in Blackhawk (Moderator: Patrick Remington)

This weekend we have Saris and Trek donating the resources to finish the MTB instruction area and improve riding at Blackhawk. Saris is donating professional trail builder Chad Landowski, and Trek is donating use of their diesel mini excavator machine. Chad Landowski will be doing machine built trail Saturday Sept. 6, and has asked for volunteers. Hand tool trail finishing will be needed after lunch, and likely some tree removal and assistance in the morning.

Our apologies for the late notice but machine schedule, weather and events have have made this a challenge.

There will also be preparation for next weekend's annual open house "Blackhawk Bash" and what we hope will be a final trail fix up for the season.

Please let us know if you can help so we can take care of tools and beverages.

To be continued Sunday. Let's get this done for the open house next week. Come out for the open house.

Chad will be back on the ultimate bike accessory around 9 in the morning. It's finish work, ride it in, adjust where needed.

Thank you Saris and Trek for your contributions to Blackhawk's youth MTB program!

http://youtu.be/bwLBacqC-Oc?list=UUZIwkG3OHt3TOPphsE3uOww

Amazing results so far. Barely done and getting tuned. When this is all dialed in and dry you'll be able to roll it all or launch the rollers and transitions into the next berm.

Big thanks to all who helped. We'll be keeping at it until the Blackhawk Bash in a week. The "Bash" is an open house so stop by and check this out.

Work in progress but a great start:

Section looking top down:



Same section vew across:

fun stuff, good work guys. Went out yesterday and smoothed, packed and raked the last two turns and roughed in sections (though they could still use a little more love).

fun stuff, good work guys. Went out yesterday and smoothed, packed and raked the last two turns and roughed in sections (though they could still use a little more love).

Thanks for that work.

I got out last night but was limited by darkness and a thought that I better cover the trails most likely used during the open house Sunday. I did some smoothing, built up one of the rollers, and what I hope will show itself as some water management. Today will tell where that work has to be.

I'm predicting Chad as a future trail building legend, and say we've learned a lot with the bike park. The stuff is easy fun for anyone yet pumpable with some slingshot action into next berm if you know how. If you know how to pump and are on your game this is FAST. To think we've only just begun.



P.S. It would be nice to have a session or weekend at the pump track like we just had at BH before year end or start of next.

I rode this trail for the first time this evening; it is an amazing piece of work, and there is nothing else like it in our systems. (My guess is that there is at Trek, but I've not ridden there).  It is hard to believe a guy can run a machine through the woods and leave behind a trail that works so well on the first try.  You should try it; you will smile.

Two caveats:  it is short (which is okay; it gets better every time you ride it), and the first berm after you cross the two-track has a missing section, which is sort of alarming if you're not ready for it.

I rode this trail for the first time this evening; it is an amazing piece of work, and there is nothing else like it in our systems. (My guess is that there is at Trek, but I've not ridden there).  It is hard to believe a guy can run a machine through the woods and leave behind a trail that works so well on the first try.  You should try it; you will smile.

Two caveats:  it is short (which is okay; it gets better every time you ride it), and the first berm after you cross the two-track has a missing section, which is sort of alarming if you're not ready for it.

Totally agree! I rode it first time as well last night (sorry I missed you Jon!). It's also easy to get a lot of speed, so if you haven't ridden something like this before, go slow on your first couple runs.