# Someone is detuning the trails and this older guy appreciates it.



## Tall BMX'r (Jan 11, 2021)

Today was the first time back riding my local steeper trails after recovering from a bad crash two months ago. Prior to my crash on a jumpline jump, the local kids had been amping up all the jumps, and building new big jumps. It's dry arid landscape with some rock, chaparral and cactus with mostly hard clay / silt trails. They are dry and chalky right now.
These kids are using white plastic sandbags filled with dirt and staking them to new heights. A perfect flowy single jump was all the sudden two sand bags higher and now an 8' gap with 4 sand bag white vertical face landing ramp that just appeared. Casing this one is a clear it, or go to the emergency room jump. Then two jumps later the same thing.
I figure they are putting in the effort and are willing to take that risk, so they own jumpline now. I hit one of their modifications that looked manageable to me, but I hit it with too much speed and cleared everything, but was too high and off balance. I paid for it........
Today I was surprised to see one of their six or so sand bag high, level drop ramps gone. A bunch of the other sand bag buildups were gone as well. The trail was back to flowy and fun jumps... It was so nice. These trails are or military land, not public, but they seem to be fine with the use and trail developement?
Maybe the military didn't like the white plastic bags being used which would eventually pollute the landscape, so they removed them?


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## kpdemello (May 3, 2010)

Back woods jump lines are always sketchy when you don't know who is building them. I much prefer the jump lines at bike parks where there are professional designers who put a lot of thought, effort, and testing to make the jumps safe. This bunch of kids experimenting in the woods? Who knows. If the take off angle isn't right or the run in doesn't provide enough speed, these jumps could be super dangerous. A very skilled rider can adjust for that but I think most guys, me included, don't have that in the toolbox. Or at least not at the level that I'd be comfortable hitting something built by a random kid with who knows what level of experience in building features.

I'd say there's a good chance the land owner removed those jumps because they didn't want people getting hurt on their property.


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## Tall BMX'r (Jan 11, 2021)

I've only once ridden in a professionally developed bike park when I rode in Mammoth Mtn the first year they opened for mountain biking. Nobody had any suspension back then (almost 30 years ago). There were no jumps, just flowing trails. We have so many developed local trails throught our hills and mountains now, that I don't feel the need to drive hours to a ski area / bike park. Needless to say, most of the jumps are kid built and risky. I've learned to not trust any of the wood ramp jumps either. They all look questionably built I should go to a professionally developed modern bike park just to experience what well thoughtout jump lines and flow trails ride like....


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## Mikbur (Nov 10, 2018)

Sounds like some unsanctioned/unofficial trails near me. Lots use them as trails with minor features, and old school MTB technicality and they have flown under the radar for basically decades. 
Kids come in and build some crazy features, gaps, borrow pits that might as well be hidden traps alongside the huge features, and kids go out in ambulances.
Trails now under threat of being closed. 

Let's just stick with the happy medium.


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## Klurejr (Oct 13, 2006)

Mikbur said:


> Sounds like some unsanctioned/unofficial trails near me. Lots use them as trails with minor features, and old school MTB technicality and they have flown under the radar for basically decades.
> Kids come in and build some crazy features, gaps, borrow pits that might as well be hidden traps alongside the huge features, and kids go out in ambulances.
> Trails now under threat of being closed.
> 
> Let's just stick with the happy medium.


Pretty much the same story in the area I do most of my riding in. The trail builders are not being stealth..... and multiple have left in helicopters to the ER.


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## Tall BMX'r (Jan 11, 2021)

I was riding at Dog Park last week and was watching a group kids ride down this 3-story vertical drop that leads to a straight up to flat jump. They just built it. Serious compression at the bottom of that drop. They hadn't quite worked the jump out and one of the kids almost endo'd off it. It was fun watching them. Reminded me of my old BMX jump building days. I could sit there and go off the same jump over and over all day long with my buddies And we'd crash all the time and just dust ourselves off. As I sat there, this guy in his 20's passes by me on a steep downhill trail he didn't seem to confident as he was talking to himself "oh ****.. oh ****". I watched him hit a big jump, and he landed it. Then it goes into a big wood berm. Right when he hit the wood, he just face planted. Bammm! He was actually closer to the kids, and they heard the crash. They yelled at him to see if he was all right? He was slow to come around. I was going to ride down and see if he needed help, but he got up and picked up his bike. He told the kids he was alright. Then he walked his bike the rest of the way down the trail. I felt his pain. Been there done that. 
Lots of Airlifts to the ER out of DogPark.


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## Sidewalk (May 18, 2015)

_Sigh_

I like those big jumps, and I am middle aged. Bike park jumps are too safe, seriously, and boring.


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## WHALENARD (Feb 21, 2010)

I think it's good to have both the sanctioned trails that go through the proper channels to authorize and the side areas where kids (and adults) can build and experiment to their heart's content. These make for the most interesting riding areas in my opinion. 

