Creve Coeur Workday- Sunday April, 26th

Help continue construction that will extend the Bootlegger’s Run Trail along the bluffs at the North end of the park and add about a mile of new trail.

When: Sunday, April 26th From 9am - 1pm (FREE LUNCH!) - Bike or Hike After !
Where: Upper Creve Coeur Lake Park (Entrance off Dorsett Rd - Follow Signs to the meeting area at the North end of the park)
What to bring: Gloves, Sturdy shoes, eye protection, and something to drink on the trail.
GORC & St. Louis County Parks provide: Trail building tools, instructions on trail building, and safety guidelines
Please contact Sue Kuhnert at 314-615-8822 or email skuhnert@stlouisco.com if you plan to attend

Volunteers will be rewarded with give-a-ways from South County Cyclery and lunch provided by St. Louis County Parks

Sign up and more details available here.

Robbed! What?!?

by Matt "are you shitting me?" Hayes

Click to enlarge

Wednesday, April 15, tax day no less, would turn out to be a bummer event.

Sometime after 8pm and before 7am my truck was ransacked without my permission. This occurred in a condo visitor parking lot in the 3400 block of Russell next to the Compton Heights Water Tower Park. The passenger window was smashed out and judging from the scraped paint caused by a jacket zipper and sagging pants the thief or thieves crawled through the window to prevent the stock alarm from sounding.

The center console and glove compartment were raided with the contents strewn all over the seats, floor and parking lot. There was a breadcrumb trail of personal effects leading from my truck all the way to the sidewalk - this is about 300 feet. Missing and thoroughly missed is a 160gig Ipod Lisa got me last Christmas (funny sidenote: my previous 16 gig had been stolen in Creve Coeur along with her phone), my awesome GPS unit my dad had purchased for me for the HVAC biz, my older Polar Heart Rate watch ($300 five years ago), and close to $100.00 in small bills and change. I had at least 4 solid inches of change in the bottom of the center console from QuikTrip hits.

Despite all this, I consider myself lucky.

I keep** about $2k worth of goodies inside the truck (**make that past-tense. Now that I fear for another hit to finish the job it's all removed at night). Electronic gadgets for the HVAC trade, gauges, a complete toolbox. Then there's my truck repair stuff like power inverters and such. Then there's the must-have duffel bag of riding gear. Glasses, shoes, helmet, clothing accessories, tools, tire and shock pumps, and way more. You know, just like the bag you have, the $500+ you-wouldn't-think-so-but-add-it-up-in-your-head-holy-crap-this-bag-has-over-$500-worth-of-stuff-in-it bag.

If it got stolen it would really, really hurt. That duffel.

Thankfully, a bike wasn't in there. Or Lisa's digital camera. The Garmin Edge 305 - BY CHANCE - had been left at home because of the impending rain this weekend. It normally lives in the center console with the Polar watch (which is now available on the street for $4 - it's hot man, weird lookin' purply, blue with a pink go button, man, hey, $4 dolla' man).

Click to enlarge

My truck is/was such a goldmine that they left the bigger things - the gear bags, boots, jackets, toolboxes. Thankfully, I was allowed to keep those items.

There is a lesson to be learned from this blog. Take it as a public service announcement.

Keep your vehicle as empty as possible. Yes, it sucks to haul junk in and out, up and down, but you get to KEEP said junk. You work hard for your stuff - keep it or the city may/will*** take if off your hands (***it's when, buddy, not if).

This is true for trailheads. Look at Lost Valley.

Busted. Take Chubb.

Robbed.

How about Klondike?

Smashed.

Keep it stowed and out of view. I'm convinced I finally got hit because my GPS mount was in view on the dash. They even took the charger and mount - they really wanted it. Funny, they left the satellite subscription-based unique IDed radio unit. They're not complete idiots.

Here are some key tips:

• If you don't/can't bring it in: hide it.
• Don't stow bulk money in the car. Don't let it build up. It hurts worse when it's taken. Dammit.
• Never, ever, ever leave your favorite, multi-thousand dollar mountain or road bike in the backseat, trunk or truck bed. Ever. Must I explain why the carbon uberwunder gone missing from your hands would crush your soul? Thank you.
  
• Laptops go inside your domain. Duh. This would be a non-post had I been a complete moron and forgotten to bring the laptop inside.
  
• Expensive gadgets go inside. Make a bag to keep the GPS, Garmin, watches, ipods, phones, whatever and take it in. Don't be lazy or forgetful like me. It only takes a brief moment on a moonless night during the witching hour to lose ownership. Upon discovery you will find that this tends to piss you off.
• Police reports are a joke. Barring some mystical crime ring bust, your items are gone. Sold for a street holler. As in just buy replacements, you'll never see the originals again. Well, maybe in a pawn shop or broken behind an alley dumpster.
  
• City theft is so common the police prefer to have the report taken over the phone. JOKE!
• Your insurance will not help. The window is car insured. The belongings are homeowner. Add the deductibles up and buy a case of your favorite micro. Wallow in rage. Be pissy. This will not help but may make you feel better for a while. Beat the crap out of a NEXT frame. This will help; don't get hurt.
  
• Keep a shop-vac handy. Buy the small attachments. You will be cleaning glass out of some very tight areas for a very long time. Take the day off. Between the cleaning and the passing rage you will not be very focused on your work. Do not get online. Stay away from public forms of communication.
  

At the end of the day I found myself about $1300.00 lighter including the $270.00 window replacement. Unable to find my way (no GPS) with a broken soundtrack in my mind (no ipod). All you can do is move on, maybe joke about it down the road.

Klunkerz (featuring Easter Candy): A Review

by Matt Hayes

This is a documentary by Billy Savage that recounts the pioneering days of mountain biking. I bought it on a whim at the Alpine Shop just after Christmas and finally got around to watching it. Originally purchased as "motivation" during longer trainer sessions, it never made it to the basement as I'm unfamiliar with long (over 60 minutes, are you kidding??) indoor training sessions. Too hard, too boring.

