They Don't Teach This in School: Building A Trail With No Formal Experience | Skidmarks MTB Ep 2

This section of trail connects two sizable drops and utilizes the speed from the first drop to carry you over two the next section without pedaling.
This trail is part of at a new MTB trail network in Vermont called the Driving Range that will be free, and open to the public. This will be a network of advance trails from "dark blue" to Double black, but all of these trails will be built so that Adaptive riders can also enjoy them. At the time of posting this, these trails are NOT open but hopefully will later this summer. This is the second video of a series of videos I will be doing about this trail.
Episode 1 • Building & Testing A T...
Episode 2 h • They Don't Teach This ...
Episode 2.5 • Clearing Trees After a...
Episode 3 • No Room For Error, Bui...
Episode 4 • No Turning Back, Build...
More Information
Where - Bolton Vermont
Name of trail System "Driving Range" Part of Richmond Mountain Trails
www.richmondmountaintrails.org/
/ richmondmountaintrails

[@travismorgan4249]

You’ve really gotten good at running that machine. Trail looks awesome!

[@PhilsWorld]

Knowing how good some of the other builders are with them, I wouldn't quite go that far, but I'm always learning and improving. :)

[@LatinaDevourer]

its lovely that you guys covered the side of the benched part with leaves for that natural look and healthy soil.

[@PhilsWorld]

i find building a trail that fits the environment to be super important, if it looks machine built it kind of takes away from the experience. Not to mention i want to help things grow back to help restore things closer to its previous state.

[@XavieRibeiro25]

Man I love this channel. Not only are you a G at riding, you're also a G at trailbuilding.

[@PhilsWorld]

Haha I appreciate it :)

[@liamgriffin7861]

The OneWheel as a trail packing tool is an epic hack!

[@PhilsWorld]

It does a pretty dang good job and makes packing quite enjoyable! :)

[@DontWorryImAPilot]

@@PhilsWorld The big question I have for you: how many times did you fall while packing? That seems like a perfectly mindless and effective way of packing...and as soon as my brain shuts off I'd go down for no reason. Did you keep a tally of how many times you fell off the OneWheel while packing the trail down?

[@PhilsWorld]

@@DontWorryImAPilot I did bail at least a handle full of times, but never fell. On some of the inclines the motor will stall out. I was tempted to pickup the one wheel new 113v GT-s. It's the extra torque that would be handy to have. Fwiw I have an aftermarket tire on my onewheel XR that's and it's a bit more of a rounded profile than the stock slick tire. This makes it better for carving turns, but also much less stable. If I went with a less rounded profile tire, I think that would make things easier.

[@DontWorryImAPilot]

@@PhilsWorld Sounds like a great excuse to get another onewheel and recruit Hailey as a second packer!

[@matt45540]

​@@PhilsWorldfloat wheel adv, the vescs are way better at stall torque! My one will just turned off while I was writing and died. Not getting another one...

[@CP-qx2ff]

for someone that's not a full time operator, Phil is too modest about his excavator skills, becoming really proficient. Nice to see some more volunteers besides Hailey to do handwork on the trail. Looks like this will be a really sweet trail when finished.

[@PhilsWorld]

Having Hailey help is invaluable. She's quite a competent builder and having her around to bounce ideas off of is super handy and she knows the vision so work together well. Sometimes with volunteers its hard to guage their experience and a lot of times they dont get the vision so for me, its hard to "manage" extra help. But having extra help is really helpful for these monotonous jobs.

[@yumcaxion9993]

It's looking great! These videos really drive home how much work it takes to build a trail like this. Prototypical labor of love right there!

[@PhilsWorld]

It really does take a lot of work !

[@SpillsonHills]

Just like riding, you make trail building look easy! Can't wait to come right that place once it's finished

[@jynx2501]

16:16 "Im gonna pretend like that case didnt happen." (Shoulders drop) Lol

[@OldManFatBike]

Wow, the title of this video should've been called "The Fantastic Features Show"!! Great video, Rico, and I really enjoyed watching this one. Of course, I gave it a thumbs-up! ❤ 😊

[@mmig2116]

Nice excavation work! Building is an awesome part of riding!

