Dontés Inferno

This is the blog of my backyard trails I'm building. I'm 35 and love to ride street and trails. My current bike setup is a 26" NS Capital w/ a mix of parts. The trails are named after my dog, Donté. Big plans for the yard. Started 4-9-18.

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Speaking of rain this is all I’ve gotten completed. Not much I know… but the rain has been non-stop… Er… Well, always on my days off anyway. Oh also I’m kinda lazy. That’s not worth mentioning though.

So, anyways, the plan currently is to widen the trail. Not for any reason more than to gather more dirt. My lil dirt pile there needs to grow really bad!

My original thought was to build up a double pump roller… For thoughts of obtaining speed. Now, I’m thinking I’m going to just make it a double. I think I’ll have the speed needed. Plus that’d be less dirt.

I’m still planning on building up a berm after this though. Which will take even more dirt… Ugh.

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Digging the trail down some... So far with the amount of rain I've been getting it's not been holding water any. Which is very good. Except I fear it's only due to the fact it's a slight down hill. So, where my fear really lies is that at the bottom is where I'm going to have flooding issues. Oh well... Time will tell and drainage can be dug.

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Ok.... So, I lied to myself. I have not finished the deck yet. Got home late with only about 30mins of sun light left... I decided to dig due to that. Then, due to the steepness of the roll in, I'm going to have to dig down a bit more and give it some tranny, I've decided. The bottom was just too kinked and kicked weird. Anyways, what we got here in the pictures is the beginning of digging! Remember I only had bout 30mins of dig time... so don't judge to harsh. You can see the trail being dug down starting to form the transition I was talking about needing, in the first picture. Due to digging down so deep I think drainage is going to be a pain... but honestly that's something I'll have to keep in mind but not really worry about till closer to the end. The second picture is just showing where the double pump roller is starting. Nothing much to see yet really... but I just felt like sharing nonetheless. One last thing. The dirt is actually better then I I originally thought. My house has a basement and apparently when they dug it out this is where the dirt was placed and left. I'm hoping when I get to the more flat spot in the yard it's still as nice... time will tell. I lived in another part of town before here and the dirt was horrible. Very rocky. I mean very rocky. This dirt has rocks... but NOTHING like my old place. Well... Until next time folks

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So… Here’s this. Nothing to brag about, but it does show it won’t fall apart. Probably not the best roll in but it should work good nuff.

After rolling in a few times on the piece of crap I think my first thing to build is a double roller. A little bit of a double pump and then a berm. After the berm we can see how much speed I have. Hopefully a double or a four pack… Idk. Nonetheless I shall start with the double roller after the deck is completely removed.

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Janky as hell… but all is fun and games at Dontès Inferno. Well, at least until someone loses an eye or breaks something anyways.

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This thing is so hideous looking! I find it rather funny and fitting. Recycled wood and screws, just basically thrown together with "on the fly" planning and no real forethought. It's fucking great!

Everything is secure and safe... Looks aren't everything, ya know? Hahahaha

Once I finish this monstrosity, it's back to the deck removal... That or carving out a path in the grass and stacking the dirt. Maybe starting the first jump or possibly roller and a berm... Idk yet. Haven't really thought the trails completely out yet. I've got plenty of ideas though!

I do know the trails will be more planned than this roll in and definitely nicer looking. Dontès Inferno can't look like all crap. Hahaha

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Working time! So, I've been lazy on removing the rest of the deck. It will happen... eventually. It's just not a top priority right now. Currently focusing on the roll in. As you should be able to obviously tell. In the spirit of being cheap I'm trying to make this look "janky" as all get out and I'm cutting wood slightly uneven... I'm sure you will see more of what I mean on the next post if not others yet to come.

It's Dontès Inferno... It's hell. It shouldn't look nice. Hahahaha

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Taking a little break from posting trail progress here...

Riding a bike has changed so much... and very little all at the same time. It's kind of crazy. I started with BMX during the "mid-school" era. A great time to ride.

I'm not sure what drew me to BMX... All my older brothers were skateboarding. I did that too as well... and honestly I wasn't that bad at it. Still skate even. Not much but enough to say I still do it! Something led my heart to BMX though.

My first job was at the local bicycle shop. Building new bikes up, repairs on customers bikes and selling GT, Dyno, Free Agent, and MTB stuff... Trek and Giant mostly.

I was the kid who got a driver's license, a car and then just rode my bike more EXCEPT at further destinations.

Back then I rode anything and everything! Street, trails, park... basically in that order too. Street was my true love. Trails were great fun... but I rode brakeless (still do). Trails and being brakeless is sketchy... Yet fun. It's all about control!

Sometime in my early to mid 20s I broke my wrist... A second time. I was young and dumb. We all were once (or still are). Due to that I had to lay off my bike. Started skating more due to that time. Years went by and I never got back to riding. Sold my Standard STA 500 to an old friend who desperately needed a bike. Then at 28 I experienced the joys of going through cancer treatment! Oh what fun!

