I've seen some cool video of the so called 495 jumps. Just wondering where it is....
Where are the 495 Jumps?
- Thread starter Jimmy the D
- Start date
No jumps.
They're near 495, outside Wash DC.
No dig, no ride.
when was the last time you did some digging there?
i was out digging yesterday from 1-4:30 in the HEAT. see you out there saturday!
when was the last time you did some digging there?
The last time i was there...a month and a half ago...
Isn't it part of a public park now? How does the no dig no ride go over with the park system?
By all means, get the directions from the park system.
No, not really. It's generally not smart to put directions to the jumps in a public thread.
It is part of the county park system and was saved by Rich Edwards from IMBA and MORE. It falls under Mill Creek Park so Rich told me. MORE has been the driving force in keeping user maintained jumps at that site. Just got off the phone with Rich and was told that MORE has been working on the risk management details and they have been submitted to the park system. Anyone can ride there. It's nice to help when they are doing trail work but it's not a requirement to ride. Hopefully this will be a useful example of how user maintained jumps can work on PUBLIC LAND.
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I mean it is part of the park system, but the county has nothing to do with them as of yet. It is kind of in limbo from my understanding, but i am glad to hear that Rich has been working on it still. I know Corey (ridedc.com) was a big part in it, but he disappeared from the scene, so didn't know if it was just left in park system limbo.
It is nice to do trail work, it's not required, but definitely very nice since these are all built by the riders and a lot of labor goes into it. It seems that the labor comes from a small group of regulars. Everyone else just comes out and reaps the benefits, and thinks i'm joking when i ask if they have been digging after it just rained. (reaction i got from a few spokes etc kids last week).
It is nice to do trail work, it's not required, but definitely very nice since these are all built by the riders and a lot of labor goes into it. It seems that the labor comes from a small group of regulars. Everyone else just comes out and reaps the benefits, and thinks i'm joking when i ask if they have been digging after it just rained. (reaction i got from a few spokes etc kids last week).
It's a public park. We appreciate the work you have done, but it's a public park. When was the last time you helped out on the Main Accotink trail, or the Wakefield trails? By your logic, if you have EVER ridden any of those trails, and don't help with upkeep every time it rains, you don't deserve to be able to ride there.
Nothing is in limbo. It is part of Mill Creek and the county has everything to do with them as they have allowed them to stay. The county will never help maintain them is my understanding. They are the model for USER MAINTAINED trails on public land in a public park. They have left the trail work up to MORE and it's liason's. We are using 495 as an example for our pump tracks and jumps here in the burg. It's easy to get defensive over riding spots I know. No one has had more trails ruined by people that never picked up a shovel or pick than me(fvck richmond and the city's corrupt government as well as the liars in the parks dept. at city hall). However now that they are public, I'm sure no one wants to discourage people from riding. To the folks that have never been to 495 and I hope go, I say pick up a shovel and help out when you can. I'm sure they still have work days posted somewhere on here or on DCSTREET . Peace
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Has there been any word on 495 being classified as "public" and part of a user maintained trail system to this date? Right now there are signs out there that explain the situation (created and put up by Corey), but they have been out there for almost 2 years now and we haven't (meaning the local diggers and riders) heard any word from MORE or any of the liasons regarding it's status. At this point, there is no formally approved and publicized policy on 495 (that I know of, I have a copy of the proposal to the county) and maintenance and work out there has continued thanks to the local riders. As usual, there is a lot of frustration from the people working and maintaining due to a lack of respect and inexperience or chosen ignorance from the countless number of folks that have started to ride out there.
We have had recent issues with people taking hidden tools, changing lines, and riding jumps when wet. As long as the digger-to-rider ratio stays so disproportionate, the quality of the jumps will be impossible to maintain... so please be sure to offer some help with digging if you happen to know where the jumps are and you happen to be out there when people are working (even if it's something you aren't able to ride yet). I don't think people that have never worked on dirt jumps can appreciate or even begin to understand how much work and time goes into building a single lip or landing.
For now, I think it would be more beneficial to the 495 riding and digging community to keep the number of riders out there to a minimum (not posting directions) until we have a public and formal policy... or it will continue to be like the wild wild west and we all know how that will end.
PS: I have personally posted on several forums asking for people to come out and help dig and maintain 495 and in the 10-15 times I have done so, I have only had about 2-3 people come out (not each time, in total) besides the regulars that help dig.
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I've ridden wakefield once since ive lived in nova (5 years now) so i don't feel any obligation whatsoever to upkeep those trails.
The first post i made in this thread was meant to be a smart ass remark because i'm not going to post directions to the "public jumps that aren't even approved".
Read Whale's post and know what is going on before you try to attack me. Did i ever say that it was absolutely necessary for anyone to dig to ride? The post you quoted says that it is not required but was "very nice". If you read my post you would note that I was commenting about people gawking at the thought of digging, not stating that he had to come out and dig to be allowed to ride them.
I may not ride everyday, i wish i could but unfortunately i believe those days are behind me. I know what is going on in the community and with our areas of riding. I'm sorry if i come off as a dick to those that don't have directions to the jumps,etc but literally last week some kid at Spokes ETC was talking about riding the jumps after they just had a huge downpour the night before. When i asked if he was digging because i knew it would be wet and great for digging, he chuckled and said why would i do that.
