As it stands, we have a great starting point for downhill trails on Berm Peak.
We have a route to the summit, an official trailhead, and a big roll-in called the Flight
Deck.
We even have a map of the property, and a rough layout of what our future trail system
could look like.
Today, we continue our work on Woodpecker, the first of our downhill trails.
I’m trying to make the most of the land up here in Stumpthorne, and that means I can’t
just choose the path of least resistance.
There are quite a few dead trees in the way, and although they work great for lining the
trail, I need to move them all myself.
A lot of you have asked why I don’t buy or rent a machine, like a mini excavator or
skid steer.
It would make building go a lot quicker, and allow us to build bike park features like
jumps.
But I want to become proficient at hand cutting before we get into any of that.
Hand cut trails have great character.
They can be built surgically, keeping the underlying root systems intact.
This keeps them narrow, loamy, and beautiful.
Not that there’s anything wrong with machine cut trails…no.
Machine cut trails can be awesome, but hand cut singletrack is quickly becoming an endangered
species.
I want to give it a chance to flourish here on Berm Peak, and that means this is going
to take time, and sweat.
But out here in Stumpthorne, there’s not much to do besides route the trail, clear
corridor, and rake.
We won’t need to cut bench or anything like that until we get to the steeper parts of
the property.
And that means, we can finish this trail rather quickly.
Woodpecker can now be ridden as a loop, climbing back to the trailhead by middle and upper
Berm Peak Express.
The climb only takes a minute or so, and the trail itself lasts just under 30 seconds.
Given the remaining elevation we have, that means a 1 to 2 minute downhill run is absolutely
in our future.
Better yet, we’ve completed this loop just in time for some special visitors.
Phil and Hailey are in town, and this is the first time they’re seeing any of this stuff.
Phil is a connoisseur of sketchy features.
Last year he visited me at Berm Creek after I broke my collar bone, and dug some pretty
insane stuff in the snow.
I guess we’ll just pick up where we left off.
We started thinking of a feature we could build in one day, and strongly considered
an A frame like this one.
Instead, we opted for a slightly modified A frame with a turn at the top.
Go straight, and nosedive off the end.
This would be less of an A frame, and more of a Maim Frame.
With a little planning and some preparation, we’d be ready to jump into this project
full force the following morning.
And that, would require some digging.
Aside from some post holes we haven’t dug much on Berm Peak.
One thing I’ve noticed is the total lack of rocks.
This has destroyed my dreams of uncovering amazing rock rolls, but you never know what’s
lurking on the other side of the property.
Still, this clay packs really well and will make for great dirt features down the line.
This clay is also great for securing posts.
We’re not using concrete mix out on the trail, so dirt needs to be tamped down really
aggressively after each shovel full.
If any settling occurs and the feature ends up being slightly off level, life will go
on.
And indeed these kinds of projects involve a lot more guess work than even I’m used
to.
To make this stuff fit the terrain and get all the angles right, a tape measure and level
can’t do all the leg work.
We won’t really know how this thing rides until it’s done.
Some of you may notice that we’re also using different lumber.
Most of the stuff I’ve built outside has been made of treated pine, which is soaked
in this slimy preservative.
That helps the wood resist decay, but it also makes it risky to handle without gloves, and
dangerously slippery when wet.
So I’ve been experimenting with rot resistant hardwoods from my local sawmill.
These locust planks are from the low grade pile, so they’re the planks with all the
knots, bows, and twists that people don’t want for building decks.
The roughness and inconsistency makes them cheaper than the appearance grade stuff, and
grippier on bike tires.
This stuff is hard to work with.
It pushes my Ryobi saw to its limits and dulls drill bits, but it’s very strong and as
I said, makes for great traction.
Given the safety and environmental benefits, it’s worth using out here.
Between the holes, moving supplies around, and actually putting this all together.
Constructing the maim frame took the better part of a day.
But with a little bit of light to spare, we were ready to actually ride the Maim Frame.
In the future I’ll alter the trail to improve the approach, but as is, the Maim Frame is
really challenging just to get over.
Of course, that didn’t stop Phil from tryin to air it—and attempting to ride it from
the other side.
In typical Phil fashion, he cleaned it after a few tries, but for me this would be a slightly
bigger challenge.
When we last left off with Kevin, he was sending these huge jumps at Windrock on a cheap used
downhill bike.
But the Maim Frame is unlike anything he’s ever ridden before.
We can improve the approach to the maim frame with fairly little work, but in the future
I’m going to spend more time focusing on the approach to features like this.
I couldn’t have pulled this off in one day without Phil, Hailey, and Kevin’s help,
so definitely check out their very different YouTube channels below.
As excited as I am about the Maim Frame, I’m even more excited about having an actual loop
on Berm Peak.
With each home improvement project, we’ll add to Woodpecker until it lives up to its
name, and then move on to building more trail.
Until we break ground again, thanks for riding with me today and I’ll see you next time.