Chase DH Build Blog

Forum problems

2010-10-17T23:02:00.000Z

The midlands forum has been attacked by malware. Please do not attempt to use it.

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Cannock DH: Trail Status and Build days (Updated 2/10/10)

2010-10-02T21:09:00.000Z

Due to recent forestry works Stile Cop’s trails have been significantly affected. Forestry works finished on 1st October and we’ve surveyed the damage to the trails.

There is a lot of work to do and some of the trails will be out of bounds for some time to come.

At the moment the open trails are;
Red Course
Wonderland
Balboa
New Line

The closed trails are;
Black Course
CDL
Mega Trail (both options)
Ridge Line
Little Bringewood

Look out for trail specific signs which will explain the current status of each trail. If a trail is closed or if it is obvious that it has been blocked off but the barrrier has been vandalised then please DO NOT ride the trail.

Trail building days are now going to be done on a regular basis to get the trails fixed and then improve them to a better state than before the forestry works.

Please be aware that the fire road at the bottom of the trails has been seriously damaged and will also require repair, please take care as the ruts are deep and filled with water and very soft sand.

Even though a trail may look rideable where the signs say it it close please do not ride it. It is closed as the line has been damaged and the condition cannot be guaranteed, there may be hidden holes, dangerous branches etc.

The next trail build day will be on Saturday 9th October. Meet at the top of the hill for 10am and we’ll hand out tools and job lists. If you have them then bring your own tools.

Important: Stile Cop trail closures

2010-09-19T21:26:00.000Z

Stile Cop downhill area is totally closed from Monday 20th September for at least one week.

This is due to forestry works. Please stay away as the area will be unsafe and unrideable.

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APF Build Day 8

2010-09-19T01:36:00.000Z

Today was our final main build day on the apf stand and our last chance to do any significant woodwork. today, everything got completed. And it's awesome!

Skyberm rollout.

A bit of proper CT bench cut, our bread and butter.

The show is this Thursday. We won't have a digger to build the jumps until Tuesday morning. Down to the wire or what?

APF build, Day 7

2010-09-12T16:04:00.000Z

The Chasetrails crew plus Mick and Harry set to work today to begin to finish off our display trail.

The landing and entrance to the skyberm looks sweet :)

Harry is actually propping this woodwork up.

Drop/roll out of the skyberm

Looking back up the trail

And down it

The start of the shore

It's a long ol' section!

Looks good though.

Still a whole lot to do, especially decking.

APF build Day 6

2010-09-05T19:32:00.001Z

Today saw our little trail go from little bits, to a joined up line.

Whilst the Chasetrails boys headed up to carry on with the end section, Bob, Bruce and I finished off the final 4 jump boxes.

Eventually we did get up with a trailer heavily loaded with 5 boxes and loads of rounds and lengths of timber.

The start of the northshore

Looks good!

The start of a lot of decking...

Proof I've not spent the whole time 'supervising' and making tea!

Bob put these in himself whilst Harry and I did the deck boards!

Thats a hell of planks!

Jump boxes come into line. Harry will be shaping these once we get the digger in to fill em up.

I'm not worried...

Looking back up the line.

First jump is a 8 foot gap, the next two are between 10-12 feet. Plenty for our purposes.

Still a lot to do :)

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APF build, day 5

2010-09-04T17:10:00.001Z

Mick, Bob, James and I spent today turning our floorberm into a skyberm.

First posts go in.

Bob checks out the line in to the skyberm.

String marks the level of the decking.

More posts go in.

8 foot long rounds are a pain in the ass!

All the posts are in, so the sky berm comes apart.

It's almost like we designed it like that...

Bearers are notched in to the posts and secured with all-thread. Stringers are laid on the bearers.

The sections are then lifted on to the stringers.

With that done, the stringers are coach bolted to the posts and the triangles bolted to the stringers.

The back sits 90" (7.5 feet) off the ground.

This end is about 5.5 foot up.

Plenty more work to do!

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APF Build Day 4

2010-08-29T13:46:00.000Z

Today we moved the skyberm up to site and placed it ready for lifting on to stilts next week and placed a jump box. We've also begun the final feature and we'll be working backwards from it.

