March 09 - Balboa, Black and Future

Building done:
We've been busy midweek for a while. Bob Dangerfield and Mick Whyte have been giving up riding time to get balboa into shape, and last tuesday we put the icing on the cake by creating a large rock drop off the gas main, doubling the length of Balboa.

















Many of you will have already seen this when we ran the March timing day down the line on Sunday the 15th. This line isn't finished yet. For now it merges with Wonderland, but this isn't the final line.

During the Sunday Morning Build, along with everyone who gave up practice time to help, we did some work on the black table area, adding another corner to the end of the CDL/Red track, widening the fireroad and building large bank on the edge of the landing of the black table. With a bit of luck this will prevent anyone from standing around on the landing. We should have it open in a very short while. Finally!

Future

We want to continue to renovate and improve all of our trails. If you've got ideas and the time to put them into practice, comment here or on the Chasetrails downhill forum, or speak to me or any of the other trail builders.

Our current work list for 2009 looks like this:

Red: Complete new section between the Snakes and Ladders offshoot and final 180 degree turn which should make it more fun on a downhill bike.

Black: You'll probably have already seen the rocks, these have to be dug in and positioned to build our new rock feature.

Snakes and Ladders: To be extended with another lefthand berm straight out of the current righthand berm.

Ridge: Motorway to be removed and the corners built properly. The top two are fine, but the lower lefthander needs a lot of work to make it ridable.

Wonderland: The lowest switchback needs a re-think as it currently drags uphill making it quite pedally. It also runs too close to Balboa.

Balboa Extension Project: Will be run by Mick and Bob. Expect big things!

New Line: I'd like to extend the rock garden to about double its current size. Obviously this depends on a fresh delivery of rock. Beyond that, it needs a bit of repair work, but is otherwise developing nicely.