swaz
Likes Bikes and Dirt
So my local has this rather rickety little wooden berm about 2m long. The slats are hardwood but whoever built it used 2mm aluminum C-channel as a bearer and the screws have pulled out etc etc.
I want to rebuild it! As an idea of the turn watch this YouTube clip from 3:35 to 3:45 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_UWjwRRsDE
the rider in it is actually in the right hand corner at 3:41 but it's an old clip pre-berm.
Or in this one from 2:35 to 2:40.
The berm is actually to the left of the line these guys take and it gives you the perfect flick to line up the small rise and then punch it into the next section.
Is H4 treated pine the best option to sink into the ground in place of the alloy bearers? There is loads of stone around too so I could look at making one from that as well? Any good guides to building wooden berms or wall rides?
EDIT TO SHOW PICS OF ENTIRE BUILD
Before- It had a crappy wooden bridge that rocked and rolled whenever someone rode over it. Hardly anyone actually used it and there was a heap of erosion happening on the inside of the turn.
So I ripped the bridge out and decided, in consultation with the club, that a rock armored berm would be best. So armed with a spade and gloves I went out there to create an awesome rock armored berm like I had seen on Google images. Like most things, it is a crap load more work than I first thought. Those were the biggest rocks I thought I would need and I wouldn't need many of them, or so I thought! It actually didn't ride as badly as it looks in the photos. But even the slightest amount of rain and the rocks moved around and it was boggy as because I had left all the organic matter in there.
This pic is the 2nd go at fixing this 'feature'. I had to get the berm out of that little corner of the gully there because it was wet wet and wet. So I got the suggestion from Pinkpoodle on here to do this. He was 100% right about the line being there and not over to the left, especially when I planned on using the inside line of the turn which I think was the original line. It is difficult to see by photos. However here is a Youtube clip of a walk through of the 2nd attempt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZko3Hq1tQM
I was pretty proud with this attempt because it retained what I thought were the features of this turn which where speed, flow and a slight advantage for those with the skill to take on a berm at speed. However, when I emailed the pics and video to the guy at the club who I was liaising (read annoying) with about what I wanted to do and what I was doing he wasn't really convinced it would last long term. The idea being that pissy little ladder bridge there be replaced with a more stable ladder bride. You can read the whole thread if you are interested to read about that. I was a bit annoyed at first, however after sleeping on it I knew I had to swallow my pride, admit I was wrong and take advice. A very kind and knowledgeable RB member PM'd me and gave me some sound advice and some drawings he had done depicting the turn and how to build it.
So, I went out there one day to dig around and plan and have a look at things. This is about the time I am regretting ever starting this project but I was slightly obsessed with finishing it and doing it well. When I dug around and down I hit bedrock or at least a large sheet of rock. Several meaty swings at it with a pick ax didn't do any damage to it so I knew it was solid AND it ran the full width of the gully! Score. I also found a long length of reinforced 450mm wide poly pipe. Another score. Now I was thinking culvert with a berm on top! BUT, no matter what I did in that gully water just soaked everything. So back to the sketch book and about 10-15 emails with my 'trail advisor' and I had a plan.
This is how I saw it happening in my mind.
This is how it actually happened. The kids had a great time in the mud with the leeches, everything takes twice as long with kids in toe though. There are about 10 of those large rocks you can see. About 4 of them made up the face of the berm. The other 6 or more make up the reinforcement behind those rocks. Aint nothing moving those, ever! I dug some of the massive boulder type ones into the earth about 2/3 of their height and then used others and bracing and to angle those face ones. I did consider using earth but there wasn't enough around and I didn't want the back side being eroded away when/if the culvert gets blocked inundated with water. I tried every method I knew of or read about to move those bloody rocks from where they were, to where I wanted them to be. After moving about 5 using a mixture of strong man flipping them end on end along the trail or down a hill and some in the wheel barrow I decided to just go foraging directly above me up the hill and 'roll' them down. Which looked more like me man handling them down tyre flipping style. Lesson learned there! This was one part of the job I wished I had an extra helper or 5! I was also given some sage advice of spending some time just collecting rock and stock piling it. Which is what I did for about 3 hours one day until I couldn't lift anything more. This came in handy later on, even though I still didn't have enough but all I needed was some fist sized and smaller ones which were easy to manage with a wheel barrow.
