LV Group Ride
Alright, the GORC LV group ride went off without a hitch this past Saturday night. A group of about 20 people got together to have some fun while riding their bikes. We had a loosely organized Poker Run in store that saw people out riding anywhere from 1 hour to 2 hours. Conditions were fair and I think everyone had a great time. I think the next one is already being planned, so stay tuned...
Those aren't Kirby's nipples glowing in the dark!
Here's The Pimp shredding the new section of Phase 2.
Izak towed the fuel, unfortunately it ran out too quickly.
Those aren't Kirby's nipples glowing in the dark!
Here's The Pimp shredding the new section of Phase 2.
Izak towed the fuel, unfortunately it ran out too quickly.
The proud winners:
More Pics of happy bikers...
Lost Valley group ride
Hey all, this Saturday June 20th we are planning on having a group ride starting from the mound off of 94 hwy. Leave time is going to be somewhere between 7:00 and 7:30pm. Come out, you will be glad you did and richly rewarded.
If you are a card shark it could work in your favor. Also don't be surprised to see a B.O.B fairy yielding gifts on the trail.
Good times to be had!
If you are a card shark it could work in your favor. Also don't be surprised to see a B.O.B fairy yielding gifts on the trail.
Good times to be had!
Pictorial of SeaMonkey's May 2009
Since pictures say a lot and I don't have a lot to say, here's a blog entry on the cheap.
Here's my May/early June recap with editorial assistance courtesy of my new Michigan-purchased 20 year Dirt Rag anniversary pint glass filled to the tip with Bell's Amber Ale...
The view off my front porch along the Allenton Loop is mostly early in the morning, too often wet and almost always with the thought of "wish I was riding."
The monsoons of India have landed in Missouri and when I'm not cleaning up the Ozark Trail so others may ride and hike, I'm cutting grass and drinking beer - usually while cutting grass. The JD rider has a cup holder, gotta use it, ya know...
It's been a wet 2009 to say the least.
And since I've been breaking Paul's nuts on the hill climbs, the Lynskey is still non-operational. Not that it's broke, more like I'm lazy and busy. Mostly lazy. Paul's rear hub with a conversion axle has two hollow aluminum nuts and the drive-side can't take the heat. Paul knows - he gave me 4 this go 'round.
Since global warming means more wetness in St. Louis I've been in this hell working on the GORC site, reading up on other people riding in awesome western states and inputting work invoices that never seem to end. The GORC site lives on the right-side laptop. Notice that it is not on. Work is busy.
I've relegated the old Fujeye to city ghetto spins on the Riverfront Trail. It's been good to me for 7+ years but I got upgrade my ride sometimes, ya know. The hubs were - are - still - crunchy with sand and glass and the BB is played but it gets me from A to B when I'm in the city.
With all the rain, post-workday daylight singletrack drive time issues I've been enjoying the hell out of my new road jet. It may not be pedigree but it's light, fast and left me money in the checking account. I've been getting to know the Allenton Loop quite well - 600 climbing feet per lap 7 miles flat - hurt kitchen.
But I don't get to ride it nearly as much as I'd like. It is a good base keeper, though. The chip-n-seal Loop lets you know if you are slacking. Very quickly.
That's my May. Here's to more singletrack and GORC rides in the latter half of June.
Poker Burner this Saturday at Lost Valley 7PM. Be there.
Here's my May/early June recap with editorial assistance courtesy of my new Michigan-purchased 20 year Dirt Rag anniversary pint glass filled to the tip with Bell's Amber Ale...
The view off my front porch along the Allenton Loop is mostly early in the morning, too often wet and almost always with the thought of "wish I was riding."
The monsoons of India have landed in Missouri and when I'm not cleaning up the Ozark Trail so others may ride and hike, I'm cutting grass and drinking beer - usually while cutting grass. The JD rider has a cup holder, gotta use it, ya know...
It's been a wet 2009 to say the least.
And since I've been breaking Paul's nuts on the hill climbs, the Lynskey is still non-operational. Not that it's broke, more like I'm lazy and busy. Mostly lazy. Paul's rear hub with a conversion axle has two hollow aluminum nuts and the drive-side can't take the heat. Paul knows - he gave me 4 this go 'round.
Since global warming means more wetness in St. Louis I've been in this hell working on the GORC site, reading up on other people riding in awesome western states and inputting work invoices that never seem to end. The GORC site lives on the right-side laptop. Notice that it is not on. Work is busy.
