Let the Work Begin!

While it’s all fine and well to be given a nice, level, forty five thousand square feet of canvas to work with, the amount of time, effort and hard work that goes in to making something like the Bikeskills Ridezone is amazing. Even more amazing is the amount of volunteer work, even money from the very people that are creating the Ridezone: Bikeskills and College Cyclery (http://www.collegecyclery.biz/). So before I go on,  props to College Cyclery and owner, Terry Cox!

Back to That Blank Canvas: Construction Time!

The first thing to do was to get the dirt in the right places. It’s one of those things that sounds easy, but not only is it not because you hav to know not only what terrain features go where, but which ones are going to be built in what order. Get it wrong and you quickly find out how hard and long it takes to move the dirt deposited by one of these:

An Artist and His Canvas

I’m not sure what Randy’s thinking here, but my guess is that he’s pretty fired up about creating something that thousands of kids and adults alike, in less than a couple of weeks, are going to have a great time on and with. That said, he also looks like he’s thinking “man, that’s a lot of dirt…”

Time to Get Busy with the Bobcat

Once again it’s Terry Cox and College Cyclery to the rescue: they brought their own Bobcat tractor to build the Ridezone. Do you think these guys are serious about buildig mountain biking venues?  Here’s Randy the mechanical artist at work:

The Chef Tastes His Concoction…

Many hours of driving, shaping by both machine and hand, Randy’s first pump track, the advance one, is ready for a quick lap to see how it rides.  Looks pretty good from this angle…

Admiring the Creation.. or Rather Appraising the Creating

Even thought it’s early in the construction process and there are miles to go, you have to take the time to step back and take a look at what you’ve created. With the first pump track installed, it’s nice to sit back and realize that we’re on the way.  Are you ready to come to the Bikeskills Ridezone at the Sea Otter Classic?  Here’s some incentive that Randy and Terry just cooked up for you:

BIKESKILLS RIDEZONE: Another year and getting better!

Photo Left: The Ridezone as a blank canvas and before construction.

Once again it’s that time off the year when every self respecting bicycle rider works him or herself into a frenzy. Yup, it’s Sea Otter time!

Bicycle enthusiast of all types and ages come to Monterrey to enjoy the festivities of the Sea Otter, but for mountain bikers, it holds some unique opportunities. One of these is the RIDEZONE. The RIDEZONE construction and design this year is being lead by free riding legend and course designer, Randy Spangler with input from the likes of Joe Lawwill and Mark Weir.  The main objective to the RIDEZONE is to provide a safe setting for people of all ages to develop and improve their cycling skills and benefit from the experienced staff on hand. Adults can pass along the mountain biking bug to the upcoming generation, as well as see how some of this younger generation has progressed the sport. Last years RIDEZONE was awesome featuring 2 Pump tracks, (1 beginner 1 advanced) a trail section (ladders, wall rides, rocky sections), and a table top jump section for those in search of the clouds.

This year The Bikeskills Ridezone will be even better! So keep this blog on your favorites as I will be giving up to date reports on the progress being made. Want to be even closure to the action, then sign up to volunteer some muscle and in the process learn the mechanics of creating features of your own…