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APF build day 3

2010-08-28T21:58:00.001Z

Mick, Bob, James and I spent today building up the skyberm and starting on the jump boxes, in-between passing rainstorms of course.

Mocked up and starting the top rails

More top rails

Bottom rails in place

All the rails in place, just some finishing to do

Time to cut some decking!

Half done, 70 sections needed to deck the whole 13m length.

The jump boxes will be filled with material and then shaped.

They're huge and massively heavy! If in doubt, overbuild!

More to come tomorrow!

Pictures removed by request of the forestry commission.

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Apf build day 1&2

2010-08-22T21:56:00.001Z

Day one:
Mick, Bob and I used Saturday to begin to build our skyberm, a steep wooden berm that will sit 5 feet off the ground. We got a lot if structure built and have another days work left in the workshop before moving it to site.

Day 2:
The Chasetrails build crew used Sunday to make a huge dent in the woodwork. Martin felled a tree that had been missed last week whilst everyone else got to grips with last weeks stumps.

Once the tree was out, we got cracking in building the platform that will form the first feature on the demo trail.

All the posts in, most straight!

Crossbraces go on

Done!

For the sake of safety, this won't be decked until just before the apf show.

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Big Guild Day - bringing Stile Cop back up to standard

2010-06-19T19:20:00.002Z

After a few weeks planning we all arrived in site at 10am eager to get cracking with two huge projects. Rebuilding the end of the black run into a fun, fast ending and rebuilding the landing of the New Line gap jump to bring it up to Forestry standards.

Over on new line, the rotten old landing dissappeared and thanks to epic volumes of tough spadework a very large hole's worth of dirt was moved to create a proper landing. It's the same size and shape as the old one, but wider and without a square face if you short it. Please leave it a few weeks to set before hitting it as it may well be quite loose.

Over on the black run, big things were happening. First, the run in to the drop had been graded, along with the landing. Goodbye braking bumps for now!
Secondly, the berm has been biggerised!

Most importantly though were the alterations to the table. It was never the ending we hoped it would be and today gave us the opportunity to make the best of it. I left to go and supervise elsewhere and returned 2 hours later to a different hill. The table was gone. In its place a huge stepdown. The sheer scale of the amount of dirt that was moved is astonishing! When I saw it I have to say that I was speechless!

Harry, supervising

Pog whacking away

Smooth as a baby's arse!

Testing fell to Mitch Ingley who cleared it silently.

If you helped dig today, thankyou so much. It was incredible to see how much we can achieve in only a day!
Top job!

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New line gap rebuild

2010-06-19T13:21:00.001Z

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DHbuildblog goes XC building

2009-10-18T22:19:00.002Z

After a slight late start and with new recruits Andy and Loki the Labradoodle we split into two groups to get as much as possible done with precious volunteer time.

Whilst an experienced rock moving team got on with constructing a rock causeway entrance to the new Monkey, we got cracked on with finally removing the old end to the Monkey and joining it up to the newly built climb. A good bit of bench-cut later and we were ready to move on, a short journey later we'd arrived at H2, "Absinthe", where we were working last week. Before finishing up for the day we'd cut about 35 metres of brand new trail into the hillside. Unfortunately the soil conditions are terrible, so we'll be back here again soon to surface it fully with imported material.

We've still got a lot of work to do here and every hand helps, come and add your hours next week!

March 09 - Balboa, Black and Future

2009-03-16T11:02:00.005Z

Building done:
We've been busy midweek for a while. Bob Dangerfield and Mick Whyte have been giving up riding time to get balboa into shape, and last tuesday we put the icing on the cake by creating a large rock drop off the gas main, doubling the length of Balboa.

Many of you will have already seen this when we ran the March timing day down the line on Sunday the 15th. This line isn't finished yet. For now it merges with Wonderland, but this isn't the final line.

During the Sunday Morning Build, along with everyone who gave up practice time to help, we did some work on the black table area, adding another corner to the end of the CDL/Red track, widening the fireroad and building large bank on the edge of the landing of the black table. With a bit of luck this will prevent anyone from standing around on the landing. We should have it open in a very short while. Finally!

Future

We want to continue to renovate and improve all of our trails. If you've got ideas and the time to put them into practice, comment here or on the Chasetrails downhill forum, or speak to me or any of the other trail builders.

