You down with ODP yeah you know me….

What is ODP, and why did we decide to call our trail-building crew and our our fist trail project by this acronym? ODP equals The Ol’ Dirty Pirates, of which the three of us are the originators of this name. We are the ODP build crew, or at least we were this for a few years when we spent most of our free time riding and building together. A love of hip hop and an honoring of the recently passed Ol’ Dirty Bastard led to the idea of the name, and it just stuck, so we went with it. Well it all started one day, way back in the day at this point, when Dave, Nick, and I were becoming fast friends. Guided by our love to ride and build, and our mutual desires to more more of both of these things we spent a ton of time together beginning after the first lair work party where we solidified our friendships in dirt and sweat.

We had energy and direction, but we had not fully integrated into the world of COTA so we continued to do things the way we know how. (DISCLAIMER: I am not promoting illegal trail building by telling this story, it is just part of the story so I am telling it the way it went down.) Illegal or pirate trail-building is an integral part of the history of mountain biking and mountain bike specific trails. Many of the best trail builders I know have a background in building illegal trails. When I first got into trail building it was the only way any new trails came into existence on the area where I lived and road because the trail advocacy group in the area was only in its infant stages of development, and we didn’t know any better. Sure we knew it was “illegal” but the fear of getting caught building a trail in the woods when you in your early twenties is not that intimidating, or at least it wasn’t to us.

Nick, Dave, and I shared a common interest in freeride mountain biking which was one of the hottest buzz words in mountain biking in 2007. We wanted to ride features like we saw on the internet and in magazines, but since no on e was building this type of stuff where we were living and riding, we decided to do it ourselves. We decided that a safe place to attempt this project was over on Cline Butte, which is a riding area west of Redmond. We knew there were a few illegal downhill trails in the area, and since it was common knowledge that the BLM land managers in the area were not too concerned with what was going on at this area (at this time things at Cline Butte are changing  and these days pressure for legal and sustainable trail riding opportunities there are being considered) so we started scouting out areas for a potential line that would require wooden trail features (technical trail features TTF’s) since those were the kinds of things we were trying to build and ride at the time.

woodwork on Cougar Badger

ODP was a mindset, a collective desire to build the way we want to ride. Now as time has gone on, and I have come to understand how legal trails become a reality I realize that we were going about it the wrong way, but that was the pirate mentality, we wanted to build and ride this way, and since there was nowhere else locally to do so, we went about creating it, without permission, but tons of ambition. aaarrrggghhh….

Cougar-Badger became our canvas for a freeride mountain bike trail in Central Oregon. It led to our introduction to a wild eyed character who we came to know as Paul Thomasberg. He stumbled upon us working on our project one day and began the conversation with “busted.” He talked to us a little, checked out what we were doing, and applauded us on the good stuff, while critiquing us on things like drainage. He also urged us to get involved with COTA, which has been one of the best decisions that any of us made in the approach to learning about trail building and trail advocacy.

Ol’ Dirty Pirates Trail Crew

 

The day we built Nessie

(Nick Braun) taking his turn at screwing some of the decking into the entrance onto Nessie

One day while trying to find a new project/feature to add to ODP we stumbled upon a tree with some unique flow to its trunk. Over the years something caused this particular tree to take on a serious curve, and judging from the size of the tree, we figured it could be a perfect candidate for a fun trail feature. The only problem was getting it from where it stood to where we wanted it in the existing trail, we were also unsure of whether it would remain in one piece after we cut it down. So we put on our safety gear, and then we cut down the tree, and once the sawdust settled, we saw our tree was still intact and in one piece. Now all we had to do was move it, unfortunately for us the tree was quite large and extremely heavy, and the only way we could move it was pry bars and man power. We then spent the next three hours and a group of four of us pried, heaved, and hoed this massive piece of tree from where it fell to where we wanted it in the trail. Then the next step was getting it positioned so that the organic movement of the trunk was positioned so that it would be the most fun to ride, from there we set about fastening it into place.

Nessie coming together

From here we added runners into the apex of the feature and from the end of the trunk to the ground. Next we set about shaving the up side of the log so that there was a flat and consistent riding surface. Then we took turn cutting rounds into decking and fastening the cut decking onto the runners. As the day went by we saw this pipe dream of an idea coming into fruition, and all the hard work was starting to pay off.

