Hanover Freeride MTB Park - Year End Recap
Dec 22, 2008
The Hanover Freeriders worked late into the season, and some major progress has been made in getting this park rolling and open. However, now everything is wrapped up for the year and it seemed like a good time to recap on the first season of The Hanover Freeride Park and it's trails designed to cater to the beginner to intermediate riders out here in Ontario.
To start things off the crew decided to build one trail in it's entirety as a sort of test trail to see how everything went. They decided to make a beginner freeride trail with approximately four wooden features on it. By the time the trail was complete it had five features, and it split into two trails near the end, one continuing the beginner skill level and the other branching to a medium skill level. The trail was dubbed "THE PIG". The test went very well, the local riders really liked it and the town thought it was great, so we continued construction. Here is a quick video of most of "THE PIG".
The Pig:
The Crew then moved onto making a small skinny park section. There was already an intermediate skinny at the end of "THE PIG" and a large open section of land between the two branching trails, so we decided to make our skinny park here. We decided to do the same for this little skinny park, only beginner to intermediate features. When the skinny park was complete there was 5 skinnies stuffed into a small area.
KAZ (Skinny Park):
Then it was time to bring in machines and get all the dirt in place for the dirt jumps. It was decided that all the jumps would have nice large dirt landings with wooden take offs to prevent damage being done to the lip of all the jumps as this is a public park. So all the dirt was then put in its place, packed and then we sent the machines away and started building take offs. After some of the take offs and a large dirt booter were built in the park, it was time to build a couple of advanced sized features. A large booter and a decent sized drop seemed like a good start for the season, and the perfect hill was located just off the dirt park clearing. So after a few days of building a pair of nice advanced features were complete.
Dirt Park and Advanced Features:
It was a great first summer building the Hanover Freeride Park, it has been a lot of hard work, and there is still a lot more to go. The dirt jumps still need to be completed, there is still ideas flowing like crazy and property to build it on, so if you are in the area and looking to lend a hand this spring or summer, just write to either, seniorfishbrain, radbij, or hanover-freeriders and someone will get you rolling.
Thanks
Chris
-seniorfishbrain
Hanover Freeriders
The Crew then moved onto making a small skinny park section. There was already an intermediate skinny at the end of "THE PIG" and a large open section of land between the two branching trails, so we decided to make our skinny park here. We decided to do the same for this little skinny park, only beginner to intermediate features. When the skinny park was complete there was 5 skinnies stuffed into a small area.
Then it was time to bring in machines and get all the dirt in place for the dirt jumps. It was decided that all the jumps would have nice large dirt landings with wooden take offs to prevent damage being done to the lip of all the jumps as this is a public park. So all the dirt was then put in its place, packed and then we sent the machines away and started building take offs. After some of the take offs and a large dirt booter were built in the park, it was time to build a couple of advanced sized features. A large booter and a decent sized drop seemed like a good start for the season, and the perfect hill was located just off the dirt park clearing. So after a few days of building a pair of nice advanced features were complete.
It was a great first summer building the Hanover Freeride Park, it has been a lot of hard work, and there is still a lot more to go. The dirt jumps still need to be completed, there is still ideas flowing like crazy and property to build it on, so if you are in the area and looking to lend a hand this spring or summer, just write to either, seniorfishbrain, radbij, or hanover-freeriders and someone will get you rolling.
Thanks
Chris
-seniorfishbrain
Hanover Freeriders
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59 Comments
- + 33
dj-jon
(Dec 22, 2008 at 0:41)
looks like it could be fun for an hour or two, but without bigger things people would soon lose interest.
i noticed that the landing was kinda flat too! but, that being said, there is always a learning curve when you start building trails, and these guys are on the right track. they will find what works and what doesn't. keep up the good work guys. how did you get the town to agree to it??
this is just a suggestion, but, in the skinny park, if you make one long skinny instead of a bunch of short ones that are over in 2 seconds, i think people will be more likely to actually spend time in that area, since they are not making it to the end on the first attempt, or even in their first 20 attempts, they will become determined to clean it, and that can take hours or even mutiple visits. it get very addictive!! it doesn't have to be very high, either, if it's difficult but not dangerous, even more people will try it. and get hooked!
i built a skinny 230 ft long, we've had it 2 seasons and we still go and spend hours playin' on it. with only a handful of us actually making it to the end!(which makes the guys who haven't finished it, even more determined!) cheers! and keep up the good work!
i built a skinny 230 ft long, we've had it 2 seasons and we still go and spend hours playin' on it. with only a handful of us actually making it to the end!(which makes the guys who haven't finished it, even more determined!) cheers! and keep up the good work!
looks like you spent alot of time building alot of wooden structures and trails, but you place looks fun at first then very boring after a short amount of time, you need big jumps
o ok then sorry. try get some rollers and hips in. spice it up a little
youve done a good job so far 
youve done a good job so far
The dirt jumps look insanely small, but still looks like a fun place. Make a more advanced trail with bigger table tops maybe, and people will have somewhere to progress. But I liked the big drops!
Nice work guys, atleast you are building something...
we are busy building hour own part too, but with 2 of us it's not going so fast
You should make a landing ore something for that drop in third movie. That landing to flat wasn't looking good
keep up the work
we are busy building hour own part too, but with 2 of us it's not going so fast
You should make a landing ore something for that drop in third movie. That landing to flat wasn't looking good
keep up the work
wow, everyone has gotta take the fact this isn't finished. all the footy is thrown together so you get no real feel for anything, ; landing for drop isn't finished, dj's are super smooth, people should stop bitching before they even know anything. people are f*cked in the head.
