Timber Trails

Cleaned Up

2011-01-11T11:48:00.000-06:00

In one of the photos below where the two lines meet up with each other you will notice that I finally got the motivation to clean up the big pile of dead trees and limbs that I had stacked up.

I removed the "waterfall"

2 lines meeting up

I changed the second set in the main line. It's a little bigger and I removed the roller before it.

This is from when I made this landing bigger, then after this photo was taken Craig, Bo and I decided to enlarge it again.

Looking back at where the two lines meet up.

New Stuff

2010-09-24T15:58:00.000-05:00

I've made a couple of changes to the lines. The step up that had the pallet in the landing has now been filled in to make it a "step up/table/roller". I've never seen anybody build anything like it, but that's not to say that it hasn't been done before. I hope that you'll be able to nose manual up and over the top. If you do, you'll be rolling over a 6ft tall roller.

These pics are of the end of the top line. I've still got a little bit ore work to do until it's finished, but I've made good progress in the past 2 days.

Rain Much?

2010-09-09T18:17:00.000-05:00

The river is full.

The water somehow flooded all of the way back to the trails. The river had to rise at least 2 feet above everything. We are really far away from the river.

AS you can see, this huge tree that we had a lip stacked up against was moved by the flooding water. This tree is at least 60ft long. Hopefully the tools that we had hidden behind it didn't get washed down stream. But if the didn't, then they are sitting underneath the tree.

Every pit is full of water. We know where one of the 55 gallon drums is, but we are not sure where the second one is. If we can find it soon then we can fill them up within a short amount of time just using the water in the pits.

I have bucketed 135 gallons of water from 3 pits before, and now EVERY pit is overflowing with water. I think we need another 55 gallon drum!

Getting there

2010-09-08T17:58:00.000-05:00

We gave everything in all of the lines a new face last week and I began to work on this line that we left sitting for the past 8 months. The lip with 2 carpets will be a left hip. However, the rain slowed me down so this thing won't be finished for another week or so.

Feel free to come dig if you live in the area.

Back to the grind

2010-08-17T17:33:00.000-05:00

this is Timber. There was not a tree in that berm when I left yesterday.

The entire main line is in the middle of a facelift.

4 months = 1/3 of a year

2010-06-29T15:51:00.001-05:00

That's how long it's been since I have been on here. A couple things have changed. Pete graduated, so now I'm working by myself. We didn't get out there too much last semester, but when we did, stuff got done. Trying to build new stuff and maintain what two people built by myself is very time consuming.

Towards the end of the semester we didn't go out there for 5 weeks. We heard that multiple people were going out and riding. Sometimes there were as many as 10+ people from what I was told. That's all fine and dandy, but they thought that Timber was theirs to have because the weeds were tall and the path was over grown. Not to mention the fact that some trees had fallen and golf balls were on the line.

I met a couple of the people and asked who tore down the step down. They said a couple people, but no names. The next day I went out and put a nice big roller where the step down was and made the pit after it a little deeper. It's much easier, faster and it does flow better. But the step down was difficult and put there to keep people that can't ride very well from messing up anything after it.

Those people got their 3 weeks of "building" trails and have yet to come back. One guy even started a loop, but hasn't even tried to finish it. I've tried to get the new line going that I started in January, but haven't had the time or help. Oh, and I got poison ivy working on it also. Due to that and summer school I haven't been able to make it out for over 2 weeks....until yesterday. I scraped the pits and did some clearing before making 2 runs through the line. It was really good eventhough the area is covered with 6 foot tall weeds.

If anybody wants to ride, leave comment or email me and I can let you knowif it's running or not. I'm taking "applications" for people who would want to help me with up-keep and building new lines. If it works out, you could consider yourself a "local".

The Bottom was Soft

2010-02-23T13:28:00.001-06:00

The main line was a little too wet and soft to make it through when I went out to ride the other day. The top part of the 2nd line was tacky and good, so I had Amy film me cruisin' through the 'S' berm and dropping into the wall. There still are tweaks that need to be made before the first berm, but it's good enough for now. Here are a couple of ways to get into the top line. The 1st berm in the original line was kind of slick so I had to approach it like a timid little cat. That is the only reason I case the step up into the pit. When it's dry and fast, it's easy.

Timber needs a Hair Cut

2010-02-10T16:59:00.000-06:00

Does it look like the trails need a hair cut? Pete says we need a weedeater. We can't really just pull them out of the berm. I'm going to have to get creative on how to solve this situation. If it would ever stop raining I could just light it up with some lighter fluid. I might just take my week killer that I use at the house.

New lines and viruses

2010-01-14T16:16:00.001-06:00

So I've started building a new line. It's a big line. The first set is a lip 14 ft before the drop in wall. I shaved out the wall to make it a steeper landing. The next lip is also a berm and the landing is between 15-20 ft away and 3-4 ft up. The landing is also a berm with an elevated kicker lip at the bottom. The first 2 landings are 6-7 ft tall.

There are pics of this stuff but my laptop has a virus so I'm not getting back on it until I get it fixed. Just know it's awesome. I've also done a huge amount of cleaning of fallen branches an trees. Trying to make it look respctable out there. Moved the bench and created a seudo coffee table as well.

Needless to say, I'm pumped on our new stuff.

build it bigger

2009-12-23T09:59:00.000-06:00

We've decided that the 180 "S" berms needed to be built taller and steeper. The second berm is done and packed. It's as high as the bottom of my rib cage. The first berm is as tall as the middle of my rib cage. The berms are almost identical, but opposite directions, obviously.

Here's a pic of the first berm from above.

Same berm, just from standing behind the second berm.

getting there

2009-12-13T19:23:00.001-06:00

We're getting some good progress where the 2 new lines meet up. Just shaving out a berm INSIDE another berm, think of slalom skiing, and the rest is easy. I stacked up the landing that Garrison never finished. It still needs another foot in height, some from the pit and some added to the top. We think that this will be the ONLY jump in the line. Right now the landing is collar bone height when you stand at the bottom of the pit.

"Triple Step" at some trails near you.

2009-12-04T17:59:00.003-06:00

Pete's New Barcode.

The newest stuff at the end of the line after the step up with the pallet in the landing.

almost 4 weeks? not the most yet.

2009-12-01T21:34:00.002-06:00

It's been almost 4 weeks since I've written anything. We've done some digging and started some new stuff since then. It doesn't seem like we've done much in the amount of time, however, for as little time as Pete and I've been out there due to final coming up, we've got a good amount done. We've started some new stuff that links into the new line that is not finished. However, the entrance to that stuff is not done yet either. We've done something strange and started from where it links up and are digging backwards to the beginning of the line (strange).

I'll do my best to take pics tomorrow and post them. However, there is no promise that this will get done. We received more rain over that past couple of days which is good for digging, but bad for riding.

Also, we had not hit ANY type of root or rock until the new line was started up at the top. We have now hit 3 really sandy/rocky spots. The dirt is amazing, but the rocks slow us down on digging and building. It's like digging at 9th once we find some rocks.

digger?

2009-11-04T07:47:00.001-06:00

Who says, "I'll come out and dig now that it's getting cool outside."? I've heard some crazy stuff in my short time on earth, but this confuses me.

rain, rain and more rain

2009-10-30T10:11:00.002-05:00

I'm not complaining about the rain, but if it could hold off for 7 days so the line could dry out enough to make it past the 5 set, I would be happy. I want to try and get through the new stuff. We started a new line this week. It branches off of the first set. It's a right hip step-up to roller to racer step up to roller to BIG left hand berm that drops back down about 6+ feet. Hopefully the berm will get finished today. Pics soon.

possibility to ride

2009-10-19T19:22:00.002-05:00

Today we were able to do some work on the last jump in the line. Last week we finished out a berm to get you back to the line, as well as the 4 rollers after the berm, an "S" berm to roller to a "dirt/street/side step" spine.....it's hard to explain. We are not expecting ANY rain until possibly Thursday, so we should be able to get through a couple of sets tomorrow and maybe even the rest of the line by Wednesday. I'm just glad I don't have any tests this week. Oh, and if you do "stumbleupon" our spot please send me an email. It's not a big deal if you find it, but please don't just show up and decide to ride, regardless of if we're there or not. IF it is possible to if and when you show up, please do any kind of prep work and fix ANYTHING that doesn't look right BEFORE or AFTER you leave. There is NOOOOO excuse for a trail mooch.