I've relegated the old Fujeye to city ghetto spins on the Riverfront Trail. It's been good to me for 7+ years but I got upgrade my ride sometimes, ya know. The hubs were - are - still - crunchy with sand and glass and the BB is played but it gets me from A to B when I'm in the city.
With all the rain, post-workday daylight singletrack drive time issues I've been enjoying the hell out of my new road jet. It may not be pedigree but it's light, fast and left me money in the checking account. I've been getting to know the Allenton Loop quite well - 600 climbing feet per lap 7 miles flat - hurt kitchen.But I don't get to ride it nearly as much as I'd like. It is a good base keeper, though. The chip-n-seal Loop lets you know if you are slacking. Very quickly.
That's my May. Here's to more singletrack and GORC rides in the latter half of June.
Poker Burner this Saturday at Lost Valley 7PM. Be there.
Never invest your money in anything that eats or needs repairing. - Billy Rose
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I don't really remember much about Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" and I'm pretty sure my bike wasn't mentioned in it, but it probably should have been. Yeah, so maybe I've packed on a little beer weight lately. Perhaps so much so that if my ride of choice had been a horse (*scoff!*) he would have Christopher Reeve'd me long ago and trotted off into the muddy, post-holed sunset (and left big piles of fly-covered poop all over said sunset scene, but I digress). Instead my favored steed has been a much-loved ("tough-love", that is), somewhat-aged Turner Burner... and it'd apparently had enough and died while JRA at Castlewood... an unceremonius death by metal fatigue.
Such is life, I guess. Crap happens and things break. I should probably spend more time fishing and less time smashing my mountain bike. No biggie. Turner offers a significant customer loyalty discount on new frames so it's really just a matter of choosing which sweet new model I want, right?
Well, yeah, maybe not so much. Turns out Dave Turner has been keeping up with the Joneses and the Joneses have been living large. Like $2400- for- a- frame large. Wow. I'm all for supporting American craftsmen (especially since I'm buddies with some out-of-work American welders and CNC machinists) but holy crap! My loyalty started to waver at the prospect of plunking down more bucks for a bike frame than my car is worth. Maybe something more plebeian would be in order for a man of my financial stature (or lack thereof)... like a used Surly. Or another rusty Redline. There may be champagne wishes and caviar dreams here but, truth be told, I'm on a beer-budget (in the literal and metaphorical senses).
After much gnashing of teeth and beating of man-breast(s) and like 50-zillion consolation beers I opted that I should stick with the company that had sold me a good product in the past (Turner), and provided excellent support when I called them for advice (Turner), and were employing American welders that most likely were bike nerds like my friends (Turner)... so I sucked it up and did the right thing. I called Turner...
...'s warranty department (guy) and got all pathetic on him. Like "Boo-hoo, woe is me, nothing to left to live for" pathetic. He had pity on me and scrounged up a lightly used front triangle to help me out. A few phone calls, some pleading, several hundred dollars later, there's a practically new Flux front triangle at my doorstep. I think the warranty guy's name was "Greg". He rules. Seriously. He didn't know me from Adam, but since I was a prior customer he definitely took care of me. Huge props.
So, my brand loyalty and grovelling pay off. I rob a few parts from the deceased Burner to get my old POS SS running again in the meantime, order some new parts and tools, and wait for a rainy day to Steve Austin-ize the mangled remains of my fav ride. Next free day I decide to sneak in a quick ride and, just to keep things interesting for me, the seatpost head on the SS promptly blows the hell up for no apparent reason (I'm self-consciously sucking in my "Dunlap" as I type that) and it's one of those not-so- easy-to-find sizes like 26 point -0- and six-and-seven-eighths or something. But whatever, crap breaks... it's definitely not the end of the world or anything. I knew I should've just gone fishing instead of pushing my luck with bikes.
Long story longer; the planets align on a rainy day off from work, I make a sick-strong pot of coffee, load an all speed/death metal playlist into the iPod and sequester mystelf to the basement to Frankenstein this bike back to life... assuming one can use "Frankenstein" as a verb. As a service to the casual reader, I should of course truncate the text here, favoring a 80's TV-style video and music montage to depict the frenzied flurry of over-torqued bolts, splintered carbon, and the comic-relief imagery of my dangling iPod headphone cord being drawn rapidly into my rotating cranks and rings with my head in tow (music choices range from the "Yakkity Sax" of Benny Hill's chase scenes to the inspirational snare drum and brass "A-Team Theme"... both somewhat fitting in their own regard).
