Building Thumb Bucket Ep 4 (Wood and Rock Jumps!)

Kevin has been here full-time for a couple of weeks now, and with him on staff, Berm Peak is officially a business. We have the Berm Peak Ranger Station nearing completion. Berm Park is scheduled to open in the fall and other top-secret things are in the works. But in any case, none of this would be possible right now without Kevin. There is simply too much work to do. But soon we will be able to focus again on our main mission, which is to build fun things for mountain biking. That's the whole point of

building

Thumb Bucket, it's a canvas and today we're finally going to paint on it.

You already saw what we did here, but I'll show you what we could build today. Are you ready for a construction? Yes. Yes. When the Porters visited me in October, I had just broken my leg, so they had to ride Berm Peak for the first time without me. This time I want to make it up to them, especially Milo and Owen. I don't know if you remember this lipless landing from the video. Oh yeah, we're going to do some lips and I'm thinking we can do a big one and a smaller one. Yes that would be great.

Last time I referred to this pile of dirt as an edgeless landing. Today we are going to build not one, but two lips in front. Maybe we can make one out of

rock

and one out of

wood

, so the

wood

en one will be more of a mini cannon and then this one will be more of a kicker. Kevin is super good at

rock

lips. I've definitely built things before that didn't have speed, so testing them will also be key. The first task is that you will have to get what we need. With lumber prices through the roof right now.

We have decided to double down on getting material during Berm's peak season so that you guys can be lumberjacks. Arborists, Arborists That's a pretty good one! In the past, it was cheap and easy to get a load of dimensional lumber, and for time reasons that's what we typically did, but now it would be cheaper to harvest woolly mammoth tusks than to visit Home Depot. Then we have to start living off the land. We will opt for locally sourced, organic, cage-free and grass-fed products until it is no longer convenient. And while the Porters get those materials, Kevin and I need to clear a path.

Last time we only got a few feet behind the curve and we'd like to go much further this week. We also want to address a drainage issue when it rains, water flows over the berm and washes sediment down the trail. By

building

a roller before the curve, the water won't even reach the berm before going off the road. Not only is this good for the riding surface, but it's also a fun way to hit the berm. As I learn how to use the machine, Kevin and I begin to function as a single unit. We check in constantly as we move along the trail.

Sometimes we disagree, but it always ends in a better overall result. Kevin wants to create functions on the way up instead of waiting for the traversal to complete, but I don't want to do too much of that for several reasons. First of all, the excavator is a rental, so I want to complete the actual singletrack so I can stop paying for it. Secondly, I'm not ready to assemble the things we're planning to build. Once I get to flat ground, my ankle will be fine. Of course I can walk and work, but I don't have very good control of my foot and that's why I fear that in a crash I could twist my ankle and re-injure it.

Until the nerves regenerate, we will focus on building singletrack and preparing for a better future where we can turn it up to eleven again. Let's keep our tracks on the ground until then. Meanwhile, the Porters obtained some pretty good material for construction. Yes, that's white oak. In fact, I have an app that will tell us by barking. Well, he says it's like fourteen different things. He really doesn't know what it is. Yeah, what do you think Owen? What does this look like? Even when building a really small double, it's important to choose how long you want the gap to be.

In this case, it has a lot to do with the speed at which we can get off the berm. But does the gap look good? Yes Yes. impressive. Owen's jump will be a mini canyon and we will use this piece of white oak as a driving surface. We'll place this at the location and angle and then trim the top. so we can let go. If we need to release it more. We can trim it a little more to hold it. We are using two smaller pieces as posts. That was the first shot! Even raw stitched wood can become slippery when wet, so Eric is carving channels into the surface for added grip.

Also at the end of the canyon, Owen gets a tag. I always noticed that campground signs use diamonds for the O's, but I never gave it much thought. Apparently it's hard to make a circle with a chainsaw. Wow. You know what impresses me the most. I'm one of those people who couldn't tell you which way an "N" goes unless I had a pen in my hand. You know what's going through my head. It's like you don't exploit the "N"! So will we finish the rock jump first and then have both features? No, we didn't try things at Berm Peak.

We just build them to completion and then really, really hope they work. Now we are going to build the Milo waterfall, which we are doing with another natural resource; Stone. I never thought we would build with the stone found on Berm Peak. There's just nothing like that, but luckily I was wrong. On this side of the property, we are finding a lot and we are placing it uphill from the trail so it is easy to get down and use. Of course, we still have to transport the stone to where we are building. Alright, that was the counterproductive part of the day, but it was worth it.

Yes. If you build something with stone and you do it well, archaeologists will find it. In this case, you're probably wondering what it is. Building with random stones is like Tetris. You must find a way to stack the rocks so they don't fall apart. This means building a solid foundation to keep everything contained. Fill the cracks with smaller stones and fill with a good amount of clay. Well, we have large rocks, medium rocks, and small rocks, so I'm going to put in some gravel to mix it in and set it down, but then I'm going to rake dirt over it all.

You'll never know it's there. I think you should both try the Owen Jump first just to run. Your dad and I will be happy to send it first. No no! It's not happening. I hit the brakes, but that's okay. Alright, first test of the Owen jump. I went DEEP! It was deep, it landed really deep and it was easy to clear, you don't even have to try that hard. You want to go back up. Send it again. Make it look smooth. Yes. Well, Milo's jump is about double Owen's jump, so it will be very important to get the speed across the berm that he needs and then get a good jump off the edge to get over it.

Yes, Milo, you got this! She would have examined it, but he saw that it was already on top, reached in the back and slid it to the landing. perfect. I want to do another one! Come on. I know you were talking about coming off Milo's jump and then hitting your nose on Owen's jump. It is only fair that you use both functions of your children at the same time and yes. That's a good point. I hadn't thought that way. Every time there are two things like something in the middle of a jump. I wonder if I can plant my feet or hit that with my nose.

It's super fast! And that's on video! It will be like a punch in the nose! Classic. So much sketch in such a small package. Yes, I'll give it a couple more tries. The difficult thing is that there is no time to get there. It's so fast! Milo and Owen's jump is perfect for picking up speed after the berm, and since there are two options, anyone can ride it. The last time the Porters visited me, I was bedridden and tricked them into fixing all my trails. Ending with a Milo and Owen jump on Berm Peak is really the least we can do for them on this visit.

We put a lot of focus on your visit, including a full test drive of the Berm Peak Ranger Station, a trip to Berm Park, and a host of activities you can watch on Eric's Channel. As for Thumb Bucket, we're halfway up the hill and next time things are going to get really interesting. If I can not wait. Thanks for traveling with us today and we'll see you next time.