[@dognoseranger]

This is like a Ray Harryhausen stop motion. Great work you two!

[@PhilsWorld]

I'm glad someone picked up on this. I played around with the frame rate a little to get that effect. :)

[@dognoseranger]

@@PhilsWorld Perfect. Oh, and greetings from across the river in NH!

[@GreenMeanie101]

If anything it shows how much time and work goes into making trails.

[@PhilsWorld]

Yeah, it's a lot more work than people realize. It can be very satisfying work, but a lot of work nonetheless.

[@ryebread8925]

Loads of effort for this build. Great to see court ordered community service in action. Can’t wait to see what you come up with and how you use the land.

[@maricebadenhorst7023]

you are my most favorite youtuber.

[@JSxxxxxxx]

You should plant a couple Berch trees to satisfy the forest spirits lol Really nice work Phil, Haley and volley!

[@shawnwheeler878]

Dude, your videos make this 61 year old man feel young again, thanks for educational videos on trail building, really shows how much works goes into trail building.

[@mtbtube1948]

the One Wheel for packing down the surface is very clever... and efficient!

[@PhilsWorld]

Ive been thinking of ways to make it better, but its honestly one of the most efficient packing tools I've come across.

[@Jurban5]

This trail looks like a blast! Wish i lived locally to be able to ride this trail.

[@joshphillips9033]

This is the most satisfying video I have ever seen. Beautiful filmmaking Phil

[@mustt65]

i love how you make it a point to replace a lot of the shrub surrounding the trail! makes it look so much cleaner and natural unlike some trails where you can see holes dug out next to jumps/ berms and piles of shrub. keep up the awesome work!!!

[@topspot4834]

Agreed, to me that natural look is important. The whole experience is better when things don't just ride good but look good too.

[@ktvlm3987]

let me know if you need a director of b-roll on trail nights 😁 or i guess i could work a shovel 😂

[@Friskee62]

Love it...kudos to everyone who has worked on the trails.

[@jynx2501]

I could watch this all day long. Feel free to just record hundreds of hours, and upload it, unedited. Really cool stuff you and Haley are doing here.

[@topspot4834]

Just got put on to this channel and currently binging. Really amazing work Phil, your passion and obvious talent really come through in these videos. Amazing work and especially love how you kept it natural with that flow/tech mix ... Reminds me of something you'd find at Highland, which is high praise!

[@FishstixTv]

thats gunna be a rad line my guy

[@kevinpeters8372]

Love these videos. Find them very relaxing and great inspiration for when I start my trail system on my property. Looks like it gonna be killer trail🤘🏻🤘🏻

[@wg2060]

Spent 3/4 an hour watching a Tonka ad for adults. J/k very interesting and educational. The amount of work needed for a trail build is often unappreciated by many. I liked the trail riding commentary pretending that case didn’t happen.

[@00MeatPuppet00]

I dig your choice of music.

[@HaywardFamilybuilding]

Hello from California 👋

[@brienokeefe8101]

I'd just want to keep riding it over and over and would never get any real work done. Well done.

[@fuze21322132]

Thanx for sharing.Very nice work. We take the inspiration out in the woods I Denmark.

[@scotchvelo]

I love these trail building videos, Phil. They're oddly soothing, in addition to just being super well made, cool and educational. Keep up the great work.

[@NorbertFR]

Good job

[@ragomtb]

cant wait to do something like this when I get older. I could watch this forever

[@ccy8379]

THANKS FOR POSTING. iNTERESTING TO SEE.

[@fivetool]

I must be weird because I get so excited when you post a new trail build video. Keep them coming. They are so interesting.

[@PhilsWorld]

Glad you like them!

[@5Rodneyterr]

looks awesome

[@andrewmosier1828]

This trail looks so fun!

[@JJ_MTB_15]

Heck yeah phil, looks sick

[@jimbo4203]

Cool trail , y'all worked hard 👍

[@potman5683]

That Diving Board is Sick! All you need is a "Slow Down" sign just before the greasy rock before the drop. Hey can I go there this summer with my ebike?

