i h8 bikes - Bay Area, Portland, Ashland/Southern Oregon Downhill, Freeriding, All Mountain, Dirt Jump, Freestyle Mountain Biking » Blog

Technical Trail riding with Lars

jasonvh — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:13:53 +0000

Just about everyone has posted links to the latest edit from Transition Bikes, but it contains so much awesome it would be wrong not share it here as well. Lately I’ve been a bit obsessed with cranking faster lap times at the local spots, but that isn’t what riding is supposed to be about. Burly trail riding is my favorite pastime, and this just speaks to exactly what kinds of stuff we’ve been about from day one. (Plus our buddy and snowboard photog maestro Tim Zim is featured doing his thing) Don’t get me wrong, downhill bikes are rad, but riding super gnar trail with just a skid lid and some knee pads? That’s all mountain style — Sign me up.

While on the video subject, this video, “Shit Mountain Bikers Say” is getting around fast too. ‘Cause its damn funny. If you watch it, it will make you laugh.

SF Bike Expo Scene: Part 2

jasonvh — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:18:19 +0000

I ride my bike around the city a lot more than I get to ride it in the dirt. It is a sad reality of life in the city, but what can you do? Since I’m a big gear head with a fashionista girlfriend, it stands to reason I’d eventually become intrigued with gear that works for casual riding in the urban setting as well as the gear I wear while shredding trail on the weekends.

I’ll admit I don’t wear a helmet on the street that often, since when I’m just cruising around at low speeds I don’t see the need to. Coming from a background riding BMX on the street, I have a skillset that translates to my city bikes as well; hopping up and over curbs and dodging in-attendant drivers simply raises the fun factor for me. That said, most casual cyclists don’t take the time to develop this sort of skillset, and wearing a helmet is never a bad idea. Most helmets have traditionally looked on the lame side though, especially if you’re dressed for a day in the office.

Yakkay Helmets

Yakkay is European company that has taken a novel approach to helmet design. Based out of Denmark, they produce a basic helmet similar to the classic dirt jump/ skate helmet, but offer a number of different covers for them, making your helmet look more like a hat. A very big, oversized hat. However, if you’re rolling through the business district in formal wear already, there is something to be said in having a helmet that matches your suit. Last time I checked, they weren’t available stateside, but it appears they have secured US distribution, and there are even three shops in SF set up as dealers. (none in Portland)

The Paris Black Oilskin helmet by Yakkay Helmets

I’m still waiting for a helmet company to come up with a solution to the helmet hair problem, (not such a problem for me since I base my hairstyle around having messed up helmet hair) but in the meantime, check them out: Yakkay

Rickshaw Bags

SF is known for being the place the popularized messenger bags, and companies like Timbuk2, Chrome and Mission Workshop made their names with their take on the classic shoulder bag. Rickshaw Bags is one of the few manufacturers that still offer a custom made bag to order. You can choose and accessorize your bag on their site and even come watch bags being made at their in-house sew shop.

Friendly faces from Richshaw Bagworks

Check them out: Rickshaw Bags

Speaking of bags... is this a boom box, or a shoulder bag?

On the subject of bags, this shoulder bag disguised as an old school boom box by High Fydelity combines form and function with integrated speakers that connect to your media player. While they’re definitely more of a lifestyle piece, they definitely cause a double-take. Get old school with their stereo bag. High Fydelity

Virtue One City Bike

I’ve never heard of Virtue Bikes before, but this city bike is kind of interesting. It has the clean lines of a fixed gear with no visible brake levers or cables, and has a coaster brake- perfect for the wanna be that has no business whatsoever riding sans brakes. Or for someone that just wants are super basic bike for getting around town. Full Chromoly frame and fork, 700c tires, double wall rims make for a decent spec that ends up keeping a small price tag. I believe they start at $300 or so, which is less than what you’ll generally find a chromoly frame going for, making them a genuine bargain. For that price you could tear it apart and paint it crazy to match your new Yakkay helmet. If I didn’t already have an classic old school lugged frame built up as my grocery bike already, I’d be all over something like this. And yes, the dropouts are slotted, so a quick rear wheel change later, you can go fixed and hang out at the cafe with the other kids in their skinny jeans and shoe lace belts. Check them out: Virtue Bike