Clean Shavin'

2009-09-16T12:25:00.002-05:00

We cleaned the pits and shaved the lips. Nope, not talking about taking a shower and shaving my face. After the rain we let it dry up a little and made an attempt to go back and asses the damage and deliver the carpet from my living room to cover the rest of the jumps and the jumps to come. We drove the carpet down to the river but had to turn around because the river actually has water in it. We were forced to dump the carpet next to the bridge on the other side of the river. We had to walk over there and carry the carpet on my back through the woods where there is no real trail, other than not trying to hit a tree.

The first sets lip was washed out pretty bad and the transition was more mellow than before. We've been wanting to make it a lot steeper for a while, so we dug out the transition and shaved out the lip. The dirt we dug out we just through on the back of the landing to make it taller and steeper. The set is now a step-hip, and has grown about a foot in height.

After that we raked all of the leaves out of the damp pits, shaved the pits a little deeper and got rid of any flat space and shaved out the transitions on a couple other sets. So everything's a little steeper and deeper, except for the tree jump, which I feel needs to grow in height about a foot or more. I guess we'll see if I am correct when we get to ride it. Hopefully that's this weekend.

With the step-hip as the first set and not just a hip anymore we'll be flying to the set up set for the tree jump.

Out of Town, Busy.....but back

2009-09-03T11:31:00.003-05:00

I went out of town last weekend with Turbo TNT up to DeSoto for the Texas State Championships for the A.B.A. It was a good time to be up there and remind myself why I don't race anymore.

I tried to race in the 19-27 Intermediate class, but they would not let me. Tim said if I got a 30 membership he would pay for my race entry fee. I tried, I tried, but they would not let me get a 30 day membership to race the race. So I decided that I would cut loose for the day and heckle different racers and people sitting in the stands. Good times!

The trails aren't in terrible shape. Pete and I went out there yesterday to move the tree, but decided that it can stay and we'll just jump over it. It'll make it a little more intimidating for people that haven't jumped it yet.

Anyways.....

Destroying Property

2009-08-07T15:16:00.000-05:00

forget about it

2009-07-14T11:24:00.002-05:00

So after the last post I went out to see what kind of "damage" the rain had done. It was a slop fest getting to the river. This gave me happy thoughts. However, once I got to the tree line and started my hike back there it was wet, but not very wet. I got out the shovel and was checking to see how far down the water had soaked. It was moist for about 2 inches......and then DRY! It did get the much needed water on the jumps though, so that made some clean up work very, very easy.

I shaved out a lip and presoaked it so I could pack it the next day. Well, last night I realized that I never went back. Instead of going back to finish packing the lip I went and played 18 holes of golf. So besides shaving a lip out I cleaned up all of the pits and shaved them a little deeper as well. The big event of the day was removing the "tree" that had begun to grow up out of a landing. I'm not sure how the roots got so thick so quick without any rain, but it did. So this put a hole in a landing that I had to patch up.

Summer school started yesterday, so that means that I will have even less time to even think about trying to get out there if the weather ever cools down. It's so hot and dry that the builder of our house just told me that we will not have any grass when we move in due to the lack of rain. They are going to leave the dirt and put the grass in when we get some rain.

Also, I think Pete will be back in a month. That will get me back out there for sure.

Water Drops

2009-07-07T09:08:00.002-05:00

Last night I was woken up around 4am by this strange noise. I began checking the internet to see if I could figure out what makes this noise. Apparently there is this stuff called "rain" that falls out of the sky to help put moisture back in the earth. I somewhat remember seeing this "rain" before, but it's been a really long time. If I remember correctly it makes stacking and packing dirt jumps easier. The only problem is that I don't think it rained long enough for me to bother going down to the trails to SWEAT so much that I almost pass out.

Who knows, maybe, just maybe I'll go down there.

So this past weekend we went up to Capitol City BMX for their state qualifier race to vend some product and watch Turbo TNT race. He won some ca$h, so that's cool. Maybe he can get a paint job put on his green racing machine.

I have an awesome photo of the dude with his bike and his Chuck Liddell haircut after one of his races, but I just can't bring myself to post it up. That's what friends do. The haircut really wasn't that bad.

GOOD STUFF.

S...SL...SLA...SLAC...SLACK...SLACKE...SLACKER

2009-06-17T21:56:00.002-05:00

Nothing new going on here. I've only been to the trails a couple of times since my last post. It's soooooo hot down there that you can barely make it an hour before you get light headed. I am not kidding. In about 45 minutes I drink 3 liters of water and soak up two bandanas and half of a t-shirt. I've smoothed out the pit before the new set that Pete and I were working on before he left. I also finished stacking the landing and smoothed out the transition to the 160 berm after it. I plan on making a trip out there tomorrow for an hour or so to start the A.B.A. rhythm section back "up" the hill. I think it'll be some rollers to get some pump before a couple of doubles to a big hit hip. I don't think it'll be that big of a hip, but about the size of the tree hip at 9th street.

Since I've been slacking at the trails and not working very much I have been able to get some much needed time in at the golf course. I'm not very good, but I do play 18 holes in less than 100. Today I hit 94 on 18. I think that's ok for somebody who has not played more than twice every 2 years in the past 8 years. Sometime I went like 4 years not playing. So all I can say is, "thank 'Turbo Tim' for letting me use your clubs".

I've got to quit slacking. I start summer school in less than a month. Nawww mean?! Trilla.

New Dudes + a bench

2009-06-07T21:42:00.003-05:00

So we "built" a new bench before Peter left for Canada for the summer.

I had some dudes come down from Dallas and ride with me for a couple of hours this past weekend. Well I was expecting some loose riding to happen, but I didn't expect 2 dudes to hit their shoulders on the tree next to the lip of the tree jump. It was fun to watch them get really close and say "OH MAN! THAT WAS CLOSE!". Here is a picture of Chad after hitting the tree with his left shoulder and getting tangled with his bike. (It's that big tree in the background, it doesn't move when you make contact with it)

He went down really hard and ended up slamming his back into lip of the long/low set. I think he was done riding for the day after the crash. His shoulder was scraped and swollen. He was made designated photographer after that. I had a good time with some new dudes but will definitely be bummed riding/digging by myself the rest of the summer.

But I won't have much time for any of that once our house is finished and summer school starts.

potentiallity

2009-05-30T18:11:00.003-05:00

So I think I might potentially have some photos but am not really positive on that. All I know is that I am tired and have had to buy a new tire for my bike. Actual "work" that pays has been keeping me from doing much work at the trails. I did get up to Walnut Creek to ride their pump track with Turbo Tim TNT Kneip this past Thursday only to have him make fun of my stem some more. He also thinks that my tire casing tore because I kept casing a step up. But what does he know, his bike is some ugly green color and he has a permanent tramp stamp tattoo on his lower back. I can change my stem at any moment but that tat is a permanent fixture for the rest of his life. He can cover it up but there will still be a tat on his back, and we all know that is "cool". I'm keeping him in my thoughts this weekend since he's in Missouri at a national race and trying to get that cash. Good luck dude!!!! I love that guy (no homo).

More on other stuff later. We're having a house built and they put up the drywall a couple of days ago, so that's exciting. Now they just have to finish out the interior and we'll be moving in about the time I start summer school. Oh boy, that should be fun.

visitation rights

2009-05-17T18:43:00.002-05:00

This past Thursday I had a visitor come down and ride with me from Round Rock, Tx and his name is Tim "TNT" Kneip. I think he enjoyed the 1/4 mile walk across the rocky river bed and then through the hot/humid woods. He was pretty much worthless when it came down to prepping the line. He sat there all bummed out that I weigh 15 pounds less then him. I mean he did refill the water jug and hand me the broom if I asked him to, so that was cool. I can't say he didn't try to help, but I wasn't going to bother him with helping me get it going. I mean, you don't invite somebody over to your house and then ask them to cook dinner for you. Not to mention that the line isn't that long right now so it wasn't too much work, but it's beginning to take a lot more water and time to get it ready.

I was kind of proud that he didn't first run the line. It took him 3 runs to get through, and if you know Tim, you know that is one if not two more runs than he would like. He also said that he was "scared" of a set and wanted to know why we didn't make the last couple of landings steeper. I told him that is in the plans but we are just trying to get as much built and running before we perfect stuff that is already running. Little did I know that he was kidding about making them steeper. So today I went out and took advantage of the rain we had yesterday and made the step-up two feet longer. All I did was shave out the pit about another foot and threw all of that dirt onto the face of the landing. I also took about 8 inches off of the face of the lip after the step up and threw that onto the landing as well. Hopefully I won't be able to over jump and flat bottom a landing that is almost 7 feet tall. Needless to say it hurt when I flat bottomed it when it was 6 feet tall.