Although the face of the berm doesn't look that steep I measured it to be about 144 degrees from straight. I have only run around it but it seems to give a nice flow.
I have some cleaning up to do around the site and some reshaping of the berm out the 'out' side of the rock face. But it is rideable as it is and, I think, a shit load better and more sustainable than what was there. For the interests of others who come here like I did looking for help I will offer some advice based on all the mistakes I made, to which there were many!
Get permission first! Luckily I did this and the club secretary came out and helped one day and it made all the difference. Also knowing that at least someone in the executive knew and approved of what I wanted to do.
A fire rake, round mouth long handled shovel, long wrecking bar and a wheel barrow were they best tools for this job.
Look at the 'in' and 'out' flow of the feature and draw a sketch on site and take video and pictures for reference whilst at home or for when you wake up at 1am and can't sleep because you are thinking about how you are going to do this (happened to me). My first two attempts ignored the best line of the corner and I spent maybe about 10 hours constructing things I didn't need to.
Big rocks are the best rocks. They are also the hardest to move around. If you are low of help, wait until you have a few extras and just collect large rocks for as long as you can. A hand trolley was useful for this when there was a downhill run and a large rock to move.
Get some $5 line marking spray and put yellow marks on your tools. Especially long thin tools like a wrecking bar, which blends into the ground amazingly well when you go back and look for where you put it down.
Put up a sign warning people you are on the trail and to SLOW DOWN. This worked well for me. I only had one douche bag on an S-Works who didn't give a fuck and spent several laps in the pissing down rain making a bigger mess for me because he didn't slow down. 99% of people where thankful and appreciative. I had one other guy chastise me for making the course 'too groomed and easy'. Also, the wearing of a yellow vest puts people at ease that you are meant to be there and you know what you are doing.
Working alone is a LOT of hard work. I put in 4 hrs yesterday without a break and hit the wall big time. Dizzy, felt like laying down and sleeping. BUT, if I had not had done most of this myself, I would still be waiting for a club trail build day to get help. Not a slight on the club but they have bridges to fix and other things on their agenda that was ahead of my little project.
The feature is by no means finished. But it is safe (hopefully) and it is rideable and I believe I have maintained the original nature of the feature which was a bit technical, fast and had a newby option which gave those willing or able to hit it with speed the advantage.
I want to rebuild it! As an idea of the turn watch this YouTube clip from 3:35 to 3:45 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_UWjwRRsDE
the rider in it is actually in the right hand corner at 3:41 but it's an old clip pre-berm.
Or in this one from 2:35 to 2:40.
The berm is actually to the left of the line these guys take and it gives you the perfect flick to line up the small rise and then punch it into the next section.
Is H4 treated pine the best option to sink into the ground in place of the alloy bearers? There is loads of stone around too so I could look at making one from that as well? Any good guides to building wooden berms or wall rides?
EDIT TO SHOW PICS OF ENTIRE BUILD
Before- It had a crappy wooden bridge that rocked and rolled whenever someone rode over it. Hardly anyone actually used it and there was a heap of erosion happening on the inside of the turn.
So I ripped the bridge out and decided, in consultation with the club, that a rock armored berm would be best. So armed with a spade and gloves I went out there to create an awesome rock armored berm like I had seen on Google images. Like most things, it is a crap load more work than I first thought. Those were the biggest rocks I thought I would need and I wouldn't need many of them, or so I thought! It actually didn't ride as badly as it looks in the photos. But even the slightest amount of rain and the rocks moved around and it was boggy as because I had left all the organic matter in there.
This pic is the 2nd go at fixing this 'feature'. I had to get the berm out of that little corner of the gully there because it was wet wet and wet. So I got the suggestion from Pinkpoodle on here to do this. He was 100% right about the line being there and not over to the left, especially when I planned on using the inside line of the turn which I think was the original line. It is difficult to see by photos. However here is a Youtube clip of a walk through of the 2nd attempt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZko3Hq1tQM
I was pretty proud with this attempt because it retained what I thought were the features of this turn which where speed, flow and a slight advantage for those with the skill to take on a berm at speed. However, when I emailed the pics and video to the guy at the club who I was liaising (read annoying) with about what I wanted to do and what I was doing he wasn't really convinced it would last long term. The idea being that pissy little ladder bridge there be replaced with a more stable ladder bride. You can read the whole thread if you are interested to read about that. I was a bit annoyed at first, however after sleeping on it I knew I had to swallow my pride, admit I was wrong and take advice. A very kind and knowledgeable RB member PM'd me and gave me some sound advice and some drawings he had done depicting the turn and how to build it.
