Photo Story: Kurt Sorge's Backyard Dream Jumps From 'Demesne'

Photography by Dan Fleury // Words by Kurt Sorge

Demesne: "land attached to a manor and retained for the owner's own use"

It's been a long road to get to this point. Securing land, building a home and endless hours of work to get the jumps just right. Originally with limited machine time, necessary tweaks and changes, injuries and everything in between, this project seemed to be never ending. Last fall Kubota lent us a couple machines to complete the build and it was a marathon to the end but with the help of Alex Volokhov, friends from town, plus Clavin and Dan coming in to dig, stack and shape, the jumps came out better than I could have imagined.—Kurt Sorge

Kids in a sand box

After months of stacking dirt with Alex Volokhov and friends, Calvin Huth and Dan Fleury joined the party

Getting the chance to help Kurt finish up his yard and watch him hit and session the line top to bottom for the first time was truly unreal. Those feelings and emotions of riding something after years of hard work compare to nothing else. To me, that is the epitome of mountain biking.—Dan Fleury

Cal and Dan are no slouches when it comes to building and really helped dial in the jumps

A little warm up session on the "medium line"

Alex Volokhov was a huge help building, guinea pigging and riding the yard in

Can’t even begin to think of the total time spent sculpting the yard. A monumental task to get it to this stage and the results are simply priceless. Having this place to ride and train now is a dream come true. Huge shoutout to Kurt and everyone involved !! Let’s ride!—Alex Volokhov

Seen here testing the "driveway gap" and making sure the bottom of the landing is good to go. Back up for a Tbog

A few more hits on the wood ramps before hitting the big line

The dream wasn't just to have a huge set of jumps to practise on but to have a place for all to come hang, ride and enjoy. We have small lines, medium lines plus the big lines for all to session and progress. There's nothing more satisfying than seeing smiles on peoples faces after putting so much work into something.—Kurt Sorge

Hosing it down for the sesh

It’s not everyday you get the call from someone like Kurt to work on a project like Demesne. Knowing how much blood, sweat and tears he’s put into those jumps is humbling. Just to be a part of a project like this is the dream.—Calvin Huth

First ramp is a leaner

First ramp feels

Stretching one out for Cal

Full pin

Sideways over the driveway

Last ramp goes!

Full lap celebrations

Whips don't lie

My kind of yoga

Time to try out the new road gap

Can't believe it's not butter

Two shark fins lead you back into the last ramp after the road gap

Backflips keep you young, it's science

More please

If you randomly met Kurt on the street, you wouldn’t even know he rode, let alone being a rider I grew up watching. He’s such a wonderful guy to be around. Plus, the whole crew was a blast to work with! Grateful to walk away with so many rad new memories… Long Live Grohmania, AKA Kurtland Farms!—Calvin Huth

Left and right

The rig. Evil Insurgent

All the right bits and pieces

Need for speed

Let'er dangle

I've been a huge fan of Calvin Huth's work for a long time and was thrilled when he wanted to collaborate on this project. I had Dan in mind as the photographer after seeing his recent photography and when Cal recommended him it was meant to be. After hanging out with Cal and Dan at Rampage on a few joint builds I really admired their work ethic and personalities. This really shined through when they showed up and wanted to get to work right away. There were a "few" things to complete which led to us building all day long for the first half of the shoot just to get everything perfect. These guys are pro builders, not to mention amazing riders as well, with sets of jumps of their own and many other builds and projects under their belts. Along with Alex Volokhov, who has been by my side at Rampage ever since 2015 and one of my main riding homies, we completed what had been years in the making. I can't thank those guys enough for their efforts and laughs the whole way through and look forward to many more to come!—Kurt Sorge

That's a wrap! Huge thanks to these guys for the hard work and laughs!

And everyone else that helped along the way!

Milo on gaurd

Big thanks to Evil bicycles, Kubota equipment, Giro Cycling and Rick Schnieder (Ground Breaking) for all the support!

Posted In:
Stories Kurt Sorge

Author Info:

kurt-rider
Member since Feb 22, 2000
3 articles

7 Comments

A-BOMB-67 (Aug 20, 2021 at 8:27)

Thanks for sharing your amazing journey Kurt and congrats on fulfilling the dream in every way imaginable. You are truly an inspiration. Prost!

ryann FL (Aug 20, 2021 at 18:24)

Yeah this is super rad. Great effort and result! The vibe is high in the Koots!

DoubleCrownAddict (Aug 20, 2021 at 9:32)

All the pros around the world have their own backyard jumps and the local lines are getting destroyed. This is how the world is now, it's a metaphor for something..

mobil1syn (Aug 20, 2021 at 10:11)

@DoubleCrownAddict TIME is fleeting. walking out the back door and jump on your bike OR spend time driving somewhere to ride ...

TheLookingGlass (Aug 20, 2021 at 10:13)

It's almost like they're investing in their growth in the professional field. Wild

TheMountainViking (Aug 23, 2021 at 10:54)

That and the fact that this is what, the 3rd front page article/video on these specific jumps on pinkbike?

McArdle FL (Aug 22, 2021 at 13:47)

Living the dream!