Trans Provence Day 6/7

Pro:
1. Nicolaus Lau 2:43.39
2. Nico Vouilloz 2:44.51
3. Jerome Clementz 2:45.25
4. Mark Weir 2:50.57
5. Florian Golay 2:53.50
Am:
1. Tobias Pantling 3:06.22
2. Seb Kemp 3:08.12
3. Joe Rafferty 3:12.01
Women:
1. Anne Caroline Chausson 3:17.55
2. Anka Martin 3:29.10
3. Rosara Joseph 3:31.20
4. Aimee Dix 3:49.18

 

 

 

 

MAVIC® TRANS PROVENCE 2012 ::: DAY 6 from Trans-Provence on Vimeo.

 

 

 

 

 

9/28/12 Montgomery County Parks and Rec Skills Clinic

During the winter I had contacted Brad at Montgomery Co. Parks and Rec to set up a possible skills clinic for Blue Ridge Gravity.  When I got to talking to him, he wanted to go ahead and set up two of them; one in the spring and one in the fall.  I had a hard time getting people together for instructor positions, but we deffinitely talked about it and had a few people who were really interested in pushing this.  The spring clinic ended up not happening due to noone signing up.  When that happened I didn't have that high of hopes for the one in the fall.  Well the summer flew by so fast it wasn't funny, many good times were had.  Fall snuck up on us and so did the clinic.  I get a call from Fred this week saying, uhhh Brad called me and said we had registered riders for the clinic.  I was pretty worried how we would pull it together, having not really prepared much at all for this.  We were pulling from our own experience and using Lee McCormack's "Mastering Mountain Skills" book as a reference. www.leelikesbikes.com  We decided to keep it simple and work on the basics; we worked on the attack position and cornering.  We had a group of kids and adults and I've never done any teaching or instructing.  I don't have any kids of my own, so I had no clue how this would go.  I could sense that Fred was a little nervous before we started.  I let him warm up and get the bugs out, after that we bounced off one another throughout the clinic with input from our other instructors Josh and Gabe also.  I feel like that dynamic worked out really good, much better then just hearing it from one person, it also seemed to help get people more involved or engaged.

I had no idea going into this how rewarding it could be.  I can now see why people teach, get the little pay they do and continue to do it day after day.  There are some unseen rewards from being able to help people get where they want to go.  The kids were truley rewarding because they show the most expression.  Seeing a kid after you've taught them something and "they get it" is truley awesome.  It was within minutes that the kids started to catch on to what we were showing them and we quickly saw them getting around faster and faster with more confidence.  Seeing how much fun they were having while using what we taught them and it working for them was very rewarding.  In my opinion the best thing about working in a bike shop is getting to sell a kid his/her first real bike.  They have that look in their eye and it's almost as if they know the freedom that is about to come to them through those two wheels.  I would say that teaching the kids about riding is every bit, if not more rewarding.  There were photos taken, I will try and get my hands on them once again.  I did snap one picture here it is...

 

 

The fall colors in Blacksburg are ahead of the colors in Roanoke.  It was pretty awesome in the woods today.

Trans Provence Day 5

MAVIC® TRANS PROVENCE 2012 ::: DAY 5 from Trans-Provence on Vimeo.


Overall Results after Stage 5

 

 

 

 

Click HERE for full results.

ONE LAP: Wade Simmons and Richie Schley at Whistler

Love the banter, "Get off the brakes"


ONE LAP: Wade Simmons and Richie Schley at Whistler - More Mountain Bike Videos

Vital MTB

Big Mountain Enduro Race #2, Kennebec Pass

Big Mountain Enduro Race #2, Kennebec Pass - More Mountain Bike Videos

Vital MTB

Trans Provence Day 4

MAVIC® TRANS-PROVENCE 2012 ::: DAY 4 from Trans-Provence on Vimeo.
Stage 4 Results

 

Joe

 

 

Lars

 

 

Mark

 

 

 

Photos by Michiel Rotgans

Mining for Nugs

This is really good. Looks to be a destination for sure.


