Last week I wrote about locating and planning for a new MTB trail and this is a continuation of that article. Click here to go back and get caught up.

Walk the Area

Walking the site is integral to choosing a line for your new mountain bike trail. Walking will help you decide which areas are most suitable and will help you see topography and land makeup at a closer scale. Look for natural features such as rock gardens, ridges, and humps. These features are useful for building technical sections, jumps, rollers, and berms and the best trails link these types natural features together. Take your “dream trail” list (see previous article) out with you to help you remember all the features you are looking for. Mark areas of interest on a map, GPS, or even mentally. If you have more than one possible build site, walking the area will help you decide which site to use.

Look for Natural Features

Natural features play a key role in how I personally build trails. Making use of natural features saves you lots of time and effort when building your trail and it usually makes it more fun too. Different features are desirable for different trail types and uses. If you are building an XC trail, look for natural benches and humps to help you make a fast, flowy benchcut trail with many grade reversals. If you are building a FR/DH trail, look for ridges and humps with proper spacing to build jumps and berms, rock slabs, rock gardens and natural benches that make full use of elevation changes. Spotting natural features takes practice and a trained eye so next time you’re out for a hike or slow paced ride, look around and try to identify a few natural features and envision what you might build with them if you were building a trail there. Here are some natural features which are useful for trail building:

1.    Ridgelines: Staying atop ridgelines allows for trails with reasonable grades and good drainage.

photo by AK_Dan

2.    Benches: These are natural steps. Building trail along these is easy and creates well drained trails with suitable grades.
3.    Humps and bumps: These deposits of soil from 1-20 feet tall can be turned into rollers, gap jumps, tabletops and berms with just a little shaping. A short, steep incline or decline is often useful as the lip or landing of a jump.
4.    Rocks: Deposits of rocks can be used for rock gardens or rock armouring.

photo by trek7k

photo by RowdyREBEL

5.    Rock Faces: Slabs of various clines are useful for a high grip, zero maintenance, permanent, and fun trail features.
6.    Exposure: Building a trail relatively close to a steep hillside or cliff gives the user the sensation of speed. Just be careful not to build your trail too close to the edge!
7.    Scenery: Building your trail next to lookouts, streams, big trees or other aesthetically pleasing features enhances user experience.
8.    Building materials: Building a trail close to useful materials such as rocks and rot resistant wood such as cedar decreases the amount of materials you need to haul in and makes the trail building process faster and easier.

This picture shows a big rock garden some friends of mine built. The rocks were found close by then rolled and dug into place.

It’s tough to see from this angle, but this is a BIG tabletop. The lip is on the bottom right and the landing is on the bottom left of the frame. I saw a big ridge and thought it would make a good tabletop. I carved out a lip on one side and smoothed out a transition on the other. I envisioned this line and it turned out better than I expected.

It’s also a bit tough to see on this one, but the launch ends on the upper log on the right side of the frame and the landing is on the bottom left. This is the set up jump for the tabletop in the previous picture. Again, I envisioned this line and the final product vastly exceeded my expectations. The downed log provided a natural backing for the jump. The length to the naturally steep transition also works perfectly. All I had to do to build this line was benchcut and add some dirt to the lip. For those who aren’t familiar, a benchcut is a trail cut into the side of a hill and I’ll expand on the benchcut method of trailbuilding in a future article.

Next Up: Choosing Your Line Part 2

About the Author
Kevin Johnstone is an avid mountain biker from Ontario, Canada. He has been building trails for 4 years across Canada. He has worked with the worlds #1 bike park builder, Jay Hoots, for a number a build sessions spanning 2 years. He spent 2 seasons improving the trails at Kelso conservation area in Milton. He is currently building downhill specific trails. Kevin can be reached by private message.

Before the Shovel: First Steps

As a trailbuilder with 4 years experience, I have worked on more than my fair share of mountain bike trails. I believe it’s every mountain biker’s responsibility to get involved with trailbuilding at some level plus it’s great exercise, you’ll meet cool people, and you’ll be giving back to the mountain bike community. Best of all you, and your friends get to ride your new creation! Getting involved with trailbuilding is easy if you look in the right places. I intend to show you the quickest and easiest way to start building the trail of your dreams. This article identifies the steps you need to take before you put a shovel in the ground.

