# Wood Berms in Iowa



## Vibrato (Apr 4, 2007)

Here are a few pics of the new wooden berm and wooden berm bridge we completed in Davenport Iowa at Sunderbruch Park. There isn't a lot of info on designing wooden berms out there so I thought I'd throw these up so peeps could check'em out. Total length of both berms is about 105 feet and the bank on the 2nd berm is almost 7 feet long/tall.

I've got a 4 page write up (with pics) on the process we used to design them if anyone wants it, I just haven't figured out how to post a full pdf on here and I'm having knee surgery Friday so it might be a while. Thanks to the Friends of Off Road Cycling (FORC) members answering the call for help, we got this, a 12x20 deck in the middle of a 33 foot long bridge and 1 mile of benchwork done in 2 months. :eekster:


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## Vibrato (Apr 4, 2007)

OK, so its not a wooden berm, same trail though. Here's a couple pics of the Deck Bridge. The trail goes across the entrance/exit on rough cut lumber 4 feet wide, the deck has standard green treat deck boards.


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## robbiexor (Aug 22, 2011)

Wow, great work! I need a video of someone railing those!


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## Vibrato (Apr 4, 2007)

Heres the short video from the local media that shows a few of us banking it around the Mayor of Davenport, Bill Gluba.
https://www.kwqc.com/global/video/popup/pop_playerLaunch.asp?vt1=v&clipFormat=flv&clipId1=7418975&at1=News&h1=New

And here's a pic of me doin it, but only because I was leading the pack and subsequent pics show the other riders were as high as I am!


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## CharacterZero (May 19, 2004)

Nice work! Looks like a great build.


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## dgw2jr (Aug 17, 2011)

In IOWA! Can ya believe that?


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## redd4573 (Apr 15, 2012)

great job!!! looks like a blast. How hard was it to get local media coverage? Oh and good luck with the knee


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## Vibrato (Apr 4, 2007)

redd4573 said:


> How hard was it to get local media coverage?


The Steward for the park did a GREAT job explaining to city parks dept that this is now a "destination", and since it's only one (that we know of) within 300 miles, the city contacted the local tourism bureau, the mayor came to do a symbolic ribbon cutting and so the media showed up.

Once they saw the pics and the structural drawings, they wanted to go into the park and shoot some video of it, we had vehicles ready to take them to within a 100 foot walk through the woods to get the videos and pics.

As we're walking in I told the mayor I had a FANTASTIC media shot for him if he was willing, and his immediate response was- "tell me where to stand (big smile)" The media LOVED it, so the park dept loves it even more now. And uh, one thing I should have mentioned that is ultimately critical...

We applied for and received a $5000 grant from QC Wild Places, a division of River Action- the local "get involved with nature and trails along the Mississippi corridor" group. Not only did they give us the money- but they LOVED what we did with it and told us to apply again next year!!!


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## redd4573 (Apr 15, 2012)

Thanks so much for the info , I was recently voted into the position of Trail Stewart for our brand new IMBA chapter Rust Belt Riders Trail Coalition with serves eastern Ohio, Being new to such challenges in a non established club means coping others successes. Thanks agin and good luck on future projects. And don't forget to post them! :thumbsup:


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## ghglenn (Jan 26, 2012)

If you build it.....THEY will come, lol. Had to do it! Great work.


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## bitflogger (Jan 12, 2004)

Thanks for posting that. 

It looks very good and inspires because I'm sitting with 3-400 board feet of locally harvested hardwood and the budget to do something.


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## ghglenn (Jan 26, 2012)

I would like a copy of the write-up you did as I am now in the process of building 6 miles of singletrack for my community. Any ideas/help you can send my way would be great.


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## Mr. Lynch (Jun 11, 2010)

The full write up is BEAUTIFUL! It definitely would benefit anyone looking to build a wood berm.


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## PhxChem (Aug 4, 2010)

dgw2jr said:


> In IOWA! Can ya believe that?


Wow, my visions of Iowa mountain biking never included anything like that. Great job working with local officials. Great job with the berms.:thumbsup: Great job getting the local media involved.

All I can think of when I hear about Davenport, IA.......


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## jimithng23 (Feb 11, 2009)

As Steward of this trail system, I have to give all the credit for the berms to Vibrato. The guy literally spent 2 months in the woods laying out the design.