Our current work list for 2009 looks like this:

Red: Complete new section between the Snakes and Ladders offshoot and final 180 degree turn which should make it more fun on a downhill bike.

Black: You'll probably have already seen the rocks, these have to be dug in and positioned to build our new rock feature.

Snakes and Ladders: To be extended with another lefthand berm straight out of the current righthand berm.

Ridge: Motorway to be removed and the corners built properly. The top two are fine, but the lower lefthander needs a lot of work to make it ridable.

Wonderland: The lowest switchback needs a re-think as it currently drags uphill making it quite pedally. It also runs too close to Balboa.

Balboa Extension Project: Will be run by Mick and Bob. Expect big things!

New Line: I'd like to extend the rock garden to about double its current size. Obviously this depends on a fresh delivery of rock. Beyond that, it needs a bit of repair work, but is otherwise developing nicely.

Monday 5th Jan - Holidays over, Digger gets busy

2009-01-05T21:59:00.010Z

Hugh Clixby got to work finishing off what was started before christmas this morning, and we've pretty much completed our machine-building.

First off was this berm on the red course. Because of the deep ground frost, this hasn't compacted well and is hence very soft. The top of the red course is closed to prevent damage to this before it can settle in, as well as to prevent people flying over the bars when they sink into it.

The Top of the Red Course is closed until further notice.

Next job was rock moving on the black course. Rocks went on the chicken runs around stump drop and the small rocky step.

Also around the main rock garden (yes it is there under all that snow)

And here, before the stump corner where it'll be used in a new rock feature that we'll need your help digging.

He then moved down to the end of the black course to complete work on the table.

A two metre extension (to a full 7m/23 feet), a longer, more mellow takeoff and a much longer landing mean that when we open it on the 18th, it'll be huge but safer to ride.

Again, this is still super soft because of the frost. It'll remain closed until at least the 18th, pending a trail inspection.

Ridge run- lip fixed

2009-01-03T16:15:00.001Z

1 Jan 2009 - Black Course Closed

2009-01-02T00:20:00.000Z

The end of the black run from the large drop onwards will be closed until further notice. Please do not attempt to ride it

Some of you will already have seen the new table at the bottom of the black course, and quite a few realise that it's not right yet. As such, it'll be closed to riders until it's safe. Hopefully this should be sorted by Sunday 18th January.

Please respect our work and do not attempt to ride it.

December 08 - The digger has been busy...

2008-12-23T19:37:00.003Z

Hugh Clixby, the designer of the trails at Whinlatter, Dalby and the guy building the new XC trail at Cannock has popped up to the downhill course and done some work for us.

This isn't the final iteration of this table, but we're getting close! The black run will be finally be complete very soon!

2008-09-16T20:22:00.001Z

2008-09-16T20:17:00.001Z

2008-09-16T20:13:00.001Z

April roundup

2008-04-27T06:51:00.004Z

April's been a busy month for us. Firstly, if you've made your way here through the article in Dirt Magazine looking for info on the Racersguild sessions, you need to visit www.racersguild.co.uk which is run by Aaron Neumann for the full story on free timing. You can also read about racersguild in Wideopen issue 6. This website deals mostly with letting people know about DH trailbuilding at the chase.

Building reports are below:

Sun 20th - Rock moving

Lots of rocks moved onto a new line (not open yet) and the new benches/bikestands carved the help of the Cross Country trailbuilders.

Saturday 26th - Racersguild + DH Build

Blue skies and dusty trails were on offer as the fourth racersguild timing day went off.
We started at 10am by totally rebuilding the ridgeline double. It's now two feet longer, mellow, fast, and built to last. Keep the pictures rolling in!

The ridge line, although straight and flat out turned into an awesome racetrack in the afternoon with ballsy riding along with a healthy dose of cornering skill for the bottom sections being the winning formula.

Cannock DH course partially closed this Sunday (20th April)

2008-04-18T11:46:00.006Z

The wooded area (Darkside) will be CLOSED to all riders on Sunday 20th April for important trail works.

Areas around the main starting area will also be cordened off.

The main Red and Black runs (and their offshoots) will be open as normal.

[Click the map for more detail, areas in red will be closed to all riders.]

