Heeeyho Readers! More updates from my mountain bike park!
Sometimes we ought to plan less and act more.
The Deming cycle is reminiscent from my engineering studies; the PDCA (plan, do, check and act) method is a great way to move forward with ideas for the bikepark project. However, often times I spend too much time on the planning phase without moving forward. That's when planing while doing — and hoping that it works — gets my butt going.
This time I wanted to build a wooden berm. It consists of a raised bank to help going faster around turns on a bicycle trail, but, instead of using dirt, I opted for wooden planks. Wood is easier to assemble/disassemble to move around and test stuff. It's also easier to maintain.
We had three wooden pallets that I cut in half to make six. A great start, although not the most solid type of wood. Let's say it's enough to test the concept until I'm able to build something more definitive.
Defining the radius
The secret to define the radius is to find the entry and exit tangents. Imagine that the trail comes from the bottom of the above picture and continues to the right of the top corner. Confusing to explain, I know.
After deciding the basic layout, it was time to raise the pallets to see how it looks.
Looks like it
The pallets are laying on tree logs here. It's time to add some support posts to fix the structure in place. Back to the pile of scrap wood.
Plenty of junk to remove
Remember the Deming cycle? This is the step I was losing a lot of time planing before finally giving up and jumping to the do. If there was something to change, I'd check later.
A bunch of wooden stakes seemed enough to support the pallets. The idea is to hammer them into the ground and nail to the pallets. Badabim, badaboom. No idea if it works.
Let's do it!
Gotta give kudos to my dad who helped me in this endeavor. Without his help I'd have set fire to the thing. {Kidding}.
The hardest part was leveling everything and holding the pallets in place to nail. All the rest just sets in place naturally. Adjust here, more there. Nail, hammer stakes, dig, etc. Going with the flow and imagination is a bless.
It took a good chunk of the afternoon to make the thing. How should we name this turn? It's not the most aesthetic wooden berm you'll see, but for a first starter is quite something.
The back
Keep in mind that I won't carry bombastic speeds through here. I don't think this berm can hold a lot of G force. The idea is to create some level of support to go around the bend faster (better than turning on the level ground, get it?).
With the plan and do phases out of the way, it's time to proceed to the check {without killing myself}. First try was... meh. I didn't know the right speed and ended up going too slow, resulting in a rear wheel slip. Faster!
Second try was awesome! The grip was great and the wheels/tires felt solid. It's almost as... let's say, the more speed one carry, the better it feels. This first experience taught us a lot about berm building, opening the opportunity for a bigger one in the future. I already imagine a beast twice the width and height.
Check out the video down below to see how it works {sort of}.
Peace.
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Disclaimer: The author of this post is a convict broke backpacker, who has travelled more than 10.000 km hitchhiking and more than 5.000 km cycling. Following him may cause severe problems of wanderlust and inquietud. You've been warned.