Saturday Jam Happenings

Brad and Chevy training. 4th set in Main Line. My favorite pic of the day. Nothing says trails like a good train pic.

Cole and Shawn training the Roller Line into the Main Line.





















If you know Chevy, then you know the X-up was tweeked. Caught late over the 1st set in Main Line even after he held it longer for me to catch.

























Brad hitting the 2nd set in Geronimo. It was heavily sessioned thru out the day and was riding in nice. I always find it funny how jumps never look that big in photos. Case in point. About a 20 foot gap with 2 feet of step-up.




















Jordan hitting the 2nd set in Geronimo. Normal trail stuff went down over the 2nd set and Jordan went off on the 3rd set.

Future Farmboy trailboss in the making. Having a blast on the 18" BMX. Hitting up the 1st roller in the Roller Line. I wish I had his energy.


























Taking a break for the day from the MX and hitting the 2nd roller in the Roller Line. I wish I had stuff like this to ride when I was 10 years old. Another future trailboss in the making.

I think everyone had a great time riding, BBQ-ing and chilling. Small turn out compared to what we were hoping for, but when the weather radar is showing rain over the area most of the day, its hard to get more then locals to come out. We had sprinkles for a minute or 2, but with the tree cover it did nothing. Dave, Steve and Rob from Cleveland were the only non-locals although Dave is pretty much considered a local that lives 3 hours away.

Fire was going all day and Brad's firewood pile shrunk considerable. I made a couple of trips with the tractor and trailer to get all of the coolers and grills to the chill zone. That was an adventure in itself. Nothing like using a small lawn tractor to do a job that probably needs a four-wheel drive ATV. Dinger was on vacation so we were out of luck.

Riding wise stuff got done. Jordan was doing lines that we did not know that existed and Dave W. was doing lines that existed, but thought to maybe be impossible. Brad was ripping Geronimo most of the day, probably wishing the next 2 sets were done and doing his normal thing. Chevy was keeping his Standard Trailboss frame proud with his normal style. Dave from Cleveland did a trail trick clinic over every set in the Main Line for a couple of runs. That is what stuck out in mind.

The Cleveland guys stayed the night and hopefully more from Cleveland are coming today. The weather looks good for today and it might turn into an un-official 2 day jam. We will see what happens. Hopefully I can steal some good pictures from Dave W camera from Saturday.

Summer Jam still a go

The trails are looking good for Saturday's Summer Jam date. A little rain today, but Friday is supposed to be perfect and Saturday is looking at 30% chance of thunder stoms. With the tarps on everything, it would take inches of rain to keep riding from going down. Hopefully everyone makes it out even if the skys are not bright and sunny.

Sunday we had return and new visitors from Pittsburgh come dial and ride. It's awesome when visiting trail riders show up and know exactly what needs fixed, then proceed to dial stuff in. They worked their magic on a couple of lips and landing. The help was very appreciated.

Mulville updated his blog with photos and commentary from his visit to the trails last Thursday. www.wolfbrandclothing.blogspot.com is where you want to check it out and support fellow trail riders. Dinger, quite bothering him.

We had visitors mid-week for 2 days from Virginia that are friends with Erin. I'm horrible with names and was only there real quick to help get the step-up roller after the 2nd berm improved for the jam. The main man owns a traveling bike shop that follows national BMX races and South Park is this weekend. Very cool guys and dialed bikes. Check out their website at www.powersbikeshop.com for all of you racing / trail needs.

Plans are in the works for some of the guys to hit up the Heathen jam on July 3rd www.theheathens.blogspot.com and Orchid Footwear and S&M Bikes Jam on July 4th www.orchidfootwear.com. Should be good times both days. Talk to Brad about details.

There is always stuff that need dialing, but in general the trails are better then ever right now. Can only imagine how they will be this Fall. Get to the trails tonight and help dial stuff in. Did I say dialed enough. I need a new word.

Thursday Super Session

Thursday we had some visitors from Pittsburgh make the journey up to get some riding in. Josh, Brodie and Mark showed up around 1:00 or so and Brad and the boys showed them around and got them started. I was going to get out of work early and that backfired as normal. I rode in around 5:00 and got to witness the Mulville show on the Main Line. All I can say is dialed. Consistently hitting tree limbs that rarely get hit. Sweet combos like barspin to stretched toboggans. My favorite along with Chevy's, although he didn't see it. Josh and Brodie were getting thru Main Line and training most of the time. I'm sure our trails are quite a bit different then the standard Pittsburgh trails, since we are basically on flat ground, but I think they a had a good time and will hopefully return for some more sessions and a cook-out next time. Got a little bit of video, but no photos.

The trails saw more riding Thursday then probably any 2 weeks combined all year. Exactly what the trails have needed with the JAM coming up on June 26th. Alot of stuff was riding in and getting smoother as the day went on. Friday had a decent session also that I had to miss out on. Speaking of the JAM, make sure to tell everyone you know. I'm guessing riding will start around noon, although we will be there quite a bit earlier water and brooming. Sunday is the rain date, but hopefully Saturday it goes off. Bring your hot dogs and burgers. I will be bringing the grill down and I'm sure the fire will be going all day also. If anyone knows of anyone that wants to take pictures or do video, let me know. I will bring equipment. The dialing continues.

Check this out now!!!

2 posts in 1 night. You guessed it, the wife is not home. If this doesn't get you pumped for trails nothing will.

http://espn.go.com/action/bmx/blog/_/post/5285208

Last Lip Rebuilt and Ramblings

Last Saturday saw the last lip at the trails that needed rebuilt, finally getting rebuilt. When it was originally built 2 Falls ago, it was sort of formed up and just ridden in. It got a major face lift, finally look proper and is ready to hit to the right hip. Transfer left I would wait a while.

