[@PhilsWorld]

Agreed. We've obfuscated the drop lines so that your eyes steer you towards the B-line by adding a few logs on the ground. You have to snake through these to get to the drop. But before we open the trail officially we'll be adding some additional signage. Side note, sorry if you got two notifications. I originally responded to your comment under my @skillswithphil account.

[@BigP.Energy]

I love this type of video thank you

[@PhilsWorld]

I'm glad you like it :)

[@Gaps2Naps]

That looks so fun, Phil! Good work! 👊🏻

[@DynamiteLanding]

Great video

[@fivetool]

Very cool!!! 12:40

[@MartianGopnik]

This channel is inspirational and morale-boosting. I haven't even built a trail feature, let alone an entire trail; all the same, this video makes me want to pick up a shovel and start shaping dirt, lol.

[@PhilsWorld]

If you are looking to start A little test maintenance here and there goes a long way. Removing fallen branches on the trail, clearing leaves out of drainages, etc those small things have a big impact on keeping a trail in good condition. :)

[@krishawryluik8405]

Really nice work! Such great mineral soil to work with in that zone. I haven't seen you pull out a single rock. I build in conifer forests that are so rocky. I'm jealous!

[@PhilsWorld]

Just for this one segment. Once i go back into the steep stuff I started finding rock again. That section was unusually sandy, and I actually didn't like that style soil. So I'm glad to be back into grittier dirt

[@krishawryluik8405]

@@PhilsWorld like your riding vids, good to see you paying it back as a builder too.

[@DoobiesStokeShop]

love this! i build onewheel trail and use my surron to work on them when it’s wet, never thought of strapping the onewheel to the front😂the custom mount is cool!

[@tomassanesson902]

Epik awesome video

[@PhilsWorld]

Thanks man!

[@dredORDER666]

NICE' THE TIMELAPSES ARE SUM WAT SATISFYING CHEERS PHIL

[@PhilsWorld]

Thanks, i have to agree with that :)

[@markjones4896]

Dude that's an awesome trail I wish I could ride it when it's complete I live in SW New Mexico and our trails are gravelly loose and somewhat hard packed and dry keep up the good work ❤,,can't wait to see the next video

[@HaraFPS]

super sick Phil, looking great.

[@PhilsWorld]

Thank you!

[@HaraFPS]

@@PhilsWorld keep it up:)

[@thedude8471]

The music at 26:25 hits different

[@stevenkilleen8149]

Getting ready to make trails in my back yard got an acre but it's flat so thinking of best ideas too practice my dh skills and what I should rent to build them skidsteer or mini excavator amazing trail

[@InnyShears]

I really love these trail videos and the building is great, only rip is I reckon you could potentially speed up the build sections a bit and maybe cut them some more, it’ll help the process flow better. 😁🤙

[@YouME-hg2cg]

This is a good teaching video as I need to put a pathway up to my yurt platform and the mountainside and grade I need looks very similar to this. Thanks for vid... Any washout from the big storms? Hope y'all weren't affected by the flooding at all.

[@stakias310]

Phil, you are fucking surgical with that mini excavator.

[@PhilsWorld]

The editing helps hide my mistakes and makes me appear a bit more competent 😁

[@sirkorjavnik601]

All good but imo it needs a bigger jump or two mby a trick stepup at the end?

[@PhilsWorld]

Not every trail needs big jumps, they are not fun to build in a mini excavator of this size and they don't really fit the vibe of this trail. Besides, there's a whole other trail built by different builder that is only jumps.

[@thecelt4807]

Phil would a track bobcat with big bucket not be better for initial drive through to clear trail path, and then drop the bucket on floor and reverse for flattening out and compacting .. i think that would save you alot of time

[@PhilsWorld]

Skidsteers are super handy but they don't make good trail building tools especially on steep terrain like I'm building in. I have a mini skid steer and from personal experience, it's just not as versitle. Excavators while not perfect, just work better.

