Mid-State: Burchfield

[reidabel]

Rode this afternoon with Christina and it was absolutely beautiful out there. Leaves falling by the hundreds as you watch, gorgeous along the river. Rode the new Swamp thing bridges for the first time, very nice. I didn't think to look, but do some of the pieces still need to be sawed off on the ends, as I have heard before? I can fix the Dragonball Run log's skinny entry ramp with a chainsaw, no need for lumber or nails, I'll just carve a small chunk out of the big log to serve as a continuation of the ramp. It will make it better and less dangerous. I'll be out Saturday working some more on my new stunt and will zip over there at some point to take care of it.

I looked at the double-peaked first ramp on Dragonball Run, I think it's more like 15 feet between peaks. It would take one heck of a jump to successfully land a peak-to-peak jump, especially after just having come off that sketchy stunt just before it when running in the old direction (river on the right). Not much time to build up the 35 mph required

[xcrdr]

Ya, that's why he didn't make it. I never said he was bright! LOL! I think geardaddy showed up right after the attempt. Poor kid was in some pain. Now he's headed to Iraq for the 3rd time and I really miss riding with him. Can't wait till he can come home and ride the new stuff.

I went out today and the leaves were falling like a blizzard. Pretty cool. Rode the new one some more. I like the new line you are working on. Where is the entry coming in at? Same as the other with a build up on the inside?

[xcrdr]

And Ya, I was a little mad at him. He came over the first ladder bmx style slight wheelie power peddaling launched off the end hit the ramp and kaboing! landed with the rear tire slightly off the right side and tossed him upside down in the crotch on the left, feet sticking up in the air. That's a good way to give Dad a heart attack.

[reidabel]

I was nervous enough watching my 11-year-old girl ride the big Swamp Thing bridges today! Maybe it's a good thing I don't have a boy!!

The new line will have a different entry than the two existing lines, you will enter it by coming around the blind corner and riding up the fork to the top, riding along the log, then dropping off to the right onto a ledge and then (probably) dropping from that onto the ground. All of this before reaching any existing lines since we are ruling out "mid-air intersections". I did some more planning and design tonight and ended up moving the ledge log a bit. That thing is really heavy, which makes it awkward to work with, but that will make it a good base to drop down onto. It will be an interesting building challenge and hopefully a unique and exciting ride! Definitely more challenging than the existing two lines.

[geardaddy37]

Ya, that's why he didn't make it. I never said he was bright! LOL! I think geardaddy showed up right after the attempt. Poor kid was in some pain. Now he's headed to Iraq for the 3rd time and I really miss riding with him. Can't wait till he can come home and ride the new stuff.

I went out today and the leaves were falling like a blizzard. Pretty cool. Rode the new one some more. I like the new line you are working on. Where is the entry coming in at? Same as the other with a build up on the inside?

yeah, I remember that...I think that was the first time I met you...wow, he's in the Army now...man they grow up fast!
I am going to get out here and ride as this is the absolute best time of the year in my opinion. I am done healing from my little mishap the other day , and ready to roll...(Reid, remember you are sworn to secrecy LOL!

[reidabel]

I am going to get out here and ride as this is the absolute best time of the year in my opinion. I am done healing from my little mishap the other day , and ready to roll...(Reid, remember you are sworn to secrecy LOL!)

As I've been building I've chatted with a few park employees investigating the chainsawing sounds. One said he was on leaf-blowing duty, I didn't know that they cleared the leaves off for us. That's great.

Glad to hear you're feeling all better now, I was concerned you had cracked a rib, the way you were describing being unable to lift things a certain way.

[F7Cannon]

One said he was on leaf-blowing duty, I didn't know that they cleared the leaves off for us. That's great.

They only take care of the main park trails (double track) not the advanced trails. We have to blow those off ourselves.

[Bryan_Mitchell]

Hey everyone,
I have not been to Burchfield in years.
I might hit the trail Sunday with my son.

Is it still best to park at the Riverbend entrance or the main park entrance now.

-Bryan

[jonw9]

Hey everyone,
I have not been to Burchfield in years.
I might hit the trail Sunday with my son.

Is it still best to park at the Riverbend entrance or the main park entrance now.

-Bryan

The majority still park at Riverbend to avoid paying. Most of the trail sections in that area are the same (if you start by heading North). The South trails along the river are now run in the opposite direction, i.e. from Macnamara back to Riverbend.