After laying waste to my eardrums and mangling my knuckles for the better part of the morning, the trailing shuck of the donor Burner had been cast aside and the salvageable bits grafted to the Flux. Flashing well forward through a series of sodden days that relegated me to road riding on a Guerciotti that Karl Becker had infused some new SS life into (sparing it from the dumpster), things outside eventually desiccate enough to take the new bike for a spin. (I must add in the interest of complete disclosure that on one of the aforementioned road rides I did manage to fire one of the chainring bolts from the Guerciotti sharply due north while westbound on Arsenal approaching Sublette during some high-torque, fat-guy-mashing-on-the-pedals-style climbing... so if someone finds an injured Italian-American with a ring-shaped wound on 'em or should you or someone you know receive a heaping bowl of Cunetto's pasta with a malformed bit of threaded metal in it, we may presume who might be culpable).
Turns out, "Frankenstein" can really hold her own on GORC dirt. The Fox suspension is really impressive. The bike has enough heft to feel substatntial on descents, very unlike my old aluminum hardtail + SIDxc (a combination that rivalled a thoroughly cooked ramen noodle for stiffness) and enough giddyup to scoot me up some of my favorite climbs. As with any bikes I build, there are some nuances present... nuances that make "click"ing sounds although they are frequently drowned out by the biologically generated "clicks" and "pops" of my knees and vertebrae... (combined with the racket I make struggling for air, I'd imagine that I sound somewhat akin to an obscene phone caller being pursued by a meth-crazed castanet player... or a reasonable facsimile thereof).
Duly impressed with my new orange beastie, we continue to thrash dirt as the vagaries of spring weather allow, clicking, popping and panting all the while. If NPR's Car Talk has taught me anything, it's that 'if your ride's making a racket, turn up the stereo'. And largely, that strategy works for me, save for the day that finds my first downhill application of the rear brake punctuated with a profound squealy-then-crunchy sound that muscles its way past the din of my iPod. Something was definitely rotten in Denmark... if "Denmark" is my back hub and "rotten" means that the frickin' rotor bolts have exploded out of frickin' "Denmark". Now that's a pretty convincing argument for me to drop some beer belly baggage...
If "F=ma", my "m" can generate some serious effing "F", son. The walk back to the car that included brief stints of low-speed cruising on flat roads with my rear rotor jangling freely about the hub gave me ample opportunity to ponder how I've neglected my instinct to do more fly fishing and give the bike a rest... I mean, clearly the bike has been sending me a message (and the message is most likely "Get off of me, you fat jerk.")
***
Not one to ignore my instincts (*scoff again*!), Frankie lies is blissful but temporary repose in the basement while I take a fishing field day. To sweeten the deal, I'd saved my pennies long enough to have recently netted myself a new Imperial rod festooned with a smooth and lightweight Ross reel. Waiting for its chance to shine, I think it had been telepathically contacting me from my back room for months while I wrenched and wrecked bicycles, whispering "hey, Dummie, let's go fishing... bikes are for dorks". And, honestly, when that day arrived it was pretty grand; ...big, energetic sunfish awash in spawning colors and pot-bellied bass taking advantage of the sunfishes' preoccupation with gettin' freaky, and neither cognizant enough to mind me prowling the lake in a belly boat, picking them off one by one.
The new rod punched poppers straight through a wind stiff enough to push my floating watercraft around. It would lift great lengths of sinking fly line up from the depths and turn over waterlogged streamers with only minimal effort on my part. It's feathery weight allowed for hours of fatigue-free casting. Best off all, the tip was sensitive enough to telegraph subtle takes as I dredged the deep with sinking flies yet had ample enough backbone to steer hooked fish back to the bellyboat and away from snags.
What it couldn't do was float.
A fish that warranted a photo was brought onto the stripping apron of my bobbing belly boat and in a fleeting moment of inattention, the Imperial must have slipped away from me. I received the last of her telepathic transmissions shortly thereafter as she sank to the bottom of the lake... it sounded like "blub, blub, blub... you asshole... blub, blub, blub..."
