Since moving to Asheville, my backyard trail system, Berm Creek, has become one of the
most beloved backstories on my channel.
But this summer it took a back seat to quite a few projects.
I traveled, attended events, entered a film competition, and even helped my friend Alexander
build a van to live in full time.
Between all this stuff I was either behind a computer, or trying to make filler content
while recovering from injuries.
I sustained many injuries this year, and continually rushed back in, only to make mistakes for
lack of practice and patience.
Among other things, these injuries have prevented me from tending to Berm Creek, which has more
or less delivered great content, without destroying my body.
Until now.
On a sunny Saturday morning, I decided to restore Berm Creek to its former glory.
I’d have two sunny days before torrential rain, so the plan was to spend Saturday undoing
6 months of neglect, and Sunday building and riding something new.
It would be tight, but I’d have Kevin to help me dig on Sunday.
For starters, I needed to clear all the plants that had encroached on the tread.
My backyard resembles a meadow more than a lawn, and that’s fine with me.
I prefer these weeds to actual grass, but they are tough to keep under control.
It was cool to see the trail reveal itself again little by little.
With a leaf rake, I cleared the debris and all the little pebbles that had made their
way to the surface.
Fresh tread looks awesome, and through plants and leaves decomposing on the surface, the
red clay had become a bit loamier.
After clearing the trail, I needed to spend some time on the landing to the drop.
Because it’s so steep, the tread tends to wash away here, and get really gnarly and
loose.
My goal was to widen the tread, move some of the dirt back up to the top, and grade
it out for a smoother landing.
Although I don’t have an excavator, this little tiller can break up turf and spit out
rocks much quicker than I can.
And it weighs about as much as a chainsaw which makes it easy to transport on slopes.
I used it to cut the landing a bit wider, and break up the soil so I could shape it
the way I wanted.
I also bought another trail building tool: a McLeod.
I can’t count how many of you have suggested I get one, and I don’t understand how I
got by without it now.
It moves more soil than a rake and can be used for so much more.
Like most of Berm Creek, the landing is red clay, so it’s easy to work with and packs
down well in the end.
But red clay also turns to peanut butter when it gets wet, making it basically unrideable
unless you want to ruin your trail.
So if I wanted to build anything else on Berm Creek, it would need to be finished, ridden,
and filmed by the end of Sunday.
The
next morning, Kevin came by to help dig.
Since we’d only have half a day to clear the bottom of the trail, grade it out, and
build the rollers, we decided to start with something small that could be expanded upon
in the future.
My plan was to build a set of small rollers that could either be pumped, or jumped.
We could have just started digging and building dirt piles, but that would have left us with
some serious drainage problems.
So we excavated the entire area so it could be graded to shed water.
That involved removing brush, flattening the ground where the rollers would be, and building
up the turf in low areas that would otherwise become puddles.
In hindsight, we really should have just worried about that stuff later.
By 2pm, we barely had enough time to pack, ride, and film these two very small rollers,
which, to be fair were
about 14 feet apart.
The really challenging part to doubling these rollers is getting set up after the berm,
if you even want to call it that.
This berm just kind of formed by riding into it, and while it’s fun, it does very little
to help you maintain control and speed into a jump.
It will need to be made bigger in the future, but on Sunday we didn’t even have enough
time to let the rollers harden.
I’ve been hurt plenty of times, but have never made those exact noises before.
Maybe it was the wind being knocked out of me, or maybe it was the utter surprise of
what had just happened.
If you remember in the Spring, we lined the trail with rocks to make it look more purposeful
and delineate it from the yard.
I even mentioned how they shouldn’t be regarded as a hazard, because this is after all, a
mountain bike trail.
But those rocks ended up being partially to blame for the severity
of my injuries.
And my self diagnosis ended up being spot on, except I didn’t realize that my Scapula,
or shoulder blade, was also fractured in the crash.
Again, I rushed myself and jumped back in too quickly.
And I got what a wanted, content.
Except this wasn’t the content I intended on getting.
This will need to change, and believe me, I’ve been thinking about it a lot.
So as it stands now I won’t be able to truly ride until February, and here in Western North
Carolina, the winter is one of the best seasons to ride.
While it sucks for me, it’ll actually force me to let my other injuries heal, and I should
come back better than ever.
Until then, we’ve got lots of repair tutorials, documentaries, and other good stuff that doesn’t
involve me risking my skeleton.
And if you’re sitting on the sidelines injured too, I’ve got a special video for you next
week.
Thanks for riding with me today, and I’ll see you next time.