Mining for Nugs from Scott Secco on Vimeo.
Mike Hopkins, James Doerfling, Garett Buehler, and Evan Schwartz together in one edit. Music: Shuffle Your Feet by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club // White Room by Cream. Video by: Scott Secco. Twitter - @scottsecco

9/26/12 Falling Creek Update

Sorry there really aren't any photos today, but I do have really good news. The 3rd jump now has a much safer landing. It could still use some more dirt but it is significantly better. Kenny has been watering the fresher dirt down,tamping it in, and it's really helped a ton. It'll be great when the cooler temps get here bringing a little bit of moisture along. John spent the day out there helping me move dirt onto the landing. Later on Davey and Jacob showed up and really sped things up helping us get the landing shaped up. It allowed us to be able to get in some guinea pig runs, it was really fun. We finished up with the moon out, it was a good day.

Trans Provence 2012 Day 2 and 3

Day 2

MAVIC® TRANS-PROVENCE 2012 ::: DAY 2 from Trans-Provence on Vimeo.

Day 3

MAVIC® TRANS-PROVENCE 2012 ::: DAY 3 from Trans-Provence on Vimeo.

Wideopen Worldcup Session Hutchinson

Solid!

 



 

Tom Pro and Alex Pro: Top of the World

Amen, preach on. Thanks to Tom for being a great ambassador to our sport.  Truley guiding us in great directions.  Ride on!


COMMENCAL Insiders #3 - Whistler: Men behind trails from COMMENCAL on Vimeo.
© Commençal 2012 / Samuel Decout

Loin de l'agitation des Crankworks, nous sommes partis à la rencontre de Tom et Alex Pro, ambassadeurs COMMENCAL à Whistler. Ces derniers nous ont fait partager leur passion pour la construction de trails à travers un de leur projet : un nouveau trail nommé Top of the world partant du sommet de Whistler. Malheureusement Alex Pro était blessé au poignet le contraignant à très peu rouler.

Far away from Crankworks' crowd, we met Tom and Alex Pro, COMMENCAL ambassadors in Whistler. They made us discover their passion about trails building through one of their project: a new trail called Top of the world starting on the Peak of Whistler. Unfortunately Alex had to ride quiet due to an injured wrist.

Additionnal bears footage by Jérome Duval-Fleury.

Trans Provence

Trans Provence is a GO!

With 7 days of racing, covering 300km, 10,000 meters climbing and 15,000 meters descending over 26 timed singletrack sections, the Trans-Provence is the "Definitive All-Mountain Race." It's gravity racing meets stage racing meets wilderness adventure - drawing top Enduro pros from around the world racing for glory, as well as amateurs looking for a unique experience.

Mavic Trans Provence 2012 DAY 1 from Trans-Provence on Vimeo.



Elements of Perfection: ELEVATION

If you were to ask me what I dream about it may look like this.

Photos by Mark Mackay

ELEVATION - Elements of Perfection from Whistler Blackcomb on Vimeo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

9/23/12 Falling Creek

I took a Sunday to get off the couch, get out in this perfect weather and enjoy the day outside!  I headed back out to Falling Creek Park to work on finishing the landing on the jump we've been working on this passed week.  It still needs more dirt on the landing, I got a handful of loads on it today and it made it better but it's still not there yet.  The ditch witch is overheating due to the long trip to get dirt.  Wes, Seth and some of his family made it out to help and hangout.  We worked some on the landing and road.  We road while the ditch witch was cooling down, it worked out pretty good since I needed to ride.  I was having a blast, the corners have dried out again and are loose.  The big left is beginning to develope braking bumps, good fun.  I'm looking forward to moisture, it will really help dial this spot in once it rains a few times and we can get good wet dirt on the loose spots.  I didn't take any photos today but there were some taken.   I'll see if I can get my hands on them.

Edit:  I did get my hands on them.  Thanks to Seth and Feliza for taking photos.

9/21 and 9/22/12 Falling Creek

 9/21/12
Friday afternoon I got out pretty late and only got in a few hours of dirt moving, really wasn't even worth taking any photos.  The ditch witch was still getting hot making the trip back and fourth from the dirt piles.  A big front loader would be awesome but this is the largest jump we'll work on and the rest wont take as much dirt or time. Randy got out there after he got off work and helped spread some dirt around on the landing.  We got in a few runs to end the day.

  9/22/12
It's the first day of fall and it's really nice, Fall and Spring are the time to ride and be outside.  The weather has been amazing lately, I really couldn't ask for better weather. We could use another rain like we got Monday and Tuesday to get everything packed in some more. The dirt is back to the sandy, dusty consistency that it normally is. It's easy to move that way but it doesn't pack, I need to get a water source.