***
All things considered, despite what appears to be series of whiny sob stories from me, I think what really matters is that I'm actually quite happy and thankful just to have so many opportunities to go out and smash, mangle, ruin and lose things.
It's just stuff anyway.
...(although, if anyone would like to lend me some money for some new "just stuff", that would be pretty rad...)
North Trace Cleared (again)
This is sounding like a broken record. This past weekend GORC members helped with the cleanup of the Ozark Trail after the May 8th storms which downed an estimated 3000 trees, and left nearly 80 miles of trail closed. The Ozark Trail Association has come up with a plan which should have the trail from Onondaga Cave at the beginning of the Courtois section, to Barton Fen, midway on the Middle Fork Section, and everything in between, including the Council Bluff Lake area, open by the end of June. These are some of the most popular sections of the trail for mountain bikers, so a great deal of thanks is due to the OTA, and particularly its sawyers for all of the hard work.
While our role was fairly small in comparison, GORC decided to say thanks by doing something, rather than just talking or typing. On May 21st, Glenn Meyer and Kent Kopplin, both GORC members and OTA sawyers, cleared over 20 trees over the 1.5 mile stretch between Council Bluff Lake and Hwy DD. Matt Hayes, Lisa Troehler, John Twist, Bryan Adams, Jeff Ripplemeyer, and myself then cleared the remaining 12 miles of trail between DD and Hazel Creek of about 30 trees. Now 50 trees may not be a lot in comparison to sections that may have as many as 50-100 blowdowns per mile, but we see it as allowing other crews to concentrate on areas which sustained heavier damage, rather than having to worry about a longer, more spread out section like North Trace which wasn't hit nearly as hard.
This wasn't one of the easiest sawyer runs by any means. 30 trees has been a typical number for recent visits, but this time, in addition to the usual dead or sick ones, there was a mix of older, mature trees that were toppled at the roots, and trees which were carried on to the trail by the tremendous water that was rushing through Trace Creek.
Hopefully, this terrible storm will serve some useful purpose in helping people who use the Ozark Trail understand just how much time people actually volunteer to keep such a valuable resource available for use by all. Without them, this trail might have been as good as closed for many years. In fact, parts of it may still be closed for up to a year. Show your appreciation by doing something. Get involved with the OTA, or GORC and help build new trails and keep our current ones open, and in great shape.
Pictorial of the 2009 Midwest Mountain Bike Summit
The Summit, held in Grand Rapids, Michigan this year offered fast, swoopy, sandy, bermed n' buff trails. The Summit/Festival will be held there again next year so you got another chance to ride some great rollercoaster-like trail systems. Here's the SummitFest in pictures...
Mike Dunston, trail armoring guru
Mike Dunston, trail armoring guru
Lisa riding the Cannonsburg SGA
The main Summit Strip featuring Dirt Rag, Specialized, Trek, SRAM, Scott and others
Mike Dunston of GORC along with several members demonstrating the art of trail armoring. This was put to the test immediately with a downhill race! The drop got downhillers across the XC course.
Many people watched as GORC meticulously built the rock launch pad.
The Cannonsburg Ski Resort features an advanced skills area with substantial drops, skinnies, jumps, teeters and doubles. Impressive!Midwest Mountain Bike Summit Recap
Another Midwest Mountain Bike Festival has come and gone. Hands down, this one gets the crown for best beer, with a choice of fine brews from Founders, Arcadia and Bell's. The welcome party got started Thursday night with the roasting of a 137 lb pig, and some other very nice food, complemented by a keg of Founders Double Trouble and another of their Pale Ale. Very nice indeed.
Friday morning, the Advocacy portion began bright and early at 9am, at least for those who had not indulged too much in the Double Trouble! I attended talks from the IMBA Trail Care Crew, and a very interesting one from a representative of a philanthropic foundation that awards grants to worthy causes. There was some very interesting stuff about dealing with club dynamics, and things to be aware of when searching out prospective sources of grant money.
After lunch Ryan from IMBA gave a talk about one of their newest programs- Gateway Parks, which are accessible trails located in urban areas that allow riding opportunities for beginner and advanced riders alike-- something we hope to implement at Creve Coeur Park.
