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

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

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.