in Blue Mound (Moderator: Walt Hougas)

I'm taking time off from work August 4th to 15th and spending quite a bit of it working on the reroutes at Blue Mound.

I'll mostly be working during the day, but if anyone wants to get involved I can arrange to be there in the evening.

The effort will be split between the Serpentine Climb reroute and the boundary adjustment reroute in Holy Schist. I'm hoping to get the switchback turns and other stone work built before winter. I'll be cutting tread near the turns to gather fill for them. If things go well, I will get most of the tread work done too.

For those of you who have worked on or ridden the boundary reroute, you know there is a large rock drop-off. I'm going to make it into a nice jump. Currently it's a drop to flat, but I will be building a dirt ramp against the back to make a sloped landing zone. This is a great opportunity to make a proper jump at Blue Mound and I'm excited to finally make it happen.

Walt

Having seen one poor guy crash and having a close call myself, I added a few large rocks and some dirt to the rock drop-off that Walt mentioned, and it can be ridden now straight down the middle... just line it up to the trail below, keep your weight back and you should be good.  This is a TEMPORARY solution and it's still flat on the bottom past the rocks, so don't take it as a jump until it's had more work done to it (unless you know what you're doing, of course).

Jumps at Blue Mound? I might have to ride there more often now!

Jump at Blue Mound? I might have to ride there more often now!

Fixed it for you.

Actually there's more than one jump there now if you know where to look. They're just not all prettied up.

This jump is going to be a lot of work... Probably 10+ full wheelbarrows of dirt in an area where it's 90% rocks, 5% roots, and 5% dirt.

Yeah, I know...I'm just admitting that there are very few if any places, especially at Blue Mound, where I want to be off of the ground.

Good point. The one place I always get air is pretty open, and another where it's not, I've never been courageous/stupid enough to go for.

Yeah, I know...I'm just admitting that there are very few if any places, especially at Blue Mound, where I want to be off of the ground.

Hmm, I think I need to be more clear. The goal I'm designing for is a drop off that can be rolled, and the flight path should be a foot or less above the back-side ramp. I don't pretend to be good at flying my bike. The jump has to be wide open and stupid simple or it's not going to work for me.

Walt

This jump is going to be a lot of work... Probably 10+ full wheelbarrows of dirt in an area where it's 90% rocks, 5% roots, and 5% dirt.

Point taken.

However, the work we did on the Serpentine Climb reroute leads me to believe that we have been wasting a valuable resource to date by scattering the dirt from bench cuts. We used the rocks and dirt from that job to make a much better trail than we ever had before. It's more work to pick up and use the excavated material, but it's free and it's right there where we are working. The potential we uncovered doesn't show up the way it could, because the reroute is all climb the way it's normally ridden.

It's worth doing this stuff just for improving the trail's ability to shed water, for getting the tread down to firm subsoil, and for protecting the tree roots we shouldn't be cutting out. Building in small grade reversals this way will leave a number of small humps that can be easily rolled over or (I hope) used to launch off of. The boundary adjustment reroute is going to be my training ground to figure out how to make this stuff work. If I fail, the worst that will happen is we will end up with a nice, fairly conventional bit of trail to ride. If I succeed, we will have some flow trail on the mound. That's not something I would have thought possible a year ago.

Walt

I'm slightly embarrassed to report that the jump isn't going to get built this year.

The switchbacks are coming along very well. But it takes me about 2 1/2 to 3 days to build one and time is running out. I won't get most of the tread cutting done by the 15th either.

After the switchbacks are complete and had some basic tuning done, the next priority will be to finish the tread on the Serpentine Climb reroute. There should be a day or two remaining to cut tread on the Holy Schist boundary adjustment reroute, but I'll come up well short of finishing the job. That has to take priority over building the jump.

A huge thanks to Gary, Rich, Rick, Curtis, and Ryan for cutting weeds so I could spend quality time with the rocks and dirt. The reroutes we've put in are a significant upgrade to the trails. I've learned a lot about putting an insloped turn together in the last month and I appreciate the support everyone has given me with the vital maintenance work at Blue Mound.

Walt

Yeah, I know...I'm just admitting that there are very few if any places, especially at Blue Mound, where I want to be off of the ground.

I'm always thinking the opposite. Off the ground means no rocks!

I will work on the Holly Schist boundary adjustment reroute this afternoon, Sunday August 24th.

Walt

I forgot to add here that the Serpentine Climb reroute was completed back in August. Gary and Curtis put in some quality time with the work this summer, thanks very much guys! Gary also put in a lot of time last fall. Thanks for your patience with my endless nit-picking, Gary! I think the extra work will pay off, if not, you get a told-you-so.

We made numerous attempts to save the original trail, but in the end, poor routing doomed it. Not only did it climb the fall line, but it was also built below several seeps. It was a spectacularly bad combination, and resulted in a trail that was, in the end, mostly an ugly rut with hundreds of exposed roots. Sorry Mike, it had to go.

Walt

I forgot to add here that the Serpentine Climb reroute was completed back in August. Gary and Curtis put in some quality time with the work this summer, thanks very much guys! Gary also put in a lot of time last fall. Thanks for your patience with my endless nit-picking, Gary! I think the extra work will pay off, if not, you get a told-you-so.

We made numerous attempts to save the original trail, but in the end, poor routing doomed it. Not only did it climb the fall line, but it was also built below several seeps. It was a spectacularly bad combination, and resulted in a trail that was, in the end, mostly an ugly rut with hundreds of exposed roots. Sorry Mike, it had to go.

Walt

Just want to thank Walt and Gary for all the excellent work at Bluemounds this summer.  The reroutes greatly improved the existing trail.  Looking forward to the new beginner's section.

Just want to thank Walt and Gary for all the excellent work at Bluemounds this summer.  The reroutes greatly improved the existing trail.  Looking forward to the new beginner's section.

The rock that's in the reroute is no less than 12 paces long, probably 4+ ft off the ground, and has several possible lines off of it...the goal is to make as many as possible rideable with all of them meeting back up with the trail.