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Hello Everyone

Sep 6, 2011
26
0
Poor Tortured, WA
I've decided to take the plunge from lurker to contributer. :D Anyway, I'm an older (30) dude who just started riding this year. I have a DK Cygnus 24" cruiser that I love to jump. Unfortunately, out here on the Kitsap Peninsula where I live, the jumps are mostly sub par, and the little groms don't care to maintain them. But, I still jump, and do what I can to keep a decent set running. Anyway, just wanted to say HELLO!
 
Feb 5, 2010
67
0
Westminster, CO
The "little kids who never maintain stuff" issue is a problem that will never go away. Maintenance is a huge part of keeping a decent line decent. Ideally, try to find some other jumpers who can help you dig; failing that you'll have to do it on your own. In my experience, the only ones who will really ever help are the ones out of high school. Persuading people to put down their bikes and pick up shovels is no easy task. I recommend shamelessly using peer pressure.

You'll need water and tools. I would recommend you start by fixing up an existing line, then building a new line. Here's a link to a really good video on how to do repair a dirt jump.

http://www.plussizebmx.com/blog/2010/10/23/how-to-repair-dirt-jumps-with-hippie-josh.html

Once you have a line going, ride it for a while, build your skills up, then build your own line! This is going to take considerably more time than repairing an existing line, so be prepared to spend more time digging than riding for a while. Check out the "What Is Trails?" thread for some good inspiration on what to build.

http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=225841

Speaking of which, the sun will be coming up in about 20 minutes, so it's time for me to grab my shovels and head to my spot :rockout:
 

MTBKR415

Chimp
Jun 18, 2008
54
0
right behind you...
The "little kids who never maintain stuff" issue is a problem that will never go away. Maintenance is a huge part of keeping a decent line decent. Ideally, try to find some other jumpers who can help you dig; failing that you'll have to do it on your own. In my experience, the only ones who will really ever help are the ones out of high school. Persuading people to put down their bikes and pick up shovels is no easy task. I recommend shamelessly using peer pressure.

You'll need water and tools. I would recommend you start by fixing up an existing line, then building a new line. Here's a link to a really good video on how to do repair a dirt jump.

http://www.plussizebmx.com/blog/2010/10/23/how-to-repair-dirt-jumps-with-hippie-josh.html

Once you have a line going, ride it for a while, build your skills up, then build your own line! This is going to take considerably more time than repairing an existing line, so be prepared to spend more time digging than riding for a while. Check out the "What Is Trails?" thread for some good inspiration on what to build.

http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=225841

Speaking of which, the sun will be coming up in about 20 minutes, so it's time for me to grab my shovels and head to my spot :rockout:
EXCELLENT advice!!

Well, I pretty much are in the same boat as you, ive taken over some abandoned jumps only to have the kids destroy my berms and take the wood for their fort.

If they F**K with my jumps again i told them i'd burn their fort.

Anyways, good luck with he jumps!

wish i was riding today...
 

pnj

Turbo Monkey till the fat lady sings
Aug 14, 2002
4,696
40
seattle
where in kitsap are you?

Aren't there some public jumps out there?
 
Sep 6, 2011
26
0
Poor Tortured, WA
Thanks for the pointers If You build It. PNJ, I'm in Port Orchard, and yeah, we have some public jumps, but they are not well maintained, nor have they been. I do what I can to help out, but honestly, me and my friends kind of gave up on them cause the kids just don't care. We built Gig Harbor back up to decent and just jump out there most of the time these days.
 
Last edited:
Feb 5, 2010
67
0
Westminster, CO
Dirt jumps on public land are a great example of The Tragedy of Commons:
The tragedy of the commons is a dilemma arising from the situation in which multiple individuals, acting independently and rationally consulting their own self-interest, will ultimately deplete a shared limited resource, even when it is clear that it is not in anyone's long-term interest for this to happen.
-Wikipedia
No one is required to dig, and it is in their individual self-interest to just ride the dirt jumps and never contribute to their maintenance. Thus, no one digs, and the spot goes to hell.

The way I see it, there are three options for how to solve this, listed in order of increasing difficulty to accomplish.