Felt Deep Six Cruiser

Felt took a crack at getting into the freeride market last year when they sponsored Cam Zink to ride their bikes, and while their MTB line hasn’t really taken off, they offer a pretty sweet line of rides in nearly every category you can think of. Their take on the cruiser caught my eye, but they also have a three speed in their Fixie line that has me thinking. Check them out: Felt Bicycles

The Dirt Rag crew

Seems like these cats are everywhere- now that Dirt Rag also publishes a companion magazine covering the Urban Bikescape, Bicycle Times, it was only logical they’d be on the scene in SF. Check it out: Bicycle Times

Tested: Dirty Dog MTB Rotors

jasonvh — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 16:30:44 +0000

Disc brake rotors are one of those parts in the tool box you can never have to many of. Especially when if you like riding extremely technical trails littered with rocks, roots and stumps that all there trying to take a bite out of your derailleur or rotors. Sometimes it only takes one bad line to put them out of wack, resulting with the dreaded and annoying rubbing noise we’re all too familiar with. So when a fresh set of rotors from Dirty Dog MTB showed at our door I was rather pleased. Even more so when I opened them up and took a much closer look at them.

Skull (185mm) and Spider (160mm) disc brake rotors from Dirty Dog MTB

These designer rotors from Bay Area Company Dirty Dog look fantastic and get a lot of attention with their unique lines. Of the two, the spider pattern is by far my favorite. The subtle lines of a web not only remind me of components a Spider-Man would run on a mountain bike, but are the most subdued. The other rotor features a skull and cross bones, and had a strong pirate theme.

The differences between the two didn’t end there. The construction of the 6″ rotors offered differ from the rest of their offerings. The smaller spider web design is stamped as opposed to laser cut. The larger rotors feature more intricate designs that take significantly longer to produce, and this additional labor is included in the price. We happy to report that not only do these unique pieces look good, but they perform as well.

While they are a few grams heavier than a stock rotor, they add a nice touch to any ride. They bolt on just like any other six bolt rotor, and didn’t have any issues lining up the caliper. Break in time was minimal.

Spider Rotor from Dirty Dog MTB

When I was offered the option of rotor sizes, I elected to choose a 7″ and 6″ rotor. My plan was to pair them with Saint calipers for my all mountain set up. How did they work? Unfortunately I ran into a hiccup with my plan off the bat. Dirty Dog offers their 7″ rotor in a 185mm configuration. Having been away from the bike shop trenches for some time now, I forgot about the disparity between rotor sizes available on the market today. Avid brakes utilize a 185″ rotor while Shimano’s 7″ rotor comes in a 180mm. It’s a serious pain in the ass, so if you don’t already run Avid brakes, consider going with the larger 8″ rotor. Ordering up an Avid adapter (and adding to my huge stack of rotor adapters in my tool box) resolved my issue. In the meantime, I stuck the Spider 6″ rotor on my rear wheel and I was off riding.

The 6″ rotor combined with 2.35 tires on all mountain wheels and the Saint brake was awesome. The grabby, on-off feel of the Saints wasn’t there, or an issue with the smaller rotor, and it was a dialed setup. Stopping performance of the Dirty Dog Rotor was excellent, and as with any component that just works, enabled me to focus on the ride. During pit stops and rest stops along the way, it invites compliments.

When the 185mm rotor adapter finally arrived though, I ran into an issue. Because I’m currently running a carbon Nomad in a quiver killer setup, I use a set of DH wheels on this bike as well. Turns out the 6″ rotor paired with DH wheels doesn’t have the stopping power I’m accustomed to, so I swapped out the Spider rotor with the skulls.

