GORC's New Secret Weapon

If you've been on any of the newest trails that GORC has been working on, you've probably been surprised at how fast so much trail is being built. On of the reasons, in addition to the super hard work and dedication of all of our volunteers, is this amazing piece of equipment, the Weed Wrench. In the past, where we had to spend a lot of time with pulaskis grubbing each and every sapling or small tree at the roots, now a single person or small crew can go along and remove them in a fraction of the time.
The retractable jaws clamp on to the base of the sapling, and then applying leverage to the handle closes the jaws and pops the tree out, rootball and all. Depending on which size you get, (we have the Heavy model), some stubborn ones will then require a few snips with loppers or a hack with a pulaski, but the efficiency is pretty amazing. It also seems like whoever is the lucky person to get on this detail doesn't want to give it up for the rest of the day! Why not come out to one of our workdays and give it a try yourself?

SIUE Workday- Saturday, December 16th

Thanks to the hard work last weekend of the approximately 30 volunteers who cleared all of the nearly 6 miles of existing trail at SIUE, we'll be able to spend this workday completely on the construction of the new Trail #4. The damage was impressive, requiring 4 hrs. of work for nearly every crew, of which there were 2 for each of the 3 trails. Kirby's crew also cleared the section under construction, so they worked for over 5 hours! As usual, the workday will begin at 9 am, followed by food, and a ride-- the weather looks like it will cooperate this weekend, yay!

SIUE Update

Well, we all knew that the ice storm had done major damage at SIUE. Here's a rundown: the map shows the downed trees which will require sawyer work. 34 on Loop #3, 21 on Loop #2. The ones marked with asterisks will require extra work. This does not even address the trees/branches which can be moved by hand or cut with loppers. Unfortunately, many of the downed trees also brought down tangles of grapevines or briars. It also does not include Loop #1, which others have looked at and discussed at some length. The kiosk on Loop #2 at the Morris Bikeway narrowly avoided being pulverized.
Unless there's a large turnout for the emergency workday on Sat. Dec. 9th, these trails will remain unrideable for some time to come. If you can spare the time, please come out and help. There's plenty of work to be done even if you're not a sawyer.

Castlewood Workday Cancelled 12/02/06

Due to a variety of weather related conditions, the workday for Sat. Dec. 2 has been cancelled. It will be rescheduled at a later date. The park is closed today (Friday), and it is unclear if it will be open at all tomorrow. The Bonkhard Adventure race scheduled for tomorrow has also been cancelled.

Come and help build a new trail at Castlewood Sat. 12/02/06

Yes, you read it right. GORC has designed a new trail at Castlewood, and we need your help in building it. This one is going to be called the "Rollercoaster", and it's in the northeastern corner of the park, off of the Grotpeter. If you like the last GORC-built trail at CW, the "3%, or Love Trail", then come on out and help, because it will be more of the same. Meet at 9 am on Sat. December 2, at the Ranger Station. Visit the GORC Forum for more details.

"...it played in Peoria"

Kirby and I went up to Peoria for a tour of Farmdale Reservoir, site of the 2007 Midwest Mountain Bike Festival. We weren't quite sure what to expect since every time the PAMBA gang comes down to STL, they're all on big-hit bikes. So it was a pleasant surprise to discover that in addition to the stunts and jumps, Farmdale has miles and miles of XC trails. Think of all the 6 or so miles of the skinny, fun stuff at SIUE, multiply that by 3 to 5 times, and you've got Farmdale. We're not sure how much singletrack there is, but we rode the whole afternoon until nearly dark, and they told us we had probably only hit about half of the trails. If you go, make sure to ride Schroll's. It was definitely the favorite for both of us. There's an area to play around on North Shore stuff, a Mountain Cross course, a downhill run, and a jump area, so no matter how you like to ride, there's something for everyone. There are also 3 other trail systems in Peoria, so there's plenty of riding to make it a weekend destination.

The "Mound"

Yesterday, I did something that I'd never done in all of the years of riding at Lost Valley: I climbed up on top of the "Mound". It looks quite a bit different from up on top as you can see the unexpected shape, as well as how big it actually is. You can also see pretty far in all directions.

