Movin' on Up !!!

This weekend Fred, John and newbie volunteer Mark Kluth worked in the design that Fred generated for the back of the start hill.

First order of the day was to get the gate square with the first obstacle ... we roll measured the distance from gate one to the first lip of the first obstacle, then from gate 8 ... there is less than 3" difference between the two ... so, no griping about gate 8 starts guys.














Next, is the back fill to compensate for the nearly 2 foot rise at the back of the new gate. This is where Mark becomes our new best friend. See, he's got access to old telephone poles through his employer, We Energies ... and, when you are trying to control grades in compound slopes and all sorts of weird stuff like that ... a few telephone poles go a long way (no pun intended).














Fast forward a day ... John's gotten done backfilling the log cut terraces ... and I went to freaking town with a shovel and a rake to get some of the grades worked out. It's not exactly Fred's original design intent, but, that's the beauty of design-build. We're working out the minor stuff right in the field. Note the difference between the knee high step up to the gate in the photo above, and the 6" or so step up to it in the image below ... good stuff.


This view shows the new grade in profile (or 'section' if you are speaking architect, a language unto itself), note the amount of fill that is being supported by the inlaid telephone poles. For how it works, think one moto on the gate, two more in staging on the two terraces. The 10 moto lanes will terminate at the furthest left telephone poles. I made a mini-rock wall to emulate the rock wall that Fred originally put on the hill. I'm definitely not afraid to copy stuff ... as long as it's good ... and we've taken a ton of compliments on Fred's original stonework.














This view also gives a nice look at the starters shack we inherited from the Milwaukee County Zoo. Really nicely constructed and has conduit and a circuit breaker installed in it. We think it looks pretty slick up there.


This is the totally killer view from the starters shack looking out over the starting gate. Seriously, there are probably a handfull of tracks in the US where the starter is treated to this nice a view. I don't think we're going to have too many problems finding volunteers to run the gate.

Again, my sincerest thanks to Fred, Mark and John for the work that was done this weekend ... and, for some reason, it always seems like saying thanks to the you guys is barely enough. Everything looks great and we're moving along well as we wind down the year and begin looking forward to indoor season.

Although I don't think I'll be doing any big stuff ... I'm fairly sure to be moving rocks around and fiddling with grades this coming Saturday ... weather permitting.

Kevin O'