(Thanks to Aaron@Racersguild for the map)

2nd april-Black course

2008-04-03T13:45:00.001Z

I've altered the entry into the new section of the black course. It's much faster now.

24th March - Racersguild Timing Day and Build

2008-03-24T12:00:00.006Z

Phil assesses the firmness of the course
Photo courtesy of Ollie H

Buckets of builders braved snowy conditions to construct the a new section for the Black course. The section runs between the Causeway and the Big Berm and eliminates the conflict between people walking up and those riding the Black course.

The section starts with a hip jump to the right, although this may change depending on feedback. The section flows really nicely and there's plenty of scope for us to get some nice features in there.

The timing day kicked off on time with 60 riders turning up to pitch their wits against a slippery Derry's Line that rewarded those who could drift and bit those who pushed too hard.

Pictures and a race report will be on the Racersguild website soon. For now, here's the Team boon video: Includes building!

Next timing/build day: 24th March

2008-03-19T20:27:00.000Z

Monday 24th is the next Racer's Guild timing and build day at Cannock Chase DH course

Building starts at 10am and we'll provide tools. We'll be working on a new section of the black course.

The timing session starts at around 1pm. The more help we get with building, the quicker we can start the timing session!

There's still no entry fee, but please remember to bring a quid or two with you to help cover our First Aider, British Cycling insurance and race-tape costs.

Track to be confirmed.

News Roundup

2008-03-02T20:40:00.008Z

The 16th of Feb brought the third racersguild timed runs day and the second official build day this year.

For a full "Race Report", have a look at Racer's Guild.

We completed the second big gap jump on Walleater AKA the Pro Line.

Dan test pilots his way into the Buildblog.
This photo and others courtesy of Paul H, aka Vic Tenant
Follow the link to Paul's album for more build day photos

26th Feb 08: More recently, we've had a large delivery of rocks courtesy of the Forestry Commission.
They're not all for the DH course, but we'll be putting a fair number of them to good use!

2nd March 08: Starting with this on the Black course (just after the rock garden). No more riding round the rock double now!

Chicken lines are going to start disappearing of the next few months. Riders who try to take them tend to skid on the course, damaging it (ie before the sleeper or slab jumps on the red) If you see someone taking a chicken line, ask them whether they should really be riding the downhill course if they're incapable of riding over rollable obstacles

In the same vein, if you see anyone on MX or minibikes attempting to ride any of the downhill courses, get a snap of them on your phone. Don't put yourself in harms way, but take the opportunity to explain to them that our trails are fragile. Hopefully we can reduce the problem of MX bikes damaging our trails as the summer approaches.

Next build day is on the 24th of March

Dates for your diary!

2008-02-04T21:46:00.000Z

Saturday 9th: Stu and Aaron will be on "Will's Line" working on the BIG wooden jump. Feel free to go and lend a hand.

Saturday 16th:
10:30am: Building on "Will's Line" with the aim of completing and testing the new jump.
1pm: Racersguild timing session.

Please take it easy on the Dark Side trail this weekend, there's a lot of fresh stuff down that may be a bit soft depending on the weather over the next few days. Let me know about any damage to the trail please!

26th Jan - Build and RacersGuild Timing Day

2008-01-30T11:31:00.000Z

Building work carried out:

First berm on black course fully supported with woodwork. Please respect our trails and walk up the path, not over the berm.
Roll in to first gapjump on Will's line altered.
Section after the Big Gap on Will's line worked on
Big Gap's takeoff angle altered
New info posts installed all over the hill.
General maintenance of main runs prior to timing session.

Timing Session:
The timing session went off with nearly 50 riders turning up to answer the age old "who's fastest?" question. The red run was windy, pedally and had a sting in the tale with the addition of some slippery corners at the very end. The best time was 1.14.7 from Adam H with Barracuda Bob proving that Cannock does have a two minute hill.

Further info, results and photos at www.racersguild.co.uk

12th Jan - Will's Line/Pro line - Big Gap

2008-01-12T11:13:00.000Z

I'll let the pictures tell the story!

I'll let the pictures tell the story here!

29th December - Build & RacersGuild Timing Session

2007-12-29T19:59:00.001Z

Wow. What a day!

We started off at 10:30 with a short building session where Alex's group cleared the deadfall from the new black bus-stop whilst Stuart and Aaron's group continued work on the Pro-Line.