I met Randy Saturday morning at Falling Creek to primarily work on one jump.  The jump will be the larger one on this line and is taking a good bit of dirt.  I'm building all these to be comfortably rideable on a wide variety of bikes as long as you have some jumping ability. 

Kyle from Lynchburg showed up near the end of the day.  He snapped a few photos, helped us stomp in some fresh dirt and got in a few runs.  We got the jump done enough to give it a try and learn that the landing was short.  The landing will take atleast another 3-5 feet of length added to it.  I'm gonna try to get out tomorrow to get some more dirt on the landing.  I don't like leaving things incomplete, the jump is safe but overshooting a jump is no fun.  To make it proper it needs more dirt and I'd like to get it on there before the next rain so that all of the jump settles together.  Blah blah blah, Pics....

corners are fun

 

new roller work that was done this week in action.

 

Probably my favorite picture from this day.  Commit!

 

This jump is fun.

new jump needs water

Sums up the day pretty well.

 

9/20/12 Falling Creek Update

I'm really wanting to get this trail finished at Falling Creek for a few reasons but mostly because I'm really looking forward to riding it.  I've been sessioning what's there every night before I leave but a full length top to bottom run will be awesome.  It was a solo trip out this time, I ran the ditch witch until it was too hot to run anymore.  I moved a good bit of dirt and the next table top is really close to finished.  I plan on finishing it on Friday.  Here are some photos..

Looking Out.

Better shot from above looking down on the work from Wednesday.

Looking up.

Almost.

Noble Canyon (Lopes/Chausson) Ibis

Really sweet bikes and great piece of trail. Good riding too!

Noble Canyon from Ibis Cycles on Vimeo.

We start with a peek inside Ibis along with a quick run through a bunch of the bikes we've built in the last 31 years. After that, we quickly get out of the shop and onto the trail.
Follow Brian Lopes, Anne Caro Chausson and Andrew Whiteford as the have their way with Noble Canyon, near San Diego California.
No massive hucking (or any hucking for that matter), but a whole lot of excellent quality singletrack.

The Dudes of Hazzard Summers Evening

Joe has it right, he gets it. Good stuff, makes me want to go dig/ride something new.
The Dudes of Hazzard Summers Evening from Joe Barnes on Vimeo.
Liam, Joe and Scott head out for some trail digging on a late summers sunny evening, with the fives along as well though it soon turns into a sweet riding session followed by a swim in the river. Liams double flip of Achnacary bridge takes a cruel turn producing a real nice belly flop... Enjoy
Good times all the time!

9/19/12 Falling Creek

I headed back out to Falling Creek today to hopefully get in the next jump. John met me out there and when we got there Kenny was already moving dirt for the jump. We got a little more dirt moved but the ditch witch wasn't liking the long trips back and fourth from the dirt piles. Chris got there after he got off work and around the same time John was on his way out. We got a little more dirt moved onto the jump and then decided to work on something a little closer to the dirt piles since the ditch witch was running a little hot. We ended up moving a roller and working on the exit and entrance of two berms. Seth made it out right before dark and helped us pack some stuff in. I got to make 2 good runs right at dark and I'm really looking forward to getting back out there.  The dirt was the best I'd seen it and that's a day after multiple days of raining worth about 2.5 inches.  Not only did the dirt dig and pack well but it also had stupid amounts of grip, maybe the grippiest dirt I've ridden.   Sorry for the crap photos but I guess some is better then none.  Pictures are showing the opened exit of the berm that leads into the new roller and the downside of the new roller leads right into the next berm.  We also added some top soil to one of the lips to help stop it from cracking, it's primarily clay and baking in the sun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tirol Zillertal Edit

Tirol Zillertal Edit from ResetFilms.co.uk on Vimeo.

