I've got a real good start on my old trails and I'm looking for some people in the Dupage area to help do some digging. We could have a killer spot with a little work, most stuff is already here and we'd just need to build it larger and do some grooming. I've been working on them a little this spring and a hand would be nice. The spot has been around for years so a face lift is in order. Thanks MIKE

Let me know when you get it dialed in...would love to come shoot some photos.

Best,

M

Yep, thats what I thought. Tons of keyboard BMXers here.

depends where your at in dupage co.
hopefully the sw side of the county
i live in lasalle county (peru, il.) now and have NOWHERE to ride or for my 9n either
everywhere we ride is an hour to an hour and a half a way so your about the same distance
i'd be glad to at least come up to check them out for a day and work with ya, maybe get a little riding in, but i'm down.. especially being laid off and summer break in 2 weeks we'll be putting in alot of time somewhere
pm me when you get a chance

joel

I barely have time to ride the skatepark down the street, let alone dig. Sorry, dude. Are these the Villa Park jumps? There are a lot of "mother-may-I" spots around here that probably take away from your potential pool of diggers; it makes it hard to get something going in a place that might get plowed when you have places like Plainfield or Lane Tech occupying people's time.

Can we get a list of Chicago-Area trails posted up here? Seems so much of this stuff is strictly word of mouth...and I'm sure people like it that way. But I'd love to go shoot some DJ shots sometime.

Best,

M

Since they're common knowledge and have the consent of the security apparatus, the two I mentioned (Plainfield and the Garden in Chicago) would be good to go shoot photos at, with the latter maybe being more visually appealing. Mountain bikers are involved in both of these spots. See Cambr.org and chicagofreeride.net for more info.

everyone wants to ride, no-one wants to dig.

i'm down to dig, i got two arms and 3 shovels to bring
somebody pm me about them while i'm laid off and have time to come up there

CAMBR.org

They have got Plainfield going and were able to get the City of Chicago to agree to "The Garden".

Who would have thought a place for legal dirt jumping in the city, they also have a pump track.

CAMBR also is in the process of building a pump track in Carpentersville.

Hopefully ground breaking will be in a month or two.......

Chuck the Elgin track operator and his son are heavily involved with that.....

Cambr West has alot of guys that ride both bmx and mtb.

They're always looking for new spots to preserve.....

http://cambr.org/SMF/index.php?board=3.0

am actually thinking about heading up to plainfield on Wed morning and ride most of the day. We'll see what happens, but thinking it will be a 90% chance I'll be there unless rain.

I stopped by and checked that place out this week and wasn't sure what to make of it. The jumps didn't seem to have much of any lip to them and they were all about 2.5 feet aross even the bigger ones. Its not for BMX dirt jumpers or trail riders, Its a MTB park and its geared more for them. Thats what I think after riding it this week. I understand its a newer place to ride so I'd guess work is still being done to get it going.

ya i made it out to plainfield for the first time this week also
i don't want to complain much because i wasn't involved with any of the planning since i just found out about it a month ago
the pump track was smaller than i thought it was going to be, i actually rode past it about 3 times before i realized it was tucked away in the corner there
the jumps with the exception of one hadn't been worked recently at all but then again the sunday prior to my attendance we had like 24 hours of rain that i'm sure took a toll on them
the "expert" line wan't even ridable because there were to many rocks buried on the surface of the jumps and the lips were incredibly wore down
next time and to anyone else who rides there plan to bring a broom/rake and maybe a shovel
i couldn't find the buckets they designate for moistening up the jumps before riding either and they were dry
i personally was suprised how short the gaps were
the expert line was like a 7 ft gap and the next line lower was at 5.5 feet long peak to peak
it was however a blast to go there and its a plus that we can't get chased out of there by the cops
if you check the cambrwest site they do have workdays scheduled and i will do my best to attend a few of them as scheduling and availability permit since i plan to ride there about once a week now that i know about it, but i live about an hour or so away so i kinda have to have a free day to make it out to ride and/or work
but i highly recommend all the riders who take advantage of it to help out with a little daily maitenance as its needed sometimes before you enjoy riding it
the more we take this place for granted the sooner it will turn to crap and or become not what it was meant to be
props to cambr for this and hope to see you at a work day sometime in the future

has anyone been to the garden by chance??
i'm hoping to make the 2 and half hour drive to check them out in the near future also
sorry about the complaining though

it might sound like it but i'm not affiliated with cambr in any regards, i just found out about them also
just saying, try not to take it for granted and let it go downhill before all of their hard work by these people is justified
growing up i spent 10 years building trails that would just get plowed once they really took shape, now we finally have something that could be huge so lets not lose it

I am a CAMR memeber, but more of an MTB'r.

I was involved heavily with bmx through 2001, now I ride singlespeed MTB.

Anyway....

Kevin Marley is probally the most influential guy, he got this off the ground and has put uber hours into it.......

They've put alot of time in just getting this thing off the ground, Plainfield will only get better, Plus if you get out there enough you will find the main players are there constantly, it will not die.

Show up on the workdays, lend a hand and give some input, they will listen.

As far as the lips and dirt, etc....

Read some of the posts, they are struggling daily with RC cars, kids ruining lips, etc.

The dirt was the best they could get at the time.

Remember they've had limited resources, and it's an all volunteer orginization.

There are now two LEGAL places which will not get tore down.

The Garden has been around for a long time and was on the verge of being leveled by the Chicago Park district, but they organized and saved it.

I know they have an MTB feel, but most of the guys have BMX roots, own and ride bmx bikes and embrace all kinds of riding....

ya i sent kevin marley a pm this morning actually, i came across a crapload of dirt from the naperville/aurora area via craigslist that is free and its all clean black dirt, no clay unfortunately but no rocks either
ya when i was out there this week there were a couple of guys with their rc cars, they were respectful in the fact that they stayed out of our way and kept to the pump track but were also seeing how far they could go without someone saying something to them
needless to say they ended up getting the park district called on them...though i'm sure they didn't learn their lesson yet

Who found the dirt on craigslist? LOL

BTW, Cambr has 3 chapters......

Cambr North and Palos are more MTB....

Cambr West is the Chapter which is in charge of Plainfield and The Garden.

They are much more freeride/BMX oriented.....

They're not like regular dirt jumps, or even BMX track jumps - they're really more like dirt spines. The bigger ones are pretty burly - I've seen BMX guys boost pretty high over them.

I dunno. I'll probably go out there again some time this year, but around here I've got street and parks spots higher up on the list.

hey.. can somebody pm me directions to the trails up in elmhurst, or elk grove village?
thanks

+1 Please!

Here's a little video from he Garden in Chicago......

http://www.vimeo.com/5683269

These trails are supported by the park district......

http://www.thegardenjumps.com/