I met up with a buddy for about 5 hours yesterday. We did about 3 hours of trail work and 2 hours of riding.
We had hopped to get a new trail finished up, but there was just too much work left, and we were both itching for a ride. We spent about an hour getting things cleaned up around the first real obsicle in the park. This is probably the biggest tree I've ever seen, and it's a maple to boot. It shows signs of surviving a fire and being struck by lighting. It's quite a site - probably a good 6' in diameter. The rock is equally impressive. Just the exposed part of the rock wouldn't fit in the bed of a full size pickup. And there's no telling how much more rock is under the tree.
Eventually there will be 3 lines here - one to the right of the tree, which will setup a small drop or a nasty little roller (about 3'), one to the left of the tree which will setup a bigger drop (about 4'), and the other to the far left of everything - basically a bypass.
Once we got everything cleaned up around Old Man Jones, we moved on to another section of the trail. There aren't many acres in this park, so many of the trails zig zag all over the place in attempt to make the best use of the terrain and add the most miles. One such turn was bit to tight, so we bermed it just a bit. This was lot of work. We placed a couple of large logs (deadfall) to frame the outside of the turn. Then we brough in large, square-ish rocks as a backbone for the berm. Then we wheelbarrowed in dirt, graded it out, and packed it down. I suspect after some rain we will need more dirt, but for now, it feels pretty good. Nothing huge, just enough to keep the rhythm and flow of the trail.
We cleaned up a few other spots, marked a section of trail, then put the tools away and got out the bikes.
Here we are at Old Man Jones:
My buddy on the berm
A little skinny - for us beginners
We did a lot more riding than the pics show, but as many of you know, you can't always stop in the middle of the really good trails just to take pictures. At some point, you just gotta ride.
We had hopped to get a new trail finished up, but there was just too much work left, and we were both itching for a ride. We spent about an hour getting things cleaned up around the first real obsicle in the park. This is probably the biggest tree I've ever seen, and it's a maple to boot. It shows signs of surviving a fire and being struck by lighting. It's quite a site - probably a good 6' in diameter. The rock is equally impressive. Just the exposed part of the rock wouldn't fit in the bed of a full size pickup. And there's no telling how much more rock is under the tree.
Eventually there will be 3 lines here - one to the right of the tree, which will setup a small drop or a nasty little roller (about 3'), one to the left of the tree which will setup a bigger drop (about 4'), and the other to the far left of everything - basically a bypass.
Once we got everything cleaned up around Old Man Jones, we moved on to another section of the trail. There aren't many acres in this park, so many of the trails zig zag all over the place in attempt to make the best use of the terrain and add the most miles. One such turn was bit to tight, so we bermed it just a bit. This was lot of work. We placed a couple of large logs (deadfall) to frame the outside of the turn. Then we brough in large, square-ish rocks as a backbone for the berm. Then we wheelbarrowed in dirt, graded it out, and packed it down. I suspect after some rain we will need more dirt, but for now, it feels pretty good. Nothing huge, just enough to keep the rhythm and flow of the trail.
We cleaned up a few other spots, marked a section of trail, then put the tools away and got out the bikes.
Here we are at Old Man Jones:
My buddy on the berm
A little skinny - for us beginners
We did a lot more riding than the pics show, but as many of you know, you can't always stop in the middle of the really good trails just to take pictures. At some point, you just gotta ride.
