#21 - My first dirt jumps ever! | McLennan BMX Park | Biking With Panda
On today’s episode of Biking With Panda, we find ourselves at McLennan Park in Waterloo, a special public BMX park that was built on top of an old landfill. You’d think that an old landfill would smell like ass, but it’s nothing like that – this place has dirt jumps, skinnies, huge berms, and... tiny little BMX shredders.
Apparently this place is quite popular after school, with up to 25 or 50 people racing down the massive jump line all at once. I didn’t get to see that, but I did try out several park features.
This was my first run down the easy jump line, and to be honest, I was more frightened by the sensation than I expected to be. It feels pretty scary to just launch off these steep tabletops – seems like you could overshoot it pretty good! And, who wants to fall on their first try? It was a hell of a lot of fun though, I was excited to try out the other features.
And then a little child faceplanted because of her parents poor judgement. She was fine.
And then I injured myself because of my own poor judgement.
Not badly though.
To recover, I attempted one of the longer but shorter skinnies. Wait, what the hell kind of statement is that? Longer... shorter... skinny?
Then I climbed to the top of the hill to try out the huge jump line. One thing to beware of is hikers who think it’s cool to walk up bike-only trails.
These trails, like most others in Ontario, are made of clay soil that has a number of downsides for this type of use. It’s difficult to shape, and rain compounds those issues, occasionally collapsing the ground and creating huge gaps in the ground. It’s actually not so bad here compared to Blue Mountain, but I’m on full suspension – kids on BMX bikes say it’s a bit rough.
Sorry for the shakey camera here, that gimbal has been sent back for repair.
I’m not really casing any of these jumps, but I’m not trying to get air from them either. Instead, I’m just trying to get over them smoothly and ended up doing a mini manual through some of them. It feels pretty cool.
When I got to the roller section, I wasn’t sure how it was meant to be ridden. It seems like jumps, but then they’re closer together than you expect. Now I know though, you can actually double them if you’re going fast enough and boost them hard.
The park has a just one of these big jump lines, but there are a few smaller ones, including these skinny trails that help the rider with skills progression. They have an optional line with a 3-foot drop, but I didn’t do it this time. In trying to come up with any possible reason/excuse, it’s that before I got here I had been riding at Hydrocut all afternoon and didn’t “have it in me” to risk injury, even though I’m pretty sure I know what I’m doing.
What this park is best for though, is the little jump lines at the bottom. It’s not a huge climb to get back to the beginning to session them all day.. so I went back and did just that. Eventually, I started clearing a couple but by then I’d given up on the 3rd person gimbal shots. Here’s a few consecutive first-person runs.
I've got a few more videos planned for this season before it's over, including a few on the Carrick Tract and other places people have recommended to me this week. I am always so excited that there are always new trails to explore in Ontario. So, keep letting me know where to go, and I'll go with you.
Until then, enjoy my stoke.. and go ride.
Music: Cold Funk - Funkorama