This page is for our board members (Chris and James) personal projects at Sunrise Ski Resort to support and grow the Arizona gravity riding community! These projects are supported by the TGR,its crew and its core volunteer base but all costs associated are financially supported by personal funds, personal donations from those in the mountain bike community that support these special projects and Sunrise.

2022
Sunrise/Arizona's First Machine Built Flow Trail
"Jaage"

Long, long Short story cut short is after many years of both Chris and James approaching Sunrise about doing maintenance or building with no luck on striking a deal that balanced work vs. reward aka lift tickets for volunteers. With management at an all-time high at Sunrise and Brian Zongker's desire to improve mountain biking at Sunrise. Chris aka Clockwork (a well-known builder of fun sustainable trails) and James (Sunrise Vet/Fungus Father) teamed up and struck a deal.

James spoke to Chris and said new management wasn't going to turn down volunteer help. So, Chris made a bold move and decided it was time to go big or go home with the effort as it was the last time he was going to offer to help improve Sunrise. So, after brainstorming Chris and James decided to really up the ante for this personal project of theirs. The offer was to not only design and build a green machine-built flow trail for mountain bikers but also offered to fund this trail out of personal funds and those acquired through a go fund me for the project that allowed the local community to show their support and chip in on this dream. With the full support of the Bike Park manager (Brian Zongker) he was able to get our bold plan approved by the rest of Sunrise Managment/Staff/Tribal Members.

The concept was to build a green machine cut flow trail giving mountain bikers who visit Sunrise a much-needed Green Flow Trail they can progress on from the top of the mountain! Sunrise has great old school raw gnar that is not always appreciated by newer riders and younger riders just getting into the gravity sport. The trail will be built in a manner that also allows for rider progression while on the same trail(blue options). The end goal was to provide a fun flowy trail with some spice that everyone will enjoy and put into the rotation of their favorite trails to ride when visiting Sunrise.

Chirs and James were and still are super stoked to have been able to bring this project to life and continue look forward to the hoots and hollers that will be echoing down the mountain for years to come.

This was the beginning of a yearly push to add to and make Sunrise truly an Arizona destination that has something for everyone + more!

By 2023 Jaage had become one of the most ridden trails at Sunrise and every skill level loves to lap it. In the end its the best green flow trail you will ride in Arizona. It's Fun, Flowy and can be wicked fast. In 2024 the guys revisited Jaage and gave it some love. If you thought, it was fun before, the adjustments, new options and full cleanup will have you grinning ear to ear. Oh and no more puddles!

2023
Sunrise Flow Trail
"Identity Crisis"

Another great year expanding riding opportunities at Sunrise!

With the great success of last year's project. Chris and James returned to Sunrise to dedicate their summer to continue to expand machine-built trail at Sunrise. This year Chris bought a personal Mini-x. Plans for his machine is mainly to help bring the Pinal Mountain Trail System master plan to life more efficiently by not relying as much on public donations and grant money to hire out for the trail expansion on Pinal Mountain. He is able to volunteer his time and machine to help bring the masterplan to life which saves a huge amount of money and of course all the headaches related to heavy fundraising and grant writing. This also allows him to use his machine at Sunrise or other places to satisfy his trail building passion.

This year Chris and James returned to up the stakes a bit and create a blue flow trail. The new trail starts at the end of Jaage' to allow users to have a full machine-built experience down the mountain. Terrain was rough on this build and the result is a top section thats wicked fast keeping you on your toes with a bottom half that resembles a blue flow trail with berms and jumps. Hence the name. Over time the top will become more technical as the base trail layer/rocks become the tread as intended. Look for an Identity Crisis black tech line coming in 2025. It will be an alt line to the lower section and will have wood features, Sunrise's longest log ride and other goodies.

Since they didn't rent a machine, they had more time to do other projects as well. One of those projects was building two short connectors that provides better connections. One to Pinedale and one that gets you to lift line or East Ridge from the west side of the mountain.

Right at the end of the season they found time to do a full rebuild of Pinedale and turn it into a true green flow trail completing the full top to bottom flow trail experience.

Thats just the machine work they did this year. They also shoveled lots of snow and did lots of handwork on some of the other trails on the mountain creating more smiles per mile.

We can't wait to see what they got up their sleeves for next years push to continue to improve and expand riding at Sunrise.