Mulch on the tracks

kb228
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kb228
Edited Date/Time 5/16/2019 11:24pm
A local facility is mixing mulch into their track. Im no track builder at all... what does the mulch do? And what are your guys’ thoughts?
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LumpDog841
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LumpDog841 5/1/2019 10:24am
5/1/2019 10:24am
Holds moisture and smells nice.
7
Zeke27G
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Zeke27G 5/1/2019 10:35am
5/1/2019 10:35am

It works when the dirt itself is tacky, once the dirt dries out and the water trucks come around in the afternoon, the wood chips become slick.
Frodad78
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Frodad78 5/1/2019 10:39am
5/1/2019 10:39am
Local track used to mix in a shit load of sawdust for big races. I ate alot of sawdust in my teenage years!
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sam hain
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sam hain 5/1/2019 11:00am
5/1/2019 11:00am
Muddy Creek dumped tons of it for their national every year. That track doesn't have black dirt on a normal weekend.

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RoflCopter726 5/1/2019 11:10am
5/1/2019 11:10am
One track near me would haul in truckloads of rice chaff for big races like LL qualifiers. It would get rough AF as the motos went on.

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rbspecial138
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rbspecial138 5/1/2019 11:20am
5/1/2019 11:20am
I used to work at a track that integrated lots of woodchips/mulch and it kept the dirt from packing down too much, it kept the dirt 'Fluffy' and allowed the water to come out of the dirt throughout the day. (we would flood the track the night before) I also ride hangtown a lot and the rice hulls have the same effect. gives the track more character instead of just turning into a baked freeway.
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2smokertillend 5/1/2019 11:26am
5/1/2019 11:26am
I raced a track, years ago, at a saw mill. One of the best tracks I ever rode on.
1
Falcon
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Falcon 5/1/2019 11:26am
5/1/2019 11:26am
We didn't have sawdust or mulch where I grew up racing at Barona Oaks. It was a baked freeway before lunch. It had blue grooves on the jump faces by the afternoon. Ah, the memories!
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SWOHIO GUY
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SWOHIO GUY 5/1/2019 11:47am
5/1/2019 11:47am
A family friend of mine has a big mulch pit on his property that he let us ride in. It got very rough throughout the day and would develop huge bumps once we got down to the base.
rbspecial138
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rbspecial138 5/1/2019 11:56am
5/1/2019 11:56am
You are spot on with that. we had huge piles of it and everyday I would blade in about 2 or 3 yards of it into each turn. as much as we could add, and it still would be gone after we ripped and tilled it a few times.
49weasel
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49weasel 5/1/2019 12:02pm
5/1/2019 12:02pm
kb228 wrote:
A local facility is mixing mulch into their track. Im no track builder at all... what does the mulch do? And what are your guys’ thoughts?
Route 62?
2
kb228
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kb228 5/1/2019 12:04pm
5/1/2019 12:04pm
kb228 wrote:
A local facility is mixing mulch into their track. Im no track builder at all... what does the mulch do? And what are your guys’ thoughts?
49weasel wrote:
Route 62?
Yep
1
whateversclever69 5/1/2019 12:15pm
5/1/2019 12:15pm
It holds moisture and makes the track generally softer which is also safer.

I LOVE prepped tracks with mulch, sand or sawdust
Hammer 663s
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Hammer 663s 5/1/2019 1:10pm
5/1/2019 1:10pm
I add both sawdust and woodchips to our clay track. It turns a blue-grooved highway that you can't water into the loamiest sweetest dirt for ripping that there is. Holds water, releases it slow, allows many different lines to form rather than one blue groove, traction for days, deep ruts that aren't made of concrete. Trying to get my local fav track to use it too since they are clay and it blue grooves so bad by days end.

I'm super lucky tho - there's a mill 200 yards from our track. They will deliver a full 18 wheeler load of fresh fir sawdust for $75.


,
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Jrewing
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Jrewing 5/1/2019 2:49pm
5/1/2019 2:49pm
It stops weeds from growing.
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Mr. Info
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Mr. Info 5/1/2019 4:15pm
5/1/2019 4:15pm
Check out past races at Hangtown and see how much they put in of rice hulls before the National. some sections feel like ridding on a sponge or mattress. Holds the moisture pretty good.
Wade221
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Wade221 5/1/2019 4:26pm
5/1/2019 4:26pm
rbspecial138 wrote:
I used to work at a track that integrated lots of woodchips/mulch and it kept the dirt from packing down too much, it kept the dirt...
I used to work at a track that integrated lots of woodchips/mulch and it kept the dirt from packing down too much, it kept the dirt 'Fluffy' and allowed the water to come out of the dirt throughout the day. (we would flood the track the night before) I also ride hangtown a lot and the rice hulls have the same effect. gives the track more character instead of just turning into a baked freeway.
Which track? Cycleland?
Shawn142
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Shawn142 5/1/2019 4:54pm
5/1/2019 4:54pm
Loretta's would always use sawdust in the 90s. They finally stopped with it. Always had the weirdest smell.