I didn't get any photos of Timmy riding. He took some photos of my baller stem and of me to post on his blog (www.apachebmx.blogspot.com). He had me take some pics of him flexing, but he wouldn't allow me to click some pics of his tramp stamp =(. He also has one of the ugliest complete bikes that I have ever seen. It looks like a lime green skittle.

Wha Wha Wha Water runs

2009-05-12T21:11:00.003-05:00

Well, I tried to take some photos of GGGGG-Unit's lip but it didn't turn out. What is strange is that after I made my remarks about it, CJ went out and turned it into a nice thing. CJ is a hardcore digger when he meets up with us.

But back to me and Pete's thing that we have running. I know that you may have seen some photos of some of these things but whatever.

looking back at the first berm

the "hip" after the first berm

after the "hip", looking down at the roller to set up set to tree jump

tree jump lip

looking over the tree jump landing at the long-low lip

looking back over long-low at the tree jump landing

side view of long-low

looking over the long-low landing at "Get There" lip

looking over the from the side of "Get There"

it's a "waterfall landing" for "get there"

step-up after "get there"

the water source

water barrel(s). I just cut off the top of the blue barrel today.

That's all for now. Hopefully since I had my last final today I'll get some stuff built and be able to ride a little bit. I hear that I might have a visitor come down and ride with me in the next couple of days. If that happens I'll be sure and get a picture of his bowlegged x-up's and turn bars.

flying time machine

2009-05-04T09:13:00.004-05:00

I got me some "new" bike parts. Thanks to all of the dudes that hooked me up. Pete gave me a pivotal seat and seat post (but I didn't use the seat), Logan gave me a couple of seats to try out (I went with the thinner padded seat) and I swapped Glen's old front Deore lever that was flipped over for usage on the rear with a XTR lever that has a couple scratches on it. Now I'm just waiting to hear back from Sun Ringle about a cassette cog.

Since it has been over a month with no new post I should have some good photos, but I don't. However I do have some good stories. Since we have had some rain the last couple of weeks Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater and I have put in a little bit of shovel work when we aren't busy with school or he's not flying his plane.

We have finished a set and built the next jump. NO we have not made it over the set we finished successfully, but we have been close. Yesterday I think it was still a little soft in the pit or the the landing before it had some moisture in it because I was leaving ever so small ruts in the landing. I kept coming up about 6 inches short so I decided to lower the landing about 6 inches. This looks better on the approach but of course it looks longer now. I also rolled over the top corner of the landing so it wouldn't jar you so bad if you hung up on it. Honestly I think I could have made it over but I had the wife with me. If we had some 'Off' it would have been ok, but she had to walk around while reading her book so the mosquitoes wouldn't bite her. Since I knew this was bugging her I forced myself to make run after run with no breaks. Plus it was really hot and humid back there since we haven't had any dry heat to kill the built up moisture. Within 7 runs my gloves were useless do to the amount of sweat that had built up. My gloves were so wet that my grip started moving. I also wore the brain bucket since she was there, and with the humidity being almost 100000% by the time I reached the drop in I had sweat falling in my eyes. All of these things together did not create a very fun time to be trying to get over a new jump.

The set we built last week should be really good. It's a short (in length) step up. You jump out about 6ft and up about 3ft to a steep 6 1/2 - 7 ft tall landing. The lip is really wide, thick and squared off. We also have the next lip stacked and semi shaped. I'll try and get some pics of this stuff today and post 'em.

So GGGGG-Unit started his "line". It's pretty cool. I can't even describe how well it's coming. I mean this thing is "sick" looking. I can't wait to post photos of it. The lip is............ I don't even know. I've only ever seen a few lips like this one. The guys at 9th can't even build lips to this caliber. It's so awesome that he even dug a big hole right in the middle of our entrance/walking path to get some more dirt. If I wasn't so tired I'd go out there now just to pop a pic and come home and post it. I guess the only reason he hasn't finished his line in the past month is because he's been putting all of his work into this lip and school. Because you know it's "crunch time" for finals. I don't know how he has put as much work into this lip as he has since we are all busy studying for finals. The guy is AMAZING!

Clocking in some ride time

2009-04-01T19:31:00.002-05:00

Pete making a run through the berm

Pete's 325 over the hip

set up set before the tree jump

Fist PUMP!

Pete's Monkey t-bog

super case

Photos of yours truly

This jump is really good since it's packed. No work required. It sets you up good for the long low after it.

Pre-April showers

2009-03-30T22:46:00.002-05:00

Well, it rained. But that just means that Petey Pete and I got some digging done.

This is what we have heard from a couple, but mainly one dude. "Man! We NEED to do this........", "DUDE! I can't wait to catch some air and bust a huge turndown!", "WE should really make this a left hand berm into a right hip!", "dude, I just want to miss everything before this and make a straight run at this set", "I don't think we should change that landing with all of the work that we put into it" (we put some time, you put an hour or so, sorry if we change something WE built. And I didn't really build it. He really didn't think we needed to change the lip that I, by myself, built, shaped and packed, but that is a whole other story.)

Trust me, there is plenty more where this came from. These are the quotes that just stand out in my head as I wait for the Texas State website to load that I have been waiting on for 8 minutes. It's done!!!!

Pics soon. As for a name I want to go with KP's or PK's trails since me and Pete are the only dedicated workers to get this spot up and running. Kelsey and Pete's or Pete and Kelsey's trail will work for me.

going down, coming up

2009-03-25T20:46:00.003-05:00

Well, with a lot of school stuff going down, not much has come up (at the trails). Since the last post we have built a landing for the set after the long/low. We built the landing yesterday and today, all-in-all I'd say it took us 1.5hrs. The only reason is because we cut a really big dead tree into 4 pieces about 10ft long and stacked 3 of them like a triangle (2 on bottom and 1 in the middle) with the 4th in front of the triangle and then stacked the dirt.

We have packed the long/low but haven't been able to hit it until today. The set before it has changed 3 times since the last post. Every change made the lip shorter in height and a little closer to the landing. We also made a set up set before it to allow you to get some good pump. After getting the front end over a couple of times and watching Pete case it a lot we decided to shave off 6in of height from the landing and shave out 6 inches of the face of the landing so it's a little shorter in length as well. After doing this and jumping (with the lip still soft and wet) we were able to get over it with a little work.

We also found out that the long/low set isn't necessarily "long/low", but more of a long/high set. Apparently the lip needs to be mellowed out a bit. This we are not entirely sure of though because the landing before it was getting pretty beat up and soft after we did some last minute work on it. I never tried it but Pete was casing it to death.

Hopefully I'll remember to take the camera out tomorrow and get some action shots. There should be a hand full of people out to dig and ride if the rain holds off.

I think I'm losing a little, not much, but a little of my "racer style" over some sets. It's still there, but not as heavy as it was.

New Photos

2009-03-03T21:35:00.005-06:00

I guess we have made some progress in the last week or so. We've had a few helping hands, but not too many. For the most part it's been me and Pete doing the work. Last weekend he was lucky enough to get some help from a couple of guys bucketing water and helping stack the back of a landing.

This is looking back at the first berm after the step-down/roll in. I resurfaced the berm today so it doesn't look like this anymore. It's $$.

This is the hip after the step-down after the berm. It's about 6ft tall and 8ft long from inside corner to inside corner and 10-12ft long to the outside corner, which is where you want to land. It too was resurfaced today.

looking back at the hip landing

looking down the hip landing

There is a roller at the bottom of the hip that goes into a slight berm that goes into this roller (which is now bigger) and leads up to the lip mentioned below.

We started moving a lip back a little bit today. We were trying the jump out and realized that we didn't have near enough speed to clear it so we decided it would be easiest chop the lip down 6-8 inches and shave it out about a foot. Hopefully this will help with shortening the transition. By doing this we were also able to make the roller before the lip taller and much longer in order to fill up all of the flat space between the two after shaving the lip out.

The lip is on the left.

The next set it a long/low set. We built it in about 35 minutes. I'd say it's lip is about 2 1/2ft tall and it's landing is about the same height but from the bottom of the pit it's about 4 1/2 ft tall and 10+ ft long. This landing leads to the lip that is stacked against a huge tree laying on the ground. As of today the lip is about 5 1/2ft tall.

looking over the landing at the long/low set

side view of long/low. the landing looks nothing like this now, it's a little taller, wider and squared off.

this pit is now deeper, the lip is taller and wider also.

