The gap should remain as is without the bridge, a replacement bridge should be put in at a slightly different location to leave the gap open… but like Brent said Jay is the one to talk to for sure. Thanks for the enthusiasm for this trail system, it does not go unappreciated 
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Rode Line 24 (Thurs, 4-5pm), be advised that there were several boards (nail side up) purposely placed around a corner on the trail. They were on one of the little blister trail sections that almost touches the roadway. I threw them in the bushes but beware since someone is obviously up to no good there.
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Thanks for the heads up. Seems like things are escalating again
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I didn’t actually see anything wrong with Brent’s comments (this time). The gap has been a gap for years, and there is a ride around (and a cut in if you want to hit the other jumps).
In terms of ease of trail, I love it - I’m generally a “keep the wheels on the ground” guy, but have improved my jumps significantly because of line 24. There aren’t that many overly intimidating features (there is one or two that I skip), but you can get some pretty impressive air off some (that small table top half way through is loads of fun).
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Eek - careful in Rockwood Park - they call the go-arounds chicken lines. Even have pictures of chickens on the signs.
@streetgang don’t tell your chickens. Please!
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Time for some trail cam action 
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“Chickens on the signs”
Love that 
A crew of us went out today to build a new bridge. When I left, there was work being done to improve the lip for the creek gap. So if you’re heading that way, take a moment to appreciate the time, money, and effort put into building the new bridge, and watch out for the new take-off if you’re used to clearing that gap. (It should be very obvious that changes have been made.)
New bridge:
New lip in progress, and new bridge:
Partial time-lapse of the build:
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Thanks folks!
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Interesting, @nimzie. That makes me laugh a bit, but I’m not sure I’m crazy about that either. It’s all in fun, and intended for a laugh. It’s probably less offensive to call someone a “chicken” rather than “dumb”. “Chickening out” is more of a choice than one’s personal intelligence level. But do we want to encourage someone to ride a line based on their bravery, or their skill level? Not too many people would ride a feature just so that they didn’t have to take the “chicken” line, but…
Since I’m now taking more of an active role in building trail features, I’m thinking more about who is riding what I build - did I build it appropriately? We all understand that we ride at our own risk. But if someone is injured on what I build, did I do what I could to make sure the feature is as safe as possible? And if someone were to sue the association or the builder(s) (me) of a feature, can they claim I didn’t do my due diligence? Did calling the B-line the “chicken line” influence someone to ride above their skill level on a harder line and lead to an accident?
Our language can affect how we think - do we really want to think when we build a feature that this line is only for the chickens - do we respect the chickens enough to make a good line for them, or do we think, “this isn’t really the main line; it’s only a by-pass, so we don’t really need to do it well or make it fun?” Would calling it something other than a “chicken line” be more respectful of our users?
Maybe we should be thinking of both lines as having equal value or merit. Think of them as alternate lines, not one being better than the other? e.g. “Drop line” and “Flow line” or “Air Line” and “Ground Line”
Probably overthinking this… 
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Yes you’re over thinking it. The chicken line signs are also used at Quebec’s Vallee Bras du Nord, one of the best built and most popular trail systems east of the rockies. The signs are meant to be lighthearted and fun. We rode several chicken lines when we visited VBN and these signs put a smile on our face every time.
(photo credit from this Pinkbike article on VBN)
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Well… it was 3:00am when I wrote this…
@Rolls, you’re not the user I’m thinking of. Adult, male, experienced, confident, riding for a long time.
What about a teenage male? Teenage female? New rider? 60-year old female? How would they view being relegated to the chicken line?
Wanting to check out my line of thinking (LINE of thinking… get it…? ), I ran it by @CyclingGirl this morning. As someone who is pretty nervous about difficult features, how does she feel about calling the line she takes “the Chicken Line” ? “You take the Chicken Line. I’ll meet you at the bottom.”
@CyclingGirl may still find the Chicken Line challenging - do we celebrate that she’s out on the trail, give her high fives for cleaning what is an easy section for us, and encourage her to keep riding? Or do we discourage her by saying, well that line is for chickens who can’t ride the main line…
Check out @CyclingGirl 's smile when she finishes the new low skinny feature in the Nine Mile new bench feature thread. To us (you and me) that is a really easy line. To her it’s a bit scary. But she did it. Would we be diminishing her accomplishment if we called it “the Chicken feature”?
This may seem like we’ve strayed from the original subject of the thread. Here’s what I think is relevant to the subject - as long as we’re building trail that other people are going to use - as builder/managers we want to think about our user’s experience when we build trail, not just our own personal experience of a trail. This is not just to be good members of the mountain bike community. It’s especially true of unsanctioned trail on someone else’s land. Sheldon has a point when he says that NS Power could kick everyone off the property - that could be the least concern. If someone were to have a spinal injury… or die… on a feature that we built, the landowner could come after us for liability or reparations.
So, it’s important to think about who might be using a trail, how they might use it, and their experience of it - not saying that the Line 24 builders or anyone other builders here don’t - just something for us to always consider when we’re building/managing a trail.
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Typically chicken lines are on trails/lines with big features, so i think the terminology fits the setting. You won’t see chicken lines on green trails. If someone rides a black diamond trail and gets offended over a chicken sign because they cant rail a black diamond feature, they may be on the wrong trail to begin with. I think there is a lot of over thinking over an offhanded comment. Happy riding everybody
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It’s probably the teacher in me - I have a developmental mindset - always wanting to see people learn and grow. Too many of my students have been called “dumb” or “stupid”, which is why some of them lack confidence in their abilities or see their potential.
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May be looking at it the wrong way too, i dont think it was used to insult anyones intelligence in this usage. I would look more at it’s first defined usage in this case. Your intentions are good though.
Not intended to insult anyone’s intelligence. Offense is in the ear of the hearer not the speaker. Wounding can be done by someone who didn’t intend it. The origin of the word, “dumb” comes from describing those who were unable to speak, and probably deaf too (“deaf and dumb”), who people considered stupid and ignorant. I don’t encourage the use of the word.
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Agreed, it’s simpler just to use a different word all together and avoid the possibility that someone is offended. Another way of describing a “chicken” line is a “B line”. I think that the term B line holds much less risk, and doesn’t sound as lame.
It’s also worth mentioning everyone should be aware that public sites like ECMTB attract a wide range of riders of all ability’s, so clear positive communication is key.
.Take the high road, especially when on public sites.
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When I rode at Keji today, I was impressed that all the technical features simply showed a green circle pointing one way and a black diamond (or double) pointing the other. Simple but to the point. I didn’t want to take the big drop, so I rode the green route in that section!
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As someone who embraces her “chicken-ness”, I see both sides of this. Chicken signs are funny to me too but I appreciate @Rockhopper’s thoughtfulness and suspect there are other riders who might prefer to ride “flow lines” instead…
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I can definitely understand both sides, I’m just hoping the initial point hasn’t been lost haha, it is not appropriate to alter features on a trail to your skill level if you are not part of the build crew and without the grace of the builder themselves. Ride bikes have fun
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