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ga_pike
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ga_pike 5/1/2019 5:34pm
5/1/2019 5:34pm
I might be wrong, but I think the sawdust thing started with Honda Hills in Ohio. At least for me that was the first track I remember using it. Then it seemed like everyone started doing it around 89/90.
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MX76er
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MX76er 5/1/2019 5:36pm
5/1/2019 5:36pm Edited Date/Time 5/16/2019 11:24pm
Raced a track once that decided to put cow shit down to soften it up....that was a breathe with your nose while riding day haha wtf right
Derek Harris 5/1/2019 6:04pm
5/1/2019 6:04pm
There is a local track to me that is pure clay in spots.

Been reading how to improve this - I guess long term mulch, woodchips, sawdust, leaves, grass, etc will compost itself over time and slowly change the soil character from pure clay to loam.

takes time - and lots of it from what I've seen.


JustMX
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JustMX 5/1/2019 7:07pm
5/1/2019 7:07pm
I worked the first National they had and helped spread a bunch of that mulch.

They had let people dump trees and bushes there and then brought in a tub grinder and had a huge stock pile.

It was the weirdest mulch I had ever seen. It didn't have any of the qualities that the material I was familiar with had. Normally hardwood or pine sawdust would soak up water.

Not that crap. It reminded me of fiberglass insulation. Water would run off and it was about impossible to mix in to the dirt.

I don't know what kind of vegetation it was. They ended up using pans to haul for about a day and buried it in a huge pit out in one of the spectator parking lots. I bet it was a hundred loads.
rbspecial138
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rbspecial138 5/2/2019 11:13am
5/2/2019 11:13am
rbspecial138 wrote:
I used to work at a track that integrated lots of woodchips/mulch and it kept the dirt from packing down too much, it kept the dirt...
I used to work at a track that integrated lots of woodchips/mulch and it kept the dirt from packing down too much, it kept the dirt 'Fluffy' and allowed the water to come out of the dirt throughout the day. (we would flood the track the night before) I also ride hangtown a lot and the rice hulls have the same effect. gives the track more character instead of just turning into a baked freeway.
Wade221 wrote:
Which track? Cycleland?
408MX in San Jose. I go to school in Chico, but my permanent residence is in San Jose.
Hammer 663s
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Hammer 663s 5/2/2019 12:22pm
5/2/2019 12:22pm
rbspecial138 wrote:
I used to work at a track that integrated lots of woodchips/mulch and it kept the dirt from packing down too much, it kept the dirt...
I used to work at a track that integrated lots of woodchips/mulch and it kept the dirt from packing down too much, it kept the dirt 'Fluffy' and allowed the water to come out of the dirt throughout the day. (we would flood the track the night before) I also ride hangtown a lot and the rice hulls have the same effect. gives the track more character instead of just turning into a baked freeway.
Wade221 wrote:
Which track? Cycleland?
rbspecial138 wrote:
408MX in San Jose. I go to school in Chico, but my permanent residence is in San Jose.
Yeah, 408 used a lot of wood chips back in the day. Them and Mike Sexton at Club brought in different materials to make their native dirt better. I was local to Hangtown for years and rode that in all conditions - with and w/o the rice hulls. The hulls made a big difference for sure, otherwise that place is hard dirt and rocks. With all the rice farms in the Sac valley, makes sense to use them. I prefer sawdust, but it's readily available up here and there are no rice hulls at all.

Perfect for me is an equal amount of sand and woodchips, and lots of sawdust, all ripped/tilled in as deep as I can into the clay base. Primo loam.




childhayden
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childhayden 5/2/2019 12:40pm
5/2/2019 12:40pm
Theres a track about 4 hours from me that was built by schaefer. Oak Ridge in Garwin IA. The track has tons of mulch and gets super deep and rough. One of the most fun tracks ive ever ridden!
1
SKIDLID
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SKIDLID 5/2/2019 4:56pm
5/2/2019 4:56pm
Frodad78 wrote:
Local track used to mix in a shit load of sawdust for big races. I ate alot of sawdust in my teenage years!
I always get a sore throat from inhaling dirt with wood chips in it. I guess I eat lots of roost.
GCBC
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GCBC 5/2/2019 5:46pm
5/2/2019 5:46pm
wouldn't like crashing on it and getting in pants/boots etc
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BMSOBx2
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BMSOBx2 5/2/2019 6:01pm
5/2/2019 6:01pm
They dumped some sort of shredded bark mulch on the track at Lake Elsinore for the 2012 National, then they watered & it smelled and drew hordes of flies don't know what it was but it was terrible.
5280mx
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5280mx 5/2/2019 9:21pm
5/2/2019 9:21pm
Thunder Valley usually has a big pile of wood chips they use in some of the corners. Was there a couple weeks ago, bringing in dumptrucks full of cow manure for the nationals. Is that a commonly used additive? Anyone else seen or smelt this?
GangGreen
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GangGreen 5/3/2019 3:32am
5/3/2019 3:32am
kb228 had asked,"what does the mulch do, and what are your guys’ thoughts?" Definitely worthwhile in my opinion. Wood Chips/mulch holds in moisture and can be disc in to create superb conditions.


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