I found this old Budweiser that is unopened under some brush and tree branches so we can begin building the landing to the lip above.

up and running

2009-02-21T08:19:00.002-06:00

Well, things are running. There's not too much built yet, but it's getting there. The first step down lip has been turned into a roller so you don't have to jump into the first berm. As you can see from the background of this picture, when you come out of the first berm you have a roller/step-down/down-roller into a pit that comes up to this lip. The lip was only going to be about 4ft tall but managed to work its way up to 5 1/2ft. The hip is only 6ft from inside corner to inside corner and apx. 9ft from outside corner to corner. We were pretty lucky building the hip. We just cut it out of the side of an embankment. We have some stuff built after this hip, we just don't have any pictures yet.

We can all thank Tyler for this picture of Peter. It's such an "artistic" picture.

KH

It's started.........SON!!!!

2009-02-12T17:55:00.003-06:00

Aight, we did it!...actually Peter and T-Murdah did it. The other day they started actually digging a new line after we had raked it out. It is amazing to think that the spot that I took people to, to check out, and actually started digging on the first line/jump without me, but whatever. Right now I am liking at what we have. We have such a HUGE place with endless opportunities at this spot, not to mention that the dirt is REALLY easy to dig. It's amazing how easy it is to dig not to mention how hard it packs in. If parts of this doesn't make much sense it's because....well stuff happens and I have other things on my mind.

The start of the first of many line starts from a higher elevation. Where you start is about 6ft higher than the first jump, which is a step-down.

The guys in the picture from left to right are Peter, T-Murdah (Tyler) and Jacob. That's it for now, just a step down to a right hand berm.

new river, new spot

2009-02-09T10:33:00.002-06:00

Well, after not wanting to look for a new spot since our tools were stolen I decided I was going to start looking again. The west side of the highway has terrible dirt so I wanted to see what might be on the east side.

I told Peter I wanted to go check a spot and asked if he'd go out with me to get a second opinion. We got out there, walked through dead grass that's 5ft tall, through huge trees that have fallen, over tons of trash that was washed down there during a "flood" or huge amount of rain (probably 2 years ago). The first spot we were ok with, but we weren't excited about it, but it would work. As we were leaving we saw another spot with a lot of trees spread out. We couldn't see through the tree line and didn't want to bother hiking over there.

The next day Peter, Turner and I went out to check it out. It's really nice. The location is good also, but could potentially be bad due to location. I mean, we've been by there hundreds of times and never even had a thought to look over there while driving by. Peter drives by the spot at least once a week and until a couple of months ago I would drive by it a couple of times a week to either fish, shoot guns or go hunting and never even bothered to look in that direction.

Anyways, the land has a lot of natural elevation changes, natural rollers and berms and has a good distance of a slight downhill grade. I took a shovel and 2 buckets out there this morning since it rained last night. The shovel sunk in the ground with ease and had minimal sticking on the shovel head. I think since all of the dirt has been washed down there from floods and tons of rain it hasn't packed itself naturally. However, the dirt that is packed in is rock hard and is hard to break up. There's also a cliff of the dirt that is there that is super packed so we don't think it will fall apart easily.

I guess we'll find out in the next couple of weeks how it really is out there after we rake out a line and build some rollers to see how the dirt packs.

Peace.
KH

tools stolen

2008-12-31T18:51:00.003-06:00

This stinks. New spot was started, it was good, all of our tools were stolen. We haven't been able to ride for about 3 weeks so that also is terrible. I wish I was having as much fun as this dude.

hunting

2008-08-26T09:22:00.003-05:00

These trails and I are done. I received a "Criminal Trespass Warning" a while back for riding there. I've tried to stay there but can't seem to find a way to get in touch with the land owner. Apparently there have been some people riding and working out there since I am not allowed and telling people in Austin that "THEY" have some really fun trails in San Marcos that are next to the river. My buddy asks them if they built them, they say no, he says that I built them but he wouldn't recommend building or riding there and tells them what happened to me.

I've been on the hunt for a new spot. I thought I had a good place across the street from these but there are a few homeless people that live back there.

There is another spot that I scoped out last week but not really sure where would be a good place. Spots have a lot of rock or no rocks, downhill grade but I don't know if there is a water source anywhere close. My buddy said he'd show me a couple places where he rides his mountain bike, so hopefully that works out.

Other than that I've just been riding 9th in Austin. It seems like I do maintenance for over an hour and only get to ride for 30-45 minutes. Oh well, it is a good place where you will not get in trouble for riding or building jumps.

wall

2008-06-03T11:12:00.002-05:00

Put up the first of two wallrides. I still need to work out the kinks when you come off of the wall, but that is just minor stuff. I did redo the angle so it's steeper and not so much of a bank. You will come off of this wall, go into a pit and then up onto the other wall (kind of like a mini ramp) and then exit the berm.

It's kind of short but it works well for the berm since it's kind of a tight radius.

Here I am jumping the "BIG" jumps. hahaha, just kidding, they're not big but they are fun.

concrete fun

2008-05-23T11:02:00.004-05:00

I haven't been working on finishing anything at the trails lately. This past week I have been riding some ditches and bombing some hills. Sessoms was my favorite hill until a couple of days ago.

I would say it was about 5 months ago we were driving around town looking at houses and neighborhoods when we stumbled upon a good hill. Since that day I have wanted to ride down it and see what kind of speed you could get up to just by coasting. My name for the hill is Hill-45. It's not a very long drop, but maybe about 800 yards at the most but it's really hard to tell because it drops sooooo fast. I would say that for every 2 or 3ft you go out you drop almost 1ft, it is a very steep grade.

I went down the hill by myself on my way to ride a ditch. I started decending and got nervous after about 8 seconds so I started lightly grabbing my brake. It felt like I was close to high speed wobbles but it was probably my imagination since I have never gone that fast on my bike. I walked back up the hill and hated every step. I went to the ditch and rode with Glen and told him that we were going back to the hill and he was going to follow beside me in the truck and tell me how fast I was going once I stopped.

I didn't touch my brakes until the very bottom because there is pretty sharp turn that you have to make. I drifted way to the left side of the road and planned on hugging the inside of the turn and then go wide on the exit and then cut back in on the next turn and exit it wide. The bottom of the hill is the shape of a U but the bottom is somewhat flat. My plan wasn't going to work so I put my foot down like I was on motocross bike and began squeezing my brake when my back wheel started fish tailing on me. I decided to go to plan B and jump into somebody's front yard to slow down. I didn't have time to put my foot back on the pedal so I had to bunny hop up the curb going fast with one foot on the bike.

I get back to Glen and ask him how fast I went and he said that he got up to 45mph before he hit started slowing down while I was still accelerating. I guess that I may have hit 47 or 48mph and was doing about 30mph when I jumped into the peoples front yard.

Looking down the hill

Looking up the hill

The ditch outside of Glen's apartment

Glen concreted this dirt lip

I haven't gotten this 'wallride' down yet. I have rode up it successfully once. Glen has also install a concrete lip on the corner so you have a good little hip.

The entrance and fly out exit out of the ditch

Carpet + New Line pics

2008-05-12T15:09:00.002-05:00

This is what the carpet helps prevent.

Now for the new stuff. This will be the first real double in the line. I expect to have a lot of rollers/doubles before this jump.

Side view. The trees make it hard to see the outline and distance. From lip to landing is about 11+ feet, but I'm not really sure. It looks longish when standing in front of it.

After the first double there you'll pump down into a pit and then back out of it.

After coming out of the pit, you'll hit this step-up.

Here is looking at the landing of the step-up.

Looking over and down the step-up landing. The landing goes into a berm that is also a lip.

Just to give you an idea, here is the first berm with carpet. Basically I had carpet left over so I figured this was as good of a place as any.

Just looking down the line at all of the carpet.

6 pack Straight line has carpet, even the roller.

PUMP TRACK PIC'S
I basically used a wheel barrow to move a bunch of dirt that I just had piled up. I'm not going to try and describe the layout but I will put the picks in order of how it will go once you're on it.
These are the first 2 rollers after the main line.

Same berm as the pic above, just coming out of it and not going into it. The berm will be much bigger, this is just a small layout.

2 rollers out of berm

Original 10 pack is also covered with carpet

Other original jumps that were here when I moved down here.

This is the setting of of the woods before jumps were built. I plan on doing a little more clearing out and building more lines in these areas. I try not to cut any trees out, but it ocassionally happens, but they are either dead or really small.

carpet + rain + D.N.K.

2008-04-28T15:53:00.000-05:00

It has been raining about once a week here for the last couple of weeks. Normally I'd say that is good, and I'm not saying that it's bad, just bad timing.