Dude, it's pinkbike, what do you expect? You've got to have thicker skin, people will say anything the want on the internet, don't take it personally. And besides, the comments I've seen here so far really aren't that bad.
infact all ive read has been constructive critisism, telling you how to improve it, not saying how bad it looks.
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Wow, just wow! any park is a good one. It gets riders together and out of trouble. Just think, 2 or 3 years from now it might be a killer park. Give it a rest. Make suggestions, not stupid negative responses. They're just starting. |My trail looked like shit in the start too, but it's awesome now!
Yea seriously just ignore everyone who bashes, it is a trail that you can build on...What more could you want? Most of us will never even have the opportunity to do something like this. Good work so far!
looking good chris. those djs look real smooth and I'm glad to hear everything is starting to come together. A lot of people on here may not realize that ANY public bike park (freeride, dh, slalom...) in ontario is a huge undertaking requiring a ridiculous amount of work BEFORE any shovels even hit the dirt. +1 to these guys for pulling it off. Southwestern Ontario is starting to look good for anyone that rides bikes these days.
Good effort guys. My suggestion is that you stay away from building skinnies that are in the 3' range high. That is where if people come off, the front wheel tucks under and there is not enough time to get the hands of the handle bars and in front to break the fall - potential for neck injuries. Build skinnies 2' and under or 5' or higher and bit wider. That way if someone is going to come off at that hight it gives them a chance to manual or wheelie off, or at least get their hand out to protect themselfs. On skinnies at 2' or lower the front wheel will not tuck under and the chance is that the rider will just poggo off and not even go over the bars. Good luck!
keep up the good work, damn people you were a beginner at one time(many still are) and the fact there is a local park to ride is bada$$
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props to you guys for getting out and building. gotta start somewhere and atleast you're getting out and making it happen! good luck with everything!
Everyone should lay off the negative comments. Parks take a long time to build and they have made a decent start. Now they can go back and work on it some more next year and improve it. you should have seen my local park when it first opened, it makes this place look like heaven.
it is still very early in the stages, it's not really opened.next season all signage will be up, once again, still very early stages
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Keep up the good work!
It gets a little tuff to take the "You know what you should do comments" that perpetually come but keep going - you know the effort and sacrifice you've made to protect the interests of those who only ride & critisize.
At a recent Trails Strategy Open House, put on by the province of BC, (their strategy for multi use trails & their vision of a World Class Trails System)the moto users couldn't figure out the concept that if you organize & use the system to legitimize then you don't have to fight to keep something after it is already gone??? Hmmmmm...
It gets a little tuff to take the "You know what you should do comments" that perpetually come but keep going - you know the effort and sacrifice you've made to protect the interests of those who only ride & critisize.
At a recent Trails Strategy Open House, put on by the province of BC, (their strategy for multi use trails & their vision of a World Class Trails System)the moto users couldn't figure out the concept that if you organize & use the system to legitimize then you don't have to fight to keep something after it is already gone??? Hmmmmm...
looks like a good start.
might be worth the drive from over here in michigan
to come check it out next summer!
might be worth the drive from over here in michigan
to come check it out next summer!
Some of you need to realize something....i've been to hanover. Don't blink or you will dive right through it and not even know it.
For a town this small to get a park together in a place like ontario, I say good on them...regardless of how good or bad it is.
For a town this small to get a park together in a place like ontario, I say good on them...regardless of how good or bad it is.
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tbh, besides the 'advanced features', id say theres better riding in my back garden atm, but deffo keep going with it, it just needs berms etc to keep the flow and the speed going...
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good for you guys! its not that great right now, (good work though) but give it a couple more seasons and it should be pretty cool!
Keep up the good work!
It gets a little tuff to take the "You know what you should do comments" that perpetually come but keep going - you know the effort and sacrifice you've made to protect the interests of those who only ride & critisize.
At a recent Trails Strategy Open House, put on by the province of BC, (their strategy for multi use trails & their vision of a World Class Trails System)the moto users couldn't figure out the concept that if you organize & use the system to legitimize then you don't have to fight to keep something after it is already gone??? Hmmmmm...
It gets a little tuff to take the "You know what you should do comments" that perpetually come but keep going - you know the effort and sacrifice you've made to protect the interests of those who only ride & critisize.
At a recent Trails Strategy Open House, put on by the province of BC, (their strategy for multi use trails & their vision of a World Class Trails System)the moto users couldn't figure out the concept that if you organize & use the system to legitimize then you don't have to fight to keep something after it is already gone??? Hmmmmm...
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Its a really good idea to make a park, but it seems like the "trails" are just a couple of paths in the woods with bridges. They don't really have any challenging obstacles or any other aspects to them.
thats cool, But it needs to be build better, Smoother landings on the drop. you can do it by hand. The advanced dirt park could be a little bigger stuff like 10 foot gaps
It's an excellent start guys, keep it up. Do you have directions? I'll make a point of dropping by once the snow melts......
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all the best to you guys. looks good so far. myself and a few others tried to get somethng going in my town and were shot down befor we finished the proposal at the town meeting. especially being in the niagara escarpment "green belt". i cant even put a shed in my back yard, letalone a park like this. it will take time, and u just gotta keep goin. ingore the BS comments.
for those of you who are talkin trash about the park so far.. what have you done to build parks. " oh, uh, nothin i just ride around my little town and kick over trashcans for fun.." shut up.
atleast these guys are out makin it happen.
for those of you who are talkin trash about the park so far.. what have you done to build parks. " oh, uh, nothin i just ride around my little town and kick over trashcans for fun.." shut up.
atleast these guys are out makin it happen.
just my opinion but these guys are just wasting there time...they should research this shit to find out whats good and what people are interested in before building....even the dirt jumps suck...i could make any of this shit in my back yard with out knowing anything
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