Identify a Need

Chances are you have trail envy. You’ve seen or ridden trails far from home that you love, and you want to bring the best elements together into one super-trail close to home. Don’t be afraid to dream big when you picture the ideal trail. Grab a pen and paper and list all the features you’re looking for. Start with the genre of trail you want to build and then add more specifics. Here’s an example:

New Downhill Trail
-    Road to shuttle/ride/hike up
-    At least 500ft elevation drop
-    Flowy
-    Rock gardens
-    Lots of jumps: step down, step up and gap
-    Some berms
-    No uphill
-    Some pedalling
-    Some steep sections
-    Within 30 miles of home

These are just some examples of characteristics you might want in a trail. I will expand on definitions in article 2 entitled Choosing Your Line.

Now that you’ve identified the key features of your trail, contact people in your community with extensive knowledge of existing trails.

Contact the Local Experts

In order to find an area to build trails, contact your local mountain bike club. If your town doesn’t have a mountain bike club, go to the local bike shop and find out who knows the trails best. Once you’ve found your local expert, tell him about your riding interests and what your area is lacking. Say that you would like to get involved and build a trail to suit the needs of yourself and other riders like you. This is a good way to find out if there are already trails in your area that meet your needs and can help identify areas that are good for building.

Be open to helping the club meet their existing trailbuilding goals, especially if you are a novice trailbuilder. Often mountain bike associations will host trail build days. Attending these build sessions will help you maintain a good relationship with your local club, meet other people with similar interests, and learn basic trailbuilding skills. If you’re unsure as to whether you are ready to build a whole new trail, sponsored trail build days will help you decide. Mountain bike associations appreciate suggestions for trail improvement. Maybe they will use one of your ideas in their next build day.

Once you’ve attended some build days and improved your trailbuilding skills, ask your local association to give you some projects pertaining to your interests. Many mountain bike associations have long lists of trail maintenance jobs that need to be done as well as volunteer hours to fulfill. For many people, involvement in local build days is all the trailbuilding they want to do. For others, trailbuilding turns into a passion matched only by their enthusiasm for riding. These impassioned builders need a trail to call their own.

The desire to build trails comes from an unfulfilled need. Your local expert might not show any interest in pointing out areas on existing trails suitable for the modifications you have in mind. It is common for mountain bike clubs to hesitate in allowing trail features such as jumps, berms and steep sections, features that many riders enjoy. A good solution to this problem is to ask to build a new trail specific to the needs of riders like you. Now you must find a suitable place to build your dream trail.

Identify a Suitable Area to Build

First, ask your local mountain bike association if they can recommend an area to build in that will suit your needs. If there are trails in your area similar to the one you have envisioned, ask if you could build in the same area. This keeps trails centralized and allows others to more easily enjoy your work. If you don’t get an answer from one person, look for someone else who can help and be persistent. Ask your local mountain bike club, bike shop, riders and perhaps the best resource, other trailbuilders.

It is very important that you don’t build a trail anywhere you don’t have permission to. This includes private land and protected areas. Unless I have permission from the land manager, I only build on crown land. Crown land is a Canadian term meaning “taxpayers land” owned by the government. Crown land is public land with certain laws governing its use. Find out where the government owned land is in your area by going to library or geography department of a university and looking at zoning maps. You will likely find a number crown land areas suitable for your new trail. (note: US laws are often more strict regarding public land uses) It is always a good idea to contact the crown land manager in your area before building. Crownland.org is an excellent resource if you live in Canada. Google maps is another good tool to use to identify forested areas and topography using the satellite and terrain tools. Remember, illegal building hurts our sport and can lead to jail time!

Now that you have identified one or more areas suitable for your new trail, it’s time to brush up on your trailbuilding knowledge.

Review IMBA Trailbuilding Strategies

IMBA has a number of books packed with useful trailbuilding strategies. These books will help you envision your new trail. It’s good to read this before you go scout out the area because you will have a better idea of what natural features to look for.

Now that you have one or more possible places for your new trail, it’s time to lace up the boots!

Stay tuned for my next article: Choosing Your Line.

