Trail Condition Signs

[country]

I realize that you have discussed the need for more people read the website before they ride the trails. I think you have a good system but it has a few wholes in it. For instance I live in Plymouth so I am just about 30min driving to any of the trails in the area. I have been checking the MORC site for info on trail conditions after our thunderstorm activity Sunday. No one has posted. So that either means no one is riding since the trails are wet or no one is taking the time to post. So I could wait at my house and miss good riding days are go down to the trail.

The issue is if I go to the trail there is no way until I actually ride on the trail to find out if it's in any condition to ride.

My suggestion is this. Find local people who live near each trail and care about it. Maybe 3-6 per trail and create a schedule for them to check the trail after wet weather. Have a sign that labels trail conditions at the trail head and have them post with in a day or two so the word gets out. Even if people don't get to the MORC site they can see a sign that says wet staff off. And you could have some little note on the sign reminding that trail conditions could be checked at MORC.org.

Maybe this is what trail patrol is for? I don't know I just want to know if I can ride or not without wasting 30min of drive time one direction. If you think I'm nuts just let me know. I think people would want to do this and maybe you could wave their MORC fee or give them something to reward them for donating their time to saving the trails.:crazy2:

[Tim Wegner]

Mark
Great idea. Each trail system has a trail steward. The steward is responsible for maintaining, construction and communication about the trail to the public. This has always worked well in the past, but I am not sure if we focused on the trail conditions after a weather incident as being one of the things that needed to be reported.

MORC apparently has not stressed that as being part of the steward's responsiblity and as you point out, it is necessary. I will post a message to the stewards that they need to regularly report the trail conditions---which of course means they will have to decide between mowing the lawn or riding the trails!!

Thanks for the feedback.
TW

[nigel]

Thats a sweet idea, kinda like the fire watch signs, but with trail condtions!

D

[country]

Mark


MORC apparently has not stressed that as being part of the steward's responsiblity and as you point out, it is necessary. I will post a message to the stewards that they need to regularly report the trail conditions---which of course means they will have to decide between mowing the lawn or riding the trails!!

Thanks for the feedback.
TW
I would hope that MORC, trail stewards and local riders would really be into this so that all the responsibility would not fall on the stewards while the rest of us play. I would be willing to take one week out of the month to post conditions after wet weather. I think the steward could organize people and remind them when they are on duty so that more riders are owning the trails. The only bummer is I am moving in about 4 months. Let me know how I can help. ;)

[TrailPatrol]

Unfortunately, we don't have as organized system for the MORC Mountain Bike Patrol (and other patrols) as we would like, yet. Some, if not most of the stewards are NMBP members, and so posting info would be a dual duty, anyhow. When I ride anyplace, patrolling of not, I submit a trail report. It's a habit I got into on ski patrol several years ago, and I still post on "skinnyski.com" all winter long. We will bring this up at future trainings, so our members are aware of their role in keeping riders current on trail conditions.

We keep harping at meetings about "why don't people check the website for current trail conditions?" If we don't keep them current, riders won't bother with checking here. I have not ridden the River Bottoms (or anywhere) since the rains came, so I have no idea what conditions are like. BUT...I am VERY happy we finally got rain!

Ride safe,
:banana:
Hans

[country]

We keep harping at meetings about "why don't people check the website for current trail conditions?" If we don't keep them current, riders won't bother with checking here. I have not ridden the River Bottoms (or anywhere) since the rains came, so I have no idea what conditions are like. BUT...I am VERY happy we finally got rain!

Ride safe,
:banana:
HansI rode the bottoms today and posted, but it rained again so it's already outdated. The rain made the soil really grippy and you could really rail the turns unlike when it's so dry and sandy.

[G man]

How about educating the riders. I'm new to mountain biking. I don't want to damage the trails yet I want to get out and ride.

When is it too wet?

[Trevize1138]

I like the idea of trail condition signs!

Unfortunately, these signs can easily fall prey to the same failings as we find with our current on-line trail conditions postings. Someone could change a sign to read "Trail wet, don't ride!" immediately after a storm and then forget to change it back for days, even though the trail dried out only hours after the storm.

Then you'd get people ignoring the trail condition signs 'cause they're rarely up-to-date ... of course all this is worst case scenario. If we did have a sign at the trail I'd imagine we'd have to ensure that only certain people could change what the sign read and be extra vigilant about keeping its condition up-to-date.

But, really, the biggest thing is knowing at what rate do each of the particular trails dry out. Maybe we need a general guideline in addition to trail reports. For example:

Lebanon Hills: trail generally dries out within 2-3 hours after a hard thunderstorm or heavy, shorter-lived rain storm. If it's been raining for days, allow 24-48 hours for the trail to dry out completely, unless it's a hot, windy day ... etc etc etc ...

Nobody quote me on any of those figures for Lebanon, please! I'm no expert on that :).

But, perhaps a locked post made by John, James, Hans or some others who know some general guidelines for determining if a trail *might* be ridable for those times when the trail reports haven't been updated soon enough and general education of riders?

[country]

How about educating the riders. I'm new to mountain biking. I don't want to damage the trails yet I want to get out and ride.

When is it too wet?
I would use the IMBA guidelines of leave no trace. All of this is based on soil type and sensitivity to impact damage from traffic. I would say that any time your foot or tire makes and impression that alters the face of the trail it's too wet. Normal riding makes marks but they don't shape the face of the trail. I'm talking ruts, or when the mud cakes to your tires and frame, you get the idea. Standing water is generally a good sign that the trail is too wet.

Where I lived previously you could ride in rain and in the wet because of the way the soil drained away water and resisted impact from foot or bike travel. The soil isn't like that here. I think some of it has to do with the great amount of standing wate MN has and the type of soil.

Some of your trail advocates at MORC should be able to give you specifics about the trails in the areas and their policies. I bet there is even some discussion here on the site if you do a search.