That afternoon we traveled to a trail called Yankee Springs, which was further away than the 3 parks which were the main focus of the Festival, and enjoyed a nice 13 mile ride on some twisty, sandy singletrack that traversed a lot of different types of terrain, from swamp to pine forest, to a hollowed out glacial depression called the Devil's Soup Bowl (in which bikes weren't permitted).
For us, Saturday got started with Mike Dunston leading an armoring workshop in which we armored a section that had been a problem area for the WMMBA. It was especially interesting because it was a drop that was going to be used in the downhill race that was going to be held that afternoon, and the riders wanted to practice before it. This left us working under a bit of a deadline, but we managed to get it done so they had about 90 minutes to check it out. We were happy with the result, but it may have been a little too smooth for the liking of some of the racers.
After that we rode the 3 parks that were the main ones for the Fest: Cannonsburg Ski Area (5.5 miles), C-burg State Game Area (7.2 miles), and Luton Park (6.5 miles). All 3 trails were pretty different with the ski area trails winding back and forth up on the hills, the SGA being pretty much flat where you could rocket around the curvy trail which had lots of blind corners because of thick vegetation, and Luton being sort of a cross between them with very tight trail and a little more elevation change. All were good fun. The ski area was also home to a Skills Park that was the real deal. I can't venture to say how high the largest drop was, but well over 10' for sure. There were a lot of wooden structures, and it was interesting to talk to Jason, the Skills Area Coordinator, to hear about what what went into their construction.
We skipped the epic ride on Sunday since it was over the same 3 trails and instead rode at another park called Edwards Creek. This proved to be my favorite trail out of everything I rode there, consisting of 7.5 miles of trail densely packed into a very small area in which the trail was constantly doubling, and even tripling back on itself. There were many wooden structures, stream crossings, logs, culverts, teeters, berms, and lots of alternate lines constructed with material that they seem to have found laying around the site. This was something that we don't have around here, but hopefully we will be able to do somewhere soon.
All in all, it was a very good time, and the WMMBA clearly put a lot of hard work into the Festival. If you didn't attend this year and have an interest in seeing how another club makes use of the terrain and resources they have available to them, riding good trails, drinking great beer, and perhaps even jumping your bike off or over stuff, you should consider going next year, because it will be in Grand Rapids for another year. Lots of photos are here.
Midwest Mountain Bike Summit (Festival)
This year's Midwest Mountain Bike Summit (apparently they didn't like GORC renaming it to a Festival), is going to be held in Grand Rapids, Michigan on May 29th-31st.
For those of you who haven't been to one, or don't know its history, the Summit/Festival got started in Kansas City, then came to St. Louis for 2 years, and then was in Peoria, IL for the next 2 years. This is the first of 2 for Michigan.
Here's the official description of the event:
3 days of Mountain Bike Advocacy with a Midwest bent featuring a Welcome Reception and Pig Roast, Networking with regional clubs and Summit speakers, Advocacy Summit with a breakfast buffet, workshops and seminars focusing on all aspects of mountain bike advocacy, nationally and regionally known presenters, 2 day IMBA trail school, hands-on technical trail building demonstrations, a mountain bike festival, food, demos, organized rides, a raffle, music from local bands, photograph and video contest, and a 40 mile long epic ride covering every kind of surface you can ride on, featuring aid stations and optional stops at local watering holes for refreshments.
For your convenience, I've included a selection of a few pictures from the ones held here in St. Louis.
Klunkerz-(Show-Me Style)
Now that we know about the origins of mountain biking in Marin County in the 70's, what about right here in Missouri? Ok, so they were about 10 years later, but Glenn Meyer has some interesting pictures of him and his riding buddies in the late '80s. Here's a link to a posting from 3 years ago that has a few pictures. I'm still waiting for him to find his pictures of Chubb from back then, so we can see what that trail looked like.
Notes From A Workday: Greensfelder
by Matt Hayes
Trail workdays are a great way to meet people, give back to the community and learn more about the hows, whys, and whos of trailbuilding. While I'm not a master trailbuilder I have learned quite a bit of things over the years donating countless hours of volunteer time to keep St. Louis' trail systems in good shape through maintenance, reroutes and expansion.
This is not meant to be a comprehensive post about trailbuilding nor will it answer all the questions you may have. I think it is easier to address trailbuilding issues as a FAQ - frequently asked questions topic and to use pictures as often as possible. I do not claim to be a great teacher, in fact I'm quite self-conscious about speaking in public and think I do better by showing instead of telling. When I have to lead a crew I find it personally challenging and quite an effort to stay focused. I want everyone to have a good time and I want everyone to want to learn and not feel "bossed around" or disregarded. All volunteers get my complete respect and attention.
