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Making our backyard airbag jump twice as fun

May 31, 2021
This is the trace of the air pocket. The last time we rode it was in the fall, when Eric Porter visited us. The trail begins with a long, low curve that leads to a very compact slope. It ends with a giant wooden lip with a bouquet of laurels behind it. Beyond those laurels there is nothing. So it's probably a good idea to think things through before attacking him full speed ahead. Lest you become a human lawn dart. That's where the inflatable landing comes in and where the trail gets its name. With the help of this

airbag

, Eric was able to nail a tailwhip on his enduro bike and I was able to do my first no-hander.
making our backyard airbag jump twice as fun
And when we messed up or got off the hook, it was in a giant marshmallow. That's the best part about the

airbag

: it's a safe way to try new tricks. But shortly after that session, he got too muddy to use the airbag, so we locked it up for the winter. Now that it's warm and sunny, we'll be bringing back the airbag for the season, but not before

making

some major improvements to the trail. When we built the airbag track, I estimated that it would require a lot of speed. Turns out that was too much speed. We were walking up to the Berm Peak Express and getting off the flight deck just to get enough speed for the prep

jump

, just to check the brakes before the edge.
making our backyard airbag jump twice as fun

More Interesting Facts About,

making our backyard airbag jump twice as fun...

So I'm cutting a new entry to the airbag trail that eliminates the flight deck entirely. With this new entrance and our new alligator trail, walking to the starting point should take 1/3 the time it used to. That means we can do 3 laps in the time we used to do 1. But we won't stop there. The airbag trail is for dirt bikes, so it's supposed to be smooth. So we're resurrecting it like we should have from day one. The fill soil I receive from the soil dealer is different every time. This load has a lot of rocks in it, so we'll have to rake it a little to smooth it out.
making our backyard airbag jump twice as fun
The goal is to build up the trail a little to cover the roots and allow for a smoother, more consistent ride. It's more of a luxury than a necessity, but it makes the focus as distraction-free as possible. Now to pack it up. Yes, I now have my own plate compactor. The Wacker Packer we normally rent is too heavy for me to carry on the gator myself, so I bought a smaller, cheaper one that doesn't weigh as much. Tamping is satisfying. The work-to-results ratio is very high, and now that we have our own roller we can build landings, rollers and berms as fast as we can shovel dirt.
making our backyard airbag jump twice as fun
I ordered this rammer online from Harbor Freight and while it does the job, you can definitely see why it costs a third of what a proper machine would. The throttle switch broke the first time I used it, so now you have to loosen the friction screw, twist the remains of the switch to pull the throttle cable, and then tighten the friction screw to keep the tamper engaged. Today the fuel switch broke, which we assume due to the vibration of the machine itself. I'm sure the days of the choke lever are numbered. This calls into question the integrity of the rest of the machine, so we'll get some spare parts and keep an eye on them.
For now, at least it's effective for tamping. With the trail looking smooth and a more sensible route back to the top, the Airbag Trail is almost ready to go. But since we are reducing our speed, I need to adjust the configuration

jump

. The very phrase “preparation jump” should be taken literally. The idea is to place a very low consequence jump before a large, high consequence jump to help riders gauge their speed. If you make the setup jump without problems, you will know that your speed is correct. If you capitalize it or delete it too much, it's time to cancel.
In its previous state, this wasn't a configuration jump at all, but with these settings it should set us up perfectly for the airbag. With this retuned setup jump, the promise of faster laps and a smoother surface, the Airbag's ride is now

twice

as good, at least. All we need now is the airbag.1 Alexander had never seen or used the airbag before, so I'm showing him the ropes. The new adjustments to the airbag trace worked perfectly. The laps are faster and after the warm-up jump you simply stop braking and accelerate. But Alex was a little intimidated by the size and shape of the lip.
It's not every day you see something like this. After some running and some contemplation, Alex was confident about

making

the airbag jump. And so, we gave him some space and let him do it. With the trail airbag back in service for the season, I have a few tricks I want to improve. Despite learning not to ride the last few years, I never did any tricks that involved taking my feet off the bike. This time I did it. The 360s are something I was able to do in the much smaller border of Kevin's house last year. But I've never landed one here on Berm Peak, where you have to go much further to land.
Turns out it's going to take a lot of work to figure them out. Even though the airbag is a giant marshmallow, falling still takes something away from you, especially when you're not 15 years old. So when my body reached its limits for the day, I decided to work on something else. And with that, it was time to put the air bag away before another week of rain began. I've been planning this job on the Airbag trail for months and I'm so glad to have finally finished it. I can't stress enough how fast the laps are now and how easy it is to dial in speed for the lip.
So until mud season returns, we can set up the airbag in just a few minutes and enjoy the biggest jump on Berm Peak. We hope you enjoyed this video and if you want to see our next project, be sure to subscribe. For more Berm Peak content, check out our second Berm Peak Express channel. Thanks for traveling with me today and we'll see you next time.

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