48 replies to this topic

[PIMP-DADDY]

Saturday, Craig Siebert and I met with a few like-minded peeps to re-birth the idea of a DH line at Matson.  This may not be an easy sell to the County, given the past experience, but it's our best shot.  STL County has horses to deal with, MDC would never allow this, and DNR(Castlewood) is pretty tapped out, at least until we get into Babler...

 

Thanks to Richard, Matt, Amanda, Steve, Brandon and Craig for coming out on what was a beautiful Saturday afternoon to walk around Matson and talk about how to add some more challenging elements to that park.  I think we

[The Krackheads]

I am not a free ride guy but would love to see this happen and would like to assist in the design-build, Swope Park in KC has a fun DH run, You might contact Brett Shoffner at Earthriders for his input as I believe he had a lot of input in the Swope design.

[TTM]

I have Aaron Browning's contact info- He is one of the main contributors to the "ISH" trail and Landahl. Pretty sure he can assist in some form. 

[ZenkiS14]

I'm in, and am extremely excited to see others interested in this type of terrain!

I have other friends who would be interested in helping if this became a reality as well, all who have trail building and plenty of DH/FR experience.

From riding Whistler, Vancouver, Northstar, racing dual slalom, downhill, and on Progressive Trail Design trails in Arkansas, I would like to see a very flowy trail with plenty of features!
What makes these types of trails fun though is jumps, berms, and drops. Rock sections are common on other trails here in Missouri, so to really make this one unique, features that allowed pumping and flow would be ideal.

[Glen_PxC]

I like the last tag :P So excited to finally see this effort moving forward! I agree, what we need is a fast flowy trail with some decent sized jumps and drops, and lots of berms to keep the speed.

[Tony C]

So glad to see some efforts towards this. I am all about finding ways to get a little air and promote progressive riding.  I own both all-mountain, a full-on downhill bike, and have the required protective gear and chops for this type of riding.

 

Living in close proximity to Matson, I would love to help out in anyway on this project. In fact if you need a rider to bring a big bike out to gauge the linear feet required, test and tune features, I have a flexable schedule until the spring riding season heats up.

 

Recent video bombing Matson> https://www.facebook...44504026&type=3

[AmandaLeigh]

Hi Guys,

 

I'm glad to see so many people excited about this! Let's keep the momentum we've gained by pushing ahead and getting as many of the preliminary tasks that lead up to an official approval and a construction timetable out of the way as soon as we can!

 

Two things need our immediate attention:

 

1) I've been charged with the assembly of a team of individuals who will be directly involved in the design process. This team will be ultimately responsible for the proposed layout and features of the course. Please let me know right away if you're interested in being part of this team.

 

Ideally this group will include a diverse range of riders under the freeride/gravity categories that have free time through the spring to physically get out to the trail when needed and bring their knowledge and experience to the table. Specifically, I'm looking for at least one individual who has some hands-on experience with design and construction of Gravity/Freeride courses. The assembly of this team will be crucial for the next few milestones in making this a reality. 

 

2) As John had mentioned, our next step is to get out to measure the proposed trail. Working around the snowfall predicted, there is a clear, slightly warmer day Saturday, January 4th, that we could go out and begin measuring the line we flagged this past Saturday; from the break-away point at the top of the trail to, at minimum, the landing of the rock feature at the bottom. It would be ideal to have our design team assembled, at least partially for this phase, to start to get to know the proposed line and natural features in the terrain (although it may be covered in snow.) 

 

Thanks!

[ZenkiS14]

Amanda, it's Kyle. Let me know how you need me. I'll hit anything on my gravity race bike, and I live only 25 min from matson. So I'm down to build, would love to help design etc...

[Glen_PxC]

I'm also available for anything needed; design, build, test ride. I work until 4 weekdays and am usually free on weekends. Let me know how I can help!

[rebelssof]

Nice now I'm glad that I did not sell my big bike a few months back.

[unknownsoldier13]

I will be pretty busy over the next two months but I will make any design and build day that I can accommodate

[Free Riding Fool]

Damn didn't even know you guys were doing this yet!  I have some experience building this type of stuff so PM me for any design help you might need or just going out and building as well.  I'm free most weekends but not this one.....

[Craig]

Damn didn't even know you guys were doing this yet!  I have some experience building this type of stuff so PM me for any design help you might need or just going out and building as well.  I'm free most weekends but not this one.....

 

Eric (and any others reading this),

 

Please PM AmandaLeigh with your email address if you'd like to be included on future conversations about this - or other - projects.  While some ideas have been generated, this project is at the beginning stages.  (Constructive) input is always appreciated, and encouraged.

[AmandaLeigh]

Tomorrow we are planning to meet from 10-2 to take some measurements down the proposed lines. 

 

We

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[AmandaLeigh]

ATTENTION: The following people are getting emails returned to me undeliverable. Please PM me with an updated email address. 

 

Phillip Viviano

Evan Steiner

 

Thanks!!!

[The Krackheads]

I'm curious where the proposed DH run might be located?  a topo map or general location would be okay. thanks

[AmandaLeigh]

Thanks for everyone who came out Saturday. We not only were able to get a fairly accurate linear measurement of the trail, but were able to rework the break off point from the main loop to utilize more of the natural downhill terrain. This increased our trail distance from ~1/8 of a mile to just short of 1/4 of a mile from the start to the landing of the rock feature toward the bottom. 

 

There is up to several hundred more feet to measure once we know how we can use the terrain to eventually spill us out onto Stub Rd. Please note this measurement does not account for turns, berms or switchbacks of any kind. Matt B provided us a rough sketch of the proposed line and Steve F will be getting us a GPS reading shortly.

 

[ZenkiS14]

Very stoked for this. Although I am not extremely familiar with matson trail, how far is the start point of the DH trail from the parking lot?

Only reason I ask, is the kind of bikes that people will be riding will probably be not ideal for riding and climbing on, the rest of the trail. Haha

[Glen_PxC]

Does anyone have a picture of the rock formation? I'm really curious what it looks like.

[The Krackheads]

It is not close from the main trail head, from stub road its not far but I am not sure if cars are allowed on the stub rd entrance.   How conducive is the earth where the proposed trail is being laid out?  A Bobcat MT52 or Toro Dingo mini skid steerer could create some awesome features in no time.