First Sunday Ride- Change of Venue 11/05

Steve has moved the ride from Greensfelder to Chubb this month. As usual, it starts at high noon. See the message board for more details.

Monthly Meeting Wed. 11/01 7 p.m.

Come and see one of Kirby's new streamlined meetings. Guaranteed to be over in 1 hour or less, so you can concentrate on the important things, like drinking great Schlafly Beer!

New Signs on Berryman

This past weekend, a GORC crew, with help from John Roth, added some new signs provided by the Forest Service to the western side of the Berryman Trail between Berryman campground and Brazil Creek campground. With any luck, we'll be able to finish putting them up on the rest of the loop in the next couple of weeks.

Burnin' Sensations

This is the last Burnin'-themed title. I promise.
Ok, we know the Pimp and 3-Bowl like to do everything together, right down to riding (formerly) matching Buzz Bombs. But breaking them in nearly the same place is getting a little carried away. This crack in Larry's frame had them sharing a bike for most of the race.



John F. Stinkbait was in fine form, decorating the climb up to the campground with an assortment of inspirational items, slamming alcoholic energy drinks, emceeing the awards, defending his buddy... A regular whirlwind in a thorn tree.


Kirby and I did a ride from the campground that he named "the 3 Fingers." Start at the campground, and head up the new connector and hit all 3 branches of the Ozark Trail between 32 & DD- North Trace Creek up to DD, Middle Fork up to the DD/32 intersection, and South Trace Creek up to 32. South Trace coming back is especially fun. It's a 20 mile roundtrip according to his cyclocomputer, and another excellent ride you can do from Council Bluff now that the new connector is open.

Burnin' Google Earth Update

For those of you who are getting ready for the Burnin' at the Bluff; Google Earth has added a major update of the imagery for Missouri. These latest ones taken in 2005 showing some rather stunning views of Council Bluff Lake.

Calling all single speed freaks

Check out this folding single speed. It only weighs 12.6lbs and can easily carry a rider weighing up to 13stone 5 lbs. It folds up to 67cm x 30cm x 16cm which is roughly 26"x11"x6". The lightweight wheels provide such an amazing angle of incidence that you can easily attack pavement cracks with confidence. And with some strategically placed lead weights, you could even make this meet the minimum weight restriction for the Tour de France! GIDDYUP!

New Telleck Branch Connector at Council Bluff

Ever been riding at Council Bluff and seen the trail that heads off from the first bridge? You know, the one you rode a couple of hundred yards, came to the swamp caused by the beaver dam, and then had to turn around, or do a balancing act to walk across the dam, all the while trying to avoid the briars? Well, that's a thing of the past! The OTA spent this past weekend cutting a new reroute into the hillside above the old trail. It's now wide open to use Council Bluff campground as your base and head out for one-way rides of 8, 16, 25 miles or more, depending on which section of the Ozark Trail you want to ride. The second page of this map gives an overview of what's out there.

Ozark Trail Update

It's been a lot of work, and slowly but surely, the downed trees from the strong spring and summer storms are being cleared away. 2 out of the past 3 weekends have seen some GORC members helping out, clearing our adopted North Trace Creek section. About 11 of the 16 miles are now clear. GORC also cleared the Council Bluff trail, which as some of you may have heard had over 40 trees down on it 2 weeks ago.
This past weekend, the OTA had a maintenance workday and cleared all of the trails from the Telleck Branch to DD and 32, including some work on North Trace. Just to show how difficult a task this is, by the time a couple of us rode over the Trace and Middle Fork sections north of Hwy. 32 the next day, there were already 3 new trees down!

Gorc beauty makeover

As many of you know, we at GORC pride ourselves on our ability to makeover some of the areas trails. But the trail themselves have asked that we highlight one of their hidden talents. MAKEOVERS! As you can see they specialize in facials. I received the Moonlight Ramble facial.

The trail has many secret ingredients they use, but they have allowed me to talk about a few of them. Pavement. Don't underestimate the power of pavement. It comes in several different colors. From black to grey, or even red! I chose the black pavement. We used just a touch below my left eye, under my nose, and my chin. I got a couple of cute temporary tatoos as well. I know! On the face? but they just looked like little mouse whiskers and I took them off later.

