Now that’s a garden any mountain biker would be proud of!
We call in on Brendan Fairclough and Matt Jones as they take backyard bike tracks to a whole new, gnarlier level
With plenty of time cooped up at home this spring, the two riders on these pages have made that heady dream a reality. Only it turns out that when you’re as handy on two wheels as Brendan Fairclough and Matt Jones are, you can think beyond jumps made of rotten old pallets, and instead conjure up perfectly-sculpted dirt and huge features more at home on a Crankworx slopestyle course, or, in Brendog’s case, even use your house itself as part of the set-up.
These backyard bike parks haven’t just been great for Brendan and Matt’s training, they’ve also been a blessing for those of us stuck at home bored, who’ve been able to follow their progress on the internet. The numbers for Matt’s lockdown build project series in particular have been amazing, with upwards of half a million views per episode. They’ve been a great way to get your bike-related fix when playing in the dirt for real wasn’t a responsible option, and must have inspired many to get out into the woods with a spade and put some work in.
But it’s one thing seeing these set-ups on a phone or laptop screen. Just how impressive are they in real life? There was only one way to find out – time for a trip to Surrey…
Keeping up with the Joneses
First off, we arrive at Matt’s place. Tucked down the side of his house is a long, flat, grassy field. A real blank canvas. When you peek around the corner of the over-head-height hedge, you’re confronted with what looks like a sculpture park. These dirt monoliths are all the more amazing because, as you’ll know if you’ve watched the videos, they’re all hand-built. It’s enough to make your hands and back hurt just looking at them!
Matt’s jumps are on flat ground, so to generate speed they start with a roll-in, which is actually the ‘whale tail’ feature on its side. You have a few pump bumps, and then you’re presented with your first options and splits – rollers to the right or hip jump to the left. If you choose the hip then you have another split, with the same choice but this time on opposite sides, with a slightly larger hip on the right. From each of those options, there are a few more decisions to be made. You get the idea. It’s a line that, while small in terms of space used, has enough options and combos to keep you busy all day long mastering all the transfers and gaps.
All hail the Gnarwhal
Some standout features that you may have seen in the vlogs are the ‘Gnarwhal’, a super-steep lip that you have to jump backwards from, onto a landing next to the take-off; a really short spine/step-uptype jump box; and, finished just before we came to shoot, the new big hip at the end of the line. The trails are super-technical, small, tight and rocksolid, steep-sided works of art. Matt has a private training compound 20 minutes from home with big-trick jumps, wooden kickers, an airbag and mulch jumps to practise on. There wasn’t much point in doubling up on features, so the garden got the more traditional ‘flowing line of tech jumps’ treatment – a nod to Matt’s dirt jumping roots.
Watching him ride the jumps isn’t at all scary. In fact, it’s amazing how consistently and precisely he gets through the tech line time and time again. We call out what trick we want and on what jump, and not once does Matt not make it down the line, take a wrong turn or even really case anything. This is perhaps unsurprising when he’s been up close and personal with them for the past three months, but still impressive. They don’t look like easy jumps to ride by any stretch but, like the true pro he is, Matt makes them look effortless.
Backyard tracks. They’ve been a dream for many of us since we were kids. It seems it’s in our collective bloodstream to want a little riding spot all of our own, whether that’s a garden big enough for a pump track so tight it only just works, or a patch of woods at the bottom of the street where you can clear a trail or build some questionable doubles.