DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!

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.

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