Zillertal was the starting point for our Tirol trip, James McKnight and Alex Evans made the trip by road from Morzine which took them the best part of 8 hours. I flew into Munich airport and grabbed a transfer taxi which took around 1.5 hrs door to door. We spent 2 days riding and filming in the area and discovered some amazing trails. A great start to riding in the area would be the Penken mountain as it has a couple of way marked trails that start off relatively easy and gradually get more technical as you descend towards the valley floor. I would grade them using UK trail guide lines as Red with more demanding Black sections, our guide was riding a XC hard tail and made it down most however he did walk down quite a lot of the technical sections. The second part of the edit highlights the other side of the valley from the Penken, this started with a bit of a road climb to the tele cabin which took us up a further 500m, we basically traversed in a southerly direction across the hillside which brought us out above the town of Brandberg. The decent was amazing in places with some really unique trails that don't look like they have been ridden. Again we only scratched the surface of what was potentially on offer in our two days of riding, we were well looked after by our hosts and guides who couldn't have been more friendly or helpful. Many thanks to Sabine Katschke - Zillertal Tourist Board Hotel Wöscherhof - woescherhof.com Günther Burgsteiner - raw-burgsteiner.com by www.ResetFilms.co.uk

Trek Gravity Enduro Round Four

Trek Gravity Enduro Round 4 - Carrick Mountain, County Wicklow from Gravity Enduro Ireland on Vimeo.

Ride Positive

Ride Positive. A Mountainbike Manifesto. from Filme von Draussen on Vimeo.

The Way I Roll - Chris Van Dine

P9-Nick Quinn, Luke Stevens

P9-Nick Quinn, Luke Stevens on Pinkbike

Nick Quinn and Luke Stevens having a good time on Fernie, B.C.'s local single track.

Oregon Enduro Finals Shimano 2012 (more coverage)

9/15/12 Gauntlet Work Day

Lately I feel like most of my biking has been work related and not riding related.  I guess it is what it is, I want good stuff to ride and it doesn't just magically appear right?  I saw a email mid week about Brian from VAST planning to  make it out to Gauntlet to work on a section that is troughing out.  I thought he was talking about a grade reversal slightly higher up the trail.   I typically just ride this trail down so I hadn't really noticed what he was talking about.  We got there at 9, it was Brian, Mark and myself.  It took quite a while to get up there which was partially my fault, Randy had lost his keys at the D-cup so we stopped at 2 spots to take a look, no luck.  Found out later he had left them in his dress pants.  We did find a few good rocks where we stopped the second time so it was worth it. 

We got to the top where Randy was waiting on us.  We unloaded the cany com and the ditch witch and started our way down the trail.  The way the cany com had been loaded with all the weight on the downside it was kinda tricky getting it down the trail, lesson learned.  Once I got down to where Brian was I realized it was lower then the spot I thought he was talking about.  He was right, it had began troughing out and water was just running right down the center of the trail.  He quickly cut a small grade reversal and dug a spot for the main two large rocks to really lock everything in place. This will help keep everything above it from moving down after lots of use and heavy rains.  For the most part the rest of my day was gathering rock and cutting some back slope.   Here is what we got done, it's not finished yet.  I believe it will already work, but there will be more added to the rock work to make sure it holds up for a long time.

 

Someone stole the Hideho sign recently...? 

9/14/12 Fall D-Cup

We kicked off the Fall D-cup this passed Friday. There was only 6 of us but we all had a blast, even Randy who was battling with single ply tires and tubes. We road Clownhead aka Hemlock Tunnel and it still has the old Cove feel. Colin killed it as usual, everyone else was putting down good times too. Lots of fun, I was running on no sleep but knew I had to make it up there, it's just too much fun. Gabe was also running on little sleep having just returned from Colorado and hauling ass up the fireroad to get there on time. I volunteered to help Josh out with the timing, I probably wasn't the best option for running the timing. I ended up running the gopro also, it's not impressive footage, I was having a horrible riding day, but was really just there to hang out. I succeeded at hanging out and really enjoyed the ride. For those of you who missed out, well, you missed out! Good times.  I even had a good time holding down that last place spot!

 

Thanks to everyone who came for the opening race of the fall! It was a blast!

Stage 1: Hemlock

Colin	4:12
Matt	4:38
Josh	4:50
Gabe	5:05
Randy	5:08
Sean	5:10

Stage 2: Comet

Colin	1:41
Matt	1:43
Josh	1:50
Gabe	1:51
Sean	1:55
Randy	1:56

Overall:

Colin	5:53
Matt	6:21
Josh	6:40
Gabe	6:56
Randy	7:04
Sean	7:05

Woodward Tahoe with Christian Wright

This looks awesome. Trails are looking really dialed.