So it made perfect sense to zone out on a Thursday night in front of the bigscreen and continue to "recover" from the Ouachita Cha!!enge. A bowlful of Easter candy and a Miller Light on the table meant it was showtime.

Klunkerz tells the history of mountain biking through interviews, narratives, archival footage, and still photos. Industry legends, as well as some obscure characters, ride the way-back machine to set the record straight.

The documentary is almost 90 minutes not including the 5 bonus features. Like Dogtown & Z-Boys, the old film footage is jumpy but it's simply amazing that someone even captured the action in the mid-to-late seventies - remember this is before ipods, wikipedia and cell-phone video recorders. Gary Fisher, Tom Ritchey, Charlie Kelley, Joe Breeze and Charlie Cunningham, among others, provide extensive insight into the past through their interviews, photographs and home videos.

Using crusty, bomb-proof Schwinn Excelsiors, the guys rode all around Marin county and Mt. Tam. Much of the historical footage comes from the Repack races and a few awesome crashes are captured. The best part of Klunkerz is the verbal flowchart that ties all the big names together. You learn that Ritchey was utilized by Gary Fisher's upstart company who was financed by an outsider who had been-there/done-that 20 years prior off-road, how the manufacturing pioneers slowly grew apart and that basically they were all hippies who eventually became businessmen.

I learned a lot about the sport. I learned that no matter what bike I'm riding I'm not allowed to bitch about its spec, weight or handling. I learned that if a Surly Karate Monkey cobbled together with a Redline front fork, Tektro mechanical discs, Truvativ Stylo crankset and a Fuji-branded tree stump masking as a saddle was T-boned by a DeLorean doing 88 in a 35 and that said K'Monkey was geographically knocked clear back to 1980 onto the Repack starting line it would be considered some competitive space-age shiznat! Someone would trade 4 pounds of weed for its secrets and before you know it the Karate Monkey would be the hottest thing to ever grace a VeloNews cover, the space-time continuum would be frayed, you would never be born, I would be rich and Dr. Octagon would be leader of the free world. Something like that. Damn this skitzofrenya.

Time to cash it at the recycling center...

What? Oh.

It's a great documentary and DVD. The small budget coupled with very limited archival media raises a few minor viewing issues. (Editor's Note: Billy Savage responded with some terrific insight on the making of Klunkerz in the Blog comments area. Check his comments here.) There are several repeated clips and the interviews are a bit static. For every character in the film the same interview location was used for their respective segments. What's important - and this is where Klunkerz shines - is that the riding masses discover where the awesome fun-ness of off-roading came from. Rumors are unravelled, personalities are explored and we find out that racing is in fact the mother of invention.

The bonus features include a philanthropic segment on Joe Breeze, Tom Ritchey, and Gary Fisher, a brief recap on the making of Klunkerz, and some other Klunkerz-related video clips.

Out of Easter candy and after midnight, I crashed out and dreamed about riding Pearl Pass in Crested Butte, CO. This is a must-watch DVD that ranks among the top 5 that capture the essence of mountain biking. Unlike YouTube quality, adrenaline-hyped 35 minute bike porn that Pricepoint.com literally shovels into your shopping cart for $1.99, Klunkerz sits on the top shelf with the likes of 24Solo and Off-Road to Athens. Support director, writer and producer Billy Savage by buying Klunkerz. I heard he took a financial wrecking ball to the chin for this film and it's not helping when people download his hard work on Torrent-shopper.russianbackup.ru/fo'real.

Watch it.

2009 Ouachita Challenge - Tour Day, April 4th

as reported by Matt Hayes

Update: The results are now posted!

GORC conquered the 62 mile Ouachita Challenge yet again. This year marked a welcomed departure from the wet weather of past Challenges and only good, warm sunshine rained down on the course riders. The OC covers parts of the Womble and Ouachita trail systems with about 23 miles of gravel and pavement sprinkled throughout. Riders come from all parts of the Midwest including Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Illinois and Oklahoma.

The GORC train pulled into Oden early Saturday morning and almost everyone would make it across the finish line by day's end. Bryan, Steph, Lisa and myself carpooled down and stayed in a clean rustic cabin just a 1/2 mile outside Oden, AR where the Ouachita Challenge starts and finishes. Larry, John, Scott (Kirby), Scott (Scooter), Randy, John Twist, Josh and Tammy stayed about 30 minutes away in different cabin overlooking the Ouachita River. Three keglets also made the 8 hour journey.

Bits of Salsa were left all over the trail

We all got started with about 300 other Tour riders at 8am at the Oden School parking lot. It was the usual cluster with everyone jockeying for a better position heading into the singletrack. Bryan and myself rode together and threaded the needle to get a top 20 spot entering the Womble.

I should mention at this point that both Larry and John Donjoian were rocking rigid singlespeeds and staying near the front. Scott Piepert rode well and was out of sight in no time. Ouachita Challenge veteran, Lisa Troehler, rode consistently and this was the first Tour using her lightweight titanium Steelhead 29er. Scott Whitaker and Randy Houck, along with John Twist and Scott P, had never ridden in the OC but all would end up doing just fine.

Spectators on the Womble photographed riders flying through numerous wet water crossings and ascending several hill(mountain)sides with a great deal of exposure in many spots. The downhills smoked forearms and brake pads. A tree early in the ride took JohnnyD out but he got up and trucked on with a few meat puppets clinging to his knee. Lisa crashed a couple of times, the second which landed her in a creek and completely drenched from head to toe. She persevered with a huge knot on her forearm and a tweaked ankle.

Bryan and myself paced ourselves with the intent of finishing the ride in a respectable time. John Twist caught up to us and we rode together for about 25 miles. I made sure to stay hydrated but had to make about 5 nature stops along the way. I've felt the torture of dehydration too many times and stopping for 30 seconds is fine by me. After yet another wizz stop I played catch up to reach John and Bryan just as we descended to the bank of Fiddler's Creek. The creek was as high as I've ever seen it and the race promoters were on the fence as to letting the riders cross. We all used a guide line to cross the cold, swift thigh-high creek. The numbing coolness eased the pain of completing the first 30 miles.

