Building tips

in colorado, it means a lot of work and water. digging and learning from your mistakes is your best bet. like riding, it takes practice to do it well. be patient and have fun. the rewards are worth it.

I have some skill in this area and would possibly qualify to help. What specifically are you building? Berm, doubles, pump. I tend to like bigger jumps. yes they take a lot of dirt but the control in air is worth it. Six foot lips seem to be really popular with a gap of about 15 feet to a landing that is taller than the take off. If you see a jump in any of the 801 trails videos on my profile I can get you some pics of each angle as a starting point. Trails are about progression and they seem to change and then reinvent themselves a couple times a season. The bigger the ideas get is when digging get fun. Start building with just something rideable and then build up. Having a line to ride will keep interest high and attract diggers.

spomer is right...find a location with water access. that is the first and most important step...

trial and error is experience. i would think anyone who is setting out to build their own jumps has hit some jumps in the past. with that experience (knowing the size of the jumps you've successfully hit in the past), you can build your first jumps. even the best diggers adjust sizes, gaps and heights all the time. it's just part of the process.

Ok thanks for the help

ha ha ha @bturman Good one. Once you get used to riding jumps of that size, you can usually guesstimate how fast you need to be going, not to mention, how hard you pop off the lip changes your landing as well. Say you were coming up a bit slow to a lip, you would pop with all your might. If you were coming a bit fast, you dont really pop at all.

water water water in colorado

Exactly, its just like learning spins. Start with 90's, work through 180s, learn rollbacks, then half cabs, then try 360 tire taps, then 360s!

It will involve huge effort, patience, and time, but it is definitely worth it.

It is really true that personal practice is the best experience and any body who is willing to do hard practice will definitely get good experience.