Ditch Loop Trail Work

Made it to the to and then some last night.
Working on the narrow trail from the top of the climb to the Strava start of Ditch DH. Lots of brushing with the trimmer here trying to widen the path.
I am taking Wednesday night off, but will be back up there Thursday day if anyone is available to bring up a second trimmer and play. I really hope to get to the bottom of the trail Thursday day.

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Trail is cleared and I got the down trail raked. My body hates me right now. The up trail still needs raked but I am not going to be doing that one for a bit. I need to put some energy to getting my truck ready for trail work on Lockwood trail this weekend.
 
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Ditch is running fast. Didn't try the jumps on the steep as I was going for time. I think I could shave a little more with better tires and less cross wind on the skinny.
For reference E-Ditch DH mimics the Amish segment and the 1:16 would tie me for third, 4 seconds behind the KOM.
 
And for the other trails.
Chivo was overgrown but clear enough going up. Mar Ranch was junk. Rattlesnake was basically not rideable at the top and the lower tunnel of trees was real low. Lollipop down was overgrown, but open enough to ride it at decent speed.
 
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Ditch is running fast. Didn't try the jumps on the steep as I was going for time. I think I could shave a little more with better tires and less cross wind on the skinny.
For reference E-Ditch DH mimics the Amish segment and the 1:16 would tie me for third, 4 seconds behind the KOM.
movin! I bet it felt that much sweeter seeing that KOM, knowing you busted you ass clearing all of that!
 
Felt good to have it official after being pissed off for a day trying to figure out why the previous one didn't hit the list.
We should cut some of these out and place them in the fox tail fields.
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Moving more dirt on Ditch DH in Simi. Who wants to come play? I think Sean White (not the snowboarder) has seen a little of it. I am putting in a B line with a small jump, berm, and a feature. I took some of the scare out of one of the notorious chutes. Probably adding more of a berm to the main line while the dirt is moist as well. I will be up there tonight and tomorrow night trying to dial in a section.

I can say riding up there with the Mattock Pick made me wish I had one of those Overland Trail Tools. But the tool probably wouldn't have been stoked about prying up bushes.

Most of the trail can also use a re-trimming but that will have to wait. Lots of dry mustard.
 
Moving more dirt on Ditch DH in Simi. Who wants to come play? I think Sean White (not the snowboarder) has seen a little of it. I am putting in a B line with a small jump, berm, and a feature. I took some of the scare out of one of the notorious chutes. Probably adding more of a berm to the main line while the dirt is moist as well. I will be up there tonight and tomorrow night trying to dial in a section.

I can say riding up there with the Mattock Pick made me wish I had one of those Overland Trail Tools. But the tool probably wouldn't have been stoked about prying up bushes.

Most of the trail can also use a re-trimming but that will have to wait. Lots of dry mustard.
Thursday night is a go... what should I bring?
 
Right now I have a flat shovel, a Mattock Pick, and a rake up there. There is another flat shovel stashed in a bush on the climb up, I think it might be Chadness's. I have a spade shovel out there somewhere I will probably grab and ride up at some point before then too. I was going to buy a poor person Mcleod and bring up as well but Simi HD/Lowes/Doit didn't have one.

I hope to get a new chain and install it after work. I think I could get up there and get more of the new line roughed in.

We could use Mcleod tools to fill some of the ruts and a string trimmer or something to clear plant life off the down line. The section I cleared will need all the debris removed and the trail set (rake or Mcleod). I want to dig in two berms as well. one for the old line and one for the new. We will also need test dummy's to test the line and make sure it flows so we can adjust as needed. :) The sun was behind the hill around 7:30 but I still had enough time to walk down the trail grab my bike and scooter it home (no chain) with dusk light.

I will come back and knock back the plant life on the up trail another day.
 
Right now I have a flat shovel, a Mattock Pick, and a rake up there. There is another flat shovel stashed in a bush on the climb up, I think it might be Chadness's. I have a spade shovel out there somewhere I will probably grab and ride up at some point before then too. I was going to buy a poor person Mcleod and bring up as well but Simi HD/Lowes/Doit didn't have one.

I hope to get a new chain and install it after work. I think I could get up there and get more of the new line roughed in.

We could use Mcleod tools to fill some of the ruts and a string trimmer or something to clear plant life off the down line. The section I cleared will need all the debris removed and the trail set (rake or Mcleod). I want to dig in two berms as well. one for the old line and one for the new. We will also need test dummy's to test the line and make sure it flows so we can adjust as needed. :) The sun was behind the hill around 7:30 but I still had enough time to walk down the trail grab my bike and scooter it home (no chain) with dusk light.

I will come back and knock back the plant life on the up trail another day.
Copy, I can bring the String trimmer and Trail boss. Will be be easier to just hike in or should Bring my bike along?
 
We need more moisture...
I went up and re-worked a few things. Added what should be a good sender going into the section we reworked. I also added a few fun little hits on the downhill after the narrow.
I was pretty deep into reworking that new table top but it was going to take way more work to make it flow right with dirt. So I abandoned that thought and put it back to mostly how it was after our work day. I think it could be made fun if a long diving board was built to gap the transition. I don't have money for the lumber so it won't be happening any time soon.VideoCapture_20230903-171145.jpg20230903_160018.jpg
 
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Depending on how the rain comes in I plan on heading up during some of the days and doing some work up there trying to take advantage of damp soil. I also have plans on a re-route/split past the Steep and Loose hill that may or may not get started. It will involve lots of bush "relocation". I will probably grab some ribbon at Home Depot and pre walk the route a few time to get a feel for how I want the flow. I am aiming for something with some sweeping turns vs straight line down to get a little bit more mileage in the down. And to get some more options if you were to lap it.
This is the zone i am looking at. The road/trail down the right side doesn't really currently exist.
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Depending on how the rain comes in I plan on heading up during some of the days and doing some work up there trying to take advantage of damp soil. I also have plans on a re-route/split past the Steep and Loose hill that may or may not get started. It will involve lots of bush "relocation". I will probably grab some ribbon at Home Depot and pre walk the route a few time to get a feel for how I want the flow. I am aiming for something with some sweeping turns vs straight line down to get a little bit more mileage in the down. And to get some more options if you were to lap it.
This is the zone i am looking at. The road/trail down the right side doesn't really currently exist.
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down come help at some point not going to be able to get out until after the Thanksgiving trip. Problem is now we have less daylight...
 
down come help at some point not going to be able to get out until after the Thanksgiving trip. Problem is now we have less daylight...
I went up and did some work on the existing trail. Cleaned up a few items. added a bunch of dirt to the top jump and packed it all in. hopefully the wind coming up doesn't strip it back off.
I got the start rough cut of the expansion pack a bit of the way in. I have a basic plan for the start but don't know where it is running after that. I don't know if it is better to build and see where it goes or plan it out on a grander scale. I wish we still had daylight in the afternoons. Right now I am limited to working it my days off and I have conflicting needs on those days. This is going to be a longer project.
 
Ditch Expansion Pack is moving along. I have the first 1/3 mile mapped out and rough cut. The first 4 turns are 90% and turn 5 is probably 20% dialed. It should go faster once I get turn 5 benched out to 90% and cut through the next bunch of brush. I still haven't walked it very far so I don't know exactly where it is heading. I need some moisture to hit so I can finish work the sections I rough cut and to pack the berms.
 
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