Stories posted under Pinkbike Community blogs are not edited, vetted, or approved by the Pinkbike editorial team. These are stories from Pinkbike users. If a blog post is offensive or violates the Terms of Services, please report the blog to Community moderators.

The Rogue Jumps That Could: A Story Of Bike Park Liberation

Apr 9, 2018 at 20:40
by connor j runge  
The Rouge Jumps That Could: A Story Of Bike Park Liberation

It all started In August 2014, when two young dirt jump enthusiasts from 100 Mile House, British Columbia had their current step up line poached for what seemed like the hundredth time that summer. Trash from groms and ciggy butts from, well people who smoked ciggies, littered the ground around the patch of dirt that the boys spent arguably to long building. Fed up with the lack of respect for the ‘grom power’ put into the two lines that were “hidden” in the forest about 5 minutes from the nearest sub-division, Dalton Anderson and Connor Runge had enough and set off into the woods in search of a clutch area for the Dream Spot that we can all relate to fantasising about.

The man going all in might be a no foot can might be.

Big Daddy Derkson Dickin’ out his feet while absolutely blasting the original trick line.
Photo: Dalton Anderson


Obviously, we needed enough space to put a dialed line in, we also needed a water hook up, that was a necessity. Especially when building jumps in our dusty town! A few days were spent searching and scouting for an area that would satisfy our need to do manual labour for free. It wasn’t until we found this spot that we knew we struck gold, well more-so some quality dirt, a beautifully placed water fall (you can’t make that stuff up), and some perfect landscape. We figured that we might be onto something that could work out in our favor. We put some shovels into the moist river bed soil and momentum picked up quickly.

Views: 2,568    Faves: 35    Comments: 2


Max Loukidelis's awesome video of the 2017 Fall Jam!






Views: 5,352    Faves: 89    Comments: 8


Keaton Carruther's Rad Video Of Fall Jam 2015

Rest In Peace T10 We miss ya

A huge flip Bar by the late T10 (Tyler Tenning) Photo By: Keaton Carruthers


It was a beautiful summer after we found this spot, dreams coming true everyday with bigger and badder lines always coming in hot. It was sight to see, both groms and Old boys alike coming together to get a shovel out and get packing on some of the best dirt they have ever seen. (Did I mention there was never any rocks? I think We found like 2 this entire time. 2!) It was what every person who has ever built a jump would want to see, raw effort combined with enough inspiration and lust to build jumps that Jay Hoots would be frothing. We had our first competition-style event on the spring of 2015, we called that banger “Spring Jam”, creative, I know. The hype was beginning to rise and publicity was increasing…


photo
The man; Dalton Anderson cruising a three for the boys on the trick jump line. Photo: Pieter Stoffel


Another season passed and our secrete jumps grew larger and the interest of the community grew as well, which of course is double edged sword… our secrete jumps were no longer a secrete. The cat was officially out of the bag. With all the glory, wonder, and creativity that we had felt with our town’s jumps there was a considerably large catch, our Back Woods inspired dream bike park was built on the Town Council’s Door Step. Now I wish I could say that I was over exaggerating but I unfortunately am being literal. Our clutch spot of awesomness was built in the small Town of 100 Mile’s summer gem of a public park. I was amazed when we first got called to a city council meeting that it took so long for the antagonist city to notice our public malfunctions in the back woods of the Centenial Park, being it with our insanely loud, generator powered music, as well as our classic British Columbian Chainsaws brapping into the late night. Maybe it was the gallant water fall roaring over or shenanigans in the woods that kept our strange civilisation so discrete for as long as it did.

Photo Taken by Simon McLaine

Connor Runge Going For an ol' flip tuck Photo By: Simon Mclaine of Mclaine Media

Shabop now that s a nice lawfty three
Big Daddy Derkson Dumping Out a juicy 3 on the new trick jump.
Photo: TJ O’laney

Go to the top of the ride down.
Soren Farenholtz Climbing up to the top of the ride down that links into the trick jump.
Photo: Max Loukidelis


Now this is the part where it gets relatable; as far as most of the boys I grew up riding with and I’m sure most of you have experienced, putting it into work on a set of jumps on what you may have assumed was well off City property. Then having some fun and a good ol sesh on your sick new line for maybe a week or two. And of course, the inevitable happens; you find yourself returning to what you think is going to be your jump line with promises of fun and unforgettable memories and see that the district has done their job and flattened, like your dreams, any thing that was unsanctioned and hazardous. Of course, being young and ignorant to the fact that unsanctioned trails equal trails delete, especially if they are on city property and if they are obviously dangerous, no one wants that liability and they will get taken down. We would get upset every time that we returned to flattened dirt and a blank space were our jumps used to be. Being so familiar with that tradition of tare down, we were understandably shook when we heard rumors of complaints going to the mayor’s office about our rouge jumps in the woods.


