Transiton for the trail gap

It's been a while since I did some real building where there are a pile of tools used and where rock, dirt and wood form the final product.

I've had my eye on the transition for the small trail gap on Snakes & Ladders for some time. Today I donned my building pack overflowing with tools with the goal of building a sweet tranny for the gap. One thing I never really took notice of before was the size and weight of my building pack when loaded with tools. My wife commented as I was about to load it in my car so for giggles I weighed it.........41lbs. I always up the pressure in the rear shock on my bike to compensate for the additional weight, but I never really thought my pack weighed that much. Climbing with it isn't too comfortable, but as many have said: what doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger.

The 41lb pack

Once I climbed to the trail I went straight to work getting the cedar stringers needed and cut them to size. One really good thing I took away from a building course IMBA Canada put on at The Woodlot a while back was to peel the bark off the logs you use. It took a little extra time to do this and in the end the final result was well worth the effort.

Once the logs were peeled, sized, notched and nailed in place, I filled the structure with several HUGE rocks and then filled in the rest with rocks that were piled by other trail users in a spot near the tranny.

Rain water on the lens made the after shots a little sub par, but end result in person is quite nice.

I spent a few more hours than I had planned on this, but doing things right takes time and I am very proud of this bit of trail work. The weather today was what many call 'typical BC weather', wet and rainy with a few rumbles of thunder and lighting thrown in for fun. I hit the jump a couple times to make sure it was all lined up and then packed up to go home.


I had a nice mellow ride down to the car soaked to the bone from the rain but oh so satisfied with my effort.