Thankfully I now have every jump covered with carpet. I went out to see what kind of damage had been done by the rain and luckily not much. Carpet is a blessing! The pits were holding a little water so I had to dig drains for a couple of them. I knew eventually I'd have to do it and now is the time.

I started digging a completely new line a couple weeks ago. Right now I have a decent sized double, a little down roller into a pit with a roller up and out to a lip. I'm not really sure how it's going to work but I bet it will be just fine. The landing I'm working on now is over 6ft wide at the base and should be no shorter than 6ft tall. That is really tall for me since I'm really the only one putting in some shovel hours (hint hint to anybody that rides here).

Glen has decided that he wants to build a wall ride in the 270 berm and paint it camo! Why? I don't know. It would be fun, but I'd rather dig and finish this new line and start on my downhill line instead of work for a couple days on a wall. Shoveling is hard work so I'd rather get it done. I don't have much motivation right now to dig. I have finals this week and next week plus it rained. What is so weird, I'd rather dig when it's moist or dry than dig when it's wet. The digging gets done much faster that way, but the packing of everything new takes a good bit longer.

From the rain last week I dug some pits out and made lips about 1ft thicker and a little steeper.

No pics yet. As soo as it dries up and I'm able to ride I'll get some photos of the beautifully shaded, green, no wind and 90% humidity trails that I've been working on for over a year now.

Peace Playa,
D.N.K .

finally did it

2008-03-12T18:42:00.000-05:00

Since we finally received rain I was able to build everything wider, steeper or have deeper pits and make everything taller.

I made the first landing wider by adding about 2ft to the right. You can now go to the right after the first set to get into the new line.

1st set in the new line. Apx. 11ft from lip to landing.

Looking back at the 1st landing in the new line. There is a roller after it with a tree stump sticking out of the top.

2nd set in the new line. It is apx 13ft from lip to landing.

Looking back at the 2nd sets landing

This is the 3rd set in the new line. It is packed now and is about 15ft from lip to landing.

Made the 3rd sets landing in the original line about 2ft wider to the left.

Made the 4th sets landing taller on the left and cleaned up all of the loose dirt.

I cleaned up the 5th sets lip and landing. I also shaved out the pits before and after the 5th set to make the 5th and 6th sets taller and you carry more speed and not have to work so hard to get over each set.

the 6th sets landing grew in height about 2ft and shorter by a foot or so.

Hopefully TNT can come down this weekend and we can ride. (there's your mention buddy)

RAIN, RAIN, RAIN!

2008-03-11T15:34:00.000-05:00

WELL!!!! IT RAINED!!!! That is good news because the dirt has been so dry lately that when it rains it just soaks up the water and is dust dry the next day. It actually poured all night and most of the next day. I went out today and did some "clean up" with the dirt that had fallen off of each take off and landing, then put that dirt on the take off of most jumps. I finished building up a landing and left. I went back to get a shovel to go do some work at another little place that I have been wantin to fix up and found out that the top layer of dirt that put on everything was drying out already. So I decided to stay and pack all of the work that I had done earlier.

Everything looks 10 times better now because there isn't loose dirt laying around each jump. Tomorrow when the pits dry up a little I think I will go scrape them out and make everything a little steeper and deeper. My buddy Glen helped a little today and I told him how I need some more carpet to put over the jumps when I leave so they don't dry out and fall apart. So I take him home and he shows me all of the carpet out of his house that is laying in his garage and says he'll help me take it out there tomorrow! This will help cut down on maintenance and help keep everything nice and smooth!

Pics when I remember to take the camera with me. Maybe tomorrow or the next day, but sometime soon.

trying

2008-02-12T21:54:00.000-06:00

Not too much new stuff happening. I hope to have the new line built and ready to pack within the next couple of days. The weather has been too awesome to dig. What I mean by that is this. Since the weather is so nice out (sunny, 5 to 10 mph breeze and 70 degrees) there have been a handful of people just "strolling" through the trails either by themselves or with their kids and granparents. They just let the kids climb over every jump while I sit there and look at them. They ask if the trails were designed and built by the city, so I have to explain to them that there are only a "couple" of builders (actually it's just me, but I won't tell them that) and that I have to water and sweep every jump apx. every 2 days because the dirt falls off from people walking on them and not doing basic maintenance before riding. Essentially I'm trying to get across that they have just created another 30 minutes of work for me by telling their kids to crawl on the jumps.

However, I have done some digging but not much. People come strolling through, about every 45 minutes and I throw the shovel into some brush and just start walking. I did this a couple of weeks ago, the people began yelling at me so I just kept walking. Then they shouted "San Marcos Police Department! Stop! Don't run!". So I turned around and started walking towards them while they were running towards me. He asked why I was running and put my hands behind my back and handcuffed me. They asked for my i.d. and if I had any narcotics on me or if I had ever done any narcotics. Long story short, I told them I ride my bike out there, was looking at the trails to see what kind of shape they were in because I wanted to ride later. They then told me that a lady from the park called them because she saw me walk into the woods. After we talked for 10 minutes and got everything figured out they told me that I "shouldn't ride by myself" and that was it. So now I'm really jumpy when I see or hear somebody walking back there and I'm digging. They didn't say that I can't ride or build though, so I guess that kills everything Ranger Rangel said.

Hopefully I can have this new line done and the pump track finished within 2 weeks (beginning of March). If I hadn't have started this new line the pump track would be done. The only reason I haven't done any work to it is because this guy Brandon kind of laid it out and has a blue print in his head of what he wants and I don't want to mess it up. That wouldn't happen, but he's been sick and hasn't been out to dig in over 3 weeks so I'm about to begin finishing the thing.

That is all I have.

KH

video

2008-01-25T08:53:00.000-06:00

2008-01-23T14:14:00.000-06:00

After reading my last post I thought that it sounded a little "choppy". It was short and to the point I guess, but it seemed like it took me forever to write it up (I guess that's what happens when you're sick).

I decided to make a run out the trails after a co-worker/first person to help me dig out there called and said he had some time to kill between classes and wanted to see what kind of work I had done since he was there last semester. He said he's "stoked on it" and "can't wait to ride and help dig" this spring. He's good with his math so we talked about my Pre-Cal class and he was telling me what I need to memorize to make it easier. He told me that he would tutor me if I need the help and he came up with a good way for tutoring sessions........AT THE TRAILS! I was happy about this and we decided we could ride for a bit and then stop and do a couple of Calculus problems and when I got them right we could ride again. I thought this was

While we were talking about stuff and what I want to build next we began to hear chainsaws in the woods. I immediatly got nervous and we began to wonder what they were doing on "private land". We went to the parking lot to see what was going on and three guys were cleaning up the tree line and mulching the tree limbs. It looked like they were just trying to keep the tree branches off of the power lines and transformers. The thing that didn't make sense was that they were going a little deeper into the tree line that has NOTHING to do with the power lines or the pole. Not to mention that this was a "PARKS AND RECREATION" work truck that was working beyond their 15ft or whatever they have off of the curb and possibly going 25 to 30 feet into the woods.

The only thing that makes me curious is that the Park Ranger Granger told us that this was and not "park land" and we shouldn't be riding our bikes there. Yet, it's "private property", he's walking through there for NO reason and now the Parks Department is cleaning up the tree line deeper than they should if it is in deed "private property." Who knows, I just know that I am tired of him telling us the same story but with different details each time and never any evidence of anything besides we have bikes. If it is "private property" then why is he on it? He can't just trespass because he's a Park Ranger. When he has come back there I have either been by myself and totally quiet or riding with a couple of people and nobody is making any loud noises, especially compared to the kids playground 100 yards away.

Anyways, since Tyler came out today and was "stoked" about the stuff that has been built since he was there last, it has me excited and given me some much needed motivation to get the new projects finished and also started. I honestly think that if everything goes well, by Summer time San Marcos could be a really fun/relaxing place to spend a day or two riding multiple lines, floating the river and grilling food.

TNT!

2008-01-20T10:27:00.000-06:00

I've been sick the last couple of days while it's been raining. I wish that I could have been digging while it has been wet but no can do. I did go out the other day and do some minor touch up stuff on some landings that people messed up and didn't attempt to fix. However, it was dry on top so I decided to ride after I did some minor work.

