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Sandy dirt..........?

Mutt

Monkey
Jun 14, 2003
283
8
Lost on Long Island
So I just moved to eastern long island from Pittsburgh a couple weeks ago and am going through trails withdrawal. I dug, mostly solo, through the winter, and won't be riding any bit of it,.....:( sucks.

Plus, I get out here and the dirt is soooooo sandy. One of my buddies in Pitt grew up out this way and said that they used to pour freakin motor oil on the dirt to get it to pack and stay put. I don't know if that would actually work, or if I am down with that.

The Mrs. and I were thinking of buying a place with some land so I could dig/ride at home. It would be so much more doable out this way than at Pittsburgh (at least in the part where we always lived), except for this dirt/sand. And I'm debating if its even worth stretching the wallet for a place with land when the dirt I would own is better for building sand castles with than trails.

So I have thought up three possibilities with a request for suggestions on each:

1 - deal with the dirt - I don't even know if this is a real possibility, does anyone have any experience dealing with sandy dirt

2 - buy dirt - anyone ever bought dirt to build with??? is this going to cost a left nut?

3 - build a line of flowy ramps with a trails feel - besides rays in Ohio, I can't say I've come across anything close to what I would want

Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome.
 

A Grove

Monkey
Nov 20, 2007
497
0
State College, PA
sounds silly but how deep did you dig? We have a few FR trails out on some private property that is just perfect for building lines, but we have to dig a solid 4ft down to hit any kind of usable dirt. The rest is all woody compost/sand... AKA sh*t. Any only issue I see with the wooden jumps is you cannot easily change things... and it seems with weather, they'd rot pretty quickly.
 

Mutt

Monkey
Jun 14, 2003
283
8
Lost on Long Island
Sounds like a valid point, but I have no idea. I haven't dug yet at all. We are just looking at properties and exploring the area. But even if that is the case, four feet down....... yeesh. If there was a decent grade to the area, this could work, but it is pretty flat around here. That would be a drainage nightmare.

Not to mention, explaining how I need to drop that last wooded acre of property out back by about 4-6 feet to my wife sounds like a tough sell. Getting her to understand trails in general has been a long road.
 

A Grove

Monkey
Nov 20, 2007
497
0
State College, PA
I should've explained better... Basically, we clear our our lines of all debris, rake it with a hard rake, smooth it out, then find an area off the trail to dig a massive pit. We then use wheelbarrows and buckets to transport the dirt we dig out of these pits for making our jumps and berms. Haha no way we'd ever grade the trail itself down 4 feet!
 

Mutt

Monkey
Jun 14, 2003
283
8
Lost on Long Island
ah yes, that would be much more reasonable. I guess I'm used to actually going down 4+ feet, so my mind was in that rut. Our spot in Pitt was on a pretty steep hillside, so each line was actually a terrace across the hill side. this is an old pic, but you can probably get the point.
 

A Grove

Monkey
Nov 20, 2007
497
0
State College, PA
Yeah I hear ya on the steep hillsides.. I like in State College and play tons of hockey in pitt area. Its hella hilly out there and same with my area... Finding good places to build aren't the easiest. But at any rate, you might not even FIND good dirt there given your location, but if you find a decent bit of property, I'd go out some day and dig a few deep wholes around the lot to see what you can find
 

Stoked

Turbo Monkey
Nov 28, 2004
1,809
1
LI, NY
i guess its a crap shoot. there's some legit trail spots out east on LI. will the dirt on your property be a deal breaker if its not adequate? find some woods near by and take samples of the dirt. what town are you looking at to live in?
 
May 9, 2006
46
0
NYC
I was going to say the same thing. Since they just mentioned in the end of winter pics thread that it was LI take a look at those.
Not sure how far out you are but your closest legal dirt jumps are at cunningham I think? http://www.climbonline.org/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?board=cunningham

You could turn up to a TM day on the jumps and the new line they are starting and pick their brains for how they deal with the dirt conditions.
You may even pic up on a few spots closer to home to ride at...
 

Mutt

Monkey
Jun 14, 2003
283
8
Lost on Long Island
Right now we are in temporary housing for about another month in sweet, sweet Upton NY. It is pretty durn far out on the island in my opinion. We are going to be renting a place in Wading River and have been home shopping the north shore mostly. I know that Shoreham has a bmx track, but that is just not even close to the same thing as trails to me.

I'm web-familiar with Cunningham park and was thinking of heading over there sometime soon with shovel and bike in tow. But it is not close by, ~50 LIE miles according to googlemaps.

Regardless, I'll do as you suggest NoLongerGumby. I need to meet and dig and ride with some people so they won't be afraid to introduce me to other riders and potentially new locations. I know how sketchy it can seem when someone starts asking to get in on your trail scene.
 

Mutt

Monkey
Jun 14, 2003
283
8
Lost on Long Island
i guess its a crap shoot. there's some legit trail spots out east on LI. will the dirt on your property be a deal breaker if its not adequate? find some woods near by and take samples of the dirt. what town are you looking at to live in?

Well, yes and no. .... If the dirt is sh!te and my other ideas aren't really legit, then it seems a bit pointless to put our $s into land that I can't use. Plus finding a decent house with a chunk of land is a much more difficult task than just finding a decent house I'm finding.

Or if there is a trail scene out this far east with some good people and trails, then I could forego the back yard for the moment (assuming the dirt truly is the nightmare it seems to be)
 

Stoked

Turbo Monkey
Nov 28, 2004
1,809
1
LI, NY
huntington area has a pretty good outdoor park. further out east is greenport park if yer into ramps and such.
 

Mutt

Monkey
Jun 14, 2003
283
8
Lost on Long Island
huntington area has a pretty good outdoor park. further out east is greenport park if yer into ramps and such.
More good suggestions, thank you. I did see the greenport park and was thinking of checking it out this summer, but dirt is more my thing, and its prime digging season, not quite riding season for me yet. Digging is my cross-training :).
 

Mutt

Monkey
Jun 14, 2003
283
8
Lost on Long Island
oil does not mix into the dirt for long. it always finds its way to the surface eventually...
Yeah, this didn't really seem like an even semi-permanent solution. I just had this nasty vision of hauling a huge jug of old funked up motor oil into the woods to watch it glub-glub-glub over the dirt.............buuuuuuhhh, gives me shivers.

I'll take high clay content dirt and water any day.