Julie on the other hand received the Lost Valley facial. Hers was a mixture of gravel and dirt. They grind the two up into a mixture and she chose to focus on the right side. The concoction started above her right eye and followed it down to her chin. She chose some tatoos as well, to go above her eye. Very nice, but she chose to keep them hidden for our monthly galla. She wasn't too sure if GORC would except facial tatoos. Julie is new to the club. I had the privilege to be there for her first facial. Afterward, she had so much excitement we were worried she couldn't walk out. So, a very nice fireman cut the chain and let the trail chariot come pick her up. Curb side. What service! It was also Bryan's birthday. Julie missed the pretzel, but we'll get her one of her own someday.

Anyway, I am sure you have seen a lot of others touched by the hands of the trail. Each one of us are able to get our own unique makeovers. No two are alike. Some are full body makeovers! The price of these makeovers can be anywhere from free to whatever co-pay your insurance charges. But believe me, they are worth it!

Want to know what it's like to have a borg sit on your head?

This helmet is kind of crazy. It can play music, let you talk on the phone, listens for sirens, has a gps, voice recorder, and motion activated turn signals.

Say goodbye to the mundane task of counting cracks in the road on your commute to work. This thing will even let you record a note saying "crack ahead" and play it back when you hit those GPS coordinates. The only thing it needs is a mechanism to allow the wearer to pay attention to the road while riding...

http://news.com.com/2100-1008_3-6111162.html

Biking in Mark Twain National Forest

While wading through the Forest Service site for Mark Twain National Forest, I came across a page which lists all of the trails open to hiking and biking. There were a few I didn't know about. I'm not sure what kind of shape they're all in, but it's nice to know that other options are out there.

5.17 gallons of fun

There will be a 5 gallon keg of schlafly summer kolsch 1n group campsite B, free for volunteers. Non-volunteer hangers-on can donate $$$ or be sneaky, depending on how light the keg is. Enjoy the last of the summer seasonal brew. It'll get there Friday night and last as long as it lasts. So we'll have fun rain or shine. It's not too late to come down and help us this weekend, with the trail, the food, and the beer.

Now Mesa Cycles is giving anyone who helps a discount on their entry fee to the Burnin' at the Bluff 12-hour race on Oct 7th too.

Please sign up on our forum here.
http://www.gorctrails.com/board/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1724

If you don't like signing up in public, you can email tom at onespeed at gmail /dot/ com too but there are no guarantees I'll get it after lunchtime friday. Or just show up. We ain't picky.

Into the Woods Again, Aug 25-27

This weekend we're heading down to Council Bluffs lake for a fun-filled weekend of riding, camping, and maybe a little work. On Saturday August 26th we'll be doing chainsaw, handsaw, lopper, and signage maintenance on the North Trace Creek section of the Ozark Trail. This is a great OT section that GORC has Adopted through the OTA's Adopt-A-Trail program. We haven't worked on it since February (at least three good windstorms) so we expect a good day's work for as many people as we can get down there. You do not need a chainsaw or chainsaw experience to help. We need helpers as much as sawyers right now. We'll split into crews (usually 2-5 people) each with a chainsaw in a bike trailer, to divide and conquer, so you get to ride your bike even during the workday.

The US Forest Service has given us free camping at council bluffs on Friday and Saturday nights (Group Campsite B). And GORC or gorc members are footing the bill for some fine quality free beer and BBQ for saturday night (disclaimer: strategic beer reserves are always recommended). We even have our favorite chaos butterfly coming down that afternoon to start the grill and tap the mini-keg.

There are four trails to ride from one place in this area: Council Bluffs, North Trace Creek, South Trace Creek, and Middle Fork. So there's plenty of riding (or working if you're so inclined) for the rest of the weekend. Ideally we'll have enough people to make the work go fast.

If you think you can make it, please let us know on the forum at http://www.gorctrails.com/board/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1724
There are more details there too.