Skull Rotor by Dirty Dog MTB

I’m still mucking around with the set up of my all mountain ride though, and this in no way reflects on the performance of these rotors. Swapping to the 185mm rotor in the back added plenty of power, even when I’m swapped out to my heavier DH wheels and tires. With my all mountain wheels I’m feeling dialed in. (I’m running a 180mm rotor in the front as well for a 7″ & 7″ set up)

If you currently run 185mm rotors with Avid Calipers, the 7″ rotor will bolt right on. If you are tied into the 180s, with a non-Avid setup you’ll need to add an adapter to the mix as well to fit it correctly.

Which one is the Dirty Dog Rotor? Here's a hint. It's the one that stands out from the rest.

Thanks to Echos Communications for setting us up with Dirty Dog MTB and sending out a pair for me to sample. For more info on Dirty Dog MTB, click away.

No related posts.

Fresh Gear: Shimano M530 Trail Pedals

jasonvh — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 23:53:12 +0000

It’s been a while since I’ve picked up a new set of clip-in pedals. I’ve tried a number of different pedals in the past, but for some reason I always come back to Shimano SPDs. Having one cleat to fit all the different pedals on all the bikes I own (not to mention the shoes) is a big part of the reason. The other reason is that Shimano pedals are probably the most durable and bombproof component on my bikes. With a minimum of maintenance, my SPD pedals have kept going. And going.

Because of my riding style, I mostly run the clipless pedal model with a platform. An old foot injury means I like having solid footing underneath, and being of the downhill clan, Shimano DH pedals have been longtime favorites. However, now I’m riding a sweet plastic all mountain rig, I’m starting to feel the need to drop a few pounds. (both on the bike and me) Pedals are an easy spot to do it, and the new generation of Shimano trail pedals look pretty sweet. And with that, I picked up a pair of the new M530 All Mountain Trail pedals.

Like all Shimano mountain pedals, these work with the standard SH51 cleats which are included. Since I already have SH51s bolted to my shoes, it was just a matter of bolting these on and we were off. Labeled the entry level trail pedal at the Deore level, these are possibly the best clip-in pedal on the market today. And with a listed weight of 455g, they’re only 55 grams heavier than the much more expensive XTR M985 model. Yep- those 55 grams will cost you about $200 more to shed.

They are a great compromise between the the DH pedals and light weight of a minimal pedal, with fewer moving parts than the models it replaces. The best part is I just dropped 113 grams over my M647 DH clip-in models, and didn’t even notice a difference on the trail.

The Shimano PD-M530 pedal; a bit scratched up after a weekend of riding.

Initially I was set on the badass new XTR trail pedals. However, in the end I went with the new M530 models. As previously stated they’re a bit heaver than the XTs and XTRs, but at around $65 or so they’re a steal, especially since the XTR model retails for about $200 more. Since all my extra cash this year has been going straight to credit cards or the new motorbike fund, going with these was a no-brainer. Although these are billed as the entry level trail pedal, I don’t notice a significant difference in performance when compared to my other SPDs. And due to the trickle down tech in the new high end, these are a substantial upgrade from the old PD-M545 model. (567g pair)

It would be nice if these were offered in a raw or silver model, (the M785 has an extended silver area near the cleat area to keep the visible scratches to a minimum) as the scratches depicted above occurred after the first weekend of riding. Either way, I can’t really complain, since the cage is integrated into the pedal body, these pedals are likely to be even more durable than the previous models, and bang for the buck, these pedals can’t be beat. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them popping up on hybrids or city bikes as well.

Fresh Gear: Teva Links MTB Freeride Shoes

jasonvh — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 15:51:06 +0000

Teva is looking to break into the the mountain bike footwear market, and apparently have been sending out advance shoe samples to MTB bloggers at every corner of the net. Thanks to my buddy Adam at MTBR.com, I was added to this list as well, and last night Adam sent me a text to come over an pick up my fresh new pair of riding shoes.