Matt wrecked but feeling better overall than previous events

The next 30 would prove to be a personal challenge. After cruising 8 miles down a never-ending gravel road all three of us entered the realm of the Ouachita beast. Unlike the smooth, contoured Womble that occasionally garners a wimpy complaint from riders that it crosses shallow streams and drainages too many times, the Ouachita is an out-and-out test of strength and will power. The trail was never designed for mountain bikes and makes fast use of the available mountains by climbing suddenly and swiftly. The super rocky Ouachita features devilishly technical sections in the form of Rocks with a capital R. Rocks all over the trail, Rocks on the switchbacks, Rock fields for trail beds, Rocks on Rocks, tire-shredding Rocks, sidewall snake Rocks - there's even Rock berms and Rock Gauntlets. Put it this way, it makes you appreciate the new sections of the Ozark Trail.

By this time, Scooter was long gone and I decided to see if I could catch up to him. With 20 miles to go I thought surely I would at least catch a glimpse near the end. I knew I wasn't feeling top-notch by this time and had been fighting an internal struggle of commode-al proportions but what the hell. I climbed like a goat and embraced the granny lifestyle. I passed two guys but quickly faded on Brushy Creek Mountain about 15 miles from the finish.

Boom. Sigh...

I started walking the super steeps and holding brief conversations with trees. Eventually I was passed by one of the riders. The previous up-and-over, Blowout Mountain, aka Blow Up aka Blow Me had taken the wind out of my sails and torched the ship.

Thank the scientists for CytoMax. I perked up after drinking some of the stuff that a checkpoint volunteer had offered and started riding again. I was using my Edge GPS with the course map on the screen to motivate me to the finish. I didn't want to see the stats - speed, average, distance to go(!) - just the map.

On the last gravel road before evaporating in the wind I executed a sepuku move and torqued it back to Oden. Though blown-out completely and utterly destroyed, I wound it out and went back to the single speed handbook of rocking out the gravel climbs. I caught and gapped a strong, stout rider only because there were two significant climbs and he was ignorant to the ways of the single speed.

Once on the pavement I knew it was nearly over. Legs burning, neck melted, face missing, I continued the most awesome death train of my life. The Silver Bullet was out of control and going to mushroom cloud Oden. Well, that's what it felt like... whatever, it's my recap. Write your own.

Lisa just after crossing the finish line

I'm confident I got 6th, maybe 7th. It was my personal best yet 7:05 going counter-clockwise. Steph and Josh were at the finish with Josh riding 20-odd miles and Steph completing 52 miles. Tammy didn't feel too hot and opted to sit it out. First-time OC rider Scooter turned in an impressive 2nd place overall but since it was the Tour he got the same dog tag prize as all the other finishers. In fact, he finished 37 or some minutes in front of me so I had no chance of ever catching him on Brushy Creek. It would have been nice to know that so I wouldn't have tried so hard and detonate myself and the bike. It was cool - he killed it the whole way.

I trained for the OC this year the day of the event. My riding time has been short, sporadic and possibly uninspired so I'm happy with my place. And that brings up the bike, the Salsa Dos Niner. I have to hand it to the first generation Dos for I have abused it numerous times and have not yet snapped its legs. Awesome. Not to mention that it feels like a new bike every time I use it about 5 times a year.

The next person on the GORC passenger train to roll in was Bryan, followed by Larry (pretty sure he was the first single speeder across!), John, Lisa, Randy and Kirby. John Twist was sidelined at the last checkpoint by his stomach and race officials asked him not to continue.

Scott and Steph enjoying the PBR tallboys

As we all gathered and waited for the GORC riders to roll up, Jim and Wendy stopped by to sign in for Sunday's race. They hung out for a while and we wished them luck on their singlespeeds. At about the same time, Team Seagal greeted us with ice-cold PBR tallboys in hand. We celebrated on the lawn of the Baptist church across the street because school property doesn't allow alcohol. We should've brought the keglets but didn't think ahead!! I, as usual, had to reconfigure my settings and reboot my body. I laid on the dirt next to the road for quite some time. Everyone else seems to end long rides just fine. Myself? It's near-death. Edema, COPD, heart burn, cramps, sun exposure, bad juju, whatever, the end was near once again. However, this time was better than last year and I got to enjoy 2 tallboys in short order. Hot damn it tasted good.

Randy finishing up with a smile on his face

I'll say it again... I could probably ride it on the single but I hurt aplenty on the Salsa. I don't desire that sort of deep, dark inner struggle to survive...yet. The day you ride the course is the day you swear to do it never again. In your darkest moment you may even consider ending mountain biking altogether (mostly because you think it's all gonna end anyway real soon on the mountain top), but then you cross the finish line, you heal up in a few days, and then you tell everyone when registration opens at midnight.

Scott W. wrapping up his first Ouachita

It's a sickness. See you there next year! Oh, and the Berryman Epic registration opens May 1st and it's slightly easier and only 55 miles.

Boom.

Results
On-course Photos (coming soon)
GPS map and data

Matson Hill Reloaded

There was a workday at Matson Hill this weekend. Apparently not a lot of people knew about it. There were some conflicts with a few big events, namely the Ouachita Challenge, and the Ozark Trail Mega Event, but clearly, having only 12 or so people show at a park which is slated to have perhaps the most singletrack in the metro area was less than we hoped for.

Several of us had to leave early, so we decided to meet before the scheduled 9 am start so there would still be enough time to get some work done. Mike Dunston showed Glenn Meyer and me the planned reroute that we would be working on, and we went and looked at the reroute that was done last month to see how it was holding up.

The thing that struck me most was the current condition of the trail. Mike, Craig Seibert and St. Charles County Parks work hard to keep the trail in good shape, but the fact is, the trail is starting to show the effects of design decisions made 10 years ago, and heavier use. While we're all in favor of rocks an roots in a trail to provide a bit of an extra challenge, as Mike pointed out, the appearance of so many new ones, along with erosion channels, in a trail that has been used and packed down for 10 years is somewhat troubling.