I dilly dally around with the political end of things, lay out trail, and preach our/IMBA's trail principles; this dude puts it all to work and makes it happen.

Seriously, if you're ever in the Quad City area in Iowa/Illinois then you owe it to yourself to hit Sunderbruch Park in Davenport, IA. PM me if so and I'd gladly give you the guided tour. :thumbsup:


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## Vibrato (Apr 4, 2007)

Without the old school peeps getting thing started, we wouldn't even be involved in mountain biking- and we wouldn't have had the chance to continue to build on the fantastic relationship that they started. I took this berm project as my short term magnum opus, but without the previous stewards and dirt crews setting the groundwork, and the current steward doing the 2 year plans, mapping, signage, and all of the things on the "political" side that Jimithing takes care of I wouldn't have gotten the chance to even try.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, so MANY people helped when they could- frankly, I can't find the words to tell you how much that means. I know the hardcore group is getting tons of credit- and we appreciate it- but similar features in other areas has teken up to 2 years to build. Every hour someone helped was an hour we didn't have to- and there were over 650 hours on this trail extension.

If you know someone (or a small group) who is trained in trailbuilding and doing a big project, go help with THEIR vision. (Too many cooks and all that... if they've got the vision and the support of the park, the LAST thing they need is someone trying to changfe everything in the 11th hour. Start as a laborer- I did.) An hour or two from you and your buddies might make the difference between the trail being open today or in 3 weeks. Or a year. Nervous because you don't know them? They want to build singletrack, what more do you need to know?

Our web dood is gonna load the schematics and the write up on our local site and *I will link to it here* so everyone can have acces, might take a couple days.Post here or PM me and I'll do my best to answer questions.

We travel all over the country to ride, if you build one theres a good chance we'll be in the area eventually!


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## Vibrato (Apr 4, 2007)

Here is the technical design: http://qcforc.org/users/vibrato/BankedDesignSunderbruchJubilee.pdf

In the IMPORTANT section where it says lumber shall be chosen on site by a Certified Building Code Official- that's because I am a CBCO. If you don't have one in your club, insert whatever quilified person you have, engineer, architect, licensed contractor, "person qualified to determine structural integrety", etc. Really, you just want to show that you are aware the lumber isn't rated and that you are overbuilding it.

Here is the "Wood Berms" write up: http://qcforc.org/users/vibrato/WoodenBerms.pdf

THIS IS A PLANNING DOCUMENT, NOT CONSTRUCTION DIRECTIONS!! I'm happy to answer any questions anyone might have after you go through it afew times. Most wooden berms should be a lot less involved than this, but calculating the radius, angle and speed will be the same.


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## ghglenn (Jan 26, 2012)

Thank you for the links...Great stuff! You guys should be proud of what you have created.


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## deezler (Jun 21, 2011)

Wow, awesome work, and thanks a ton for the great write-up. It's really nice to hear about how others had to think their way through the design and build.

By the way, if you do feel like writing up a proof of your berm angle calculations, centripetal accels and all, I'm sure plenty of nerds out here on the interwebz would appreciate it.


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## black_taco (Apr 12, 2005)

SICK! I need to ride it!


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## maaland (May 5, 2007)

NICE WORK! Thats awesome!


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## NYredbulls14 (Jun 25, 2012)

I'll be riding those trails in Late August! I get back from Columbia (South America) around Aug - 7th. I cant wait to see those trails. Fantastic Job.


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## cmc4130 (Jan 30, 2008)

Vibrato said:


> . . . . There isn't a lot of info on designing wooden berms out there. . . .


great work man.

i have been trying to get good info out there for a few years by taking my own photos on trips and reposting photos in threads.

*Wooden Berm*
Wooden Berm

Colonnade, Seattle









Duthie Hill, Washington , under construction









i took this pic at Whistler:









Winter Park, Colorado:


















nice berm - Page 3

a curved wallride is a type of berm:









i would love to see a freeride mtb trail version of this low-high-low wave/ribbon style berm:









indoor, joyride150 i believe









this is dirt, but you could definitely have a wood berm be this steep as well. you're not really "railing" until the steepness is 60+ degrees:









the famous 'red bull' 180 berm at Ray's in Cleveland:

















Trailside Bike Park Opens In Park City, Utah | Mountain Bike Review









Building a Freeride park at my house... photo from the Mtbr Mountain Bike Photo Gallery









