By Ambassador Sydney Schumacher

You can’t stop two avid trail builders. My partner and I were motivated to build a trail in the backyard this winter when all our other-trail projects were under snow. We thought about putting down the tools for the winter, but then we realized, that maybe we can punch in a trail behind the house. Plus, we couldn’t resist the convivence of having something to ride right out the back door. 

The trail started with just a few berms coming down the hillside, we wanted to be low impact on our landlords’ property. But then, I kept thinking about building a step down off the irrigation canal embankment. We couldn’t help ourselves from trying, so we gathered a bunch of down trees from behind the house, debarked them, and pieced together what is now a pretty significant step-down structure. Once the step down was finished, we couldn’t stop there, so we decided to put in a shark fin and a 25-foot kicker. It all came together relatively smooth minus accidentally breaking the neighbor’s water pipe and having to fix it…Whoops.

If we learned anything, if you build it, they will come. And that’s exactly what happened at the trail’s grand opening party. We finally finished the trail after months of digging and what better way to celebrate than with some party laps and a barbeque. Riders and non-riders alike came out to rally laps on the new backyard trail and take in the views of the valley below. 

The evening was filled with slashes, party trains, and lots of hooting and hollering. Even if people weren’t riding, they were stoked to have a cold beverage in hand and watch it all take place. This might be our first backyard riding barbeque, but it sure won’t be the last.