Friday, May 1, 2009

Ann Arbor public trails...

A few years ago, O.G. Deliverance artist, printer and good buddy Sean Rakos built some trails in some trashy woods by the river in Ann Arbor. The area he chose was littered with broken glass, thick brush, buried trash and even homeless people, who Sean would scare away just with his intimidating presence (and a shovel). It seemed like a really bad place to build jumps, to be honest. By the time he moved to Texas, the trails were really taking shape and Thomas Hosford (pro welder/fabricator and freeride MTB ripper) who had been building and riding with Sean, took them over and dialed them in. The last time I rode them was on April 29th, 2005 and they were super fun. I remember the date because it was two days before I had the really scary crash and subsequent shoulder injury at the Matt Sparks jumps. Today is the anniversary of that event, which I would prefer to forget at this point. My protruding right collarbone serves as a constant reminder, however (sorry, I always have to make it about me, don't I?). Unfortunately, Sean's trails were right next to a bike path so they were a little too high profile and the city of Ann Arbor tore them down. By no small feat, Thomas, pictured here riding the original jumps, rallied the troops and somehow convinced the city to allow them to build public dirt jumps, which came to fruitition last year. I haven't been to them yet, but they look super fun in this video. Here's to you, Thomas, for your efforts, and for keeping Sean's dream alive.



3 comments:

PJD said...

What's the exact location of said AA diret jumps?

PJD said...

er dirt jumps

Delivererer said...

on the river, westside, bike path, near 14 pretty easy to find