Need practice course ideas

[Rut Row]

ruts ... not much fun unless there are real ruts, filled with sticky mud with the front tire in on rut and the rear in another. bike laying in the mud of course!

[thetable]

The circle rut looks awesome. I might need to build one of them too.

I'm installing the tires Friday and then riding afterwards. Anyone is welcome to join us. Looks like I'll have a couple people here already.

Build the circle rut, or half circle rut before you change tires. Knobbies work well for excavation purposes, matter of fact, Wattsy said that's how he dug the circle ruts for our DirtWise class.

[juddspaintballs]

ruts ... not much fun unless there are real ruts, filled with sticky mud with the front tire in on rut and the rear in another. bike laying in the mud of course!

I actually have some real ruts down at the bottom. I've got a spring fed pond and there are other ponds uphill from my property that are also (likely) spring fed and feed down into my pond. Water run-off also flows down into my pond. Some of the ruts are about 18" deep and maybe not even as wide, and they're always at least muddy at the bottom.

[Boom Boom]

I would not dig the tires in and stand on end, that will give you one big lump to ride over. Till you are done making roll up and off kickers it will just be a tall round thing to ride over but has the ability to bust you up if you fall off the side.
I would let the tires lay flat and screw wood over the rim opening. Place different amounts of roll up and off kickers to change the amount of skill needed. Start with the tires end to end so you have a large landing area to keep it safe and easy. Cross the tires sideways to up the skill level by having less kicker to a section with no kicker...then an easy roll up with jump off. Many options to be had and all more effort than rolling over a pair of tires half dug into the ground. As you get better pull the tires apart a little and jump from tire to tire or pull apart more and add a 2x8 to span the gap as a balance beam. Your tires look to have a smaller diameter than length of a enduro bike so what I listed above will not be as easy as most would think.

[Wingfixer]

Build this and they will come!!




Sorry, I couldn't get it to imbed....Kyler?

[juddspaintballs]

I'll build it if you'll come swing hammers!

Seriously, though, I have the space to build whatever dirtbike playground I want. You guys are welcome to come play. Keep the ideas coming and if you want to build something neat like that, go for it.

Boom Boom's suggestion of keeping the tires on their sides is what I'm going to go for. I've got them nudged together for now so it's a nice long almost 8' platform to land on once you get on top of the tires. I'll probably add a tiny ramp or kicker to one end until I can get on them with no help. I'll eventually start spacing the tires out a bit too, or getting more big tires of various sizes to hop up on, stack, etc.

I'm also thinking about a 2x10 or 2x8 rail to ride along that's only a few inches off of the ground. Once I can master that, I'll start screwing down 2x4 strips of wood on it crossways, at angles, even parallel on the surface of the rail. I figure that 2x10 will get slick when it's wet or muddy and be good practice for riding along ridges between ATV tracks and such where I'd rather not be in the rut instead.

[Boom Boom]

In the video you see the firewood pit, from riding the one SMCC has built I can tell you they look easy but can be a PIA to cross without footing or getting spun around. Make one that is a combo rail to ride with a pit on each side. If you can find 3 telephone poles or trees place them about 5 foot apart and toss loose firewood between them. You can ride the center pole as a balance beam and if you fail you have to finish riding thru the firewood. This can also be ridden across the logs with you needing to hole pressure on the front to cross the logs / poles and firewood. I would make the pit length 15 - 20' so you have a couple bike lengths to cross running the firewood pit. If you place your 3 logs / poles with one end having a 3' spacing and the other a 6' spacing this will allow a different level of skill required to cross going across the 3 logs...closer being able to hold the front all the way across and wider becomes a different story. All easy enough to remove when done playing with it. Add more firewood and short log chunks to the mix if you find you are working a path to the ground. Till you get skills developed enough to ride the complete length toss a couple skids in so you have something solid to aim for to catch your balance. Many hours can be spent pointing and laughing at your fellow rider having a go at it. No big crashes or drama falling off something.