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Chapman going with the flow

It’s all going down at Chapman Hill

After years of meetings, brainstorming, conceptual designs, and city and trail officials walking terrain, the day arrived when Durango cut a ribbon on its very own mountain biking flow trail.

On June 25, the Chapman Hill Flow Trail opened, and so did the riders, with a quarter mile of a ripping, bending mountain bike trail. Think dirt bobsledding with a series of advanced dirt jumps and even a kids section.

For years, many off-road cycling enthusiasts have longed for flow and more technical trails in the Durango area, as other off road cycling destinations have developed miles of such trails. Now, that day has come.

The three-tier project, composed of a main flow trail section, about a quarter mile of directional trail with tall berms and jumps, a section of five dirt jumps that increase in size one after the other, and an entry level section for beginning riders to get introduced to the riding style, is a special use area within a multi-use area.

“Durango is really known and admired for a share the trails ethic,” local trail advocacy group Trails 2000 executive director Mary Monroe said. “We’ve had very little user conflict, and we’d like to keep it that way. We try to look at that in a wholistic manner: how do we have a share-the-trails philosophy and then add these missing links where they are needed.”

The trail was designed by Daniel Scott of British Columbia’s Alpine Bike Parks– hired by the city – and they sent one of their best, Eric Becker, to cut the trail with an E35 Bobcat. Becker is credited with forming the famed Trestle Bike Park in Winter Park, Colorado, where he is from. Trails 2000 then came in for the finishing work.

So, what’s all this fuss about flow?

“To me, flow means a nice smooth track,” Becker said during construction, under the constant weight of afternoon storms in June. “Nice turns, and ideally you’re not braking too much. That’s the most important part of flow, a good trail alignment where you’re carrying your speed. You’re going to find a lot of berms, rollers tabletops, and step downs.”

The final result is a cause for local mountain bikers celebrate. The features are optional, and the rhythm caters well for catching air or keeping wheels on the ground. The overall construction capitalizes on the natural terrain to capture and milk inertia. In other words, it flows, and it flows well.

For riders that like to ride fast, this trail begs to be carved to pieces. It may be fair to say Durango has set a bar for cross country mountain biking culture and terrain, however, as the sport of mountain biking and its equipment progresses to incorporate a more aggressive riding style, many cried out for a new kind of trail.

“It’s a really nice element,” Monroe said. “It came after years of proposals by Trails 2000 to add some missing links to the overall trail network.”

She said the process began in 2010, when she began working with the city to map existing trails, document legitimate trails and so-called social trails- those built without approval from the city. In 2012, a natural surface trail board committee was formed to regulate trail construction, and when the entire project was completed, illegal trails would be closed and new trails would be constructed.

One social trail in particular, the beloved and illegal Kitty Charmer in Horse Gulch, aimed to fulfill that missing link, laboriously constructed on city and private property. Wildly popular, it became a sacrificial lamb of sorts that lead to mountain bikers, public land managers, the city and Trails 2000 all working together and breaking new trail on sanctioned projects to fulfill the needs of today’s new breed of mountain biker.

Durango’s Parks and Recreation director Cathy Metz said that the city heard the needs of riders, and by groups working together, progress was made.

“I think this really shows the community that we hear the desire that you have, and we are very interested in trying to accommodate those desires, to the extent that we can,” she said.

Both Metz and Monroe explained in addressing the cycling community’s needs for progressive riding, the development process was put on a fast track.

“Through the process of figuring that out, some of the social trails were closed, and the board made a motion to accept the NSBC document and to expedite the approval process so we could build some additional trails,” Monroe said.

“Since then, we’ve already built and completed the Medicine Trail (an advanced and technical trail in Horse Gulch) and built the Chapman Hill flow trail.”

Chapman and the Medicine trail, a highlight singletrack spur off Raider Ridge with technical features, and gap jumps and drop offs, are products of long negotiating and hard work, according to Monroe.

“It takes a lot of planning to figure out the exact location of where a trail is going,” she said. “There is a lot of time on the actual trail construction, but most of the time is in the planning.”

And speaking of planning, standing in the middle of the jump line amidst large square table topped features with lofty ramp transitions that hurl riders into the air, Monroe and others suggested inspecting the terrain before just dropping in.

“Don’t just go blindly ride it and not know what’s around the next corner,” she said. “See what the line is and if it’s within your capability.”

In other words, check it out first, then go with the flow.



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