With the pictures available to me from the latest trail day at Greensfelder I will help explain what's going on in each photo. If you find anything incorrect or misleading or wish to elaborate on a subject please post it as a comment at the end of this article. The blog is not a one-way street and should be considered a forum for discussion.
Flowy Singletrack
When singletrack is flagged GORC doesn't just meet up in the woods and begin laying down pin flags. In most cases before the first pulaski ever hits the dirt, several months, if not over a year, have passed. In that time GORC trail stewards will meet with land managers, scout trail features, design initial trail lines, adjust the potential lines, perform a GORC peer review, and finally get final design approval from the land managers.
This single photo depicts over a year of design preparation
Let's talk about what we see in the photo. First, look at the tape around the tree trunks. Note the direction they are tied. The tied knot always faces the trail corridor. So, if you look down the tree line where trunks were marked every 30 feet or so you can see that the knots are facing the trail bed. This allows the trail designers to see how the singletrack will thread between the trees. When you are walking through a forest it can be hard to visualize where the designed trail is supposed to go if the initial flagging knots are not synchronized.
Next, check out the two trail tape colors. It doesn't matter which color is used - we typically use the standard orange tape. When alternate lines are found or during a peer review some designers see a different way of doing things we will mark the alternate lines with a different color tape. Again, this is so we don't confuse ourselves and this helps us visualize our options quickly. The tape is affixed at shoulder to head height were possible to facilitate line-of-sight and clinometer use.
After a GORC peer review with other trail stewards that are not directly associated with the design is complete and a final line is selected, we will get the land manager's approval. Once the design is signed off we prepare for the workday by laying out pin flags on the forest floor. The pin flags are placed on the downward side of the trail. They are spaced 5 - 15 feet apart so all the volunteers can see where the trail bed should go. Tight, intricate and complex trail segments may feature pin flags only a foot apart to show volunteers exactly where the singletrack must go. Leaves are raked to the low side of the trail so the dirt is exposed and the work begins. The trail bed is cut in to the hill slope with the final tread left 3% - 5% off-camber to facilitate water drainage and prevent pooling. The tread backslope is beveled at a 45 degree or less angle to keep water flow from eroding the backside of the slope. You can see in the picture how the high side slope is angled or feathered.
The dirt that is removed in the making of the bench cut is scraped off the trail on the down side or slope. The dirt must be pulled far enough away so that trail users do not think the "fluff" dirt is part of the solid tread. If the fluff is used as a trail bed it will quickly rut, and worse, erode. It is very important that only the bench cut is used as the tread. This is also why we must make the bench cut wide enough for multi-use traffic, especially at places that have a high equestrian use such as Greensfelder.
Lastly, you can see the new trail is not just a straight cut through the trees. It is designed with flow in mind - this keeps all trail users engaged with the trail and entertained. The trail appears more natural this way. The singletrack is designed around the mature live trees. Only saplings and deadfall are cut and then only sparingly. Large, old growth trees are used as trail anchors and keep the singletrack line from drifting or migrating when horses or bikers may want to use an easier path. If you ever visit a trail system that has few trees you can see how the trails can be very wide from trail drift. A trail system like SIUE prevents singletrack from growing wide due to the thick undergrowth. Next time you ride, check it out.
Critical Line Selection: Something's Got to Give (Sorry, Stump)
Flush cut stumps or large dead ones must be removed with lots of hard work. You may think singletrack can just go through the forest willy-nilly but when you factor in fall-line issues, grade percentages, line of sight and the flow of a given radius curve you can understand why a simple stump can get in the way of our trail bed.
Sometimes the singletrack line dictates some very hard work
This particular stump was almost in the middle of a critical spot on the trail. If we went above it the trail was too steep dropping into some drainages. Designed below it and the trail had a crazy-sharp turn, a steep step-up and poor line of sight (on a bad turn, no less). So the trail had to go through it. We chopped and chopped and chopped and finally got it out. This was a circumstance where the extra work was completely worth it. The trail absolutely flows around the bend and sets you up for the drainages. With great line of sight to boot!