Wood berm pics - North Shore Mountain Biking Forums










Diablo freeride park









And last but not least . . . . building a transitioned face bowl corner. 
*Bowled In with Ryan Corrigan (bowl building how-to)*
Bowled In with Ryan Corrigan (bowl building how-to) on Vimeo










180 curved vert wallride at Ray's in Cleveland:








https://forums.mtbr.com/trail-building-advocacy/bermed-corner-photos-381772-3.html


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## d_read (Jul 8, 2011)

Where in Indiana can I find berms like this???? I'm thinking no where lol


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## jimithng23 (Feb 11, 2009)

d_read said:


> Where in Indiana can I find berms like this???? I'm thinking no where lol


Doesn't Brown County have some wooden berms?


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## cmc4130 (Jan 30, 2008)

d_read said:


> Where in Indiana can I find berms like this???? I'm thinking no where lol


you don't "find" them, you BUILD them.


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## d_read (Jul 8, 2011)

I haven't had a chance to ride there yet......but from vids and what friends say no there are none


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## CharacterZero (May 19, 2004)

cmc4130 said:


> you don't "find" them, you BUILD them.


Building is the hard part, it is getting approval.


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## Mr. Lynch (Jun 11, 2010)

We got a copy of the plans from the OP and one of my buddies is building one on our local trail. I'll post pix when it is done but if it turns out to be half as good as the ones in Iowa I'd be very happy!


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## cmc4130 (Jan 30, 2008)

i took this pic of the new wood berm on "Boot Camp" trail at Winter Park:










another one at Winter Park. if i remember right, it was on "Boulevard"


















this one was on "Cruel and Unusual" trail at Winter Park:


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## Vibrato (Apr 4, 2007)

NYredbulls14- GREAT PICS!! I've ridden and measured about 75% of the ones you posted. Looks like we were on the same thought process.

Can't get to MTBR as much as I used to (New job 100 miles away) communting till we get the house sold. I'll check in when I can. Great updates. The more we show of these the better others will be able to build them. And I get to ride them. 

Copper Harbor MI Aug 31st through Sept 3rd, Moab and Fruita Nov 31st through October 6th. Fall is FULLA GOOD RIDES!!


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## Sofakinold (Dec 17, 2005)

A couple wooden berms in NC


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## Buadyen (Apr 18, 2009)

d_read said:


> Where in Indiana can I find berms like this???? I'm thinking no where lol


Town Run Trail Park on the north side of Indianapolis has the banked wooden turn in the attached photo.

Rangeline Nature Preserve on the east side of Anderson has a small banked wooden turn near the beginning, and the expert loop has several other wooden structures, as well.

(Edit: fixed the quote.)


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## Criswell (Aug 19, 2012)

Very cool. Im originally from the QC. Got another reason to go home now.


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## d_read (Jul 8, 2011)

Buadyen said:


> Town Run Trail Park on the north side of Indianapolis has the banked wooden turn in the attached photo.
> 
> Rangeline Nature Preserve on the east side of Anderson has a small banked wooden turn near the beginning, and the expert loop has several other wooden structures, as well.
> 
> (Edit: fixed the quote.)


Nice Thanks for the info I will have to try an check these out. I found one at BCSP it was on a pretty tight turn with a drop off if I remember correctly. I was headed up hill so maybe next time I will come down that way and give it a shot


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## Aquabike (Feb 17, 2012)

We are building a wooden berm in Houston for the first time. Any chance I could see your design plans? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!


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## CharacterZero (May 19, 2004)

Aquabike said:


> We are building a wooden berm in Houston for the first time. Any chance I could see your design plans? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!


You should come out to Freeride512 in Dripping Springs (outside Austin) - we have plenty of wood berms for you to study!
http://forums.mtbr.com/texas/freeride-fest-april-5-6-austin-tx-freeride512-com-905816.html

small: no pic handy...
medium:








large:


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## Vibrato (Apr 4, 2007)

Aquabike said:


> We are building a wooden berm in Houston for the first time. Any chance I could see your design plans? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!


Aquabike- the links in post 17 of this thread are still active. There is both a basic schematic we came up with for the OP project and a write up of the process we went through building it.

I hope it helps you out and good luck!!

-V


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## Aquabike (Feb 17, 2012)

Thank you!!! Yes those docs look very helpful!! I'll post some pictures of our proposed site soon. We too have a very tight corner with limited space. Thank you again for posting this!!!


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