So, I went out there one day to dig around and plan and have a look at things. This is about the time I am regretting ever starting this project but I was slightly obsessed with finishing it and doing it well. When I dug around and down I hit bedrock or at least a large sheet of rock. Several meaty swings at it with a pick ax didn't do any damage to it so I knew it was solid AND it ran the full width of the gully! Score. I also found a long length of reinforced 450mm wide poly pipe. Another score. Now I was thinking culvert with a berm on top! BUT, no matter what I did in that gully water just soaked everything. So back to the sketch book and about 10-15 emails with my 'trail advisor' and I had a plan.
This is how I saw it happening in my mind.
This is how it actually happened. The kids had a great time in the mud with the leeches, everything takes twice as long with kids in toe though. There are about 10 of those large rocks you can see. About 4 of them made up the face of the berm. The other 6 or more make up the reinforcement behind those rocks. Aint nothing moving those, ever! I dug some of the massive boulder type ones into the earth about 2/3 of their height and then used others and bracing and to angle those face ones. I did consider using earth but there wasn't enough around and I didn't want the back side being eroded away when/if the culvert gets blocked inundated with water. I tried every method I knew of or read about to move those bloody rocks from where they were, to where I wanted them to be. After moving about 5 using a mixture of strong man flipping them end on end along the trail or down a hill and some in the wheel barrow I decided to just go foraging directly above me up the hill and 'roll' them down. Which looked more like me man handling them down tyre flipping style. Lesson learned there! This was one part of the job I wished I had an extra helper or 5! I was also given some sage advice of spending some time just collecting rock and stock piling it. Which is what I did for about 3 hours one day until I couldn't lift anything more. This came in handy later on, even though I still didn't have enough but all I needed was some fist sized and smaller ones which were easy to manage with a wheel barrow.
Although the face of the berm doesn't look that steep I measured it to be about 144 degrees from straight. I have only run around it but it seems to give a nice flow.
I have some cleaning up to do around the site and some reshaping of the berm out the 'out' side of the rock face. But it is rideable as it is and, I think, a shit load better and more sustainable than what was there. For the interests of others who come here like I did looking for help I will offer some advice based on all the mistakes I made, to which there were many!
Get permission first! Luckily I did this and the club secretary came out and helped one day and it made all the difference. Also knowing that at least someone in the executive knew and approved of what I wanted to do.
A fire rake, round mouth long handled shovel, long wrecking bar and a wheel barrow were they best tools for this job.
Look at the 'in' and 'out' flow of the feature and draw a sketch on site and take video and pictures for reference whilst at home or for when you wake up at 1am and can't sleep because you are thinking about how you are going to do this (happened to me). My first two attempts ignored the best line of the corner and I spent maybe about 10 hours constructing things I didn't need to.
Big rocks are the best rocks. They are also the hardest to move around. If you are low of help, wait until you have a few extras and just collect large rocks for as long as you can. A hand trolley was useful for this when there was a downhill run and a large rock to move.
Get some $5 line marking spray and put yellow marks on your tools. Especially long thin tools like a wrecking bar, which blends into the ground amazingly well when you go back and look for where you put it down.
Put up a sign warning people you are on the trail and to SLOW DOWN. This worked well for me. I only had one douche bag on an S-Works who didn't give a fuck and spent several laps in the pissing down rain making a bigger mess for me because he didn't slow down. 99% of people where thankful and appreciative. I had one other guy chastise me for making the course 'too groomed and easy'. Also, the wearing of a yellow vest puts people at ease that you are meant to be there and you know what you are doing.
Working alone is a LOT of hard work. I put in 4 hrs yesterday without a break and hit the wall big time. Dizzy, felt like laying down and sleeping. BUT, if I had not had done most of this myself, I would still be waiting for a club trail build day to get help. Not a slight on the club but they have bridges to fix and other things on their agenda that was ahead of my little project.
The feature is by no means finished. But it is safe (hopefully) and it is rideable and I believe I have maintained the original nature of the feature which was a bit technical, fast and had a newby option which gave those willing or able to hit it with speed the advantage.
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