2006

We are almost done with the North shore section.

is rainy and wet, equipment rusting, nailing and finishing getting worse.

Alvin Jeff and me take our work on existing fallen log.

Seriously inexperience on log work we are. can’t seems to secure the pieces together to get a stiff structure with those big logs.

After spending much hours on them, we decided to finish the ramp for the main ride. and finish the banked curve bit.

certainly not fun working in wet environment. Now did anyone took away my rain shelter?

12 manhours today finish minor pieces here and there.. (can be more efficient)

With the first ramp built leading to nowhere since day one,

we decided to give this best line the fastest and most technical bridge we ever built.

A banked roller that twist and bank 3 times in a space of 4metres.

Liyana and Alvin got things started with the nailing while I do most of the sawing and wood matching. Hammering nails certainly not something I am good at and I won’t want to spoil that new batch of nails today.

After 2+ months building wooden ‘North Shore’ style bridges, we have certainly gotten better.

Plans for teeter are in place, and a banked wall ride is plan for the exit of this section.

I am still thinking of ways to use the 2 fallen trunks smack in the middle of this section. Seats for spectators? I guess another trunk ride should be more interesting…

banked roller – 7 manhours.

with the wooden berm stopping at a box T-junction, Jeff started the connecting 1.5metres long floor section, so to finish the loop for the roller coaster straight and the beginner loop.

The fast roller section is also layout.
We can start building this technical banked roller, the most technical till date tomorrow.

I always wanted a skinny to a log, with a log roll into place yesterday, Jeff cross audit the lines and we all agree that there should be a smaller angle of turn so to make the ride possible.

planking and layout – 6 man hours

another start early end late day.

With the beginner ‘low’ North Shore section lay out by Jeff a day earlier,

Me and Alvin took 5mins to visualized and then jump straight to build the tall end of the beginner loop.

It took us the whole morning to progress 5 metres, but we managed to get the stiffest and strongest section built yet.

the secret are the new 2in x 3in thick stringers. These are shorter but yet thicker.

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the rest of the workers got into wood cutting and sawing. Certainly made us a full 3.5hrs production line.

Building our first 8in wide skinny, our first wooden berm and also a receiver for the V-jump.

We are certainly getting the hang of building the structure fast.
Certainly got more experience with these hard wood now, knowing when it will split and how to nurse it in.

Pre work sorting of nails helps a bunch today, we are surprised to find 50% bad nails in our heavy nail bin. And lubricating the nails helps a bunch in getting the nail in straight and fast.

Work done

beginner ride, wooden berm and receiver – 25 manhours

With much of the wooden structure hand build with saw and hammer.

We took a jigsaw and power drill to see what we can build out of it.

Nik and I meet for the afternoon.

Our task today involved doing up a small 2metres long section, connecting a new entry ramp to the straight roller line.

We spend the first 30mins figuring how to get things done, jigsaw, generator, powerdrill, the correct drill bit needed etc etc. In no time we are carving the planks to custom fit shape so to fit the wierd triangle section needed.

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Jeff pop by in the late afternoon, and we tie down some stuff on what to build and when.

Is definitely getting interesting…

2 metres link bridge – 6 man hours

It’s a full day work at Kent Ridge.

Alvin and Liyana met up with me at the North Shore section early.

Apparently with the help of Liyana, he got the roller coaster straight started yesterday.
Leaving today with completing the V ramps for the ‘Roller Jump’.

With the recent thunderstorm, we are lucky to have fallen acacia trunks for building the lower sections of the ride. We use the first of the trunk today.

We are thankful that Jeff had pre-layout the ramps a few days before, giving us less to think about and pure carpentry to work on.

While completing the V-jump in the morning, the afternoon is reserved for the rest of the trail work needed.
We worked on the long awaited Motherbridge exit. Getting the last diagonal bar on to the ground. and took some time getting the incomplete berm after the motherbridge done up.

With the help of 5 cement logs bracing the small cliff, the missing berm is now touch up, slightly narrower then before but alot smoother.

Dangerous bakau wood lining the berm earlier are now taken off or saw off.

The motherbridge section is finally completed. We can now plan for wood to be shifted to the North Shore section.

North Shore V-jump – 5 man hours

Mother bridge exit – 3 man hour

Post Mother bridge berm – 3 man hour

Much as we are trying to make sure everyone get updated with info, we got to zip this until this New Stuff is almost ready. And yes we are there.
We just received the new batch of woods for the stringers, and trail construction kicks in again officially today.

We finished the Y-junction today, with Alvin and me braving the thunderstorm banging away nails after nails sending the trail ‘to the wall’ and created a small dropoff in the process.

And YES we have been banging away a NS freeride sections aka New Stuff aka New Section aka North Shore, for the past 2 months.

The section main ride is done, with intermediate riding in mind, a newbie ride will be in place soon while the crazy sick jumps and skinny will come after that.
This section is still scattered with nails, planks and beams. NOBODY should ride it until the shore is ready, and yes we might have forgotten to bang in some planks, and we don’t want anyone riding on them assuming all the planks are nailed in.

8 man hours – Y-junctions with banking made in.
1 man hour – manual transports of stringers and post.

Alright, is about 2 months since we’ve done real work on the trail.

The past 2months were spent waiting for the rain and sediment to weather the trail, giving a good foundation before the heavy riding expected.
While Alvin and gang worked the new long downhill section with proper anti-erosion barrier, I spent my time nursing a bad wound and getting things done up for the tarmac riding lovers.

As fragile as any other forested area (secondary forest in this case), repopulation of open section become priority these 2 months. Personally do hope trail user can take precaution not to damage the repopulation effort when the park is finally open.

The XC trail is certainly ready for riding. We do have critical missing bits, signages and trail howto are still going through fabrication process. Just like any parks and area that involved public usage, these are must have. In the process of getting the bits together, GPS mapping is done up. We are certainly thrill with those new GPS, great foilage penetration.
Fern hill is ready, it should be the highest point for the XC trail.

Along the fern hill is certainly the nice newbie ride route, and yes we are certainly catering for as much riding as possible.

Today we started work on a new section, a section not for the faint-hearted. We are sure it’s going to be something new for most of us. Will update everyone further when it is near completion, ‘crash test dummies’ will be welcome then.

(for the record, this section is started around 5 days ago by Alvin and gang, certainly a major headstart in reviving trail construction)

stay tune, next some photographic evidence ..

Finally injury caught up with me (non trail or bike related),

While Alvin and Liyana work the day with the 3 workers, completing and bench cutting sections of the uphill section of the fern hill, I took the time off to test out our Virtual Maps sponsored GPS tracking units so to mark the trails.

I caught up with the gang around mid afternoon, this time with the camera instead.

Just noticed we never captured photos on how the work is done.

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work done

18 manhours – fern hill upslope

5 manhours – mother bridge downramp