The new section on the black is now fully clear and we'll soon start to scratch the line in. We'll need help and design input from everyone to get this riding right!The Pro-Line gained new upright posts ready for the takeoff for the gapjump whilst other volunteers worked on the line into it.

We finished off early and set up for the very first timing session run by Racer's Guild. A few practices later, and after a little course definition, we began timing riders down the Black Run. The format worked excellently and over 20 riders got three or more timed runs in. Aaron's contribution of enthusiastic organisation made it a brilliant afternoon with everyone commenting on how much they were enjoying it. For many, it was the first time they had ridden the black course!

High winds hampered some of the later runs, but the top finishers were posting 55 second runs, ranging to 1:20 for other racers.

Another rider hits the "Mortgage Line" on Sunday

If you enjoyed the format, or have any suggestions, leave a comment or use the Chasetrails forum to let us know! Happy new year to all of the Cannock downhillers too!

I've seen the doc, and my shoulder is just badly torn, no breaks. Should be back on the bike within a few weeks. Good to speak to everyone!

Update: Video from the racing below!

Merry Christmas to All Cannock DH Riders

2007-12-25T22:48:00.000Z

Building and timing on Saturday 29th December from 10:30am

I was riding on Sunday 23rd, and was pleased to see that both courses are riding super well right now. If you're not making the Causeway Jump, go faster, pull up more. Totally do-able, totally worth it and not nearly as unforgiving as you'd think should you 50-50 it.

I'd like to introduce readers of the blog to Racer's Guild a new website created by Aaron Neumann. It'll bring grassroots racing to the midlands and is a mine of useful information about Cannock DH and other local developments. If you're almost part of the scenery at Cannock, sign up!

Merry Christmas from all the trailbuilders. Lets hope Santa brought you tyres and bits to help you ride faster in 08!

9th December - Maintenance & Christmas Trailbuilding Dates

2007-12-10T11:57:00.000Z

Popped up on Sunday to sort out a couple of things. Firstly the newly rebuilt jump on the red run got a little attention. We'll be putting a proper lip on this soon, it just needs to settle first. It was good to see it being ridden how we'd hoped it would be, with slower riders coming a fair way short of the steep landing and dropping off into the trail, whilst faster riders were rewarded with a a super fast exit.

'Unofficially' the Tree Trail got some much needed attention with the berm getting rebuilt, the sump of the bowl getting drained and the part of the singletrack getting rebuilt with a proper bench-cut profile to prevent water buildup. I may have also exposed a few extra slippery roots to liven things up a bit.

I Chatted to quite a few people over the course of the morning and a quite a few expressed interest in having a build day before the end of the year.
Aaron and Alex will be running a build day on Saturday 29th December. Bring a spade and your ideas and your bike.
We'll have a limited number of tools if needs be. There may also be a timing session...

2nd December - Mega Build Day

2007-12-02T23:01:00.000Z

Today started, dreary eyed, at 9:30 at Birches Valley to collect the kit for what we thought would be a quiet build day in the sideways rain. We were wrong. A huge turnout allowed us to get massive amounts of stuff done

Aaron, Stu Tite, Alex and Greg started work on the Northshore Offshoot, and a ladder was moved from the original offshoot line to form the start of the new shore section. The new uprights are in and you'll soon start to see where the line is going to go. It's already looking scary!Meanwhile, up on the (closed) Red Run, Nick, Spence, Martin, Ellis, Greg, Jake, George and Alex were rebuilding the Causeway Stepdown. The landing and takeoff have been completely rebuilt and there's now a big payoff for hitting the jump just right and pumping the bike into the steep landing, without taking away the rollability. Having all the help meant we could get the job done and the track open really quick.Elsewhere, Aaron and Stu (Phil's dad) began clearing "Will's Line"/Pro-Line with Weedwhackers. It's going to be awesome, and there's not a lot of work left to do before there's a full line rideable.

Slightly later and back on the Black Run Stu (Phil's dad) was putting his weedwhacker to best use by clearing a new line between the Causeway Stepdown and the red course berm. Once built, it'll replace the boring straight that doubles up as a walkup track.

Stu and Alex also did some general housekeeping on the red run, so you can keep your feet dry!