1) Suck it up and do it yourself - If you can't get anyone else to pick up a shovel, you can just take it all on yourself to rehab a spot. Once the spot starts getting nice, people will start riding it. If you can't convince them to help, you'll just have to turn the other cheek and ignore their inconsiderateness. If you are going to do this for any kind of long term, you will need Ghandi-level calmness. This is pretty much where I'm at right now at my spot, but it has more to do with the fact that no one else wants to ride/build a line with 6 foot lips and 25' gaps.

2) Assemble a small but devoted crew - By getting a few guys together who actually care, you can spend less time digging and more time riding. With several guys digging, it's easier to peer pressure anyone else around to help out (unless none of the crew is present, in which case people will just ride and won't dig). You will still have parasites, but it's a lot easier to stomach.

3) Turn your local spot into Nazi Germany - If you didn't bring a shovel, you can't ride. Period. Anyone caught riding without digging will be shunned and forced to leave. If your spot was on your own private land, this is how you should run it, but at a public spot, this attitude will most likely lead to some 8th grader crying to his mommy who will then call up her local city council and before you know it, your spot will get bulldozed.

Try to get scenario #2 going, and just ignore the leeches. If that fails, go for #1 and build your dream line exactly how you want it.
 

pnj

Turbo Monkey till the fat lady sings
Aug 14, 2002
4,696
40
seattle
we have a public spot here that has three lines. the small line is more like a crappy pump track with different sized rollers and crappy tables. no one works on them...

the two larger lines are big enough jumps that groms/noobs don't try to ride them.

one thing you can do is get regular jams going on at the jumps. let people know what day people will be out shredding. Then you can have a 'build day' where people can come out and help fix stuff too.

Or, find a place in the woods, near a water source, and build your own stuff.....
 
Sep 6, 2011
26
0
Poor Tortured, WA
IYBI - Option 2 that you have listed is the first way that me and my buddies tried to go. The biggest problem that we had was that the dirt jumps are inside of a public park that is filled with walking and biking trails. Because of the trails in the park, most people just assume that the dirt jumps are free game to let their kids play on. This will destroy the jumps no matter how much we build them up.

For example, upon finding our style jump in dissaray, we built it back up one afternoon. Put a real nice solid 8' lip up with a nice gap and a smooth as butter landing. It was a perfect style. 2 days later and you would never even know that it was recently built. Were we disappointed? Sure. But that didn't stop us from re-building. About 2 days after we rebuilt, the entire lip was kicked in. Not just sort of messed up mind you. I'm talking full on, boot prints, kicked in. So we rebuilt it again, only to come back and have it knocked in again. Needless to say, after weeks of the same thing over and over again, we got tired of rebuilding that style.

Anyway, it was like that with every jump we tried to either fix, rebuild, or add in. We got tired of dealing with it, especially since me and my couple of buddies were the only ones at the place who cared to try and fix them. Hence why we gave up and moved on to a new spot. A spot that we are slowly building out to our liking. Thankfully, it came mostly pre-built, so our work is never to hard. :)

Now when we want to ride, we might have to drive to our spot, but it's so much better to just roll up, water some jumps, fix a few lips and landings, and get right into the riding. As for PNJ's suggestion of a local Jam, I really like the idea. In fact, I like it so much I am going to look into doing just that. I'm open for suggestions PNJ cause I've never ran a Jam before, but I would be willing to try! :D
 

pnj

Turbo Monkey till the fat lady sings
Aug 14, 2002
4,696
40
seattle
our public jumps are next to a soccer field, skatepark, jogging path, etc. We constantly have people playing on the jumps. We recently put up signs that say, "hand build dirt jumps, bikes only" or something. We still have to yell at people but when they see the sigh, they seem to pay more attention...

as for a jam...
Pick a date and let people know about it. easy as that. Make sure you have people pick up their trash or have garbage cans for trash. You can try to make it organized or just see what happens. Make sure the jumps are running as well as you can on the day of the jam. basicly, just invite a bunch of people over to ride... :)
 

nick hop

Chimp
Aug 18, 2010
7
0
if you have problems with kids. just do what i did to get rid of them. if they come over when your there and they mess up a jump or berm, tell them were the broom and shovel is. they'll fix it ride for a little bit then leave and never come back.

and it doesn't hurt to have your sister there with her big black german sheperd.:D