Brad and I have decided to stop the mass digging (unless it is raining) and focus on dialing everything in. We have focused the last 2 years on getting a lot of new stuff built, because we thought more local riders would be interested and would come ride and help dig. Hasn't really happened. Brad and I are doing 90% of the work and a couple of others help here and there. Might as well make what is good alot better and smoother and ride more, because the trails are definitely not getting ridden enough. No point in killing ourselves making a ton of stuff if no one is going to come and ride it unless the weather has been perfect for a week. I'm sick of the the excuses. The trails are too wet, I don't have brakes, that set is too hard, I'm too busy. Put knobbies and brakes on your bike and get to the trails and work on that set to make it more effortless. I hate the I'm too busy excuse. My normal work week is 60+ hours, still get the family stuff in and I'm at the trails 3 to 4 days a week and digging 80% of the time. Brad is almost as busy and he is there 5 to 7 days a week. I don't know how I started ranting, but I hopefully made my point and I'm done.

On Sunday some real trail riders showed up with knobbies on. P'Simer and Keltner finally made it out from Cleveland to find an overcast, muggy day and wet trails about an hour before they got there. They didn't complain about the wetness. We un-tarped and the 4 of us spent a couple of hours getting them ready to ride and they got a great day of riding in with threating skys the whole time. I was hurting with my wisdom teeth killing me and my body beat from that last 4 days of riding and digging so I enjoyed watching the trail bosses ride. Always fun to chill with the Cleveland guys, see them rip even with the damp conditions and enjoy what we have built.

We are starting to get a lot of requests from out-of-town riders to stop in and ride. Very cool. Always open doors for fellow trail diggers and riders. A Pittsburgh crew is supposed to be coming up Thursday for a session. Should be fun. I don't know who really reads the blog yet, but if you are heading thru the area this summer and would like to stop in, email me at work joe.glotz@warrenindustrialsolutions.com and we will set something up. Remember the JAM is still on for June 26th with the rain date for June 27th. It looks like the Heathens are having a JAM the same weekend. Guess we will have to miss this one, but support PA dirt anyway you can. http://www.theheathens.blogspot.com/

Green is here

I love this time of year. The leaves are out and providing some nice shade. The ferns are growing like crazy. Moss and algae are growing in places and giving certain obstacles character. Dinger is whipping into tree branches.

The 2nd double roller was changed last night into a single bigger roller. Seams to be alot smoother and faster. Brad and I have been discussing on changing the step-up roller after the 2nd berm all day. Want to make it more effortless and still fun. Any ideas?

There will be someone at the trails all weekend afternoon to dark. Get down to the trails and get your 5 wheel barrows in. If you don't want to dig, talk to Brad or me and we will set you up on the maintenance program. Plenty of work for everyone. Hopefully the rain misses us this weekend and we can get some sessions in both days.

Week in Review

It has been a while since the last post. Where to start. Brad went to the Catty JAM over Memorial Day weekend and met up with the Cleveland and Chicago crew. He had a great time at Catty and got some riding in. He almost won one of the stems back that we donated for the prize raffle, but got some sweet Deluxe grips instead. On Sunday he made it to POSH with the crew and met some of the cool locals. He got some more riding in and got on the road. If you know Brad, then you know he is pumped on trails. Listening to him about his Catty / POSH experience, I would say he is 10X more pumped then normal.



At the Farmboy Trails, the locals were absent all Memorial Day weekend. Everyone was too busy as normal. Not sure who showed up and rode, but everything was left untarped to bake in the sun, then we got the down pours of rain. Not cool. It helped a couple of lips and landing, but in general just created more work for us. Rule of thumb for visitors: Make sure a local is present, un-tarp, water, ride, have a great time, water, re-tarp, pick-up your garbage and come back. If you are untarping stuff, please be carefull. Some of the tarps are getting staked down so you just need to fold them back over the lip or dank pad. If you start yanking and pulling on tarps like a gorilla you are creating more work. Don't assume someone is coming later in the day and will re-tarp everything. Leave the trails as you found them. Brad and me are focusing on getting new stuff built and don't have the time or desire to re-work stuff.



We are thinking about imposing a new trail rule on those that are showing up frequently and just riding. We are leaning towards a 5 wheel barrow minimum dig before riding. Think of it as going to the skatepark and paying your 5 to 10 dollars to ride for the day. I think 5 wheel barrows is an extremely good deal. From Saturday's and Sunday's digging session, Brad, Ben, Chevy, Chevy's girl Megan and me are paid up for the next couple of weeks. I'm not trying to make any of the slackers feel bad (maybe I am), but Megan did more digging yesterday afternoon then I have seen from the regulars. Not sure what to dig, when Brad or me are not there. Ask us and we will set you in the right direction.


No pictures from the last week or this weekend. My lap top hard drive might have died, so no old pictures either. I will get some next time out. Quick rundown of digging progress. Dinger put 6 loads of some of the best dirt that we have on the lip after the step-up in Main Line. I finished that lip Saturday and it looks great. I then added close to another foot to the step-up in Main Line and improved the tranny at the bottom of it where it goes below ground level. Saturday and Sunday saw the last landing in Main Line grow from a small pile to a man sized landing. Brad and me were doing wheel barrow trains to the new landing until Chevy and Megan showed up. I then started shaping up the landing as they continued to import dirt. A couple of more loads on front and backside should have it real close to size. Loads that were more sod were going to the berm after this landing and it is staking up nice also. All of the imported dirt is coming from the field where the mass excavation is taking place for the dip between the 4th landing and 5th set in Geronimo. Friday saw Dave and Cole stacking the 4th landing in Geronimo. Rain all weekend so no riding, but major digging progress.