We finished at three with enough time to get a short ride in. Awesome!

Next build day will be in December. Keep an eye on www.Chasetrails.co.uk /SDH/ UKMB for dates.

11th November - "Will's line"

2007-11-13T00:31:00.001Z

Today we resurrected Will's line that branches left off of the red course just before the first two tiered drop. Stu, Alex and Aaron boxed in and built up the take off whilst Andy cleared the line down. Later Kyle and Joe joined us and started clearing more trail further down.

Spence volunteered to testpilot the newly rejigged gap and pinned it first time
After a little rejigging of takeoff and landing and a little more building after the hip, Phil and Tim hit the line race pace, keeping it quick and pinning the exit into the hip.

This line is not complete. As it stands there is a qualifier drop off the Red Course, into a steep downhill which shoots you into the long gap jump above. Immediately on landing the course carves into a big hip followed by a gap over a disused trail, all within a very short distance. The line will end near the end of Derry's line so you'll be able to ride the whole hill using this line once we're done.

We know the gap jump is quite 'slow' but it adds a certain margin of safety, we're not designing a course to maim people after all.

If you do ride the new gap above, walk it first and be careful...it's not quite finished!

Next DH build day: looking like either Saturday 1st or Sunday 2nd December.
Updates on SDH/DW/UKMB/Chasetrail/here

(Words by Aaron Neumann)

DH build days for september

2007-08-26T22:00:00.000Z

Sunday the 2nd, starting at 10am

Sunday the 9th, starting at 10am

Bring yourself, your ideas, your bike and a spade.

7th August - Midweek Maintenance

2007-08-07T20:47:00.001Z

I popped up this afternoon to sort a few niggles out.

A few more wheelbarrows of stuff on the berm on the black course to repair the damage done by people climbing over it.

The takeoff at the tiered sleeper jump (Red) is now raked of gravel.

The area between the causeway and the 180 degree berm (Red) is now raked of gravel.

I've left other places as the looseness is part of the feel of the course, those areas were only raked as they'd reached a point where it was like riding with the brakes on.

I also had a look at the new cheeky line someone's dug that drops away from the left hand side of the red course near the start.

I like the concept, the line looks great, a really nice use of the terrain. However, the quality of the building? Well, it's non-existent. There's some work gone into clearing the bracken, sure, but when it's come to building the trail features like jumps and berms, the builder clearly couldn't be bothered. Rotten logs, twigs and loamy topsoil brushed up against them does not make a berm. It makes nothing. You might as well have a flat corner. The same technique is equally crap when it comes to building jumps. and landings.

Come on guys, every dirtjumper in the country knows that you've got to put effort into the trail to get the most out of it, why do you think that it doesn't matter on a downhill course?

Sort it out. If you're going to jeopardise Cannock's DH courses by building your own stuff on the official side without a word to the trailbuilders, at least have the courtesy to make a trail that's not so poorly built it could get us kicked off the hill.

5th August - Black Run

2007-08-06T08:36:00.000Z

Hottest day of the year yesterday, so I decided to skip trailbuilding and relax with a few beers.

Nah, I jest, sure that's what I'd have liked to have done, but trails don't build themselves right? Right. Except at Cannock, where cheeky trails magically build themselves. More about that another day.
I started work at 10:30 by hacking back all the nettles on the new walkup track. There’s no reason not to use it now. I then moved off to start work on the first berm on the black run. After an hour or so I was joined by another volunteer, who was quickly followed by another half dozen. It’s amazing how much can be done so quickly once you get a few people helping. I had the Black run closed for three hours. With a little more help a little sooner it could’ve been open in one.

The berm is now steep and super supportive. Hopefully it’ll stay like that for a while. Do your bit and slap anyone you see skidding round it, there’s no need anymore.

Cheers to all the guys who helped out!

Stuart Tite is running a build day this coming weekend. I’ll post dates and times tomorrow.

24th June - Walk up track & Black run

2007-06-24T16:18:00.000Z

Sunday's build was poorly attended with only Chris and Alex showing. A new walk up track has been built to avoid the slightly dangerous crossing of the black run beyond the first jump. Where you would normally cross the track just after the first berm, the walk up trail now goes off to the right, and comes out before the first jump on the black course. It's not surfaced yet, but please use it. We will surface it before winter.