Woodward Tahoe with Christian Wright from Visual Elite on Vimeo.

"Took a trip up to Tahoe to experience the newest Woodward camp at Boreal Resort. Place is looking awesome! This is a little edit of the new dirt jumps. There are some really cool features there cant wait to go back. Song credit: Rory Gallagher - Bad Penny film/edit Jake Crumley"

Oregon Enduro Series Race #5 - The Finals - Recap

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Oregon-Enduro-Series-Race-5-The-Finals-Recap-2012.html

Josh Carlson took the Men's Overall win for the Oregon Enduro Series.

One of the Sandy Ridge Trail Boss's (Adam Milnor) looking like he's got the trails pretty dialed up there.  Always give respect to these folks, without them what are you gonna ride?

Kelli Emmett (Giant) taking the overall series win for the ladies. 

Curtis Keene is now the 2012 North American Enduro Tour Series Champion

Looking forward to seeing Enduro Racing grow. 

This was submitted to www.pinkbike.com by Mike Albright

Here is a race run from Oregon Enduro Sandy Ridge.  This trail looks really good, cheers to the builders.

Here is a look back at some of the other race previews/recaps from Super D TV.

Race 1 Bend, Or

Bend stage 2

Ashland Recap

Hood River Preview

I'm heading to Oregon this coming summer, I have to.

Is this the Sickest Custom Build Ever? Aaron Gwin's 2012 World Cup Champion Trek Session 9.9 | Vital MTB

Is this the Sickest Custom Build Ever? Aaron Gwin's 2012 World Cup Champion Trek Session 9.9 | Vital MTB

 

 

9/13/12 Roanoke City Master Plan Public Meeting

I attended a public meeting tonight for a 10 year Master plan with Roanoke City Parks and Recreation. I was there in support of a Bike Park plan/proposal that has been in the works for some time now. There were a number of interest groups but it was loud and clear our outdoor community is very active and wanting to take our communities' offerings to the next level. Trails were a large topic, everything from greenways to a bike park. There was a great turnout from our local skateboard community which was great to see. I knew going into this meeting having grown up here all my life that there was nowhere to skateboard, nowhere to bmx or ride a bike the way a kid or myself would like to ride a bike. (i.e. jumps and general fun) The city attempted building a skatepark at Wasena Park years ago but it failed due to poor design, materials and it was off limits to bikes.

There was a group of coaches from North Roanoke City who had been excluded from the Roanoke City Rec. League this year.  There story caught my attention.  In short due to the problems that have occurred there are roughly 400 kids not playing rec league football this year, that doesn't include basketball and baseball.  We talk about keeping kids busy, off the streets and out of trouble. We talk about decreasing child hood obesity and getting kids off the video games. To find out my own community doesn't have the opportunity for kids to pursue individual sports such as skateboarding and bmx but they are also losing opportunities to play organized sports is sad.  I sat silent through the meeting, it was basically the end and people were leaving. There were a ton of great points made.  He went around the room to make sure everyone got a chance to share one important reason they were there.  I finally had the opportunity to say something and I hope what I said mattered. I told them I had come in support of a Bike Park plan but if the City was to take anything from this meeting I believe that it is our kids have nowhere to skateboard, ride a bike, and are losing out on opportunities to play organized sports. In summary, Support Our Youth! He underlined it and I hope that it means something to them when they are reviewing this meeting.

Here is the flyer that Wes of Eastcoasters had prepared for the meeting.  Thanks to Wes at Eastcoasters and Steve at Just the Right Gear, local bike shop owners for being present and pushing for More Better Trails and a Bike Park!

 

www.eastcoasters.com

 

www.justtherightgear.com

This kid makes me want to ride, 8 years old and killin it! Really cool to see.