The character of this trail is going to change. That's not a bad thing, but the days of going to Matson for its lung-busting climbs are coming to an end. A reroute a few years ago eliminated one unsustainable climb, and the new reroute will bypass the last fall-line climb in favor of more gradual lower line. There are a couple of reasons for this: first, once the park has 12-14 miles of singletrack, it will inevitably draw more traffic, something which this climb would not stand up to very well. One reason Matson has been able to get by is that it has historically seen fewer users than Klondike or Lost Valley. I can remember 5 years ago when I always had the park to myself. I almost never saw anyone else there. I almost always run into someone there now. Another reason is that some of the steep climbs have become sluices for water. Severe erosion is occurring, and the trail is in as bad a state from a sustainability perspective as I have ever seen. Fortunately, Mike and Craig are on top of things in preparing for the expansion of the park's trails.

Matson is going to be a very fun place to ride with lots of mileage, but it's going to take a long time to get that much trail built. If you can spare the time, please come out and help. The next workday there will be some time in the Fall.

Ouachita Challenge Approaches

The Ouachita Challenge is next weekend in Oden, Arkansas. The Saturday event is a laid-back Tour while Sunday is a full-bore race to the death - with an 80 mile option if you're feeling particularly awesome. Other than Jim and Wendy, I don't know of any other GORCer doing the race. Kirby, Steph, Bryan, Matt (me), Lisa T, Larry K, John D, Scott (scooter), John T, Rob H, Josh n' Tammy, and er, if there's more I'm forgetting, will be riding the Tour on Saturday. Logistically it just works better for most as taking a Friday off is easier than racing on Sunday and driving back Monday.

Several riders will be sporting single speeds and I anticipate they'll do just fine. This is my fourth year riding it and I've died at the end every time on the geared bike so I'm taking my historical data into account and not going down that path of complete destruction.

The course this year starts off on the Womble and ends on the Ouachita. The two trails are ying and yang. The womble is buff, flowy, valley/ridge sweetness. The climbs may be long but they aren't ridiculously steep. After the Womble there's a fair amount of gravel road before hitting the Ouachita. Or Ouchita, whatever you want to call it. This trail was never designed with bikes in mind and it shows in places. The climbs are stiff and large boulder fields keep riders on their toes (and feet while they walk the sections.) The difficulty lies in pacing the ride. The Womble begs you to rail for 20-30 miles but then the Ouachita simply blows you out, hence the ride up, along, and down Blowout Mountain. The end never comes soon enough but when it does - for me anyway - the end can feel worse than the last miles of riding.

But it's fun. It's adventurous. It's an excuse to ride somewhere you never really go no matter how much you talk about it on message boards or coffee shops. After you've ridden it once, it gets in you and you can't wait to stay up till midnight and register for the next annual Ouachita.

It is a challenge. You would love it.

Info: Ouachita Challenge Website | Tour Map

2009 PTBA Conference, Asheville NC

I recently attended the Professional Trailbuilders Conference in Asheville NC on March 18^th and 19^th. After the conference, I participated in the a USFS Chainsaw Certification class in the Dupont State Forest.

The conference was set up in 1:15 sessions on various subjects pertaining to land use, trail building and trail management. I tried to hit the sessions of most benefit to me in relating to GORC issues. The first day I attended “Rigging for Trail Work”, “Trail Maintenance 101”, “Ecological Considerations for Stream Crossings” and “Wetland Structures”. The second day I attended, “Creating a Self-Sufficient Volunteer Crew”, “Current Trends in Public Bicycle Recreation”, “Design Considerations for Adventure Recreation” and “Design, Development and Management of High Use Equestrian Trails”. All were very informative and taught by knowledgeable people. Since this is a Professional Trailbuilders Association, most of the presenters were professional trailbuilders.

They also had a trail demo area that was stocked with all the latest mechanized trail tools. The hotel donated a putting green to put the equipment to the test. It had some pretty silly looking trail in it by the end of the two days. The riggers had also set up a very cool demo on how they move rocks using wire rope and a Griphoist. This was probably my favorite thing I witnessed and wished we had these tools. It made moving rocks very easy and fast.

I’ll say that the predominant attendees at the conference were land manager types. They were all most interested in the mechanized trail building tools and how they could speed up trailbuilding with them. Most did not seem to have the volunteer base we have or the experience.

I went to the conference expecting to learn our faults and/or weaknesses. However, I came away seeing much more of our strengths. This is based on the conference, but Land Managers don’t always trust their volunteers to build trail on their own, let alone, design the trail. Boulder is just now starting to let Volunteers organize trail work, but the LM is still the one that controls when, what and how they do it. What would seem like large trailbuilding centers don’t even set workday schedules. They organize workdays on a few days notice and wonder why they only get 10-12 people show up. That points to another thing we do really well. Our workday attendance is far above any I heard of except for big IMBA led workdays. People were amazed when I said we regularly had 25-30 people at our workdays. Even in Yosemite, they were lucky to get 6 volunteers to show up.

What we’ve learned at Greensfelder was reaffirmed for me. They referred to designing based upon the overall use of the trail system. You shouldn’t build trail the same for say a place like Greensfelder vs. Berryman. A high use system should stay in the 3-5% average grade where you can get away with 8-10% in low use back country trails. It was also interesting to see how crossing a creek impacts the environment, especially where equestrians are a user group. Having trails drop down fall line into a creek increases the amount of sediment deposited into the streambed which increases the potential for E-Coli. Adding grade reversals before a stream crossing will help. These are things we need to become more aware of. Also, recognizing rock armoring is not always the best choice when dealing with our four-legged friends. There are other techniques we can use to armor trails that will be less dangerous or harmful to them.

Our weaknesses may be our trail maintenance which seems to be catching up with all agencies. As more new trail is built, it just increases the load. Our best solution will be to setup a group that will concentrate on maintenance. This will be something we’ll work on in the next year. I would like to put together a self-sufficient, well-trained, knowledgeable group that can just handle maintenance on all the local trails. The other thing that I will stress, that isn’t really a weakness, but something we must focus on is QUALITY of our trail construction. We should not hurry construction to add more miles, it will only catch up with us in the end and require more maintenance.