Alex clearing some nettles while a lot of people stand at the top not helping.

Chris removing some roots to clear the path.

Chris rode to the course to help on his road bike. The XC builders and now a roadie have done
more for our course than some of the regular DH riders.

We had quite a few people tell us today how much of an important job we were doing, but fail to donate as much as 10 minutes of thier time. We know that some of you are really pushed for time to ride, so we're not asking anyone to do what we do and break yourselves building, we just ask that inbetween runs you lend us 10 minutes. If nothing else, it means that the trailbuilders don't go home wondering why they bother.

There is no build day in July due to do other commitments. Build days are normally on the first sunday of the month.

Next build day is on the 5th of August.

12th June - Red & Offshoots - Midweek Maintainance

2007-06-13T20:45:00.000Z

I popped up on tuesday afternoon to take advantage of the last bit of sunshine before a few days of much needed rain. My riding last Sunday was cut short by sliding out on the first section of the northshore offshoot that leaves the red course just after the big berm.
The rider who helped me out of the bushes told me he'd just had exactly the same accident in the same place, as had others earlier in the day.

Looking at the dirt ramp between the two ladders, the sides had been cut away by tyres slicing thier way through the very dry and dusty surface. Riders stood little chance of making it onto the second ladder if they hit it at any speed.
Armed with a few tools, i've added about four wheelbarrow loads of material onto the top of the dirt causeway which should hold until we can sort out a more permanent solution.

I also raked a few takeoffs while it was quiet. There should be less marbles there now.

If you spot any damage on the course that needs fixing, let someone at chasetrails know via email, via a forum post on SDH or MBUK or via a message on this blog.

Next official build day will be 24th June.

3rd June - Black Run - Course repair

2007-06-04T08:57:00.000Z

Sunday brought baking sunshine, a mild breeze and an opportunity to get some serious trailbuilding done.

The sunshine also brought an excellent turnout, so many in fact that we ran out of tools towards the end of the day. We split into two groups with Stuart's group of trailbuilders repairing the stepdown level with the causeway, and Alex's group of trailbuilders working further up the hill, reshaping a corner.

Work started with the beginings of repairing the small stepdown level with the causeway. Twelve months of people riding round it had damaged the jump consideraby. Timber supports were used to hold the sides of the jump in and prevent further erosion from people using the chicken-line.

The shape of the takeoff hasn't changed but the jump is now much safer to hit, with no prospect of drifting down the gully created by too many people riding round. That said, we've made it no easier with the landing still being a sniper affair. A trip to the dirt still beckons if you get it wrong.

Further up the hill, we re-cut the corner above the first rock section to encourage people to ride the features rather than the chicken lines.

Gord, Jon and Paul cut the new line in

Alex, Jon and Paul all crash tested it halfway through, trying to find the right line with Jim just about making it through.

Finished product

With the corner re-cut, the top section is now much faster, with a lot of riders entering the sharp right-left around the big treestump too fast to stay on thier bikes!

New small berm before the upper rockgarden

Next official build day will be 24th June.

13th May 07 - Red Run - Slab Jump

2007-05-14T11:29:00.000Z

Stuart and Alex braved the miserable weather to mellow out the slab jump on the red course.

A few barrowloads of material on the takeoff has made it much less kicky and must now be hit a lot faster if you want to clear it.

It needs a lot more work before it really works though, so don't think we're done here.

I've got a few ideas for ways to please both sides of the Slab jump argument and if you're there on the 3rd of June you'll have the opportunity to have some input.

6th May 07 - Black Run- Rockgarden

2007-05-11T22:30:00.000Z

Sundays build was dry, dusty, windy and transformed a reasonably featureless straight on the upper section of the black run into something that'd right at home on any of the Welsh tracks.
You can barrel through them like a freight train if you like, but i like to jump the first lot (there's enough of a lip to do it) then go light over the second lot. It's a bit too long to clear entirely
The really big rocks were sourced by ST a while ago and have been sitting at the side of the track for 12 months. The slightly smaller sandstoney ones were 'donated' by Alex's workplace.
We might have enough rocks soon to do another section at some point in the future

Next official build day is 3rd of June.