Over the past month or so I did some riding, actually I rode a lot. I managed to ride in Austin with TNT Tim Kneip one day. We managed to ride 9th for a while, went to a small outdoor park, back to 9th, off to Red Box where TNT killed it and then back to 9th. Tim managed to make it down to here to ride a couple of times to ride wiht me and another guy that I ride with from time to time. I made it up to Round Rock, Tx to ride their new concrete skatepart. I went up there and stayed with Tim. Tim lives about 1/4 mile from there. We were able to ride for about 15 minutes until the police showed up and kicked us out because bikes are not allowed. So the next day we made a trip to the new bmx track in Leander, Tx and rode for a while. After we left there I told him that I wanted to go see these trails called "Blockhouse" that are about a 5 minute drive from the track. We rode with some of the local kids and tried to help them with their jumping.

2008-01-04T08:00:00.000-06:00

I made some changes to the NEW and also the existing line. Basically I made the jump in the new line that meets the existing line smaller. Here is what the jump now looks like.

After this jump and the 4th jump in the original line there were 3 rollers and then the jump into the 360 berm. I took all of that out and built a double and a step up.

Here is the step up going into the 360 berm. It is 12 feet long, coming off of the 9 foot long double. I jumped it a couple of times while it was soft and decided that it needs to stay aproximately that same length, but needs to be about a foot taller so that it will be a little more fun and "boosty".

2007-12-14T09:20:00.000-06:00

I started a new line last Friday (December 7). I received some help with this line. It was nice to dig with another person again and toss ideas around. These are the first 3 rollers that go into the line. The rollers are actually a step-up and manuel really easy eventhough they are kind of far apart. From peak to peak they are 10+ feet apart.

This is the 3rd roller going into a right hand "berm" with the 4th roller coming out. The berm actually isn't finished out yet. It needs to be moved in a little, but it semi works as is.

This is after the 4th roller. It is essentially a triple step-up that you either jump or manuel onto and jump off of the top to the landing 10 feet away.

This is the landing from the step-off. I just extended #4's (right hip) landing 3 feet to the left.

2007-11-15T09:45:00.000-06:00

This is really fast and fun. I don't know exactly how fast, but it feels like you're going over 15mph going into this berm. I have been going so fast a couple of times that I actually jumped off of the roller into the berm. I tried to keep the wheels down, but it can be difficult.

This is pretty long. From the lip to landing is 14 feet. It doesn't seem like it's very long......until you case it 20 times in a row. The landing may have to move a foot closer and a foot taller. I've cleared it 2 times out of 40 attempts and I had to huck it and literally "grunt" going off of the lip and whip the bike over the top of the landing, and I still tagged the back wheel. The first day that I tried it "TNT" came down and rode, but he wasn't feeling it because he said it was too big and he didn't want "blow up" his Answer Battle Axe carbon fiber forks.

This is the view from the landing looking back at the berm that you come out of.

2007-10-28T16:35:00.000-05:00

So when Sparky came down to ride, he began following me all the way down the line. We were running trains for hours, going slow, going fast, and mixing it up. I followed a little far behind him and he was going fast. As I was jumping into the 360 berm he was coming out. The jump isn't tall enough to jump over another person, but we were really close.

Some guy came out and was taking pictures, and I think he happened to get the picture of Sparky bailing off of his bike as I tried to jump over him. He wanted to get some other pictures so we kept riding for a little while longer. I only wish that somebody had taken pictures of the trains, but all we had were us two to take photos of each other and here are some of them.
me on the2nd set

3rd set (not pretty)

Sparky on 3

Coming over #4

Going over #4

Jumping #5 into the 360 berm (timing on camera is difficult b/c you can't see the person coming)

Sparky on #5

Going around 360 berm

Sparky tasting my sweat in the 360 berm

Sparky going back to see why he crashed in the turn.

But he was just going a little too fast and too hard! This ended a great day of riding.
This is the set after the 360 berm (the landing that is)

coming off of #6 is a roller into a right hand berm (the end of the berm will be 4ft lower in elevation than the beginning with a lip coming out of the whole going for a 15ft long step up)

Stealing is wrong and it makes me upset.

2007-10-18T10:07:00.000-05:00

Just finished my last test.......atleast for another week or so.

I had some issues with a Park Ranger at the trails, but have decided that I will continue to ride there and do maintenance work. After class today I am going out to work on the 360 berm (have to make it taller on the exit so you can hold your speed) so you'll have more speed for the jump after it. I'm guessing that will take about 2 hours, but who knows.

After I got back from Dallas this past weekend (didn't even get to ride there, so sad) I went to my line and noticed that somebody had stolen my 5gallon water bucket, the extra lid that was out there, my trash bag inside of the bucket and my watering device inside the bucket as well. I had to buy a new bucket ($5 if anybody wants to make a donation) and finish a gallon of milk so I could poke holes in the bottom for a new watering device. I still need a lid ($1.39 at Lowe's) so if anybody still needs to get a wedding present I'll take gift cards to Lowe's. I was looking at tools and could have spent $60 easily and that would finish off the necessary tools that I need.

From what I understand we are having a guest coming down from Dallas to stay with us for a couple of days next week to hang out and ride. We havent' been able to see him when we have gone up there lately, so he is going to be nice and drive down to grace us with his company. I'll try to remember the camera today and take photo's of the new additions and get those posted up this afternoon.

KH

RIDER OF THE MONTH!!!!!!!!!

2007-09-27T11:25:00.000-05:00

Rider of the month is

Pic of the week

Video of the week

I actually started the landing for the jump out of the 360 berm a couple of days ago. I'm not doing long digging sessions on it, it's just humid and hot out there right now. I am not digging for more than 1 hour at a time. The lip is about 4.5 feet tall with a long transition so it'll be a longer jump. The landing itself at the base it 6 feet wide and hopefully I can put up with building it long enought that I can make it a foot taller than the take off. I'm having some personal difficulties trying to figure out where to get the dirt from. I want to dig after the landing, but that means that I have to start the next lip and I don't know if I'm down for that right now.

Anyways, here are some pics of some trails we rode in the DFW area. Rest In Peace.

This is a left hip out of a lloooonnnnnnggggg right hand berm. This hip was major fun. It went into a left hand berm. The lip is at the bottom of the pic and the landing has carpet on it.

2007-09-23T19:34:00.000-05:00

I've had 2 buddies from the DFW area come down and ride on 2 different instances. Here's a picture of the guys.

T-Radical

Ole' PC was in the house. He knows all about San Marcos, he went to school here for a couple of years. After riding we went to Sewell Park on Campus on the river, then to the rope swing, on to the water falls and finally the place that I've been wanting to "lake jump" my bike. I did it and it was good.

They are fun

2007-09-10T18:03:00.001-05:00

NO riding pics turned out, but here are the most recent pics.

1st set after roller, 2nd set in the background

2nd set, going into berm

top of 2nd set going into berm, lip coming out

another view of the picture above

landing of 3rd set bowled out going to the 4th lip (right hip)

looking back at the 3rd sets landing

4th set's landing (right hip)

3 rollers after the 4th hip

after 3 rollers looking at jump into 360 berm

double going into 360 berm

landing going into 360 berm

end of 360 berm (still trying to figure it out)

exit out of 360 berm

roller out of 360 berm exit leading up to a lip

2007-09-05T12:08:00.000-05:00

BIG NEWS!!!!

I started school at Texas State University a couple of weeks ago. It feels good to be getting a "higher education". People always say it's "fun" to learn, now I don't know if it's "fun", but I do enjoy going to class. It's different from waking up everyday to drive to Austin to work at a bike shop. I feel like I'm actually getting something done, and making myself a better person.

As for the trails, there has been some big happenings as of late. Turnando came down and rode with me a couple of weeks ago while he was in Austin to ride. He was the first person besides myself that has ridden there. It was nice to ride with another person, rather than by myself run after run after run. We talked about some things/changes that I had been thinking about doing, but was too lazy to actually start them. So I did it, and now between the 3rd and 4th set is "bowled" out, so there is no flat spot any longer. I went about 1 foot down, so each jump is 1ft taller.

The 270 berm is no longer a 270, it's a full 360 degree berm. There is a double that jumps into it, where the landing is a step up and is the actual berm. It's tricky. I have only landed smooth once, and the other times I over jumped it, hence me making it a step up instead of a normal double. The exit out of the berm goes between the lip and landing of the double going into it and I just smoothed it out after I got out of class before I came home.

I'll take the camera and snap some photos of these changes today, and post them up in the next entry.

Take care,

KH

2007-07-12T12:45:00.000-05:00

Been slacking, new line started. The lip is about 75% done. It's about 5ft tall at the highest, we'll see when it's packed. I just have to finish putting the "face" dirt on the jump so I can shape the transition. Then the hard part, building the landing (I hate building landings, they take forever).