It was a great trip and I had a really good time. It would have been nice to have had some company, but it was still fun. I got to end it by playing with a chainsaw for a couple days in the beautiful Dupont State Forest. I also did a road ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway that went up and up for quite a ways. I couldn’t have asked for a better place to visit. GORC should definitely consider visiting there sometime. I know, I know….it’s East!

Bryan Adams, GORC Pres.

Greensfelder Work Weekend- March 28-29

This is a big event for GORC. Now that all of the trails in the park are multi-use, we are evaluating existing trails, and trying to decide which, if any, can be reused, or whether we need to start over from scratch. Needless to say, we think there is the potential to have as many as 25 miles of singletrack in this park! This will be the first step in connecting the existing DeClue Trail to the Scenic Loop Rd. Once this trail is built, there is already another loop which will be an offshoot, that is already flagged and approved.

There is a lot of trailbuilding to be done, but not enough time on our schedule to do it, so we're trying something different this time. What's better than a day of building trail and riding? How about a whole weekend of building trail and riding!? That's right, work and ride on Sat., camp at Greensfelder Sat. night if you wish, then get up and do it again on Sunday. Advance registration is required for camping, and more details are available here. We also have a special challenge with our friends at the St. Louis Adventure Group as to who can build the most trail on Sunday. They already have more than 30 people signed up, so unless there's a really good showing, we're going to be significantly outnumbered. Please show up for at least one of the days, if you can.

Lost Valley Race Report

by Matt Hayes

Unknown rider from Team de Seagal , but damn, look at that sweet new switchback hotness!

Several GORC members attended the Lost Valley race. Craig and Steph were on GORC Bike Patrol and the crowd appreciated the assistance in the Kid's Race. Larry Koester, Bryan Adams, Scott Piepert, Greg Ott, John Twist, Curt, among many more whom I can't recall due to my race-fogged mind, rode circles around Lost Valley. While some of the guys weren't directly racing for GORC, I donned the green GORC jersey and tried my best to show folks that we're more than just a bunch of trail-building fools. We had just laid down fresh Lost Valley (LV) trail the day before and I felt the need to market the club as best I could.

I raced the single speed class and knew it would be hard on me . . . I'm just not a fast spinner and Lost Valley is all about the cadence meter. I pulled the Lynskey from the basement - last used at the Berryman Epic - and hoped the 2:1 magic sprocket set would get the job done.

Larry Koester rackin' up laps of Marathonic proportions

Nine SS'ers who chose not to race Marathon class (gravel road madness! - Ouachita without the trails) launched off the line on the Hamburg trail and rocketed away. I kept up early on but backed it off because I was gonna die in the first 30 seconds. I never knew people could dole out the pain so swiftly. You know, pedal, pedal, pedal, OK, boom, 20mph follow me now mf! - that's what it felt like anyway. Greg Sandknop of Team Seagal kept the pace sickly fast with fellow team mate Eddie K. right along side me. Eventually I found my groove about 40 seconds behind Greg and 40 seconds in front of Eddie. I felt ill the entire ride (I mean race) as there was no time to actually recover. I gave it everything I had and was coming up short. I found my flow on all the narrow and gained time on Greg only to lose sight of him on the flats. I couldn't spin any faster. Hell no.

The new singletrack is terrific, by the way. It was cool to see people on the opposite side of the valley drains with the slight hope of catching up to them. The new stuff was a bit bumpy and slow but it will simply be mind-blowing fast this fall.

But back to the race report.

Everyone rode well. The marathoners did 40+ miles while I opted to break off my personal tachometer in the SS class. Turns out I did pretty well. During the entire race I thought Greg was pacing just behind the 1st place single speeder who was out of his sight. I told myself it was insane the speed these mofo's were pushing. A 36x16 would've been nice. I'd never punished myself so hard.

Scooter on the 3-hr Marathon trip

Finally, at the end I found out I was 2nd and not 3rd . . . cool with me, my head was spinning and the edema/COPD-like lung fungus kept me cross-eyed for a while! I was satisfied because I knew there was nothing left - I'd tried my absolute very best to win while flying the GORC banner. For a non-dedicated race-when-I-feel-like-it who prefers trail building over training, my day was made and - behold - beer was in sight! Oh, damn, beeeeer! ASAP in the belly, and then quickly, the little Drinky-Crow on my shoulder said another would do me up so I bummed a tasty Miller Lite (thanks Steph!) for some additional supplementary enhancement. Instant heartburn, but such relief. Even as I write this I am still coughing up bits of scarred lung. I gotta hand it to the Seagal kids - they're a fast bunch doing mega rides left and right and their PBR-sponsored beer tent is much appreciated - so much so that it was completely destroyed and left a crumpled shell in the wake of the race.

Mesa Cycles put on a great event and everyone agreed the new singletrack addition at Lost Valley is super cool. All in all, a superb weekend to be on the bike. See you all at Greensfelder this weekend. New trails, more beer, good friends. Perfect combination.

Race Results can be found here...

Fixed Gear Mayhem (Why It's The Best Training Ever)

A disclaimer: if you already have nagging knee problems you will find that this style of riding either helps correct the issue or puts you in a wheelchair. This article is not science and I am not Adam Craig. I am an average midwestern mountain biker with access to a blog that needs some articles.

Onto the glory of fixed fun . . .

Fixed gear bikes have been around for as long as bikes have existed. They are not the first bike you usually pick up when going out the door for a ride. Why is that?

For starters, you can't coast. Oh, and you have to pedal backwards to slow down because you only have a front brake. They can also tire you out faster since there's no such thing as coasting. Also, they will always, always be a singlespeed hardtail one at that.

Most people think fixed gear riding is foolish and stupid. It's slows you down they say and it wrecks your knees. Surely you must hit every single rock on the trail and skid all over the place.

Nah, not really.

My first ride on a fixxxie was at Greensfelder two years ago. I had the winter blues and bikes sucked. I felt slow. It wasn't as fun as it used to be. I had read about these Boone ti cogs that bolted onto a disc-brake hub where the disc would normally be. So I ordered one up and put it on my single speed at the time, a Surly Karate Monkey.