Sunday Rides at Greensfelder

Steve Smith, who recently took over as the trail steward for Rockwoods Range, is going to be having regular rides at Greensfelder.
The rides will begin at the Roundhouse parking lot on the first Sunday of every month beginning at high noon, weather permitting. The next one is set for Sept. 3rd. If you haven't been out to check out the extensive rerouting that GORC has done at Greensfelder, now's your chance. The rides will cover some variation of the Dogwood and DeClue trails, plus they will also throw in bits of the existing trails in Rockwoods Range, like the Fox Run Trail. The plan is to keep this ride at a laid back pace, so if you want to find out more about the trails here, have some fun with fellow GORCers, and maybe have a few frosty beverages, then come on out.

Remember When...

Since I didn't make it out to Greensfelder today for the First Sunday ride, I decided to remember the nice, cold days of February, when it was too cold and wet to ride. Wait a minute, which is better, having it too cold and wet, or too hot and dry?.... Well, you decide for yourself. Also included is a shot of the "virtual kiosk" there which must have melted with the snow.

SIUE Eats Bikes

So maybe it's not Chubb, but it just goes to show that even on "buttery smooth" trails, when you're railing around corners, and twisting through trees, you have to pay attention. And one of the buddies of Thomas from over at Wild Trak found out that maybe a Wal-Mart special isn't such a good investment.

Great Music Brought to you by Bicycle

Check it out, the Ditty Bops have ridden their bikes here from L.A. and they're playing at Mad Art (the old jail in Soulard that's now an art gallery FRIDAY NIGHT, that's July 28th! Opening will be Maid*Rite, the gals who played country at the midwest mountain bike festival in April.

Go to the their blog and read about their adventures getting here by bike and hybrid vehicle, and whatever they had to eat that day. Click around on their really good website and find lots of pictures and stuff. More importantly, you can listen their music and see if it's your cup of tea, kind of retro swing jazz type stuff. Same for Maid*Rite's page too.

Also this weekend, Bad Folk with The Monads on Saturday night at the Schlafly Taproom. The Monads stole the show at the MMBF and Bad Folk is great too, think Split Lip Rayfield and Uncle Wilco or something, but different, rock music played on country instruments. Plus it'll be cheap, small, unpretentious, and have better beer. Both bands are great live. This will be an awesome show. [update: Also on the bill is Angry Panda, and the show goes from 8:00pm to midnight or so.]

What's Floyd Drinkin'???

Read this editoral question from O'grady. It's a riot.

Anybody know what Floyd's drinking? I want some for my next pre-ride preparations!!

How To Steal A Bike in NYC

These guys set out to see how easy it was to steal a bike in NYC. They used several different methods in different parts of the city, all in broad daylight, and no one even bothered to look to see what they were doing. Well, no one except for the guy who tried to help out and show them an easier way. Even the cops making an appearance aren't interested.

A New Jersey for "The Tour"!

I'm going to propose a new jersey for the Tour de France.

The "Team Mullet" Jersey. The only problem? The winner is obvious!

Vladimir Karpets has the best mullet in the pro peloton.





Now we just need to get this jersey off-last year's winner:

Ride Report: Silver Lake

On Sunday, a few of us rode one of the lesser known trails in the area; the Silver Lake Trail in Highland, Illinois- about 35 miles NE of downtown St. Louis.
The trail itself isn't very long. Only 4.5 miles out-and-back, but it includes a lot of fun little features along the way. It's tight and twisty, even more so than the SIUE trails, and there are many wooden bridges, including one that's a good 40 ft. in length, so there are plenty of chances to test your bike-handling skills. It follows the contours of Silver Lake, and then has around a half-mile loop section that puts you within earshot of I-70 before rejoining the main trail.
This probably isn't a trail you'd want to have as a frequent destination, mainly due to the lack of mileage, but if you're looking for a little change of scenery, on a fun trail in a nice setting, do a couple of laps here, head over to the nearby SIUE trails, and you can certainly have an entertaining day. One other thing to note is that while the trail is within Silver Lake park, for some reason, there's no swimming allowed in the lake.