I have done some work as of late and a little riding the other day. I rode in Austin at Red Box. Just rode the pump track and "table" line. It's hot out there, just in the middle of a field with NO shade.

The fourth of July was alright. Ate some mexican food, took a 3 hour nap, went to Austin for the night. Then that weekend we just floated the river on Sunday, did some street riding and bombed some hills. After floating the river we started grilling food. Some guys asked us to play some 3 on 3 football with an all time QB. We lost by one touch down, it was slick, it was raining, with swim trunks and no shoes in the mud can make a fun game.

Trail photos soon........I hope. It has to stay dry.

2007-06-25T18:26:00.000-05:00

So it's rain, rain and more rain here in San Marcos. We all know what that means, NO RIDING! (in the dirt that is) but it does mean MORE JUMPS to be built while wet and ridden when dry! Crazy stuff, I still haven't spent enough time in one day to make a full run through the line. Yet, I started a new line this week. It will be a "bigger line", each lip I want about 5 feet tall with a bit of a gap. I actually started digging before the lip so I don't have to stack as much dirt, but we'll see how deep I go. I have already hit a big tree root and I am not 12 inches down yet. Everything will be bigger in this line, but still techie stuff. I have a trick or two up my sleeve that I can't wait to be finished. It's nothing that hasn't been done before I am sure, but maybe a variation of a couple of things.

Sorry, I can't tell you what these things may be, but that is only because I am not sure of what they are. Let's just say I don't know how to describe these two ideas I have, can't really draw them either, but I CAN see them in my head.

Dream job? I've been thinking about this for a minute but I am beginning to get serious about this idea. Pump track/trail builder for city parks. I want to present this idea since concrete parks are being seen in more and more towns. Most of them are "no bikes allowed", so they must be poached. So I want to propose the idea of something like a "dirt park" to cities that can cater to all levels of riders. Like I said, anything from a roller pump track or tracks that intertwine and you are able to transfer 5 different tracks in 10 different areas, so the amount of transfers and combinations of lines are unlimited. As well as build just some "dirt jumps" that are in a straight line as a beginner section and then a more technical "trail section" with pits, rollers, berms, hips and transfers all in one. Now I just need to talk or maybe start off with an email to the parks planner. I am curious if they would supply a small bobcat and dirt if I go to them with a drawing of possibilities and pictures of things I have built with only a shovel. Then the next step is to let them know how cheap this would be, and then tell them what MY rate per hour would be. I would love to make money at a hobby that I love. Sometimes building is just as fun as riding because you can be super creative, then you get to try and ride these different things and make minor changes if they don't work out properly.

Please let me know in the "comments" area under this post if you think this is a good idea. Also please sign the comment when you come in so I know if I am doing this for myself or if you actually read these blogs. Thanks.

2007-06-18T13:38:00.000-05:00

NOTHING NEW, SORRY. I lost my internet connection at the apartment complex for some reason. Now I have to do my internet stuff here at work. No new picture updates really.

My buddy that I work with came and hung out with me, we did some street riding (first time for me in a couple of years) went to the trails and made some runs. I figured out how to get over the 3rd set (the jump out of the first berm) and hit it clean. I was going fast and don't really remember going off of the lip though, was suprised how easy it was when I took the line in the berm that I had looked at a couple of times. Hard to get into the berm where you need to be, but once you are there you rail and are off to the 4th set. I wasn't ready for #4 which is a right hip and just jumped it straight, slapped my cross bar into a tree and landed in a whole. All in all it was good. The jumps are packed more than the trail itself. Hopefully I can get him back down there this week and get some photos or footage.

The 270 berm needs to be built about 8 inches taller and the exit needs to be dug out about another foot, but the digging out will be fast and easy, the stacking dirt another foot taller will take some freaking man hours. But what is 4 more hours when I already have 20+ hours by myself in one berm?

Try to keep the updates coming as much as possible. Have a good day. Now back to work.

2007-06-08T21:08:00.000-05:00

A couple of days ago I was driving to work to get some work done and pick up a friend of mine that I work with. To make a long story short I had a blow out on my front left tire, it blew the tire bead off of the rim. My buddy that I was picking up just happened to live a couple of blocks away from where I was stranded. He brought me his bike and I rode it to work to get help from some co-workers. It was a 2.5 mile ride downhill to the shop. Nobody could help me, they all rode their bikes to work and didn't drive their cars, so there I was without any help. I decided to take a shop mtn. bike with a rack on the rear of it, a bungee chord and a innertube that I cut in half.

I rode 2.5 miles up hill back to my car, took the wheel off of the car, placed it on the rack, tied it down with the bungee chord and the innertube. I then proceeded to ride south on Interstate 35 up and down the hills of Austin, Tx for 2.5 miles with a 50lb wheel balancing on the rear rack.

Apparantly my alignment was off and there was something rubbing the inside edge of my tire. I had pulled some crap out of the wheel well a while back.

So when I was giving Logan (friend from work) a tour of San Marcos on the bmx bikes we saw the car that I was hoping to see so I could show Logan how it goes down in Texas. This is a bad motha'!

The best part of our riding "adventure" was when we got to the top of Texas State University, (probably the highest point of elevation in San Marcos)we got to ride down the hill going 35mph. The hill is really long and winding, it took us almost, almost 2 minutes to get to the bottom of the hill. I was following a truck down the hill about 10 feet behind in going around the blind corners with little dips in the rode. I'll go back up later and take a picture looking down the hill so you can see it what I'm talking about.

After that we went to the trails, I did some work on the 270 berm but it still isn't working out the way I'm wanting it to work. That could also have to do with the fact that the first 1/3 of the berm is completely and the last 2/3 is still damp and moist because it's under a huge tree that provides plenty of shade. It sucks up plenty of speed, but holds you in the berm at the same time.

I finally made my way to the beginning of the line and hit the first set. Then I hit the second set my next run and my hand slipped off of my bars going into the landing. Not a bad crash, just something that sucked. The bike shot out from under me and I landing on my left hip and walked away unscathed. I got back up and made a few more runs, landed the 2nd set clean and hauled through the berm.

After this we went to the river, played on the rope swing, gave kiddos some help and held them as they climbed up the tree so they could swing further into the water. They loved it and thanked me for it. Went further down and saw the funniest thing ever that could happen at the river.

I slid down the water slide on my stomach and stayed under the current as long as possible, went too far and was carried down the next waterfall. Logan was looking for me, couldn't find me, eventhough I could see him the whole time. I made my way back up and we were laughing about what had just happened to me. I looked out in the river and saw a duck humping the water!!!! It wasn't humping the water though, it was humping another duck and shoving it's head under the water. Then ANOTHER duck comes along and started pecking at the duck getting humped and forcing it's head under the water again. As soon as the duck got off of the others back, the 2nd duck JUMPED ON and started humping as well!!!!! hahahahahaha, they were running a duck train! Funniest thing ever seen at the river.

After this we went back to the swing, got Logan to do it and said I was going to jump off of the bridge. (see me in the white trunks)
I yelled down to make sure nobody was coming and off I went.

2007-06-06T08:18:00.000-05:00

Here is the tree that fell in the 270 berm during the storm the other night.

Apparently trees are not the only things that were blown down, the Sonic sign was missing half of it because it blew away. Don't have any pics of that yet, maybe this afternoon.

Amy standing in the berm, getting prepared to go for a run while I put in some trail time digging, clearing for a new line and packing.

2007-06-05T03:52:00.000-05:00

Nothing new really going on as of late, just some rain, sun shine and some more rain. It's been very hectic and I haven't had much of a chance to work on anything at the trails.

So I finally made it out to the trails 2 days ago to finish reshaping the jump out of the 270 berm. I had to dig the pit before the lip about 18 inches deeper so water will not "pool" up whenever it rains. I also had to do major reconstruction to the lip itself. I had to shave it back about 6 inches and redo the transition since it was now coming out of a deeper whole.

All of that work was pretty difficult due to the fact that the last wind/rain storm (which floods San Marcos)knocked down about 3 or 4 trees. They are all laying in the middle of my line or hanging down over my line so you have to duck to get past them. I don't have any pics, but will be taking some later today (my bloodsugar was low and I couldn't sleep so that's why I am on here at 4am). The worst tree is about 20ft long and the top spreads about 15ft wide. It fell in the 270 berm and I don't know how I am going to move it. I will have to move it though because I can't finish shaping and packing the lip out of the turn until it's gone. Pics up later today or possibly tomorrow.

