could make a big difference in the feel/fun of that trail.  Right now you cruise down the whole trail having a blast, then have to kind of awkwardly hit the end of the berm and kill your speed at the drop-off(at least I do, but I realize I'm not that great of a rider so maybe it's just me), then push to get a speed boost again.  I think it would be great if that section flowed just a little better.  And I also just changed to having Saturdays off at work, so if people want to set up a day to work on it, I can finally start making those.

I've tried to fix it... it would require a rework of the wood or a ton of dirt to completely move the following berm. If popular demand says so though I'll try to work it in.

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Would we need a ton More dirt, or just to move a ton of dirt?  If the second, I'd be willing to put in a day or two helping dig and move the berm.  If the first, unfortunately I can't help there, but I'd be willing to help get dirt out there or whatever is needed if someone else could get the dirt.  What would be easier between redoing the wooden structure vs. moving that berm after it?  Would moving that berm greatly affect the trail following the berm?  And I don't mean to be pushy with saying I think it would be worth it and I'll come out and move dirt to get it done.  I'm just saying I'm available if you guys decide to do it and could use some help getting it done.

The current berm is build into a hillside, so it would pretty much be ripping up the hill for dirt, which wouldnt be the end of the world. I just had a great idea though and I'll get back to this thread once I see if it will work tomorrow.

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I checked out the berm again on Monday.  I'm sure you're much more knowledgeable than I on such things, and I was on foot so I didn't get to ride the berm on my bike and check the line, but it seemed almost like the dirt berm following the wooden one might flow better if it were a bit bigger, with the expansion being on the left/up-the-gully side.  Just standing and looking at it, it seemed like the natural line for the wood berm spits you out almost straight across the big gully, but in order to hit that dirt berm(following the wood berm), you have to come off of the wood berm at an angle down the gully.  It seemed like the line/flow just isn't quite right but wouldn't be too difficult to fix.  Just dig out some more dirt on the left of the berm and shape it.  Does that seem right to you or is my lack of experience making it seem easier than it is?