Firecracker 2006

Fun and dirt were had by all. Greensfelder dished out the good times, rocks, and dust. There were a few casualties along the way. Retro Craig busted a spoke right off the bat and then busted his shifters later on. Flats were had, one by one, and then F'ed had the mechanical to beat all this warm summer day. He broke his 1x1. Damn! Thanks to Rob for putting this one together.

Tour de France Mapping Update

The TDF site now has an official link to the Google Earth file of the Tour route.
Now you can also track the race in progress directly in Google Earth, with a live link showing the situation of the race along the route. I'm not so sure how well this will work for tomorrow's Stage 7 Time Trial, but it sounds like fun, anyway. The link and how-to explanation can be found here.
Here's another site which allows you to track the position and vital statistics like heart rate, speed, stress and power of a few selected riders who are using special equipment on their bikes allowing this information to be transmitted. With accompanying blog explanation.

GORC does Whistler!

A small, select group of GORC members hit Whistler, BC Canada for the World Mountain Bike Conference, and some uber-technical riding last week. Here's some teaser pix, we'll get pictures, and maybe some movies onto the website very soon.

One of the early rides we did (Thursday evening) was "A River Runs Through It", this is a fairly well-known trail that features numerous stunt sections. It was a complete blast to ride. In fact you don't so much as ride these trails as you do "session" them. We'd often stop and ride sections of stunts over to take pictures or just to 'clean' them. Here's your's truly on one of the stunts.



Fast forward ahead a few days, and we hit the bike park. Kirb and I rented some monster bikes (Rocky Mountain RMX's 8-inches of travel!!) and tried to go big. Well, we didn't go as big as the bikes are capable of, but we did have some serious fun. Here's a shot of the GORC-Prez himself airing it out over a tabletop jump on "Crank-It Up".



Good times, no injuries. We'll get a new gallery section up soon.

Tour de France Time

Google Earth View of part of Stage 16, Wednesday, July 19th

Well, it's that time of the year again. Here are a few links to help get you ready for this year's Tour:
-If you have Google Earth installed on your computer, you can just click here to view the Tour route in 3D. (You'll probably have to rotate the globe around to France because the intitial view is still centered on the US. Funny.)
-I posted a link to TDF Blog last year. It has all kinds of interesting and unusual Tour-related items.
-ESPN's Cycling News Wire has photos published by the various wire services pretty much as soon as they're available to the public. Usually different than the ones found on cyclingnews.com or Velonews.

Chewie Does the Lumberjack 100

Lumberjack 100

The Lumberjack 100, a 100 mile MTB endurance race was held this past weekend up at the Big M Trail System near Manistee, Michigan.
A couple of our biking friends, Aaron "Chewie" Smith, and Nate Phelps have made the big time, not only finishing 57th and 58th out of 58 finishers, but getting their pictures on cyclingnews.com as well! Great job, especially considering that only 58 out of ~170 starters finished the race.
12 and 1/2 hours in the saddle in 90+ degree heat. Ouch. Oh yeah, Chewie did the whole thing on a fixed gear, and Nate rode a singlespeed.

St. Charles County Parks Mountain Bike Training Class

Eight participants showed up for the first St. Charles County Parks "Inroduction to Mountain Biking" ride. Four GORC elves showed up to help steer the participants around the park. SCC Parks employee Kent "trail shredder" James had a nice introductory level course laid out and everyone survived the the trek. All present seemed to have a pretty good time and I personally hear many saying "I'll be back to do this again next month".

The ride lasted for just over an hour and several folks went out for a few more miles after regrouping at the original start point.

I fully expect this ride to grow in size and when it does, there will be multiple groups going out covering varying skill levels. This is the perfect way to introduce that friend, relative, significant other, kid, stranger or coworker to mountain biking. Its also a great way to help someone who is familiar with riding to step up their skill level. We'll do our best to make sure anyone who shows up doesn't end up seeing something like this...

What:
GORC Mountain Bike Training Class

When:
2nd Wed. of each month, May 10 – Sept.13
6:00 PM–Dusk

Where:
June & July - Quail Ridge Park, Wentzville
August & September - Matson Hill Park, Defiance