Texas Weather Report:
2 days ago it was 95 degrees with clear blue skies all day, and then it started to hail around 9 pm and flood the town.
Yesterday I woke up and expected rain all day and cloudy skies. That's not what we got. Instead it was 82 degrees and sunny clear skies all day. Now they are saying rain all day today. Let's see how this goes.

Hopefully it will not rain today (Tuesday), tomorrow or Thursday that way I'll be able to ride for the first time on Thursday. I want to ride and am curious if the spacing and timing is correct. If not, then I have more digging to do. But there is only one jump that I am really concerned about right now and I'll post about it if it doesn't work. It will just be made into a BIG racer/roller step up so you can manual it.

Whatever dude, I think I can finally go to sleep now. Peace.

May 29, 2007

2007-05-29T10:02:00.000-05:00

Nothing new going on here in San Marcos, Tx. Besides rain and more rain. I still haven't been able to ride the trails and they have been finished for almost 3 weeks now.

This past Sunday (Memorial Day weekend) we went to the San Marcos river and hung out with some friends of ours for a bit. All day the sun came and went as the clouds were rolling through town. I said that it wasn't going to rain so we might as well go, and if it does rain, well, a little water never hurt anybody and not to mention I would be wet from the river anyways. Needless to say after about 30 to 45 minutes it began to rain so we decided to go to a friends house instead of home.

Just to fill you in, San Marcos has many little flood plains an houses are built on hills. Well, as I was enjoying myself playing bowling on the Nintendo Wii I hear one of the guys say, "OH SHIT!, OUR HOUSE IS ABOUT TO FLOOD AGAIN! EVERYBODY GET A BROOM AND MOP TO SWEEP THE WATER FROM THE BACK DOOR TO THE FRONT!". Now luckily it's a straight shot from the back to front, tile flooring all the way. What had happened was there was water running from multiple neighbors yards into their yard and bring all the debris and trash with it. All of the leaves and tree branches, etc. were clogging the chainlink fence so the water couldn't run through, therefore it was routed directly to their back porch which is pretty low and in a corner so water piled up and started coming in the back door. We open a got on one side of the house and a mini river flows by.

At this time I realize that I have to walk around the house to the other side to free up the debris build up from the fence. As I am walking water is at knee level and flowing very very fast. I can't see the ground or what I might be stepping on because the water is so deep and dirty. I finally get over to the fence and grab a shovel to start shoveling the debris over the fence. This doesn't really matter because more and more keeps coming. At this time there is still water up to my knees. Amy is staring out of the garage window at me and telling me to be careful. I told her I needed a 13mm wrench so I could take the fence down to let the debris and water flow through. I get 5 out of 6 bolt out, and the last one is about 4 inches off of the ground, so it's under the water and I can't see it. Finally I get it off and the fence flies open like a gate and water takes off.

While walking towards the back of the house to try and redirect the flow of the water more towards the back of the yard and around the house, a wheel barrow comes floating towards me. I took care of it, got into the back yard only to notice that the water and debris had bent 5 of the poles concreted in the ground and took the fence out! I finally got the water rerouted away from the house, only to notice a snake. Yeah, at that point I was done, needed a drink and wanted to finish my bowling game on the Wii.

All of this and some more all happened within an hour. The flash flood rain flooded their house within 5 to 10 minutes. No damage besides some wet tile and towels to keep the water out of the bedrooms and hallways.

May 27, 2007 UFC

2007-05-27T10:17:00.000-05:00

Lastnight I realized one thing that I miss about Dallas, Tx that I never thought I would care about. That one thing is when I was wanting to to watch UFC 71, Lidell vs. "Rampage" Light Heavyweight title fight. In Dallas there are always bars showing UFC fights for free, no cover, just come in to have some drinks and have a good time.

But in Austin every bar that is showing the fight has a $10 to $15 cover charge to watch it. Now it only cost $40 for the bar to get the fight, now how many people do you have to have come buy drinks to pay off that $40? At the minimum 1, they are guaranteed to have one guy spend $40 on drinks over a 3 hour period of time, not to mention all of the other people that spend $20 on just themselves.

Anyways, I hope this works, here is the preview for the fight I wanted to see.

And yes the underdog, the person that everybody told me couldn't beat and wouldn't beat "The Iceman", Mr. "Rampage" Jackson, well, he melted the Iceman in the first round in less than 2 minutes.

May 23, 2007 Trails+River

2007-05-23T18:24:00.000-05:00

So today I woke up about an hour after I planned on getting up. That was around 9am, got up and started doing some math and reviewing all of that until 12:20pm. So I had been doing that for a couple of hours, so far it was the shortest session I have had all week. Anyways, I decided to get on the bmx and go for a ride to the trails. On the way I decided I want a corn dog, but realize I don't have my debit card because I left it in my swim trunks from yesterday. I manage to get the card, get lunch and get to the trails.

I get there, it's hot, cloudy and really humid. I already knew what had to be done, but knew that it was going to suck. I had to dig the 270 berm about 18 inches deeper and make it come out wider. The end was too tight and too sharp to carry your speed. Fortunately I had started this the other day and just had to dig the berm out of the dirt wall and make the dirt walls from the hole into a transition out of the berm and up the lip. I realize that I have spent an hour or so and look at my shirt. It's wet like I just fell into some water. I decided it was too humid in the woods with ZERO breeze and I needed to go get in the river.

I'm obviously going to have to change the angle of the lip out of the berm. It has begun to look more like a landing, long and flat. It may also have to change in height due to the speed coming out of the berm, like a foot shorter.

I get to the rope swing and play on that for an hour or more, then decided to go further down the river to the water fall and swim there. All in all it was fun. Now here are some pics of the river that is literally 50 yards from the trails.

The guy that took this picture only spoke spanish and didn't understand that I wanted the picture to be when I was jumping off of the rope swing. I went far and higher on this time than before. I climbed higher on the tree before pushing off, but oh well.

Here's the train bridge that people jump off of into 8ft deep water

Rope swing, it works best to pull the rope on the right side of the tree, climb up and push off.

A couple of ducks that came to visit me at the rope swing, ducks fascinate me for some reason.

San Marcos River Pub

Waterfall/slide

Water current after the slide, to another waterfall/slide

This dude fell out of his tube...

on this next slide.

Another part of the river that few people float towards. Perfect spot for a "river" bmx jump. It's about 8ft deep in the middle and there is a runway for as long as you want coming up to it.

A poor example of how to ride this rope swing, but fun none the less.

May 22, 2007

2007-05-22T07:22:00.000-05:00

So I had another blog under a different name that I deleted on purpose. The only problem is, well, I didn't save or copy anything that I had written on there. Now I don't remember anything that was posted up except for the pictures that have been seen. So here is the NEW news that's going on with the trails and San Marcos, Tx in general.

Prior to moving to San Marcos, Tx I had asked multiple bmx friends if there were any "trails" down here. I received mixed answers from different people. Some said that there were, some said that they knew of some years ago but thought they were gone now because those riders had left town and others said that there were some "dirt jumps" here, but weren't really sure where they were. When I first moved here I kind of went on a mission to either find a spot to build or find the existing spot to make my own addition. There are MULTIPLE places for good trails here, it was just deciding on the best location.

The location I am at is on a flood plain, close to the San Marcos river and has multiple kinds of wild animals on it. There are a couple of young deer that leave there, multiple Jack Rabbits, squirrels and Cardinals that I see on occasion. There are onle a couple of drawbacks about the place. The first drawback is that I get the normal passerby walking through the woods and having them stumble upon my lines, and soon to be lineS. The other day I had to yell at some kids running and jump off of the lips with their feet. I was polite and they stopped, which is good because I was out numbered by the 5 guys. Not to mention that one of them was about 4 inches taller than me and out weighed me by about 20+ lbs. The only other REAL drawback is the fact that I am not digging through grass or brush, but I'm digging through vines. The vines make it difficult to get past the first layer of earth with a decent shovel load. It tends to pull the dirt off of the shovel. Once past the vines the dirt is EASY and awesome to dig. It's a mixture of black and brown dirt. It tends to crack when dried out, but it's super fast and just needs a sweeping, watered and the dirt swept on it again to fill in the top layer that is cracked.

First set

2nd Double, going into left hand berm

same jump as above photo

same jump as above, but looking back at the landing

3rd double, coming OUT of the berm

4th set

4th set (side view)

4th set (landing)

3 rollers after 4th set

jump going into 270 berm

landing coming out of 270 berm

2 rollers after jump out of 270 berm