off the bike – the stuff behind our DirT crew

This video summarize the 2 exciting weekends for Dirtraction’s team at the Youth Olympics Games

the full coverage of mountain biking, BMX, Road time trials and mass start, in various roles.

we need a rest!

Youth Olympic Games BMX Boys Final

With the National Mountain Bike Championship coming up in a couple of weeks,

a joint project by SACA-Dirtraction-National Parks Board is in hand again to rework the various sections of Bukit Timah Mountain Bike Trail.

the primate climb, series of short switchbacks back to the carpark

The section in question this time is the exit of the trailhead to the visitor centre, where for years (at least a decade!) this fall line climb been eroding, patch up with quick fixes,

rebuild with water bars and tarmac blocks, and the cycle goes on years again.

With 1 month of pre-planning, we managed to gather the resources needed, rocks, earth, surfacing material and manpower for today build.

A series of 5 switchback will be added to this short section, cutting the fall-line into 7 segments.

The trail resemble previous work done a few months ago at Tampines Bike Park, with rollers and dip incorporated into tight corners to keep the ride interesting.

What made today different from other trail project done, we spent a good amount of time reforesting the old trails, replanting and relocating at least 15 young trees so to keep the old trail out of sight, and presentable the moment we finish it.

the old fall line

transformation - a totally different trail

the flat climbing turn

the last 20metres.

shady shade entry is a ‘W’ shape mellow descent with tight zigzag and a series of easy drop off just before the finishing straight.

disturbing the grass

tight slight inslope corners brings the speed on for a good flow

putting the finishing touch into the raptor technical section (used to be papaya drop) took us the whole afternoon.

nice greyish shale are placed into the scattered rock garden, crash test dummies sent in to determine the line and flow.

and we have a very nice section that rewards the technical riders and slow down the newbies.

the chicken line (detour) is 80% completed for this section, with the workers placing the final tight turn to slow down the detour rider further.

shale raptor

alpine look in the tropics

detour visible on the left

tight turn tight exit, we've to place some trail furnishing before this to slow everyone further

raptor drop on the left, raptor detour on the right

the last major turn to be build.

Angry – angry man turns is a fast turn with a big berm bringing the ride almost 90 degree  to the left and allow expert riders to take the speed up the next climb.

take a comparison of the same turn 4 years ago, is certainly very different from today’s new revision.

big berm big turn

turfing the BMX area. we wish we've similar budget for biking, nice cow grass turf instead of weeds.

angry - completed with nice reversal and drainage

rocks imbue into this one and only fall line climb around

another rock moving day today and we are lucky to have 5 ground crew instead of 3 of yesterday

With the slope gentled out at the bottom,  the excavator can do the rock shifting instead.

almost done. nice pave on the left, random rocks on the right, top down i mean..

rocks averaging 150kg, fitting them on a mega jigsaw puzzle.

will be one solid ride feature

rock and roll. pick your line

The last rock garden.

with the front facing the spectator stand, this garden got to look good.

we cached a great amount of rocks for about a month and the work start rolling today.

ironically, we got a total of 3 ground crew, myself and one excavator dude for the day.

and we are all surprised by the end result at sunset.

the rock base at the top

dropping through the fall line

3 man crew and a few hours later.

entry almost done. chicken line on the right

the slope is too steep for the excavator today. 3 manpower rock moving afternoon

half done. and we are happy with the result

took the crew an afternoon for this hand crafted climb.

should be a nice ride up in front for the spectator during the Youth Olympics Games.

the 'papaya' climb, any better name?

The crew is well rested after a few days of grass planting work.

we started the week with the finishing the lines at the frontage area.

and we took a stroll to check on the valley again to see how things are after a week.

Tampines Bike Park - BMX Track all ready for some touchup.

miracle! nature reclaim the bare constructed site within 7 days.

BMX start box all ready for the gate

Rajah and Shankar at the Boomerang. 5m to 3m to singletrack

we cheated. a quick fix at the fall line filled frontage, rocks are placed in and compacted with a mixture of trail surfacing.

through the looking grass and beyond the tree line

green green grass of home. the valley restored to its natural greenish tint. note the lines, The Eel, The Hamburger Climbs are all visible

review day, ride day, touch up straight way 4 day.

the crew is spent, see you next week.

tire marks of the day