What an awesome 4 days -- thanks to the ~130 folks who showed up for the events at Paradise, Tokul East, Colonnade and Duthie.
First, the rides...
We wanted to show Jason & Inga the ying and the yang of our local riding, so we chose Paradise and Tokul East. Paradise: a long advocacy battle that ended in a huge success, fully legitimate county park, tighter and twistier (but still flowy) up'n'down XC, all trail. TokulE: a private "it's OK if hikers, equestrians and bikers use the trails" tree farm, faster & flowier, more road climbs with longer sustained downhill trails.
Thanks to BrianC for setting up and leading Thurs' ride at Paradise (and thanks to DougC for co-leading). I don't remember the final count, but I think it was over 30 riders! Conditions in paradise were awesome!
A few more pics here and here.
Thanks to Borneo for setting up and leading Fri's ride at TokulE. And a whopping thanks for fixing up the trails before the ride... a few were in the best shape I've ever seen. Final count: 18. I'll let Bbq and others follow up with the details and pics.
Now the work...
On Sat we held work parties at both Duthie and Colonnade. The total # of volunteers for the day was roughly ~50. Most of those were from Seattle Works -- a huge thank you to Seattle Works! Jason, Inga & Josh led the work at Duthie and started benching a new XC trail on the NE side of the park. Kevin, Skooks & I led the work at Colonnade -- built 3 more drainage basins, fixed up Tqalu and fixed up the Limestone loop. Skooks and I agreed... that was by far one of theeee most productive and awesome WPs we've ever had at the Nade! And I head there was equal awesomeness at Duthie.
Sun was the main event... the IMBA/Subaru Trail Care Crew trailbuilding school at Duthie led by Inga & Jason. Great class and killer progress on the NE XC trail! I highly recommend taking this class whenever you can. We had over 30 folks show up and the progress blew me away. After the class, the newly trained and highly motivated crew just went to town! That trail is going to go in fast! The building conditions are much better than the Bootcamp trail. It's going to be faster and tougher than bootcamp (intermediate/blue XC). It'll be a little more difficult to ride than Bootcamp, but it's going to take a lot more skill to rail some of the "pumptrack-tight" turns without braking. We've cleared a much wider swath (for better sightlines) than Bootcamp because of the increased speed.
So a huge thanks to Jason, Inga, IMBA, ride leaders, crew leaders, volunteers and everyone who participated!
First, the rides...
We wanted to show Jason & Inga the ying and the yang of our local riding, so we chose Paradise and Tokul East. Paradise: a long advocacy battle that ended in a huge success, fully legitimate county park, tighter and twistier (but still flowy) up'n'down XC, all trail. TokulE: a private "it's OK if hikers, equestrians and bikers use the trails" tree farm, faster & flowier, more road climbs with longer sustained downhill trails.
Thanks to BrianC for setting up and leading Thurs' ride at Paradise (and thanks to DougC for co-leading). I don't remember the final count, but I think it was over 30 riders! Conditions in paradise were awesome!
A few more pics here and here.
Thanks to Borneo for setting up and leading Fri's ride at TokulE. And a whopping thanks for fixing up the trails before the ride... a few were in the best shape I've ever seen. Final count: 18. I'll let Bbq and others follow up with the details and pics.
Now the work...
On Sat we held work parties at both Duthie and Colonnade. The total # of volunteers for the day was roughly ~50. Most of those were from Seattle Works -- a huge thank you to Seattle Works! Jason, Inga & Josh led the work at Duthie and started benching a new XC trail on the NE side of the park. Kevin, Skooks & I led the work at Colonnade -- built 3 more drainage basins, fixed up Tqalu and fixed up the Limestone loop. Skooks and I agreed... that was by far one of theeee most productive and awesome WPs we've ever had at the Nade! And I head there was equal awesomeness at Duthie.
Sun was the main event... the IMBA/Subaru Trail Care Crew trailbuilding school at Duthie led by Inga & Jason. Great class and killer progress on the NE XC trail! I highly recommend taking this class whenever you can. We had over 30 folks show up and the progress blew me away. After the class, the newly trained and highly motivated crew just went to town! That trail is going to go in fast! The building conditions are much better than the Bootcamp trail. It's going to be faster and tougher than bootcamp (intermediate/blue XC). It'll be a little more difficult to ride than Bootcamp, but it's going to take a lot more skill to rail some of the "pumptrack-tight" turns without braking. We've cleared a much wider swath (for better sightlines) than Bootcamp because of the increased speed.
So a huge thanks to Jason, Inga, IMBA, ride leaders, crew leaders, volunteers and everyone who participated!