What Were You Doing at 8 Years Old? Jackson Goldstone Leads Tyler McCaul Down Dirt Merchant - More Mountain Bike Videos

2013 Stumpjumper Evo Carbon

I have been excited about this bike since it came out in 2011.  For the type of trail riding I do they seem to have nailed exactly what I was looking for; a capable bike that wont hold me back and still a solid pedaller.  There are a lot of good options out there, this bike just fit me.  I am coming off a 2009 Pitch that has been a blast to ride for the last 4 years.  I normally don't keep bikes that long so that says a lot about my love for that bike.  The thing I'm most looking forward to on the Stumpy Evo is the lower stance, both at the bottom bracket and also at the seat tube area.  The pitch was just slightly high in both of those areas for me.  Enough talk, here she is, I hope to have her built within a few weeks.  Thanks Blackwater Bike Shop.  www.blackwaterbikeshop.com

Shoe, Pedal and Foot Placement Tips for Flat Pedals by James Wilson

To me flat pedals are my bread and butter, it's what I learned on and they are just comfy.  I have more control over the bike with flat pedals because I can move my feet around and manipulate the bike more using my hips.  I really like what James has to say about flat pedal riding.  Overall flat pedals are just more fun for me. 

"I get a lot of questions from mountain bikers about how to keep their feet planted on their flat pedals and I have found that it usually boils down to 3 things – Shoes, Pedal Selection and Foot Placement. If even one of these things is wrong you will struggle to feel comfortable on your flats or really maximize their performance.

1) Shoe Selection: The #1 thing to know about riding flat pedals is that a good pair of flat pedal specific shoes is a must. If you are trying to ride flat pedals with your tennis shoes then you'll never feel confident on the trail. You need shoes that are made specifically for riding flat pedals, preferably with a sticky rubber compound like that found on the soles of 5-10 brand shoes. I wrote an article going over the different model shoes 5-10 makes and the types of riding I use them for that you can read by clicking here.

2) Pedal Selection: If you have a good pair of riding shoes then you can get a mid-level pedal and be just fine. While some pedals are definitely nicer and hold up longer than others no one has really cornered the market on the "best" pedal so I prefer to go with a couple of guidelines when recommending pedals.

- Make sure it has a relatively thin profile. A thinner profile pedal lowers your center of gravity on the bike and improves your power transfer into the crank arms.

- Make sure that it is wide enough to comfortably get the majority of your foot on it. If more than ½ inch of your foot is hanging over the edge of the pedal then it is not wide enough and can result in a numb pinkie toe.

3) Foot Placement: The first thing that you will notice on flat pedals is that your feet naturally go to a mid-foot position where the ball of the foot is placed in front of the pedal axle. This is much different than the foot position where most clipless pedals want to put you, which is with the ball of the foot directly over the axle. However, having the ball of the foot in front of the axle is actually a more natural and, one could argue, better position for your foot.

From a functional movement point of view, trying to place the ball of your foot directly on top of the pedal axle is not the best position for your foot to be whether you are on flats or clipless pedals. Driving through the ball of the foot is what you want to do when you are propelling your center of gravity forward - like when running or jumping - but this is not what is happening when we pedal out bikes. When pedaling you are driving the pedals away from you, much like when you squat or deadlift, and that type of leg drive is much better delivered from a more mid-foot position. This more mid-foot position also allows improved recruitment of the hips during the pedal stroke, especially when standing.

You'll also find that this mid-foot position will also allow you to better drop your heels when standing up in your "attack position" to flow through rock gardens or other trail features. By dropping your heels you will sit back into your hips more, getting your center of gravity lower and further back, and also keep your feet pressing into your pedals when you hit rocks and bumps in the trail instead of getting pushed off the top of them.

Below you'll find a video in which I go over each of these 3 tips. If you feel like your feet are bouncing off your pedals more than you want – especially if you’ve spent a lot of time on clipless pedals before trying flats – then this is the video you’ve been waiting for. Watch as I reveal what you need to know about shoes, pedals and foot placement to get the most out of riding flat pedals."

MTB Strength Training Systems is the world leader in integrated performance training programs for the unique demands of mountain biking. As the strength and conditioning coach for World Cup Teams and 3 National Championships, his programs have been proven at the highest levels. James has helped thousands of riders just like you improve their speed, endurance and skills on the trail. Visit www.bikejames.com to sign up for the free Trail Rider Fundamentals Video Mini-Course.

This article is taken from pinkbike. http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Shoe-Pedal-Foot-Placement-Tips-Flat-Pedals-2012.html

9/9/12 Falling Creek

We made it back out to Falling Creek after packing everything in, we were looking forward to riding it. Seth joined us and we got in a bunch of runs. The dirt held for the first 5 trips or so then we broke through the hardened surface and it was soft again but it's getting much better. The jumps were a ton of fun. Here is a gopro photo run.