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Did you help build those trails? no? But you still rode them?!
I can't believe you would do something like that!
And like i said i rode them once in 5 years. They are public trails that everyone knows about, 495 is not. Do you see directions to them on more's website? No.
I didn't help build 495, but i help maintain them. I don't see how you can read Will's post and still see any logic in me posting directions to the public on here. Like i said, digging is appreciated, but not necessary. I'm still not going to post directions here, and never will.
If someone PM'd me and asked me kindly i'd give them directions, i directed 3 guys that were on XC bikes last week to the jumps because they asked me in the parking lot. Its not like im trying to hide them from everyone, but i don't see how your comments make any sense when all i have been stating is that digging is appreciated but not necessary and that i will not post directions to dirt jumps.
I hope to be at 495 tomorrow with will so if anyone wants to come out and ride please do!
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after calling the Shed my home for the last 8 years I have NEVER seen anyone come up and ride our trails without working on them........
Sorry for leaving my corner in the mid-atl forum...but seeing that I will be in NOVA tommorrow, @495, with a shovel, and rake....I had to put my .02 in.
DK
C
F,Md
Sorry for leaving my corner in the mid-atl forum...but seeing that I will be in NOVA tommorrow, @495, with a shovel, and rake....I had to put my .02 in.
DK
C
F,Md
after calling the Shed my home for the last 8 years I have NEVER seen anyone come up and ride our trails without working on them........
Sorry for leaving my corner in the mid-atl forum...but seeing that I will be in NOVA tommorrow, @495, with a shovel, and rake....I had to put my .02 in.
DK
C
F,Md
See you at 495 tomorrow! Don't think you will need the shovel or rake, i was out a few days ago and for the most part the jumps look pretty good.
tools are always in the truck.........just in case any of the lines need a little workermanship....
DK
C
F,Md
DK
C
F,Md
See that is a great attitude!
after calling the Shed my home for the last 8 years I have NEVER seen anyone come up and ride our trails without working on them........
Sorry for leaving my corner in the mid-atl forum...but seeing that I will be in NOVA tommorrow, @495, with a shovel, and rake....I had to put my .02 in.
DK
C
F,Md
I have!....once.
see you at 495 tomorrow. i will be out there with my girlfriend's 11 year old brother who will be playing on the beginner set.
i hope i don't offend anyone by riding the paved path that the county put in that makes the jumps easier to access since i didn't volunteer any of my time or tax dollars into putting that in (my tax $$ went to dc and md last year)... i preferred the days of crossing (sometime fording) the creek which made the jumps a lot less accessible and harder to be found.
by big mike's logic, i think i'm way behind in my volunteering work in many places where i have ridden. i guess i better start traveling and vacationing with a rake and shovel... :biggrin:
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Not like you will be traveling and vacationing much with that tree bill!see you at 495 tomorrow. i will be out there with my girlfriend's 11 year old brother who will be playing on the beginner set.
i hope i don't offend anyone by riding the paved path that the county put in that makes the jumps easier to access since i didn't volunteer any of my time or tax dollars into putting that in (my tax $$ went to dc and md last year)... i preferred the days of crossing (sometime fording) the creek which made the jumps a lot less accessible and harder to be found.
by big mike's logic, i think i'm way behind in my volunteering work in many places where i have ridden. i guess i better start traveling and vacationing with a rake and shovel... :biggrin:
You guys should call the Parks Dept. or the county because as it was explained to me 2 days ago by Rich Edwards of IMBA, all the necessary papers have been filed and there is no limbo. Anyway here is the way I look at it. The only reason we can discuss these jumps is because they were brought to the attention of the county and the public; and as a result of a lot of hard work (paper pushing) they are still there. The trade off is they will need more maintenance due to more traffic and busters who fvck up stuff. If you want jumps that only certain groups can ride, build them somewhere else and don't ever post about them. There may be some here in my town that only some people may know of. I sure won't say. We also have the stuff in the public park which is awesome but takes a lot of effort to keep up. I know WHALE said he has tried to organize trail work days with only a few showing up. That sucks and says that some of the riding community doesn't care. I could make a full time job out of maintaining the stuff here in the park. Education is the key. Post signs up when it rains the trails are closed, make the bigger stuff so intimidating that the table top lines get used to learn and get comfortable on. Stuff like that. That's what we did. It's frustrating I know but I remember when a certain teenage Mobius came out for the first time in RVA to ride and most people were cool. We don't want to discourage people from learning and the only way you learn is by fvckin up. Now I must go fix all the "learning" that has been going on at our park. Peace
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Amen..
You guys are missing the point. The point is no dig no ride is not how it is. I don't see how people can get so defensive over that spot that is played out, stays wet for fvckin ever, and is only there because an organized trail group came in and saved it from being plowed. Be thankful. You guys could be looking at the mess some of my boys in RVA look at when they go down to where the jumps used to be or what my boys in Boston look at (plowed jumps).
At least they don't have Mr. Goodman to deal with, bulldozing jumps and such.
I thought we already clarified that i was making a smartass joke when i said that...We havent talked about no dig no ride in like 10 posts, and everytime we just talk about not posting directions. I don't know about wet forever, but its stormed a lot lately and the ted's looked amazing yesterday.
Plowed jumps is definitely no fun for anyone though
No sh!t. GOD forbid you have an opposing point of view...