Took off the rear brake, flipped the wheel around and bolted the cog on. Done. I now owned a fixie. A genuine 32x16 fixed gear bike meant for trail use.

Nervously, I rode it on Dogwood. About 30 feet in I almost snapped my knees off when I tried to coast. Can't do that, when you think about it for a second, you know? The trail felt new, felt hard and tried to kill me. Many times. Logs wanted my pedals, rocks begged to shred my crankarms.

It was great training to say the least and way fun. Fixed riding demands that you focus entirely on the trail, your bike and speed. Obstacles must be avoided, threaded, hopped, whatever. You learn to rock out on just a front brake. No, you don't want to skid - that wrecks the trail and your speed. Timing log hops is the hardest. Rock ledges come a close second. You have to lift up the rear wheel and kick back just enough to get the cranks up and over the obstacle. Sometimes the logs will stop you in your tracks. The situation just didn't work out. It happens.

Sometimes that works, sometimes the cranks get a bit crappier looking. Generally speaking, I've never wiped out from making crank contact with a rock or log. The bike will shudder or go off line but recovery is almost immediate. Learning to feather the front brake is crucial because only so much leg force can stop you when you're traveling 18mph.

I slowly built up enough rides to confidently tackle the DeClue trail, Berryman, and Chubb. I don't ride fixed on every ride but it helps to stay in tune with it at least 3 times a month over winter. If you stray too long without a fixed ride under you, don't be surprised to find that you want to coast and tear your feet off your pedals.

When starting out, I suggest using a low gear, like a 32x19 or so. This lets your cranks spin much faster and gives your more options to get over obstacles. Plus, you're not killing yourself on the trail. Always remember, coasting is crashing.

I usually only run fixed over the winter months. It gets too hot in St. Louis to constantly spin but I'm not saying you can't do it. Summer is when you want to be railing gulley berms on your favorite bike.

Whatever you do, remember to watch out for obstacles, slow down on the downhills and REMEMBER YOU CAN'T COAST. Your kneecaps will explode if you forget this rule while jamming on a descent. Your front brake is your friend. Don't be the Hulk and backpedal when your legs are wasted - you risk injury. Use your hand brake when nature is attempting to feed you tree bark. You will be amazed at how much power one brake has and how hard it is to really wash out the front wheel. Be smart through rock gardens and loose gravel - physics still apply.

Oh yeah . . . and don't listen to naysayers. With practice you can keep up with other bikers. You may not be able to outrun them on a descent but with the gear/chain/rear wheel throwing you uphill, you can assure yourself that you have the best momentum generator going.

Do enough fixed rides and you will improve in several areas; handling, speed, cadence and endurance. When you get back to your standard rig you'll find yourself not coasting as much, but instead rocketing through tech gardens, flowing over roots, logs, rocks with mucho endurance to boot.

I just finished up a ride out at Chubb and it was unreal. It felt as fast as on the traditional single speed. See you on the trail.

Changing of the Guard

Bryan and Former President Scott Whitaker

For those of you who may have missed it in the minutes from the last meeting, GORC has new Officers. Michael Bolton Bryan Adams is the new President, and Matt Hayes is Vice President. I'm sure they will prove to be as effective at cat herding as their predecessors. Next time you see them, buy them a beer- if only so that they gain a little weight to slow them down.

Events this Week March 1-8

New trail at Lost Valley from workday on Feb. 28th

It's another busy week. Here's what's going on, including a few items from the past weekend:

--On Saturday the 28th, there was a workday at Lost Valley which began the construction of a reroute that will eventually be around 2 miles long. We'll need a big turnout on March 21st or it probably won't be open until the Fall. It's going to be some incredibly fun singletrack, but it's also difficult terrain requiring a lot of rock work as you can see in the pictures, so it's very time consuming. There were only 22 people at the workday, and considering how many people ride at Lost Valley, this was a somewhat disappointing turnout. If you can, please try to attend the next workday. More details will be on the forum.

--Sawyers were out on Sunday, March 1st preparing for the big workdays at Greensfelder on March 28th and 29th and Matson Hill on March 7th.

--March 4th is the regular monthly meeting at the Schlafly Tap Room.

--March 7th, Saturday 9am-1pm is the first of what will prove to be many workdays at Matson Hill. Making use of the new land that St. Charles County Parks has purchased to extend the park will result in as much as 12 or so miles of singletrack there. More details are available here.

Lost Valley Workday- Sat. February 28th

The bridge at Lost Valley has finally given out. There's a small reroute just north of it to allow you to get around it temporarily. The good news is that GORC is building a reroute that will bypass it cutting out about 0.5 miles of fire road, but adding around 2 additional miles of singletrack that will be similar to the trail added with the "Haunted Hollow" reroute 4 years ago. This is a lot of trail, and we only have 2 workdays to do it, so we're going to need a lot of help. More details can be found here.

Workday on the Chubb

This is what most of the river bottom trail looked like on Saturday. The fact that you could barely walk without falling (2 members of our work party slipped and fell just trying to get to the work area) didn't seem to deter users from being out on the trail. We saw several groups of hikers, a couple of equestrians, and some trail runners. I suppose all of the pooling water on the trail surface kept the mud from caking up on their shoes to the point where they weren't able to lift them. The bike tracks in the top picture probably came from someone riding the fireroad from Lone Elk. They were probably forced to turn around as soon as they hit the singletrack by their tires and drivetrain being instantaneously clogged with mud, as the tracks didn't appear to continue much further.


We did manage to get some work done anyway. Sawyers cleared the trail along the river, and a new crossing was constructed just north of where Tyson Creek washed out a culvert, and the trail along with it. I'm not sure how effective it will be in the long run, because there are few options for a crossing here, but when it's dry, it should at least be possible to get across the creekbed.

Upcoming Events - February/early March

We're hoping that the weather for February is better than it was last year, because there are some significant things for area trails coming up this month and in early March.

-February 4th, Wed. is the regular monthly meeting at the Schlafly Tap Room. If you have a project you'd like to get GORC involved with, then come and talk about it.

