Published 2012

Words: Joe Symonds

Photos: Various

 

Location: The same town that both Isaac Newton and Margaret Thatcher were born in.

 

History of your trials

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The land belongs to our mates grand-parents. Me and him went up there about seven years ago and started building a few smaller jumps, but it never really progressed into anything. In 2009 me and Titch had two sets of trails, the old railway in Bottesford and Stathern Woods. The old railway jumps were under threat of being bulldozed, so we built at Stathern. After a winter of building and a few months of riding in spring the jumps were bulldozed by the land owner (The Duke of Rutland). The old railway was never going to progress into anything bigger with the land being completely flat, and there was still a chance they would be bulldozed. So I set a goal to find a new spot, on private land, within three weeks. Three weeks later we hired a digger and Grandmas trails were born.

 

 

Describe your trails

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Downhill, big and fast.

 

 

Main diggers/locals

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Myself, Titch, Scott the Punk, Max, Connor, Alan and The Mole. and Jordan.

 

 

Updates/changes for 2013

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Made a few things a bit bigger, bit taller, and built a new line with plenty of hips.

 

 

Long term trails/digging goals

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No idea, just make it up as you go along! There are a few things I’d like to get finished down the bottom of the hill that we roughed out with the machines a few years ago.

 

 

I would like to ride your trails. Are they open to the public or private/invite only? Is there a local I can contact to ask to ride? And does it matter whether I ride a BMX or a MTB?

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The trails are on private land so they are invite only. If you really wanna come ride then message us on the Grandmas Trails page on Facebook. If we dont know you then as long as you have put something into BMX, wether its helping build some trails, helping with a public skatepark, or helping to build a DIY cement spot, then you are more than welcome and I could not care less whether you ride BMX or MTB, along as you respect the trails, water them when they need watering, help dial them in before the session and put the tarps on afterwards then thats fine by me. Its quite a steep hill so you MTBers can enjoy a quick XC ride back up to the top.

 

 

Nearby spots

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The closest trails that everyones heard of are Villij and Woodyard. But theres a few others around Notts and Derby that people are working on.

 

 

Any jams or contests going on at your trails this year?

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Possibly?

 

 

Tips for building a sweet jump?

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Depends what you wanna use it for! My personal favourites are big long step downs, and tall floaty step-ups! Big tall landings are safer to crash on, and big tall takeoffs are better for spinning out of. The jumps at Grandmas are definitely not steep and bucky like skatepark transitions.

 

 

Anything else you’d like to add?

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Thanks to June and Aubury Lehair for letting us build the trails in their backyard!

 

 

Ed note: One of the gnarliest spots I’ve been too. Remember to bring your balls.