Like a lot of you, I wasn’t sure what to think. Teva? Don’t they make river sandals? Does the bike industry really need another line of footwear from a company that doesn’t get mountain biking? I remember seeing Nike 6.0 ads featuring sponsored freeriders for a while, and never once actually saw the shoes in person. (that I can recall at least) And were they marketing to the BMX scene, or the MTB dirt jumpers? Either way, guys I know were stoked to be getting paychecks, (both riders and photographers) so that’s cool, even if no one I knew actually bought the shoes. Is Teva the latest shoe manufacturer to jump on the band wagon? When it comes to performance shoes for platform pedals, while Shimano, Vans, and 661 have all put out a shoe geared towards flat pedals, there has really only been one footwear line that stands out above the others: Fiveten.

While I love my 5.10s, they are some heavy shoes, and I can’t say the ones I have are the best looking shoes. So of course I’m going to say yes to trying out a free pair of shoes from Teva. Though inside my head I was thinking, “I hope these don’t suck— I hate writing negative reviews..”

Teva Links Freeride Mountain Bike Shoes

First Impressions

So what were my first thoughts on receiving the shoes? The ones I have are actually pretty comfortable. I even wore them to work in place of the usual hipster sneakers I wear when I trod in the Mission in SF. In fact, I’m really stoked on them. The

I will say this though, when it comes to the color ways, you’ll love ‘em or hate ‘em. Teva didn’t try to play it safe with this one. I’m not a fan at all of the blue and yellow ones. (mostly because I dislike yellow immensely) Fortunately, the purple ones I received totally work for me, and I fall in the “love ‘em” category. The only thing I’m not fired up about is the white – I’m planning to ride these things in the dirt, and that won’t look white for long. The rest of the shoe looks fairly easy to clean for the most part though, other than the vented areas, which will likely have dirt jammed in the crevices.

Inside view of the shoes

Sizing

I was a bit concerned with the sizing initially, as they don’t make half sizes. I tend to wear a 42.5, as I like to have room in the toe box. The pair I have are a 42, and I was psyched to find they fit great, and my little piggies doesn’t feel suffocated at all. Since riders don’t wear shoes unless they fit, this is obviously a biggie. I’ve worn them to work two days in a row, and I’m digging them. When I’m heading out riding, I don’t feel like I need to drag a second pair of shoes with me either.

Outsole of the Teva Links Freeride Shoes

Performance

For those of us that ride with platform pedals, 5.10 has been setting the bar when it comes to shoes for traction and grip with platform pedals. Let’s just get this out of the way— these shoes don’t stick to the pedals the way 5.10 shoes do. I would argue that this is a very good thing though, and likely a result of the collaboration with pro freerider Jeff Lenosky. He’s known for being a technical rider that shreds the dirt just as well as street and park, and it is pretty tough to manual the way he does if you can’t move your feet around on the pedal. Personally, I don’t always want to be glued in one position on the pedal either, especially for jumping and jibbing on the trail. Since the comparison to 5.10s seems to be a recurring theme, I’ll mention them one more time: they feel the best right before the sole is worn out, and are about to need replacement. The grip with the Links felt like my broken-in pair of 5.10s, but this is straight out of the box.

The Links Shoes have some nice laces.

On my first ride with the shoes, I didn’t think about them once, and didn’t come close to slipping a pedal. Since I actually did slip a pedal on my last ride with my Karvers, (likely due to bad foot placement that didn’t get corrected due to the overzealous grip) this was pretty sweet. I didn’t think once about having to replace my foot on the pedal, and had ample grip, even on steep, fall line sections of trail on the local DH trail.

The sole of the shoe doesn’t feel exceptionally sticky when riding around on low end pedals that you would find on a city bike. They are definitely offer more traction than a typical skate shoe, but much of the traction appears to be from the pattern, which does the job with pedals that feature traction pins. The toe and heel have a different pattern that won’t interfere with riding, but should help offer traction while pushing up for another run through your favorite technical line.

Water resistant

Doing a quick bit of homework online, the shoes also feature a cool water resistant coating from P2i, a world leader in liquid repellent nano-coating technology. Sounds good, and I’m glad the weather is nice right now so I don’t have to test this, but I have been reading up on their process.

