I was up at the Donner Pad this weekend and had good times shredding gnar with fellow Riders Union members Jay, Ryan and Dave at Squaw on Saturday. The weather wasn't great but we did manage to drink some beers and create stoke with the mini-shred. RU member Ryan said he'd bring his miny flood light that we can set up for the Jib Sesh when the sun goes down. All night long, suckers.
I also spent some time putting together ideas for backyard jib session features that will be slayed super hard at The Riders Union this year. There are about 5 different hits and jibs that can be sculpted to create super happy good times. I thought you guys might like to get a feel for the surroundings even though these pictures are pretty shitty. Don't blame me: the light was flat and I used my damn iphone camera.
This first area in the picture above is where a few jumps will be set up. To the right out of sight is the mellow snow-covered driveway where speed can be gathered. The "bigger" jump in the foreground was a bit too steep. I hit it about 5 times and was launched much too high and didn't travel far enough. When all is complete, this hit will carry you about 10 feet to a hip landing. I also put together and sessioned a smaller bump to the right of the "big" jump that gives a small amount of pop to clear the five foot walkway gap. This was a lot easier to build and super fun.
This second snap gives a bit of perspective. On the left is the natural hill where the small hip wall will be built (landing for the "big" jump described above). On the snow horizon you'll see a few branches. This is where the hill goes down towards the lake and the descent is the perfect pitch to land on. You can't see it in the picture but there is another small bump right before the drop that I hit this weekend. This descent is also perfect to gather speed on for other features that will be put together on the lake bed. Donner Lake is drained a good amount during the winter months it's just a flat area of snow. Down there is where we will set up the corrugated pipe for jibbing adventures.
There are many other ideas as well which I've never really put together before. One that interests Matt and I (my brother who knows the lay of the land) is a run-in down the snow covered stairs to the snow packed dock and off the end where there is about an 8 foot drop to nice lakebed pow-pow (don't worry, we can build a tranny). If we can pull off this set up (manpower and snow conditions permitting) there will be many celebrations all throughout The Riders Union Jib Sesh 2010.