About the Author
Kevin Johnstone is an avid mountain biker from Ontario, Canada. He has been building trails for 4 years across Canada. He has worked with the worlds #1 bike park builder, Jay Hoots, for a number a build sessions spanning 2 years. He spent 2 seasons improving the trails at Kelso conservation area in Milton. He is currently building downhill specific trails. Kevin can be reached via private message.

Itusi trail @ Lake Norman State Park - photo by EZ-E

IMBA is on the ball again, this time organizing mountain bikers to comment on the North Carolina State Parks Systemwide Plan. As always, IBMA has some talking points for comments that can be submitted via email or letter by October 31, 2009.

If you have ever ridden or plan to ride North Carolina, please take the time to send your comments in support of expanded and improved shared-used trails in our state parks.

Looking at the draft plan itself, there are some pretty encouraging words for mountain bikers in North Carolina. I’ve pasted the section on mountain bike trails below but the jist of it is that mountain bikers in NC are vocal and they want singletrack in Umstead State Park. The plan also gives kudos to MTB volunteer groups and points to the trails at Lake Norman State Park as a good model for future trail development. Check out the NC Division of Parks & Rec. website to see how you can submit your comments before the deadline.

From the 2009 Systemwide plan:

The largest number of responses on the survey from a recreation-specific user group was from mountain bikers. The survey found that while although only 39.3% people surveyed would ride mountain bikes in state parks, mountain bike trails were by far the most requested facility-type – with 19.9% of people surveyed choosing this facility as their highest priority to develop in state parks. The 2007 NSRE found that within the previous year, 15.7% of North Carolinians participated in mountain biking.

The comments on the survey from the mountain biking community were numerous. The major themes emerging from the comments were: more mountain biking trails are needed – particularly in areas near centers of population; the mountain biking community is sizeable and organized; mountain biking can be low impact use on properly designed trails; single-track trails on natural surfaces with a wide variety of trail types, difficulties, and length are preferred; and there are many groups such as: the Tarheel Trailblazers, Brushy Mountain Cyclists, Greensboro Fat Tire Society, Triangle Off-Road Cyclists, International Mountain Biking Association, and the Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association are available and willing to contribute financially and also through volunteer work to help design, build, and maintain mountain bike trails.

The vast majority of park-specific comments received from this user group were directed to William B. Umstead State Park where mountain bikers were unhappy with the wide gravel road experience and noted that new single-track trails (or conversion of existing trails) at the park were desired. Several mountain bikers applauded the division’s collaboration with the mountain biking community on the design and construction of the single-track trail network at Lake Norman State Park.

Syncros is partnering with the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA) to give IMBA members 25% off bars, headsets, wheels, saddles, seatposts, pedals, and tires. IMBA trailbuilders get an even better deal - 40% off Syncros products via coupons handed out by local IMBA Team Captains. If you’re looking to upgrade your components with Syncros gear a $30 IMBA membership will easily pay for itself!

Singletracks.com is an IMBA corporate member but I honestly didn’t realize that IMBA supporters received discounts at so many places. Check this out: 15% off at Backcountry.com, 10% off at the Kona web store, 10% off Western Spirit cycling tours, and Subaru gives you up to $3,300 off a new car! Even Hertz (the rental car company) offers IMBA member discounts, though unfortunately that doesn’t cover bike rack rentals

Even if you’re not an IMBA member yet you can show your support just by choosing where to shop. JensonUSA donates a portion of sales to IMBA and here on singletracks we give 100% of the proceeds from t-shirt sales to IMBA.

IMBA is doing a ton of great stuff all around the world to support mountain biking - what will you do to support IMBA?

This week I came across a couple MTB news items that, although unrelated, point to interesting trends affecting the mountain bike world…

Image from cnano-rhone-alpes.org.

James Easton donates $2M to UCLA for Carbon Nanotube Research: Remember the early days of mountain biking when guys could just modify old Schwinn bikes into badass off road machines? Or even the days when anyone who knew a thing or two about welding could throw together a bike frame? Those days are coming to a close as carbon fiber and now, carbon nanotubes become the mountain bike frame and component materials of choice.