Trail Tailings and How to Prevent Trail Drift
This photo depicts the need to remove excess dirt from the trail side. This trail piece curves around a drainage bowl and all too often I see our trails drift. Equestrians and bikers, by their nature, want to use the easiest path available to them. This would mean cutting the contoured trail curve and walking in a straight-shot over the fluff. Eventually, this creates a maintenance issue as the used line would pot-hole and erode to an off-camber mess. Not too mention the tread would grow 10-15 feet wide and never look quite the same again.
Trail duff/fluff must be removed off the trail bed away from the edge
The extra dirt is removed further down the drainage to "show" trail users the intended trail line. With the excess dirt gone, the downslope contour is visibly unsustainable, undesirable and not worth the effort to shortcut. This is an important step in the trailbuilding process that cannot be emphasized enough. The trail is not finished until the fluff dirt is removed away from the benchcut.
The Weed Wrench vs. Sapling
You may notice larger tree saplings that are cut waist-high or higher. GORC used a tool called a weed wrench that can pull these stobs out of the ground, roots and all. The tool needs a bit of trunk length to use as leverage when pulling the roots out of the ground. Simply cutting saplings flush to the ground presents maintenance and other issues.
We use a tool called a weed wrench to remove stobs.
As a trail beds in over time and the dirt settles the stump will seem to grow higher and higher out of the ground. The roots will become exposed and eventually rot. This can lead to trail erosion and is an eyesore to all user groups. A cut tree stump is an unnatural feature that is man-made - a negative feature that is better removed during the original trail construction process.
Hopefully after reading this you have had some of your questions answered and hope to see you out at a trail workday in the near future. GORC is always seeking out new volunteers and members. If you have additional questions or wish to share your thoughts be sure to comment on this post.
Some other useful information:
What to Expect at a Workday
Maintenance Concerns
Reporting Your Volunteer Hours
Trail workdays are a great way to meet people, give back to the community and learn more about the hows, whys, and whos of trailbuilding. While I'm not a master trailbuilder I have learned quite a bit of things over the years donating countless hours of volunteer time to keep St. Louis' trail systems in good shape through maintenance, reroutes and expansion.
This is not meant to be a comprehensive post about trailbuilding nor will it answer all the questions you may have. I think it is easier to address trailbuilding issues as a FAQ - frequently asked questions topic and to use pictures as often as possible. I do not claim to be a great teacher, in fact I'm quite self-conscious about speaking in public and think I do better by showing instead of telling. When I have to lead a crew I find it personally challenging and quite an effort to stay focused. I want everyone to have a good time and I want everyone to want to learn and not feel "bossed around" or disregarded. All volunteers get my complete respect and attention.
With the pictures available to me from the latest trail day at Greensfelder I will help explain what's going on in each photo. If you find anything incorrect or misleading or wish to elaborate on a subject please post it as a comment at the end of this article. The blog is not a one-way street and should be considered a forum for discussion.
Flowy Singletrack
When singletrack is flagged GORC doesn't just meet up in the woods and begin laying down pin flags. In most cases before the first pulaski ever hits the dirt, several months, if not over a year, have passed. In that time GORC trail stewards will meet with land managers, scout trail features, design initial trail lines, adjust the potential lines, perform a GORC peer review, and finally get final design approval from the land managers.
This single photo depicts over a year of design preparationLet's talk about what we see in the photo. First, look at the tape around the tree trunks. Note the direction they are tied. The tied knot always faces the trail corridor. So, if you look down the tree line where trunks were marked every 30 feet or so you can see that the knots are facing the trail bed. This allows the trail designers to see how the singletrack will thread between the trees. When you are walking through a forest it can be hard to visualize where the designed trail is supposed to go if the initial flagging knots are not synchronized.
Next, check out the two trail tape colors. It doesn't matter which color is used - we typically use the standard orange tape. When alternate lines are found or during a peer review some designers see a different way of doing things we will mark the alternate lines with a different color tape. Again, this is so we don't confuse ourselves and this helps us visualize our options quickly. The tape is affixed at shoulder to head height were possible to facilitate line-of-sight and clinometer use.