The Links shoe will scheduled to list for $100USD.
For those not psyched on the color ways, there is a lower priced model, the Pinner, that will features a subdued color palette and a lower MSRP to boot. (Get it? To boot? ah, never mind… $80.00 USD)

Pump track tested and approved. Thanks to Michal for the shutter assist.

I have yet to test the heel cushion, (thankfully) but it feels pretty good on the street, and will hopefully help prevent the bruised heels that so often come with bad days at the dirt jumps. So far I’m digging these shoes in a big way, and wearing them every chance I get.

For more about Teva click away.

San Francisco Bike Park Community Design Meeting this Saturday

jasonvh — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 15:38:50 +0000

The Valmont Park in Boulder Colorado opened this weekend after years in development. Boulder already had some good riding locally on the dirt jump side of the spectrum, and the addition of a world class public bike park that is free to the public makes Boulder a seriously rad place to consider relocating to! Why does that matter to those of us residing in the San Francisco Bay Area? Because the SF Urban Riders have retained the design services of Alpine Bike Parks, the dirt scientists behind the creation of this masterpiece of earth and wood.

And here’s the thing- you get to have design input into our bike park! But only if you come. That’s this Saturday, June 18th. 1pm.

RIP: the Harvest Trails

jasonvh — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 15:32:55 +0000

Trails in the BMX/ dirt jump world seem to come and go, often times leaving behind only memories and photos. In this instance, when we referring to trails, it is in the BMX context, where the definition of trails is significantly different from the MTB definition. BMX bikes are designed to jump dirt, and a typical session on a 20″ means fun, and that’s it. No heart rates, spinning, or aerobic threshold here. Just moving dirt with friends, grooming it, then riding it. The problem? No permission means usually means limited life spans for these riding spots created and christened with sweat, tears and sometimes blood. Unless you own your own property, (most kids that love dirt jump don’t) the solution is to search for a spot secluded and hidden enough they won’t be found, which is why spots like this kept a secret.

Since those days, the local trails were plowed a number of times, then new ones were started somewhere else. When there is a core group of riders and diggers, it is the cycle. Eventually a new set of trails were started and became known as the Harvest Trails, AKA the Gully.

We were fortunate enough to ride the Harvest Trails outside of Eugene, Oregon several years ago. Eugene has always had a strong dirt jump scene as long as I can remember. I spent several years living there in college, and helped dig when there were trails behind the BMX track. BMX racing was always a strong part of the scene, and where many riders got their start.

Since then, the trails evolved. The crew rolled up their sleeves and made their very own master pieces of dirt. I can’t imagine now many hours were put into these.

Harvest Trails from Nathan Sykes on Vimeo.

In their prime: photo of the Harvest Trails by Tex

Fresno Sessions

jasonvh — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 21:09:36 +0000

Last weekend we headed out to Fresno to take a better look at the Woodward MTB Park. Last fall I had the chance to ride it briefly while heading down to SoCal, but due to the intense summer heat, the session was limited to a few runs. We hooked up with local riders Oswaldo and Matt for a session at the park and the tour of one of their local shuttle friendly DH trails.

Fresno is a solid drive from the heart of the Bay Area, but sometimes you need to get out of town for a fresh perspective. We’ve also been curious about how their relatively new bike park was holding up. Especially since Hilride, the Bike Park Design Group that created the MTB section of the park is also currently working on two bike parks closer to home: the Stafford Lake Bike Park, and the Lafayette Bike Park.

We met local rider Oswaldo Angel earlier this year at Sea Otter, and he invited us out to ride with him on his local turf. Never one to say no, we took him up on his offer and met up at the MTB Park. After sessioning for a while, we got the scoop on the park.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a maintenance plan in place, and many of the bike park features are in sore need of upkeep. Oswaldo has personally put over 376 volunteer hours into the creation of the park, and is one of a small group of riders that want to help make the improvements needed. Unfortunately, getting permission to do it appears to present a challenge, as Fresno riders don’t have a MOU in place. The closest advocacy club, the Central California Off-Road Cyclists (CCORC) has its work cut out for them.

