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Whatagwaaan?

trailblazer

Monkey
May 2, 2005
464
4
Jamaica
i and my various crews have been building trails in Jamaica a few months a year for over 15 years now.
With Hurricane Mathew approaching tomorrow I guess we will see if Negril's "40Legger Trail Crew's" trailblazing is sustainable. Most of my passionate digging over the past 6 years has been based in the Westmorland Hills overlooking Negril and in a few months I will be back in my 2nd home and will deal with the mess and reality of mother nature.
In 2005 Hurricane Ivan destroyed the trails that Rusty's X-cellent Adventures and JAMBA [Jamaica Mtn. Bike Assn.] built and home of the Negril Fat Tire Festival 1998-2005. There was a 4 & 1/2 kilo XC race course and 3 short semi dh's. The previous year I re-cut the dormant race course for the Festival and after arriving in Jan. 2006 I had trouble finding them. When I did the damage was so horrific they were not just unridable but unrecognizable. The Negril trails were destroyed and gone. After an exodus from Negril for 5 years to Ocho Rios & the Blue Mountains I decided to start digging where my roots are.....in Red Ground and Orange Hill.

This amazing island has given me so much happiness since discovering it that not only has my life been altered but I have been stung by the dirt bug. So much that as of late I don't even care if I take anyone on a tour or laze about on Negril's 7 mile beach as long as I can rise with the sun, ride to the rasta shop for 7:30 to meet my dig crew and work till 2. We get lost in the moment every day and are surprised how the time flies. It's hard to explain in words what it means to spend all year making $$$ so I can fly south and employ my dig crew. The only support I get is from the Jamaican people I meet on a daily basis and that support is like a rock. Gretna Bikes has supplied me with Lupine Lights for night rides and various people have donated parts and frames.
Tools are a few Trail Boss's, sledge hammer, machete, folding saws, pick axe, rakes and shovels. We had a wheel barrow but some asshat stole it last March. No motorized machinery in the bush.
not sure if my pics will work... so check out the site and you will see the bench cuts.
Massive respect.
Marsh
2wheels1loveJamaica.com
 

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