-February 7th, Sat. there are 2 workdays, both running from 9am-1pm, so you have your choice of where to go:

Chubb-we will be clearing the river bottom trail of the logs which the recent floods left. We will also be improving the Tyson Creek crossing, which washed out during the Ike storm in September, and rerouting a small section of the trail. Look here for further details.
Indian Camp Creek-we hope to open a new piece of trail after this workday, but it will require a large turnout in order to do so.

-February 28th, Sat. 9am-1pm, Lost Valley- big things here. Pending final approval, there will be a significant amount of new trail added here to replace the section near the bridge on the northwestern side of the trail. More details will be published on the forum as they become available.

-March 7th, Sat. 9am-1pm, Matson Hill- will see us starting Phase One of construction on the new property, in addition to rerouting some unsustainable areas on the existing trail. This is the start of a multi-year project that will see Matson's singletrack triple or quadruple.

As you can see there's a lot going on, and need all the volunteer help we can get. Please consider coming out and helping. Also, look on the forum for information about planned work at Greensfelder which has 3 workdays scheduled this Spring. We're hoping to re-open the DeClue extension after some significant reworking of areas that proved unsustainable.

2008- The Year in Review

It was another busy year for GORC. Despite the challenges presented by Mother Nature, we managed to get a lot done. The Spring workday season was fairly unusual in that we were forced to cancel a number of workdays- 5 out of 12 scheduled. 3 of these were not made up. The weather made it very challenging to build, let alone ride, trails in the area. A lot of time was spent on maintenance, but we still found time for some new projects. Here are some of the highlights from this year:

-Gateway Mountain Bike Patrol is launched.
-Completed 2 new trails (5 & 6) at SIUE.
-Bangert Island opens with 3 miles of new singletrack.
-Creve Coeur Park has 2.15 miles of new singletrack.
-Work is nearly finished on the proof-of-concept skills area at Klondike Park.
-GORC membership reaches an all-time high with 170 paid members.
-Midwest Mountain Bike Festival in Peoria.
-Maintenance of North Trace Creek section of Ozark Trail.
-GORC visits Brown County, Indiana. In addition to being great fun, the quality of the trails there gives us many new design ideas for our own trails.
-Durango Trip
-Burning at the Bluff
-Berryman Epic Race/Tour
-GORC Volunteer Appreciation Party at Greensfelder.
-The Ozark Trail Association is working on the construction of singletrack between the Huzzah Conservation Area and Harmon Spring on the Berryman on the Courtois section of the OT. Once this section, called the Courtois Gap, is complete, it will be nearly all singletrack between Huzzah CA and Hazel Creek Campground. In addition, the OTA shuttle has made it possible to ride some sections of the trail, like the Middle Fork, without having to juggle cars.
-Broemmelsiek and Indian Camp Creek both have new trail sections, and maintenance was done on existing trail.
-Castlewood, Chubb, Greensfelder, and Lost Valley all had maintenance work done.
-The St. Louis Adventure Group has come out in force to help at trail workdays, with their attendance numbers rivalling those of GORC members. Many are even joining GORC and vice-versa, so this distinction between the 2 groups probably won't matter for long.
-All told GORC contributed 3992 hours of volunteer labor this year.

As usual, we have big plans for area trails, and not enough manpower to implement all of them, so if you like what you see on your local trails, please try to make it to a workday or two in 2009. See you on the trails!

GORC & the Bike Swap

Midwest Bicycle Expo and Swap Meet
Hosted by the St. Louis Regional Bicycle Federation
Sunday, January 25, 2009
9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Gateway Center
One Gateway Drive
Collinsville, IL 62234
(just 12 minutes from the Arch)

Yes, I know, the bike swap has nothing to do with mountain biking... right?

Wrong.

If you've been wanting a new dirt ride on the cheap or want to find some used (and new) bits for your tricked-out all-rounder then you should be making plans to hit the 2009 Midwest Bike Swap.

Where else are you going to find bike frames for a couple hundred dollars, tires by the box, maybe even a few hot cyclocross bikes (my goal!)... yeah ... Bike Swap.

Our club will be present offering free information, taking memberships, allowing people to sell some things, maybe even hold a raffle... hmm. There's an antique bicycle show, a bike corral to test ride complete bikes and more fun stuff.

See you there.

Where Does My Bike Come From?

Maybe Santa left you something shiny with 2 wheels under the tree? Ever wonder where it came from? I knew in general terms that most frames, if not complete bikes, along with everything else these days, seem to come from the Far East. This article breaks it down by company.
The article where the link came from (an ad may appear on the Salon site) also provides some interesting food for thought about bikes and society in general. It would be interesting to see how much of Trek's $2 million spent on bike-friendly infrastructure advocacy goes toward mountain biking.

Upcoming Events - December

Coming up this month:

December 3- Wednesday, 7 pm- Regular monthly meeting at the Schlafly Tap Room.

December 6- Saturday, 9 am- Lost Valley Maintenance Day. Almost everyone in the world goes to LV 2-3 times a year, because this place is just plain ol' fun. So, please put this date on your schedule and come out and help perform some much needed maintenance on this beloved trail.

December 12- Friday, 7 pm- Night Ride at Bangert Island. We will be gathering in downtown St. Chuck, near the "boathouse" for a night ride at Bangert. There might be a surprise or two in store for the ride, so charge up your lights and come on out and have some fun. We also have a room reserved at Trailhead for post-ride discussions on the economy and such.

December 20- Saturday, 9 am- SIUE Workday. We are going to complete Trail 5 and make it a true loop. We will also finish up some maintenance activities on Trail 1 if we get a good turn out.

The Inaugural 2008 Berryman Epic Tour/Race:

The Inaugural 2008 Berryman Epic Tour/Race:
A Brief Report
by Matt Hayes

In early 2008 it was announced on the Internet that some race-minded folk were going to be staging their own epic-length bike race in Missouri. Their goal, it stated, was to bring a race like Syllamo's Revenge or the Ouachita Challenge to the Ozark hills. The btepic.com website started taking orders in early April for those that dared. The race payout was substantial and schwag giveaways promised to be huge.