The 007 Trail near Bass Lake.

Since it was windy, we elected to head out of town to sample one of the local shuttle friendly trails, the 007 Trail near Bass Lake. We were glad we did; riding it was the highlight of the day.

The trail features terrain similar to one of my favorites in Ashland, Oregon, (BTI) with the addition some a few rock gardens and a wood feature or two. Originally a motorcycle trail, the trail is accessible top and bottom via a fire road, making it possible to shuttle to the trail head. Since it was our first time here, we elected to push bikes up in order to get ourselves familiar with the terrain. Bass Lake is not far from Yosemite, and as you would expect, there are some great vistas to be found. It is at a significantly higher elevation than Fresno, and while it was dry in Fresno, we ended up getting rained on a bit. Fortunately, it was only on and off, and the sun poked through the clouds several times.

Michal takes in the view just off the 007 Trail near Bass Lake.

At this point, I was kicking myself for not bringing the new Nomad along for the day. It is super dialed for exactly this type of trail in its current configuration. Thanks to Oswaldo, who was nice enough to let me ride his Giant Glory and get it all muddy, while he rode his hardtail down.

I left the GoPro in the car, but here’s a nice edit found on Pink Bike shows the trail well:

Last Ride on the Original 007 Trail on pinkbike.com

Both of these reviews list the trail as having jumps. I would argue their use of the term jumps is fairly loose here. At speed you can definitely launch sections of trail. There is a cool wood feature though which Matt styled out a few times.

Matt airs the wood feature on the 007 Trail.

The trail has an enormous amount of potential as a DH trail. With a minimal amount of digging the trail could be enhanced with subtle features while remaining ridable to other skills levels. A few more berms and the fun level would be rocking off the charts. Since it started as a motorcycle trail, it is fairly wide and offers a number of line choices. You can definitely haul ass on this trail. There are rock gardens and plenty of technical challenge to be had.

Matt takes one for the team while shoot a few pics on the trail.

There is a good amount of erosion on the trail as well as puddles that a dedicated trail crew could fix in a matter of days. If this trail was my local trail I would be totally stoked- this is exactly the kind of project I’d love to take on.

After our ride, we headed over to Bass Lake to chill out with some grub before heading back to the MTB park for a few more runs.

Matt on the jump line.

The jump line at the Woodward MTB Park.

More info and local resources:
Yosemite Bicycle

MTBR

BTCEB Women’s Ride at Joaquin Miller

ingab — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 06:09:49 +0000

Last month I led my first all women’s group ride, and it is likely to be the first of many. I’ve attended many group rides in the past, (once a week while traveling with IMBA) but had never actually led a one. When Karen Lynaugh from the Bicycle Trails Council of the East Bay asked to me to help out by leading an Intermediate/Advance group, I was thrilled. Not only did I get to take a group of women throughout my backyard trails but I also was given the opportunity to meet other skilled female riders.

I arrived a half hour early to warm up with Jason. Since I am an asthmatic, I need 2-3 miles of hard pedaling before my lungs open up and I can breath normally. Once that happens, I am able to ride for 4-6 hours depending on the terrain. After the warm up, we said our goodbyes and I started to introduce myself to the women arriving.

We all met and started at the Chabot Space and Science Center parking lot. Once the groups were divided between the beginners (led by Karen) and the Intermediate/Advanced riders, we parted ways and got rolling. Since I often ride Joaquin Miller after work it feels like I could ride it with my eyes closed. I had a good idea which trails these women would absolutely love, and thankfully, they did.

Nothing but smiles after the decent on Cinderella! Photo by Amy

I decided to warm us up lightly by heading to the beginning of Big Trees. (Dunn Trail kiosk) From there we climbed Big Trees, cut right to Cinderella, down Cinderella, to Sunset, then down Sinawak loop. From there it was back up Sinawak to Sunset, then Sunset back to the beginning of Big Trees. This time we rode Big Trees all the way down to the rock waterfall and back up to the parking lot. We did a solid 14+ mile day. Afterwards, we socialized, ate a small lunch and said our goodbye’s until next time. It was a great day!

