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Frozen jumps swelling?

Castle

Turbo Monkey
Jun 10, 2002
1,446
0
VA
Is there a way to prevent frozen jumps from swelling and puffing out?

Every time it gets down below freezing the jumps swell and get puffy on top. It's as if the moisture from inside the dirt is frozen to the outside of the dirt (ice crystals) and when it thaws it leaves the jumps with a soft crust on top.

Is this due to, too much clay?

Is there a way to prevent this? I thought about salt not freezing.... but then you got salt everywhere and it's probably not worth that.

any ideas appreciated, I know using carpet to cover jumps helps keep them from getting soaked but would it do anything for the freezing?

thanks for any help/ideas
 

Zach Dank

Turbo Monkey
Jun 28, 2005
1,296
0
Gnarcal
This is the Manpon. I live in the valley, but i built these trails about 3000 feet above see level. For about a couple months, they freeze every night, and swell like a mutherfycker. I have not found a cure. We have to reface the jumps every time we ride in the winter, but as you can see, it is well worth the hour or 2 of refacing to hit these biatches.
 

t1maglio

Monkey
Oct 29, 2001
855
0
southern wisconsin
I know what your talking about, but I don't have a solution. I think its more typical with jumps that aren't as packed down, but that just might be my perception. I haven't had my own trails in a couple years either so I might just be forgetting as well.

On a different note, nothing runs faster then a frozen set of trails.
 

sb317

Monkey
Sep 6, 2005
338
0
North Carolina
I dealt with this quite a few times last year. I just started putting carpet on my jumps the past few months to hold them together when it rains, especially on the newer ones that aren't ridden in yet that have a tendency to collapse during heavy rain. I checked them today after a good ground freeze last night and it did help some. This might not be the best technique for everybody but my trails are within spitting distance and I have unlimited access to large scrap pieces of carpet so it's easy to get stuff back there. It doesn't look the best but it works and all of my stuff is built and maintained by me and the less time I have to spend repairing the more time I can spend digging new stuff.
 

Zach Dank

Turbo Monkey
Jun 28, 2005
1,296
0
Gnarcal
I deal with it all the time. Just scrape the riding surface and go.

If they're not completely frozen, I'll repack whatever gets loosened up.
I wish ours were that easy. After scraping the ice surface, they are mangled. Complete resurfacing is needed to even be ridable. It blows, but it only really messes up the lips, not the landings.
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
I wish ours were that easy. After scraping the ice surface, they are mangled. Complete resurfacing is needed to even be ridable. It blows, but it only really messes up the lips, not the landings.
Well you've seen the dust up here.......it's nothing like that glorious foothill stuff you've got, even when wet.

It just fluffs up about 1-2 inches here and leaves a packed surface underneath on everything that was packed to begin with.
 

muddy beast

Turbo Monkey
Nov 26, 2005
1,815
0
I just don't ride the dirt much in the winter...but maybes that's why I suck so much, hah.

Then again, all of the jumps by me are surrounded by trees, so in the winter they are covered with leafs and require more work then its worth to ride 90% of the time. Winter = Street time for me.
 

CHOP

Monkey
Aug 20, 2003
611
2
Rivermont, Va
Yeah Sean I have the same problem with mine. Another problem I have is that the area between the jumps go through a constant freeze and thaw every day. Most of the time they just stay too wet to ride or even dig for that matter.
 

Castle

Turbo Monkey
Jun 10, 2002
1,446
0
VA
last I checked here today, it didn't make it out of the 20's and it said it felt like 8 (windchill) all day long.

calling for 60's on monday!

At least I know I'm not by myself fighting the swell of the jumps in the winter. I've done the same as you all, just shave/spank them back into shape but was hoping someone had maybe found a remedy.

They are def. packed, some of them have been there now for 3 years and everything is def. tamped and spanked!
 

snaky69

Monkey
Feb 10, 2007
188
0
Quebec, Canada
65? Cru, you may go big on jumps and I give you that, but as far as temp goes, you're a wuss.

We get -40 for two week straight every year at the end of January.
 

manimal

Ociffer Tackleberry
Feb 27, 2002
7,212
17
Blindly running into cactus
i have the same problem as well. this grainy NC clay holds water for so long in the freeze/thaw cycle. i finally finished one double in my yard and now i have to wait until spring to really wear it in.