Too soon, summer came to a close and the Burnin' at the Bluff V 12-hour came and went - in a ball of flame, of course. As the weekend of October 24-25th approached I grew anxious. Lisa even wondered what it would be like.

Will the course be marked or will get lost and resort to eating crawdads and katydids?
Would the weather cooperate or would we find mud bogs and frosty handlebars?
Would the trails be sweet or just plain suck?

The weekend before the race I went down by myself and checked out the Courtois sections at the start and below Highway 8 to get a feel for the trail and see how well it was marked. I came back and explained to Lisa that there wasn't anything to worry about - the trail was well-marked and in perfect condition. No downed trees or bad sections.

On Tour day Lisa, along with Jim and Wendy Davis, set off with 40+ riders and everyone stayed in high spirits. I drove around to each crossing with directions, a pump and water handy. I think many appreciated seeing a road, wheels and a face towards the end of the 56 mile ride. No one got injured and no one got (permanently) lost.

That evening Scott, the promoter, raffled off a ton of prizes. Several high-dollar items included 4 Redline Monocog complete bikes, a cargo trailer, a Garmin Edge 305, an LED light kit, a wheelset and a bunch of other things. Lisa and I didn't win anything but it looked as though over half the people present got a schwag prize.

That night Scott Piepert and Bryan Adams arrived to get the lowdown on the course. I told them it would be a blast. The next day would come too soon.

On race day over 92 bikers lined up in the parking lot of the Bass River Resort. At 8:30 everyone took off and it only got faster in the coming minutes. The super fast geared guys were off the front - and Matt Keeven on his single speed. Bryan, Scott and I all rode single speeds along with Jim Krewet and a couple of other folks.

The organizers had placed a temporary bridge across Brazil Creek which was a blessing. The creek is over 4 feet deep now and 15 feet wide from the equestrian traffic. All the racers ran down the switchbacks (they are nearly unrideable now), across the bridge and received their first checkpoint zip tie. I was the second ss guy through with Jim, Scott and Bryan right behind me.

Next, we jammed over the Berryman trail over to the Berryman campground. I passed several guys and felt quite good. My left knee has been giving me trouble and I had hoped a new pair of shoes, a lower bike fit, new cleats and some insole shims would do the trick. So far, so good.

Lisa met me again at the second checkpoint at the Berryman campground. Again, I was the second SS guy in but was already 5-8 minutes behind Matt "morale crusher" Keeven. I set off down the lower Courtois and tried to make up for lost time. Jim Krewet passed me at the campground checkpoint but I kept him in sight almost the whole time heading for the 3rd stop at the end of the Courtois. The trail followed several creek drainages and whenever it had to gain some elevation it shot up the hillside. I was forced to walk many of these tall climbs in order to conserve energy.

After getting to the third checkpoint I finally caught up to Jim on the gravel road back to the Berryman campground. We agreed the pace was fast and I admitted I was feeling slightly blown. My knee started hurting and I knew things didn't feel just right.

At the fourth checkpoint back at the Berryman campground I had to sit down. Lisa cheered me on but deep down I knew Jim had me. He set off on the remaining leg of the Berryman back to Bass Resort while I composed myself.


Once I hit the singletrack I knew I was in trouble. My hands were beginning to sting and blister from the rigid fork and my 32:19 sissy gearing felt hard. And then the unthinkable happened.

I really hate leg cramps but boy they sure loved me. I had to stop 7-10 times over the remaining 15 miles to keep me from losing my mind. The agony was obscene and it hurt to see people passing me. Scott Piepert passed me at the running spring and that's when I tried to pull it together and finish it off.

Limping back around 7 miles an hour and ruining my chances for a good overall placing I kept my legs turning but applied no pressure to prevent the hell cramps from popping in to say hi. At the last checkpoing Jim and Wendy cheered me on. I mentioned the cramps, the pain, the possible bonking and they wanted to know if I wanted some gum! They're pretty damn funny even when you're feeling down. I got to pedaling back to Bass and promptly got passed by 10 more racers on the gravel road back to base.

I pulled into Bass not a moment too soon and had the best ride of my summer in Missouri. The Lynskey rocked out even if I couldn't keep up and I promise to tighten my bottom bracket before starting the race next time around.

Overall, Chris Ploch got 1st overall, Matt Keeven got 1st Single Speeder (4th overall wtf?!!), Jim Krewet got 2nd SS, Scott Piepert 3rd SS, Me (Matt) 4th and Bryan Adams 5th.

Many thanks to Scott at Springfield Bicycle Co. for organizing the event and chopping out over 70 downed trees to make for a memorable (and sickly fast) race.

See you next year at the GORCtoberfest when GORC merges mayhem with the Berryman Epic. It's in the works, see you then.

Greensfelder/Klondike Workdays, Sat. Nov. 8th

Another weekend with double workdays, this time at Greensfelder and Klondike Park. Both begin at the usual time- 9 am. More info on the Greensfelder Workday can be found here, and on the Klondike one here.

The Greensfelder workday is particularly important since we lost a workday 2 weeks ago to a St. Louis County Parks scheduling conflict. Those of you who have ridden there recently have seen how good a shape the trails can be in when we have some dry weather. Remember what Dogwood looked like before GORC started working on it?

We've spent some time looking at the existing trails, and have identified areas that are especially prone to damage, mostly due to drainage issues. We think that by fixing the most troublesome spots, it will go a long way to making the Dogwood and DeClue trails much better places to ride. We're going to try to get to as many of these areas as we can, but it's a very large project and isn't going to be able to be finished in one workday. We've also looked at the DeClue extension, and are considering reroutes for several areas. These should be ready to build in the Spring if all goes well.

Creve Coeur Park/ICCP Workdays Oct. 25th

We will be working on a continuation of the trail built at Creve Coeur Park in the Spring, as shown marked in pink on the lower map. When this is complete, hopefully after the next workday scheduled for November 22nd, there will be approximately 3.5 miles of singletrack. Not bad, a 7 mile out-and-back, right in the center of the STL Metro area with more to come.

There's also a workday scheduled at Indian Camp Creek Park, so if you live out in St. Charles County, please consider helping out there.