After a GORC peer review with other trail stewards that are not directly associated with the design is complete and a final line is selected, we will get the land manager's approval. Once the design is signed off we prepare for the workday by laying out pin flags on the forest floor. The pin flags are placed on the downward side of the trail. They are spaced 5 - 15 feet apart so all the volunteers can see where the trail bed should go. Tight, intricate and complex trail segments may feature pin flags only a foot apart to show volunteers exactly where the singletrack must go. Leaves are raked to the low side of the trail so the dirt is exposed and the work begins. The trail bed is cut in to the hill slope with the final tread left 3% - 5% off-camber to facilitate water drainage and prevent pooling. The tread backslope is beveled at a 45 degree or less angle to keep water flow from eroding the backside of the slope. You can see in the picture how the high side slope is angled or feathered.
The dirt that is removed in the making of the bench cut is scraped off the trail on the down side or slope. The dirt must be pulled far enough away so that trail users do not think the "fluff" dirt is part of the solid tread. If the fluff is used as a trail bed it will quickly rut, and worse, erode. It is very important that only the bench cut is used as the tread. This is also why we must make the bench cut wide enough for multi-use traffic, especially at places that have a high equestrian use such as Greensfelder.
Lastly, you can see the new trail is not just a straight cut through the trees. It is designed with flow in mind - this keeps all trail users engaged with the trail and entertained. The trail appears more natural this way. The singletrack is designed around the mature live trees. Only saplings and deadfall are cut and then only sparingly. Large, old growth trees are used as trail anchors and keep the singletrack line from drifting or migrating when horses or bikers may want to use an easier path. If you ever visit a trail system that has few trees you can see how the trails can be very wide from trail drift. A trail system like SIUE prevents singletrack from growing wide due to the thick undergrowth. Next time you ride, check it out.
Critical Line Selection: Something's Got to Give (Sorry, Stump)
Flush cut stumps or large dead ones must be removed with lots of hard work. You may think singletrack can just go through the forest willy-nilly but when you factor in fall-line issues, grade percentages, line of sight and the flow of a given radius curve you can understand why a simple stump can get in the way of our trail bed.
Sometimes the singletrack line dictates some very hard workThis particular stump was almost in the middle of a critical spot on the trail. If we went above it the trail was too steep dropping into some drainages. Designed below it and the trail had a crazy-sharp turn, a steep step-up and poor line of sight (on a bad turn, no less). So the trail had to go through it. We chopped and chopped and chopped and finally got it out. This was a circumstance where the extra work was completely worth it. The trail absolutely flows around the bend and sets you up for the drainages. With great line of sight to boot!
Trail Tailings and How to Prevent Trail Drift
This photo depicts the need to remove excess dirt from the trail side. This trail piece curves around a drainage bowl and all too often I see our trails drift. Equestrians and bikers, by their nature, want to use the easiest path available to them. This would mean cutting the contoured trail curve and walking in a straight-shot over the fluff. Eventually, this creates a maintenance issue as the used line would pot-hole and erode to an off-camber mess. Not too mention the tread would grow 10-15 feet wide and never look quite the same again.
Trail duff/fluff must be removed off the trail bed away from the edgeThe extra dirt is removed further down the drainage to "show" trail users the intended trail line. With the excess dirt gone, the downslope contour is visibly unsustainable, undesirable and not worth the effort to shortcut. This is an important step in the trailbuilding process that cannot be emphasized enough. The trail is not finished until the fluff dirt is removed away from the benchcut.
The Weed Wrench vs. Sapling
You may notice larger tree saplings that are cut waist-high or higher. GORC used a tool called a weed wrench that can pull these stobs out of the ground, roots and all. The tool needs a bit of trunk length to use as leverage when pulling the roots out of the ground. Simply cutting saplings flush to the ground presents maintenance and other issues.
We use a tool called a weed wrench to remove stobs.As a trail beds in over time and the dirt settles the stump will seem to grow higher and higher out of the ground. The roots will become exposed and eventually rot. This can lead to trail erosion and is an eyesore to all user groups. A cut tree stump is an unnatural feature that is man-made - a negative feature that is better removed during the original trail construction process.
Hopefully after reading this you have had some of your questions answered and hope to see you out at a trail workday in the near future. GORC is always seeking out new volunteers and members. If you have additional questions or wish to share your thoughts be sure to comment on this post.
Some other useful information:
What to Expect at a Workday
Maintenance Concerns
Reporting Your Volunteer Hours
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 enlargeWednesday, 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 enlargeMy 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.
Klunkerz (featuring Easter Candy): A Review
by Matt HayesThis 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.
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