[@pauleddy5146]

Yep. Good stuff Phil. The greasy A line may need a rethink. Why? Because someone will come down and overcook it, thinking it'll flow like the top. My 2 cents. With inflation? Well, you know what that's worth!

[@PhilsWorld]

It's natural for it to be greasy at first as theres still some organic residue left. Once that washes off it plenty grippy

[@dirtjax6402]

Hi ❤❤

[@PhilsWorld]

Hey Jax!

[@dirtjax6402]

Yes

[@hansbuehler]

I would think you need a drain/ trench uphill of that long benched area to keep it dry and avoid erosion on the trail tread. Even if it is out sloped enough you don’t want water running over it.

[@PhilsWorld]

Normally yes, but this little bit has its own small peak, so there's not a lot of run off here. I don't explicitly talk about it, but i put a lot of thought into water management when building. It does work in our favor that the soil here is very sandy so it drains better than other parts of the trail. For what it's worth, all this was pre-flooding and i went to look at it afterwards and for how much rain we got and any erosion was fairly minor. Considering how bad some of the other trail around faired, i think we are doing pretty good. There's no such thing as a maintenance free trail, but i do my best.

[@hansbuehler]

@@PhilsWorld awesome, thanks for the reply. Seriously the most anticipated video for me is your next episode of this build! Maybe because I'm so psyched to come ride it! I only skied up those trails this winter, it's part of the Catamount trail now!

[@DarkstarDarth]

I’m curious, do you get authorized to make these trails randomly or need proper permits. Awesome job!😎🤘🏼

[@PhilsWorld]

Like many trails in Vermont, this is on private land (maple syrup operation), but it'll be open to the public. The local mtb chapter (Richmond mountain trail) is overseeing this. I have been to most of the trail days and got the go ahead to flag and build a trail.

[@nikounourbakhsh8433]

So I watched the vid about the drop on your other channel is there something different about the new vid about the drop? Should I go watch it

[@nikounourbakhsh8433]

This is not his main channel lmao I just realized

[@Friskee62]

Phil...haven't seen you in a bit, is everything ok?

[@PhilsWorld]

Haven't had much time to edit videos or even ride as I've been building almost everyday I can. I'm almost done, but the weather is starting to make things challenging.

[@CooperDH]

why don't you buy a wacker packer? it's super smooth and good for building trails

[@PhilsWorld]

I explained that in the video.

[@ryanwentland4468]

how do mange the terrain so so well

[@PhilsWorld]

I'm getting better at planning and visualizing a trail before i start digging, thats been the biggest help, but that mostly comes with experience.

[@ryanwentland4468]

Very cool! Ive always wanted to build a fun trail on our 7 acres, but the rockie mountains and steep terrain make it hard. Thanks for explaining it to me!

[@ericrollins4607]

Phil how many acres are these trails on?

[@PhilsWorld]

Just for clarifying this land here is not mine the local trail organization got access to it and I volunteered my time this summer to build a trail. I think this parcel is over 200acres, but a lot of it being used for a maple syrup operation.

[@TheDonkDonk420]

You rode that trail like 1% of the riders out there, just zooooming

[@PhilsWorld]

I'm building a trail id like to ride :)

[@MrGeoBmx]

how do you call that CAT? model etc

[@thehangoutt1239]

Who’s woods do they belong to do they belong to you.?

[@PhilsWorld]

Not my land, but I had permission to build there.

[@dirttdude]

So, you and i and, well, all mountain bikers just see the trail, and the line and the flow but city and county planners, they see things differently. They see cost, scope of project, projected maintenance and reasonable expectations of 'safety' I have to follow IMBA water management standards, there has to be out sloping, rolling grade dips, full bench cuts and there are strict switchback rules that have to meet their requirements, they hate berms unless they face down hill and they hate fall line trails of all kinds, including landing trannies, if a concerned dog walker happens across a mud puddle, they'll shut it down till summer or gravel the trail

[@frankdepasquale8715]

Wow dude that’s a lot of work congrats on that 👍🏻

[@teamohlesgars]

Good job

[@PhilsWorld]

Thank you :)