A nice side view of Nessie

The completion of Nessie only took a team of four of us one day to complete the log-ride, one of the longest in our trail system and in my opinion one of the most fun log-rides as well. This is one of the projects where Dave, Nick, Ryler, and I really came together to work as a team, communicating well, and remaining open to the other ideas the group had about how to get the project done, and in the end it really felt like we had done something awesome to contribute to the diversity of the trail riding experience here in Bend, which was the vision we had for what we were bringing to trail building and design. We all felt so excited about the opportunities we were being given just by getting involved with COTA. All it took was taking the time out of our schedule to volunteer our time in the woods working on projects and once or twice a month attend a meeting and put in our own two cents about what the trail system needed.

(Dave, Nick, and Ryler,) sorting out the strategies for fine tuning our newest log-ride

By the end of the day, as the sun was setting in the December sky, our longest log-ride to date, Nessie was ready for test rides. We were all so tired from the long day of work, but none of us were too tired to ride this feature we had just created in a days time. So we put on our helmets and gloves and one by one took turns putting some dirt tread on the fresh woodwork.

(Seth, Nick, and Ryler,) one of the first rides down Nessie

After all the hours of thinking, working, and guess and testing, we had built on of the coolest log-rides any of us had seen, and all in the name of the greater good. Seeing you legacy in dirt, knowing that every season numerous riders come out and ride it for the first time, or come back and ride it again and again, it nice to know that we got build something for ourselves to ride while building something that inspires and challenges others. That is one of the greatest gift in this process, knowing that others are getting to enjoy something you helped to create.

(me) enjoying the fruits of our labor

And here ends another chapter of my trail building story. I am happy to say that next month marks the four year anniversary of this project, and it is still standing strong and being ridden often.

 

 

Ol’ Dirty Pirate (ODP)- CO freeriders- & the birth of trail features in Central Oregon…

Over the winter, after acquiring our new positions on COTA’s board of directors, were given our first opportunity to “show off our skills” so to say, A section of trail on COD was needing an alternate route (COD is one of the more technical trails in the lower trail system/phils trail system) the section in question was a half mile or so of pretty straight singletrack down and old hull road. We (Dave, Nick, and I) were given the opportunity to build a reroute paralleling the existing trail, and were given the opportunity to build some wooden features, the type of progressive trail features we were all interested in building and seeing incorporated into the trail system around Bend.

the first wooden feature we built on ODP

On a side note, at this time COTA was in the early stages of creating a trail standard, which is a living document we as a board have been working on for the last four years or so. Taken from other trail systems like the Whistler and Tahoe trail standards, and then adapted for our region, we began creating written word that described how trails were to be rated, and what those ratings meant. ODP was to be rated as double black diamond (which would come back to haunt us in the end) so that we would be able to build the most progressive trail features yet in the Deschutes National Forest. See we here not doing to be building the first features in the woods, there were already a few, on Skyliner trail, and GS, stashed here and there if you knew  where to look or so desired to ride these things, but we have a vision of a north shore inspired trail here in Bend.

(Dave) working on the a-frame, summer 2008

We began working on ODP towards the end of summer 2008, we pin flagged a rough idea of what the trail would look like, where it would leave and rejoin with COD, and then found the spot for our first big feature and got busy. The first stuff we built on ODP were an a-frame ladder bridge over an unmovable boulder, which led into a berm, and then down another ladder that could either be rolled or launched to a wooden landing we would build.

(me) stripping bark from runners on the bridge

The work was arduous, but the four of us (Dave, Nick, Ryler, and myself) would find the time almost everyday that end of summer and into winter to get out and dig, build, rake, cut, and manipulate the earth, rock, and wood into new riding surface.

ODP 1.0 summer 2008

The building started here, that fall for COTA’s annual Biketoberfest we brought a crew of volunteers out and focused our energies on getting the pin flagged trail roughed in so we could begin riding the line. Once the trail was there all we had to do was focus on the areas where we wanted to see more features go into the flow of the trail.

(me & Ryler Sturm) ODP first features built

Once the tread was roughed in and the first few features were built, word quickly spread that there was a new trail in town and progressive features were to be its forte. Almost every time we were out building we would see new riders come through and see what we were up to. It was fun to be a  part of the the new trail buzz in town, and it fed our desires to spend all of our free time out in the woods and working on this new trail project.