Post ride socializing. Photo by Liamar

I wasn’t done though- 16 miles is a warm up for me these days. Seeing how I’ve become what Jason refers to as a “hammer-head”, I did the same route again, then rode Diamond Park and back to the house. Now that’s what I call an epic day of riding and it was all in my backyard. Score!

Bicycle Trail Council East Bay puts on a women’s only ride called “Ride like a Girl”, the first Saturday of every month. For more information, please visit: http://www.meetup.com/BicycleTrailsCouncil/

Click here for more information on Joaquin Miller Park.

words by Inga Beck

Eichler Bike Park Rebuild: Day 2

jasonvh — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 14:45:56 +0000

Things are seriously moving along with the Eichler Bike Park Project. If you haven’t been following the story of the Eichler Park Jumps, click here for a recap. It’s been pretty exciting to see progress on this site finally happening, with a legit Bobcat on site moving earth.

It was just over a year ago when we posted an article on the dilapidated BMX Park spotted in Beaverton, Oregon. (A suburb of Portland, we actually rediscovered it taking a test drive while car shopping nearby) We were going stir crazy while living in Portland about the lack of local riding spots, and spent a lot of time riding around scouting for a spot where the barriers to getting something legal to happen were the lowest. We found sweet secret and shuttle friendly trails, (albeit on private property) a few secret dirt jump spots created for pro level riding, and more. However, none of this stuff was sustainable, and none of them were spots that were likely to be around for long. Several were in danger of being dozed at the time as well. This location was different, as it already was technically a public BMX park. It just needed a serious reboot.

Shaping the starting mound.

It is amazing to see how a simple blog post could be a catalyst and generate so much energy from the riding community. In an area where all the riders share the same frustration with local riding opportunities, momentum quickly built, and all the key players were able to leverage their contacts to make progress in record time. Park officials were open to the idea that the area would get more use and be a bigger assets to the community as well. Times being what they are, they were ready to offer the go ahead with the right partners, but lacked funding to participate directly. This is where the local advocacy group, the Northwest Trail Alliance stepped in to make things happen.

A lot of mountain bikers I know could care less about the advocacy work groups like the NWTA do. However, without the backing and full support of the NWTA, (thanks Joe and Tom- they really were the ones that made this project happen) a legitimate non-profit organization complete with insurance, this project wouldn’t have moved forward. The timing couldn’t be better either. Many gravity/DH/FR members were unhappy about their lack of representation in the groups overall efforts, and it resulted in the timely formation of a FR-specific gravity committee to focus on efforts in creating opportunities for this style of riding. With a project ready to go, riders hungry for the opportunity seized it, and once the insurance issues were worked out, an MOU (memorandum of understanding) with parks was signed, making the NWTA a steward of the park, and officially green lighting the project.

Put it over.. there.

This project really demonstrates the get-’er-done ability of a tightly knit riding (freeriding) community, something that Portland has in spades. (I just wish the Bay Area freeride community was as strong- we’d have a lot more legal stuff to ride already) All we did was point out the opportunity, and the riders grabbed the ball, and have made it happen.

If you’ve never worked towards getting a new trail built, or legal dirt jumps, a year to get something from a dream to in the ground is amazing. Most often, the kids that ask for the parks have grown up and moved away by the time progress has been made. (in our case, we moved back to the Bay Area for financial reasons, and can only report on the progress remotely) As we’ve been discovering, getting a bike park built is only half the fight. Having permission and motivation to keep it maintained is just as important.

Moving earth.

Enough already with the backstory, and on to the build report from Raul:

Jason- We had over 20 volunteers thru out the day. We worked from 9:00am to 4:00pm, and the park is coming along great. The next big build day will be June 11th.

Here are some pics !!!!! Also Tim Zimmerman took pictures all day.

Raul D. Atencio

NWTA Gravity Group

Shovels at work

Big thanks go out to Tim Zimmerman for documenting the work of the volunteers and lending the use of his images for this story. Enjoy the gallery.