[reidabel]

The advanced MTB track is marked with leaf-green arrows on small tree-brown rectangles of wood. Some of these are on tree-brown posts but those are easy to see. The ones on the trees are not very easy to see, but they are there. That said, traffic is so sparse out there and visibility is getting better and better as the leaves fall, so you probably don't have to worry too much about collisions.

I'd suggest parking at McNamara Landing and starting on the trail behind the port-a-potty building, heading North towards Burchfield and following the green arrows as you go. That's probably going to give you the best experience if it has been a while. You will get to ride some trails that have only been built in the last year or two, along with a few new stunts built this year and last.

[geardaddy37]

For a break from working on the new stunt with Reid, I did a quickie ride Saturday, and enjoyed the beauty of Burchfield at this time of year. (...of course Reid would not ride, as he is in a tear to finish his project before the snow flies!
Very windy conditions, and the park boys were attempting to blow off the two track areas, but it seemed pretty hopeless...very friendly guys though and stopped to talk with us.
Starting at the new stunt, I did Remember Me, which was very clear, although a bit muddy, then across Peppermint Creek and took the bi-pass to Dragonball, did the stunt backwards except the last part ( no sense in endoing twice in a week... ) and didn't do the singletrack as for me it's too sketchy doing rock piles with leaves covering them...so I popped onto the two way, and headed down to Swamp Thing, and did the singletrack along the river, lots of sticks and a couple of big branches that I stopped and cleared but watch out for those spoke eaters. crossed the two track and went into the woodsy section of Swamp thing, and stopped along the way to clear branches and admired some excellent and beautiful mushrooms that caught my attention. Took some quick photos and headed to the Burchfield parking lot, where there were no cars! ( I love it when I have Burch to myself... ) Then down to the deer run shelter, and decided to go with purple trail which was thick with wet leaves and made me happy to have skipped Annies...then headed back to the parking lot, went out to the pond and around, and back to peppermint creek on the two track. A simple ride and very relaxing. Then Reid had run out of gas for his chainsaw so we packed up and headed back to the parking lot at McNamara, only to find a tree had fallen over the trail in the wind. so Reid's eyes of course got all big and misty, seeing an opportunity to use his chainsaw later once he got some more go juice in it...
Anyhow, the place is eminently rideable, though you have to be careful with the leaves, especially where they are covering ruts and exposed roots...and witht he Tigers out now and the Lions having lost there'll be lots of free time to head out!
BTW heading home from a reffing assignment this afternoon I went by the McNamara parking lot and who do you think had their car parked but Reid...

[reidabel]

Sounds like a fun ride, too bad I had to miss it - I am indeed trying to finish this (line of this) new stunt off. I was hoping to finish it today, but the line I'm on now is far more time-consuming to build than the first two. Going across logs requires less precision chainsaw work than going along them. I probably have another 8-10 hours of work to do to finish this line (up the tree fork from the blind corner, down the log, drop off to the right before the easiest existing line). With darkness coming earlier and earlier and my availability decreasing, I don't know when I'll get it done. I might be able to get out one afternoon this week. I hope the weather holds up for another few weeks - it was really nice out there today despite the high percentage probability of precipitation I saw this morning. I was expecting to be working wet, but not a single raindrop!

The park guys had towed that tree out into the field before I got back - so I didn't need to cut it. I talked to a couple of them today, they have a winch on the Gator. Nice. I'm getting a lot of attention from the park guys these days - they hear the chainsawing and come right over

Also late Saturday afternoon, I saw three people hanging around some little trees a bit North of the McNamara pond. I think they are doing some kind of study, they marked the trees with ribbons, I assume to find the right spots next time they come out.

[F7Cannon]

Rode every square inch of the park today. All the trails are surprisingly dry and fast. Lots of leaves down but nothing new for this time of year. I would get out and ride today because after Wednesday it's probably going to be wet for a while.

[reidabel]

EVERY square inch? Bwahahahahaha ...

[ted1969]

Hey Guys - plan on riding Burchfield for the first time either Friday or Saturday...

what sort of riding should I expect? How technical is it, physical demands, etc.. I'm certain these sorts of things have been covered in the 75+ pages here, but I'm at work and didn't feel like reviewing each and every page..

thanks!