Once that was done and I started getting my strength back I had an itch to ride again. My wrist was still sore if pushed wrong. So, I looked at my options. Found a sweet deal on a 26" Eastern Thunder Bird. Figured 1) a bigger bike may be nice 2) it's a BMX company I was familiar with 3) it had front suspension which may help my wrist.

That frame was awesome! The fork and rest of it were shit. It did what it needed to though... It got me back to riding. Then, practicing foot jams on the nose at the park I stretched the headtube.

It was my fault... Not Eastern. I didn't properly tighten the headset at some point.

Fell out of riding again due to that... Eventually got a job and getting paid... Then found a sweet deal on a NS Capital frame. That which I'm riding now. Picked it up and set it up. Ao, here I am now.

35... Living life and still doing what I do. Riding bikes!

Sorry for the randomness of this post... Just typing what came to mind and not rereading it. Hope it comes out easy to read.

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Here's the dirt... Very rocky. Not cool. I foresee me needing to purchase some clean fill dirt to do all I plan to do. Which kinda sucks... Being that I'm cheap and trying to spend as little as possible. I will be digging without purchased dirt as much as I can of course! Though, with all that I plan to fit in and knowing how rocky my yard is, clean fill will be needed.

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Here's what I've got going for right now... Let me explain something before I going details about the pics.

I'M CHEAP. I'm reusing as much I can and spending as little as possible on all this.

So, with that said in the first pic you can see the wood from the top of the deck. I plan on using that for the roll in.

Which brings us to the second pic. The frame of the steps from the deck. Flipped over, I think, they will work just fine for a frame of a roll in. Nothing fancy. (Obviously) I will need to build a deck yet for it... but you get the idea.

Then the last pic is my "new" sifter. Previously, it was the gate to the deck... Now it will surfice to be a sifter attempting to keep rocks out of unwanted places...

With that last pic, it will lead to my next post...

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Ok… So, I’ve not posted much for a little bit now. One reason for that is due to Tumblr not letting me upload anything but text. I’ve been trying to upload 4 pics… Then 2… Now 1. Hopefully 1 will upload and I can move along with this blog. Another reason why I have not posted much is basically I haven’t done much.

Now, in this pic you can see the top of the deck is completely removed. The stairs are gone as well and the frame is being started on to take down. That’s really all that’s been done towards the deck.

Stay tuned though for a few more posts to see what I’ve done since then… Honestly, it’s not much and is a work in progress towards a finished project idea… but either way you’ll see in a little bit.

Also, if this actually uploads as it should I promise it won’t be as long for the next post!

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Done for right now. About 2 hrs today and got the railing completely off and half the top. Donté is going to stand guard while I'm away. I'm hoping to get back home early enough to finish the top off.

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Got my lil buddy, Donté, helping me today… Day #2 of destroying the old pool deck. The weather is nice but windy. Allergies are annoying and I don’t see me getting much done today. Just taking a break right now as I post this.

I guess I could use this time to tell a little about myself…

I’m a 35 type 1 diabetic cancer survivor stuck in south west Missouri. And… well… that’s all I got to say right now.

Back to work!

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Thoughts and ideas...

So, to keep the live in lady friend happy, I plan to landscape the trails once complete and make it look nice. One cool thing about the pool, that used to be in this location, is that I have a power supply. Due to that I'm possibly considering adding a fountain/pond somewhere amongst all of it. Also, with the backyard trails being dubbed "Dontés Inferno" there must also be a fire pit!

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1st day of work (4/9/18)… Attempting to take down the deck. 1.5 hrs. of work and only got this far. Working alone is slow. I’m begining to think this wood won’t be reused either. Apparently, it wasn’t treated and is very weather damaged… I may be able to use some yet though. The roll-in won’t need much.

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Here is the small but decent corner of my yard I'm going to build in. So far, my plans are all up in the air on how and what I'm going to do. I'm open to any suggestions! First off though, I have to remove the pool deck. Which I planned on getting done today but.... I ended up working later than planned and had less than 2 hrs. of sun light to do anything. I'm hoping to reuse some of the wood to make a roll-in. One idea I have is to make the roll-in to a double roller. Then, to a right handed berm to a four pack. After that its kind of unknown... Like I said already; my plans are all up in the air right now. Hit me up with questions ans suggestions!

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Here is my trusty steed. It is a 26" NS Capital... I believe its a 2015, but honestly not too sure. Setup mostly for street in its current state. Usually has 2 pegs on it and has a freecoaster on it. Still need to get brakes for it... though I may just keep it brakeless, even on the jumps. I'm not too sure yet. Also, I plan on getting a new set of 3" rise bars for it, eventually.