Jarrod’s Place Bike Park is making its own “loam” in NW Georgia

I recently had a video from Jarrod’s Place pop up on my feed, showing riders heading down a freshly rebuilt Amish Country trail. The trail is one of the park’s pro lines — massive jumps, big drops, techy sections, and high speeds. Essentially, it is one of those trails well outside of my abilities, but damn fun to watch someone else ride it.

But it wasn’t just the impressive riding and huge features that caught my attention. In the caption, I saw a brief mention that the crew used sawdust on some sections of the trail. Sawdust? A few days later, I called Jarrod Harris, owner of Jarrod’s Place, to hear what inspired the park to incorporate sawdust into the trail and how it is holding up.

Creating Georgia loam

Loam is an interesting term and, for the most part, what mountain bikers call “loam” isn’t exactly what a geologist or biologist would give the same label. The “loam” found in places like the Pacific Northwest is actually a mix of mostly organic material — leaves, pine needles, etc. — broken down and covering the actual loam soil (a mix of clay, silt, and sand) underneath. The soft top layer, however, is what we typically call “loam,” and it provides great traction and “hero dirt” riding days.

Regardless of the technical “-ologist” description, PNW loam is real and offers an incredible riding experience — one that may be tough to find elsewhere in the country. Simply put, they don’t have the same soil and forests as the PNW. So, using sawdust, Harris made his own.

“I’m excited about it because [Jarrod’s Place], like other parks, is at the mercy of the area you’re in,” Harris told me. “We have a way now that we can actually create our own soft, loamy dirt.”

To be clear, this wasn’t the first time Harris has mixed sawdust into trail soil. He’s done it on previous trails he built, but Harris also said it wasn’t his idea. He adopted the idea from southwest motocross legend Kelly Bowen, better known as “King Kelly.” Harris grew up racing dirt bikes with King Kelly’s son and said King Kelly often mixed sawdust into the dirt at the motocross tracks he managed.

The idea of using sawdust at Jarrod’s Place seemed to always be there subconsciously, and perhaps the rebuild of Amish Country brought the idea to the front of Harris’ mind. Ultimately, it is cheap, easy to move (light), and was easy to incorporate into sections of Amish Country.

Harris said he first had his guys sift through the soil and pull as much shale out as they could. From there, they made a roughly 50/50 mix of soil and sawdust, first churning it in buckets and then using bigger machinery, like a skid steer. From there, they simply incorporated the mixture as the top “loam” layer onto sections of the trail. 

“After [the crew] put it down, I got big smiles from them when they were riding and testing it,” Harris said. “I could tell they were stoked about it, and then I got to go ride it like this past weekend for the first time. And I know, technically, it’s not gonna be the same thing you’re riding up in British Columbia, right? But it does so well in the wet, too, and that’s a big thing for me at the park.” 

In the steeps, too?

Rain was a big initial concern for the Jarrod’s Place crew. Georgia gets heavy rain, and they worried it might wash this Georgia loam away. Fortunately, Harris said that doesn’t seem to be the case. He mentioned some pretty soggy days recently, and that the sawdust mixture is doing a good job of absorbing moisture and holding it for several days. 

Harris said that when it is particularly wet, it even begins to rut up like PNW loam. The Georgia loam ruts hold their shape well enough to support a bike and rider. 

“The only thing I haven’t tested yet is putting it on a steep section,” Harris said. Again, his biggest concern about incorporating the sawdust onto the steepest sections of Jarrod’s Place is heavy rains washing it away. But with proper water mitigation and trail drainage, and after seeing how well it’s held up where they’ve used it, Harris said he’s ready to start experimenting.

Harris isn’t affraid to experiment

Watching videos or seeing pictures of people riding at Jarrod’s Place will always leave people a bit puzzled by some trail sections. If I’m not mistaken, the trails look carpeted.

And it sort of is. Harris uses his Trail Armor on the jump trails, covering the lips, landings, and short sections in between. Trail Armor is a marine-grade carpet that Harris tweaked for trail use, which significantly reduces maintenance needs and, therefore, costs. It not only helps keep his operating costs low, but Harris also sells the material.

Harris was willing to experiment with Trail Armor, and he thinks of this sawdust loam very much in the same way. He confirmed that he and the crew will use it on other trails

“I mean, we’ve already got plans. We’re definitely doing this on the other trails, for sure.”

They might also play with the mixture, veering from the roughly 50/50 soil-and-sawdust mix they currently use. 

Amish Country

The “GoPro Effect” is when big features look smaller on POV cameras, and it’s definitely true. That said, watching POV footage of riders going down the freshly rebuilt Amish Country has me saying, “Nope, wouldn’t ride.”

Even with the camera, the features appear massive. Harris confirmed that with 45-foot gaps, massive step-ups, and saying things like, “So, that is the second time you gap over the road,” as he recounted the trail.

But it isn’t just jumps, road gaps, and berms. While Amish Country might lean that way, a few rock gardens and other rough, rowdy sections covered in Georgia loam are sprinkled in. 

Harris said the trail is perfectly positioned for races, just below another of the bike park’s pro lines, Gravelanche. “Gravelanche is essentially just one long rock garden,” he said. Connecting Gravelanche to Amish Country creates what looks like a World Cup-level DH race track.

Jarrod’s Place is celebrating Amish Country’s grand opening on November 14th, when you can check out the Georgia loam for yourself.

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