We’re turning our attention to Rhodorooter trail, which has become a mini slopestyle
course.
It’s packed with features from the roll in all the way to the bottom of the rock garden.
While we’ve spent a lot of time perfecting the wooden jumps and rollers, the dirt is—well,
I don’t really like working with dirt.
We’re always trying to meet deadlines here, and dirt takes time to harden after you pack
it, especially when it’s wet.
So, I consider dirt to be a liability, and never fully commit to using it to our advantage.
That has held this line back, so today we’re turning over a new leaf and embracing dirt.
This is premium, sifted hero dirt, and we’re gonna use 6 tons of it to give the slopestyle
course a dirt transplant.
This new golden dirt is a mixture of clay and sand.
So it packs amazingly well, hardens quickly, and thanks to the sand, tolerates a surprising
amount of water.
Despite it being absolutely perfect, it’s dirt cheap.
Starting with the berm before the pucker pad, I’m using the tiller to cut into the old
tread and remove any organic matter.
Loam and topsoil are okay on singletrack, but on berms and jumps it just turns to mush.
The main goal of this dirt transplant is rideability.
We know this trail can be way better, but we’re losing too much speed in certain locations.
With the addition of this roller after the berm, we can actually gain speed without needing
to pedal at all.
We’re also reworking the dirt lip that comes before the pucker pad so it gives you a little
more boost.
Kevin has been working for a professional trail building company this summer, and has
learned quite a bit.
Between the two of us we should be able to make this line more rideable than ever.
But for Kevin, riding this line will actually be a first.
Since we built the whale tail this Spring, Kevin has steered clear of this entire line.
The roll in sketches him out, and he has PTSD from—the Kevin jump, which was his idea
in the first place.
But that’s besides the point.
When this project is through, Kevin is gonna ride everything.
On to the landing of the Kevin jump.
By adding dirt and extending the landing on the right, we can make it a—Berm landing.
So you kind of land in a turn and continue along the wooden berm.
That should help us maintain speed and be really fun.
With the dirt transplant fully underway, all we have left is landing of the whale tale,
and the berm before the Kevin Jump.
We’ll be making adjustments to both.
During this build, we had multiple rainstorms every day, and while the dirt did get heavy
and difficult to work with at times, we were able to make do thanks to its high sand content.
This allows it to drain and dry really fast, and for building in a temperate rain forest,
that’s essential.
On the other hand my friend Eric lives in the desert, so he needs to constantly hose
his jumps down to keep them from drying out and crumbling.
So if you have the luxury of choosing your dirt, it’s best to do so based on your local
climate.
While we give things a chance to dry out, there are two features here that Kevin has
not yet ridden.
In the short time it took Kevin to ride the Drama Drop and Elmer Fudd, a storm began moving
in.
So, even if our dirt wasn’t quite ready, it may have been our last chance to give it
a test.
While the clay hadn’t totally hardened yet, it was hands down the best this course has
ever felt.
I’ve never been more confident on any of these features, and never have I made it through
the pucker pad without throwing in a pedal stroke.
Kevin’s major sticking point has always been the roll-in, ironically.
But there’s no other way to get speed for the jumps, and so Kevin had to come to terms
with the pucker plank.
Just as it started raining, Kevin made it through the entire line.
As it turns out, that dirt wasn’t even phased by the rain.
Only an hour later, we were enjoying
our work.