Sent from my Pixel 4a (5G) using Tapatalk


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## Jayem (Jul 16, 2005)

In any event, most trails do get de-tuned if they see any kind of maintenance, because erosion and other issues make them more challenging than intended. I get a little bent out of shape when someone gets all over trail-work meant to stabilize and restore, given that their perspective is probably short-term as far as the trail construction and condition. It's just a continual process usually, trail slowly degrades, it needs work, reinforcement, possibly re-route, and gets back into a condition where it's good for a while, but eventually it will degrade and need that work again. Not completely related...


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## Mudguard (Apr 14, 2009)

I don't see this as 'detuning' a trail. As long as trails have existed people have built janky, crap jumps. I was expecting rock removal or grading or such like!


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## raisingarizona (Feb 3, 2009)

Sidewalk said:


> _Sigh_
> 
> I like those big jumps, and I am middle aged. Bike park jumps are too safe, seriously, and boring.


Land managers facing possible litigation probably don’t agree with you. Personally, I think airtime is airtime and it’s better if we get to keep airtime instead of having things destroyed or completely closed because it’s been built poorly.


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## Nat (Dec 30, 2003)

Tall BMX'r said:


> I was riding at Dog Park last week and was watching a group kids ride down this 3-story vertical drop that leads to a straight up to flat jump. They just built it. Serious compression at the bottom of that drop. They hadn't quite worked the jump out and one of the kids almost endo'd off it. It was fun watching them. Reminded me of my old BMX jump building days. I could sit there and go off the same jump over and over all day long with my buddies And we'd crash all the time and just dust ourselves off. As I sat there, this guy in his 20's passes by me on a steep downhill trail he didn't seem to confident as he was talking to himself "oh **.. oh **". I watched him hit a big jump, and he landed it. Then it goes into a big wood berm. Right when he hit the wood, he just face planted. Bammm! He was actually closer to the kids, and they heard the crash. They yelled at him to see if he was all right? He was slow to come around. I was going to ride down and see if he needed help, but he got up and picked up his bike. He told the kids he was alright. Then he walked his bike the rest of the way down the trail. I felt his pain. Been there done that.
> Lots of Airlifts to the ER out of DogPark.


Where is Dog Park?


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## Nat (Dec 30, 2003)

Sidewalk said:


> Bike park jumps are too safe, seriously, and boring.


Which bike parks have you been going to? I’ve seen some jumps at parks that were pretty darned good.


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## Tall BMX'r (Jan 11, 2021)

Nat said:


> Where is Dog Park?


San Clemente, Ca. It's at the South end of La Pata where there is actually a city run dog park. The main entrance to the trails is right next to the dog park. the trails are overseen by the California State Parks from what I've heard. It's actually on Camp Pendleton Marine Corp base, under an SoCal Edison powerline easement. Sort of no mans land. Various groups and individuals have been building and maintaining it for years. I do some maintenance there myself. It's heavily trafficked.


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## Sidewalk (May 18, 2015)

raisingarizona said:


> Land managers facing possible litigation probably don’t agree with you. Personally, I think airtime is airtime and it’s better if we get to keep airtime instead of having things destroyed or completely closed because it’s been built poorly.


Yeah, I know. It just, less fun when there is no work needed. Fortunately there are plenty around my area that are fun, just not in bike parks.



Nat said:


> Which bike parks have you been going to? I’ve seen some jumps at parks that were pretty darned good.


SoCal ones; Skypark, Snow Valley, Snow Summit, and Mammoth. I can't even ride Westridge at Summit, the jumps are so perfectly groomed that every bro in SoCal converges there to try and feel like a hero.


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## Nat (Dec 30, 2003)

Sidewalk said:


> SoCal ones; Skypark, Snow Valley, Snow Summit, and Mammoth. I can't even ride Westridge at Summit, the jumps are so perfectly groomed that every bro in SoCal converges there to try and feel like a hero.


Interesting. I've never ridden at those parks.


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## Tall BMX'r (Jan 11, 2021)

I've ridden Mammoth but that was only a few years after they opened it. No one had FS bikes or even suspension forks. It was rough but fun. There were no jumps back then.


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## raisingarizona (Feb 3, 2009)

Tall BMX'r said:


> I've ridden Mammoth but that was only a few years after they opened it. No one had FS bikes or even suspension forks. It was rough but fun. There were no jumps back then.


Can you build jumps with the mammoth pumice? Man that “dirt” sucks there.


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## Tall BMX'r (Jan 11, 2021)

It's called 'shale'. I've ground myself on it before. It looks almost like dirt, but it breaks loose and becomes a slip & slide. Further down the mountain there is actually some dirt, but not at the top.


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## raisingarizona (Feb 3, 2009)

Tall BMX'r said:


> It's called 'shale'. I've ground myself on it before. It looks almost like dirt, but it breaks loose and becomes a slip & slide. Further down the mountain there is actually some dirt, but not at the top.


It’s not shale. It’s pumice. I spent a summer there.









Pumice - Wikipedia







en.m.wikipedia.org


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## Tall BMX'r (Jan 11, 2021)

I should know that. It's an active volcano.....


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## FranckeyGloom (12 mo ago)

Very informative and interesting post, thanks to the author.


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