Easton actually makes a number of products beyond mountain bike handlebars and wheels including golf clubs, tents, bows and arrows, baseball bats, helmets, and every hockey sticks. While there’s no direct link between the carbon nanotube research funding and any upcoming MTB products (that we know of), it just goes to show the technology involved in building mountain bikes is becoming more and more complex. Is there a 5-pound rig in the future for mountain bikers? Time will tell…

Unemployed Australians Build Mountain Bike Trails: The world economy has hit a bit of a rough spot but in Queensland, Australia the government is paying unemployed workers to build downhill and cross country MTB trails at Amamoor in the Mary Valley. Workers receive training in chainsaw operation and trail building and will even get a chance to build trail features and obstacles.

It’s interesting to think about how many of the trails we ride today were actually built for hiking during the New Deal in the 1930s. These days it’s mostly volunteers who are adapting old trails to new uses but building trails AND getting paid - now that’s a trend I’m on board with!

Santos in Ocala, FL

Building freeride structures for mountain bikes used to be a trial and error process, and for some mountain bike trail builders it still is. Fortunately the International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA) has started sharing best practices for building freeride structures (also known as North Shore junk) and the website is a great place to start for aspiring freeride trail builders.

In an article titled “Construction Guidelines for Wooden Technical Trail Features,” the IMBA gurus recommend choosing materials that are resistant to rot and decay for freeride structures and this is definitely a good place to start. There’s really nothing sadder to me than seeing a rotten, broken ladder bridge or jump on the trail - when a freeride structure dies it’s as if a part of me dies too. Seriously, picking the right wood for the conditions is important and IMBA recommends you avoid direct wood contact with the dirt - try to use rocks or concrete footings to elevate your structure off the ground. It’s also a good idea to make your structure extra strong and IMBA has some good tips for that as well. Remember that a clydesdale rider landing a jump onto your structure can exert a force greater than 3-times his weight - better add a few extra supports just in case.

Legend Park in Clayton, NC

IMBA has another great article titled “10 Tips to Build a Ladder Bridge” you’ll want to check out as well. I know, I know, you may be a bit skeptical about IMBA’s “tips” thinking these are all about being safe and sustainable but it turns out IMBA likes to party as well. This article encourages freeride builders to add challenges by varying bridge heights and widths, adding turns and camber, incorporating drop-offs, and changing bridge inclines and declines. With just a little imagination you can take IMBA’s tips and come up with some seriously wacky stuff that would challenge even the Collective film riders. I’m thinking someone should invent a computer game, Sim Freeride Builder, to see what’s possible. Anyone up to the challenge?

Our backyard teeter totter in Durham, NC

You may recall that we built our own freeride furniture a couple years back in the form of a teeter-totter. This was a fun project for me because I’m a big fan of woodworking and building stuff and it’s totally doable even if you have a tiny yard. I think imagining and building freeride structures is almost as fun as riding them - almost.

If this article has got you stoked to go out and build your own freeride structures at the local trail system, slow down just a second. Read about the history of the Hick Hucksters if you haven’t already and recognize that you need permission before you build ANYTHING on land that isn’t your own. If, on the other hand, you already own the acreage, go nuts! And send us the pics and specs, we’d love to share them with everyone else!

P.S. - We just added a Freeride forum here on singletracks and Mongoose is already posting pics of his rig. Drop by and say what up.

For most of us mountain bike trails just seem to exist. It’s not that we’re lazy or ungrateful, it’s just that we don’t put much thought into the sacrifices that are often made to build a world-class mountain bike trail. Beyond the physical work that goes into building a great trail system the political, social, and monetary costs to getting a trail project off the ground are often monumental. Fortunately, there are groups like IMBA that help make great trails happen.

IMBA recently put together a book about building great mountain bike trails and it sounds like a must read for land managers and trail builders around the world. The book analyzes why certain trail systems are more popular than others and discusses best practices for designing and managing mountain bike trails.

I’m constantly amazed at the diversity of mountain bike trail conditions around the country and I’m really interested to understand why some trails are just so much better than others. For example, it seems like every mountain bike trail I’ve ridden in a National Forest has been great while my experiences in State Parks have been less positive.

Anyway, a great resource if you’re a trail advocate or designer - support IMBA any way you can.