(Kirt Vories) riding our first feature on ODP fall 2008

This is the first stage in the creation of the Ol’ Dirty Pirate, more on this story to come, but this is enough for now…..

 

 

 

Welcome to my reality….

(me) July 2007 Crater’s of the Moon National Monument Idaho

Here I go, my first post here on word press. My name is Seth Gehman, I am currently finishing my senior year (final term) at OSU-Cascades here in Bend Oregon. Like many I relocated to Bend after reading about the recreational accessibility and mountain town lifestyle, and when I found out the the local college had a bachelor’s degree path for tourism and outdoor leadership, I saw a perfect opportunity for me to figure out the path to a life and career in the mountain bike industry. Now five years later, I am coming to the close of this academic experience and am approaching the time to put this education and life experience to the test, and see if I can make the life a want to be leading and living a reality while not conforming to the norms that society so often likes to use to confine us to a life that is secure and determined to be “normal.”

I arrived in Bend Oregon,on July 19th 2007, with a few months to get established before the Fall term started at Central Oregon Community College (COCC) where I was to begin my lower division in Outdoor Leadership. After  fours days on the road, I closed the gap between my starting point in Mastersonville Pennsylvania and my parents home, and my new home on Hartford Avenue with the Dave and Sarah Seeley, friends from back home who had made the cross country journey earlier in the year. I had just begun the most important change in my life, but I was still unsure whether I had made the right decision or no. See, where I grew up, people don’t move very far from home, most don’t even leave the same school district or town, let alone the state, so moving all the way across the country was really the hardest part of the whole transformation. Cutting ties with the past I entered Bend unknown by almost anyone, and ready to become the person I had seen myself as all along, an dedicated mountain biker, an athlete, and and adventurer ready to pave my own way and create a reality that combined all the things I loved without chasing racing dreams and short lived successes, wanting to come to place where I could be ingrained in the culture and lifestyle that had changed my life.

(me) August 2007 on one of my first rides down Flagline

I quickly began exploring the local trail system, with my Adventure Map of the area in my hydration pack, I took every opportunity I could to discover the best rides that I could find. From Phil’s Canyon to Southfork and onto Flagline, the remaining long days of summer were spent finding the sweetest lines the local trail builders could find. Being a mountain biker from the east coast, I found myself for the first time riding with snow capped mountains in the background. I sacrificed the technical hills of the Mid Atlantic for the mellow sweeping turns of hundreds of miles of purpose built singletrack.The trade-off appeared brainless, but the move cut ties with a crew of old friends who were also my favorite people to ride and build trails with. Now I knew no one, and I felt the need to find a crew of people to ride with.

(Dave Seeley) riding basic training @ Blackrock 2007

I found my first friends in the local trail builders involved with Central Oregon Trail Alliance (COTA). A chance introduction to the freeride coordinator Sam Pinner got us out and building  legal trail with COTA. He had just gotten the green-light to begin building a skills park called the lair, and took a liking to me and Dave’s ambition to get involved in moving dirt and making things happen in the local mountain bike community.

(Sam Pinner) our introduction to the Central Oregon trail building community

Dave and I joined Sam in the pin flagging the first three lines to be built at the Lair in preparation for the first work party  to be held at this soon to be riding area. What had taken years of meetings and patience, was now quickly becoming a reality. Just before the first big build party we met who was to become another one of the new big players in the local building community. The Friday night before the build party a tall goofy guy named Nick Braun walked up and introduced himself saying he had heard about the build party on the COTA website and wanted to come check it out. We quickly took to him, and the next day at the work party he proved to be a hard worker and a competent builder.

(Nick Braun) testing some early woodwork we built together

From here the entry into the bike community was well underway. Dave, Nick, and I started attending monthly COTA meetings, getting to know the old guarding the riding and trail building community. Immediately we are dubbed the freeride crew, which at the time was like a dirty word in the the cross country riding world that was Bend Oregon at the time. By the end of the year, Nick became the new freeride coordinator and I became the new event coordinator. New blood entering the old veins of a very established building community. This was timed perfectly wit the growing movement for progressive trails in the trail system and we were there from the start to help the process take root and help guide the change in trail riding both locally and regionally.

It felt good to have found a way into the bike community so quickly, and I was eager to see where this would lead in the years to come….