Pipeline trail updates

Loam Chompsky, some of his pals and I have been hammering away almost every weekend this year getting materials ready for a good many sections of this trail for repair / updates.

We both recently got lucky enough to have 2 weeks off work to bring everything to fruit.

Our first major section that needed some love was put in during the 2004-2005 years by the great builders Greg and Slaweck on various trail days.

10 years for wood is more than most builders can ask. And This section was starting to become a hazard for most riders.

Also after the wood section the next 200 feet or so had become a real mess and after spending days watching riders we realized something had to change.

So here is what we did.

The final product.

Next up is the old log ride that goes of to the left at the end of this wood work.

Stay tuned.

Well done. Especially using vacation time to do this

Looks like quality construction. Good on ya.

Thanks for all the hard work, that's awesome.

Wow, thanks! Can't wait to check it out!

Wow… think the fresh gold will be set up by this weekend? If so, I know what I'm riding :D

Looks great!

very nice.

Awesome work. Great quality AND quantity to the woodwork!

I'll miss the Two Plank Solution, but the work on the replacement is topnotch!

I'm curious what percentage you saw walking the two planks Silk.

I'm curious what percentage you saw walking the two planks Silk.

This is a guess because we did not actually log the numbers.

The plank had become really bouncy and was like a wet banana, with no ride around.

50% or more came around that sharp corner and because of the roots and chunder stalled out just before the old plank then walked or tried to ride it from a
stand still and crash.

25% or so would make the corner but be off balance and make it just to the mid section and then bail to the left onto that large rock, which also was like a banana then crash.

the other 25% would make the corner with speed and hit the plank perfect and ride it out with style.

Every time a rider fell off I would cringe knowing a major knee injury "ACL or worse" could result because of the way almost everyone fell towards that large rock.

Shaved planks work great for a while but eventually they lose that sticky cedar grip.

Awesome work Ken et. al.

Thank you very much for giving your vacation to us!

Shaved planks work great for a while but eventually they lose that sticky cedar grip.

there is a solution for that - keeping the surface of the plank/slab clean. leave any piece of wood sitting undisturbed on the forest floor, even a hunk of fresh split cedar, and it's going to develop slime over time. so giving the surface a scrub with a wire brush will keep the surface clean and surprisingly grippy even if it's smooth.

when it comes to using planks/slabs in some spots it makes sense and can be a quick and easy way to bridge over a problem spot. the thing to consider though is the orientation/design of the plank and the connecting and exiting trail beds. ideally the plank should be relatively flat and if not then the runout is hugely important. so, something like a longer steep plank into a sharp corner is going to see braking and potentially slipping. these points though are dependant on the difficulty of the trail and on pipeline which has always been considered an intermediate trail that plank probably should have had a viable ride around.

that said, i love the new work and lucky for you for fiding some curved stringers - i've been looking for some for a while with no luck so far. that seems like a fun way to spend some vacation time.

I have a love-hate relationship with Pipeline. It gave me my first major injury with a type 3 separated shoulder. Great job Silk et al. I am excited to actually ride this section of Pipeline again.

I'm curious what percentage you saw walking the two planks Silk.

After a terrible, but not shoulder separating crash, I "walked the plank" (hee hee) every time after that.