I/we (Meadowlarks) hope everybody had a good time yesterday! We are all volunteers there, nobody takes a penny home with them. We joined because my younger brother and dad were members, and now my kids have enjoyed their sport for 11 years, with Meadowlarks being their "second home" in the summer and Ramjams in the winter (2 awesome tracks!!) Grant was at the track Mon night for hours, I was there Tues morn from 8:15-12:45pm, and Mike, Jake, Jarod, Bernie etc all spent time out of their day to provide a place to ride on a Tuesday, a day when no other track is open.
My worst 2 critics are my 2 teenage sons, not Premix, or anybody else on here that spouts negativity or bashes a track unnecessarily. Without a doubt, we (any track) needs to put out a good, safe product. Without a doubt yesterday Meadowlarks put out a good, safe product. Personally, I focused on ripping the corners deep, watering them, turning them over, ripping them deeper, watering them again etc so that they form nice ruts. All of the faces of jumps were touched up, track was ripped deep, prepped very nicely, not perfectly, but she was ready for some good practice!!!
The dirt/sand/clay is rather challenging to prep because it changes every 100 feet. We have 20 or so mounds of dirt piled up behind the boxcar to add to the track, along with other additives to break up the hard spots. It is and will be a process, some places will need to be soaked with water more than others, because they dry out faster, some places ripped deeper, and then there is the sand.
There was discussion on which day to run practices, and I/we were able to commit to Tuesdays, with one reason being that we wouldn't step on anybodys toes locally (Wed/Smith....Thurs/Apple Cabin....other tracks make their money on the weekends). So, on Monday we will start to prep for Tuesdays practices, then I will take my boys riding Smith on Wed, Apple Cabin on Thurs, and drive further on the weekends and support the other tracks. Each and every track we have been to, have had good days and bad days. If a particular track continued to disappoint us, we would not go there until the issue was attended to. Each and every track has been overwatered, dusty, rain rutted, neede to split riders, quads with bikes etc...........
I committed to prep Amherst for Tuesdays, as did some other great guys. I see/saw the strengths and weaknesses and will stress to attend to anything that we can make better. Personally, I have 2 teenage boys that love to be challenged on a track, but as a parent, I'd rather see them stay on 2 wheels and not get hurt. As I said, my worst critics are my sons, I/we will listen to ideas/complaints, and we will attend to them, prioritizing, starting with safety. So, if anybody has any solid ideas, good/bad but legitimate/constructive?negative criticism, I/we are all ears.
I/we hear a lot of good, positive things non-stop, so a critique now and then is expected. Please present your positive/negative comments in a way that they will be heard (that would go for any track, anybody can spout off and make brash comments, Ive done it myself!). My assessment of yesterdays practice............corners were sweet, 90% ofthe track was awesome, jumps were safe and maintained, and we need to soak the back section heavier first thing in the morning or the night before. There isn't a perfect track, but the tracks that we will support are the tracks that continue to improve, and listen to the majority, not the minority.
Hope to see everybody at our next practice/race!!
My worst 2 critics are my 2 teenage sons, not Premix, or anybody else on here that spouts negativity or bashes a track unnecessarily. Without a doubt, we (any track) needs to put out a good, safe product. Without a doubt yesterday Meadowlarks put out a good, safe product. Personally, I focused on ripping the corners deep, watering them, turning them over, ripping them deeper, watering them again etc so that they form nice ruts. All of the faces of jumps were touched up, track was ripped deep, prepped very nicely, not perfectly, but she was ready for some good practice!!!
The dirt/sand/clay is rather challenging to prep because it changes every 100 feet. We have 20 or so mounds of dirt piled up behind the boxcar to add to the track, along with other additives to break up the hard spots. It is and will be a process, some places will need to be soaked with water more than others, because they dry out faster, some places ripped deeper, and then there is the sand.
There was discussion on which day to run practices, and I/we were able to commit to Tuesdays, with one reason being that we wouldn't step on anybodys toes locally (Wed/Smith....Thurs/Apple Cabin....other tracks make their money on the weekends). So, on Monday we will start to prep for Tuesdays practices, then I will take my boys riding Smith on Wed, Apple Cabin on Thurs, and drive further on the weekends and support the other tracks. Each and every track we have been to, have had good days and bad days. If a particular track continued to disappoint us, we would not go there until the issue was attended to. Each and every track has been overwatered, dusty, rain rutted, neede to split riders, quads with bikes etc...........
I committed to prep Amherst for Tuesdays, as did some other great guys. I see/saw the strengths and weaknesses and will stress to attend to anything that we can make better. Personally, I have 2 teenage boys that love to be challenged on a track, but as a parent, I'd rather see them stay on 2 wheels and not get hurt. As I said, my worst critics are my sons, I/we will listen to ideas/complaints, and we will attend to them, prioritizing, starting with safety. So, if anybody has any solid ideas, good/bad but legitimate/constructive?negative criticism, I/we are all ears.
I/we hear a lot of good, positive things non-stop, so a critique now and then is expected. Please present your positive/negative comments in a way that they will be heard (that would go for any track, anybody can spout off and make brash comments, Ive done it myself!). My assessment of yesterdays practice............corners were sweet, 90% ofthe track was awesome, jumps were safe and maintained, and we need to soak the back section heavier first thing in the morning or the night before. There isn't a perfect track, but the tracks that we will support are the tracks that continue to improve, and listen to the majority, not the minority.
Hope to see everybody at our next practice/race!!