BUILDING ORANGE COUNTY’S FIRST DOWNHILL COURSE
BUILDING ORANGE COUNTY’S FIRST DOWNHILL COURSE
By the Warriors Society
Jim Sladeck is our downhill course designer and has been named the Warriors Society Downhill Event Coordinator responsible for all 2006 gravity events at Flying B Ranch.
Jim participated in his first course construction volunteer event, focusing on the Pro Downhill Course. The turnout was so large that Jim had to decline some volunteers. The overwhelming turnout made things chaotic – Jim was trying to guide them all.
Jim will designate assistants to assist him in the construction of various sections of the course.
Despite the chaos on the first day, volunteers were able to complete the course and do a few shuttles. Two large, flat areas remain to be built for jumps. Additional tweaking will be done to narrow sections, adding jumps and further refinement as a result of testing.
If everything goes according to plan, we will add a Spring and Fall Downhill Series as well as crowning a female or male OC Downhill Champion.
We were able to complete the first of four new XC singletracks thanks to the amazing turnout at the Flying B.
Jason Martin and Eron Boyer, the trail’s designers, decided to call the trail Scorpion with the help of volunteers. You would understand why the Scorpion Trail was named that if you were willing to volunteer your time. Eron called the trail Bitchen. The Scorpion Trail was meant to flow, and it does. Jason said it best:
The group that we had there was like a machine. The trail ended up needing more work that we expected. These are the kinds of turnouts that we get for trail construction. The rest of the trails should be completed in no time. The results will please everyone, I’m sure.
Many thanks to everyone who helped to complete the Scorpion Trail and construct the downhill course. Special thanks to Steve Blick of Oakley and Brian Lopes (for their assistance in designing the course), and The Bike Company.
Path Bike Shops (to sponsor the construction of the downhill course).
Volunteers who helped build the XC and downhill courses are eligible to take part in our volunteer event on Saturday, December 10.
If you are planning to attend, please RSVP to:
We will schedule another course construction day for next week and will provide more information next week. Let’s make the Flying B the ultimate MTB playground!