Nice whip for the kids.

Dalton Anderson is the man, especially when sending it this hard.
Photo: Pieter Stoffel


It was time to take action.

We had to protect our peaceful way of life up in the woods. With the threat (maybe threat isn’t the right word for it, but it sure felt threating) of the city opening up an old road to access and bulldoze our jumps we had to do something. (Side note: The jumps were so perfectly positioned that it would be a real mission for anyone to get a vehicle to them, let alone heavy machinery, this probably played a large part in keeping our jumps free of demolition) We took the democratic route with our protest. We arranged for a town council hearing and got a date booked for the next month. This gave us enough time to go to the local high school, hockey games, and bush parties and collect as many signature that we could all stating how important it was that we kept our spot alive, which in turn was creating an epic place for the youth to ride and hang out, which of course our dry town greatly lacked. By the end of our signature taking spree we had over 500 people sign our petition, not a bad collection.

Cruising the OG hip


More classic steeze from Dalton Anderson while riding on the OG line’s classic mega hip.
Photo:
Pieter Stoffel


When the time came for our city council meeting, tension was high. The city was understandably chapped at us for creating this unstoppable mega masterpiece right under their nose. But we weren’t backing down. We got a proper ear full from the people that run the city, but we had the patience to hear them out and thankfully they had more patients and listened to us.

Here he blows blasting the hip as per usual
The boys just wanna have fun! Dalton Anderson on the masta blasta hip, while flowing the hip line.
Photo: Connor Runge



For the next few weeks we danced to the political rhythm until the city council had come up with their verdict. In suspense we got the phone call that stated we were allowed to keep the jumps, with some understandable conditions that come with granting a group of early 20 year old’s the hypothetical key to the Town’s new bike park.
First of all; we, the riders and the builders must come up with the yearly insurance. The insurance is a typical bike park insurance. Just a redundancy for the liability that comes with a public bike park.
Secondly; we must create a GPS map of our area that shows where we plan to expand and how much of the land now is bike park.
The third condition; We as the rider and builders must create a “master plan” that includes our plans and ideas for the area for the next few years. These plans must include jumps and skill park that will cater to a wider variety of riders (ie; beginners.)

Come in hot Drop that shoulder Rotate look for the back tire done
Young man Mitchel Wilden (Grade 12 Mitch) cruising a nice 3 on the step up.
Photo: Kai Grinyer

What is the future for the jumps?
As stated in our third condition we have to create a master plan. We were able to team up along side Jay Hoots to create a visual representation of what we have in mind for the area. Our plans include a beginner’s spot, a sizable XC loop, a few down hill trails, some north shore features and an extended couple big jumps for the slope line (which is a given). A meeting will be held this month in 100 Mile House to pitch the master plan and once the melt has finished we will hopefully be able to get the shovels into the mud and get going! Yeehaw.

Pose for the picture baby
Connor Runge And Dalton Anderson Posing for a picture after a successful Fall Jam. Connor is kitted in climbing gear for the sweet zip line we installed. Photo: Max Loukidelis


If ya wanna come ride some jumps, come ride some jumps!
We are in the back of centennial park in 100 Mile House BC Canada. With all the political strife that we have been working through, we haven’t gotten on trail forks. But we will be added sooner than later.
Approach instructions: You will park in the parking lot at centennial park, there is a seasonal gate that opens in May and closes in October. If the gate is closed, you can park in the art gallery’s parking lot at the top gate. Once past the gates walk towards the purple bridge and take your first right and stay right walking towards the water fall, then you will go down the hill, through the gully, and than take the quick switch backs to the top and you are there. (Approach time from lower parking lot, 10 minutes)
If you’d like to be notified about the next seasonal Jam, please find the jumps on facebook @ The Slope Line, and @the_slopelinejumps on the Instagram

Author Info:
connorjrunge avatar

Member since Jun 4, 2010
2 articles

0 Comments







Copyright © 2000 - 2024. Pinkbike.com. All rights reserved.
dv42 0.021786
Mobile Version of Website