[Blockhead]

Just wondering if anyone has any innovations they care to share. (I've already used the search function). I live in Ny along lake ontario, in an area that was heavily shaped by glaciers so we have clay unfortunately it's buried pretty deep under sand and gravel deposits. The spot I'm tryin to work is approx. 50% sand 25% clay 25% loam with some very nice loam deposits in the valley's. Its semi-forested, mostly locust tree's and bramble, with a pretty good supply of dried up "hay" in the open spaces. There's also a 5 acre spring fed pond nearby so waters not a problem. I've been using the hard pack method the best I can mixing in strands of hay and water, while constantly packing, and it seems to be holding up so far, but its still pretty cold and moist out. I've yet to see how they will hold up after they get cooked by a summer sun.

I've looked into the quickcrete method and am not taking it off the table, but Im poor and plan on making a lot of jumps. Homemade alternative's?

I've also noticed just in watching video's of other peoples trails that in some of the places that look sandy to me on the computer screen, the diggers will have used logs to support the backs of the jumps. Am I correct in assuming its to protect some of the softer jumps from pushing out under the force of casing or just landing for that matter.

I'd like to find a better spot but reality is 3 spots have been dozed in the last 2 yr's, 1 spot had all the tools stolen, and there's just no where left to go. I've spent all winter on google maps and the past month checking all the spot's I thought might work. Anywhere with good dirt has either been claimed by hikers, four wheeler's, or devoloper's, so we're pretty much forced to work with what we've got.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[Sonic Reducer]

raid the local carpet store dumpster for some scraps to throw over the peaks of the landings. slows down case damage.
build the lips when it is wet/raining.
as far as concreting the lips just get a bag of portland cement and use it sparingly. doesnt take tons of it to make a solid ass lip and you dont need all the aggregate thats in sackrete.
try and find a cache of straight clay near the jumps and use that for the important stuff.

 

[Bikael Molton]

we are looking into both Dirtglue and calcium chloride. Calcium is apparently used on lots of BMX racetracks.

 

[jerseydirt]

Calcium is dangerous. If you get it near water it will blow up.

 

[Cru Jones]

I've seen some really sandy spots pack in great with water. It's a constant battle to keep it in shape, but if it packs go for it. Sheep Hills is one of the sandiest spots around and it's been going strong forever. The plus side of sandier soil is that it's usually pretty easy to dig.

 

[rumbler]

one spot down here is really sandy--we build and shape with the sand then cap em with clay--we have a clay pit thats about 6ft deep and we had to dig to find it, it wasnt on the surface but we have left a couple of landings sand and that works especially on trick jumps, its kinda nice having a softer landing. if you cant find any clay just pack everything and let them sit, we have done this and after a few weeks (packing when you can) and the sand will hold its shape--they need to be worked on more often but its also easy to fix

 

[foreveralout]

you mean we have a 6 foot deep sand pit with a 2 foot strip of caly in it. and the soft landings definatley feel better when your face hits them.

 

[Blockhead]

A bunch of great ideas. I have friends who go down south to ride cassleberry in the winter, but none were sure exactly how you guys pulled it off. Baseball clay is brilliant. I can think of a dozen piles of red pitchers mound clay just off the top of my head that could use a good relocating to the woods.

Segregating the soil is another solid proposal. I'd already begun the process but its nice to get some verification as to its effectiveness. It is kind of a pain, as sometimes you have to dig all the good dirt out of the trail your working on, and replace it with poor dirt only to throw the good dirt back on top, which is 3x as much work, but you gotta do what you've got to do.

I've been working on digging a hole for clay, but im 5' deep and no substantial finds yet beyond thin ribbons layered in the sand. Stupid glacial deposits. I havent given up yet though, perhaps I just need to dig a hole somewhere else. I wish I payed more attention in earth science

Chemicals sound pretty effective too, but I'm already trespassing not to mention totally digging up someone else's property. Granted that property belongs to paris hilton's daddy and he can afford it, but I still dont think I should be spraying chemicals around

Either way thanks for all the suggestions, keep 'em coming. I'll post up some results once they're worth posting

Cheer's