Jail Trail is suh-weet!

[Uncle Leo]

Rode the Jail trail in St. Cloud on Monday.
It was great! About 4.5 miles by my brother's bike-puter.

We ran into one of the main trailbuilders on our way in, I think he said his name was Kai? Anyway thanks for building an awesome trail.

In general, it was a lot like Theo but a little more raw (definitely not a bad thing). Lots of great flowy tight trail in between closely spaced trees.

And then the Expert Loop . . . . . :D
About 5 minutes into it, I was thinking this isn't much of anything, then the brutal hairpin climbs and dives starting coming in earnest! I'd say there were at least 4-5 corners as hard as the little expert section at Terrace Oaks, if you're familiar with it.
And the rock section - nice! We both took about 8 tries at at and never cleaned it. When we started getting worse instead of better it seemed prudent to move on.

If anybody happens to be in St. Cloud, check this trail out!

[kyiabikes]

I'm glad you liked the trail. Our group the Mid Mn Cycling club (www.midmncycling.org (http://www.midmncycling.org) ) has put a lot of hours building this trail this spring and last fall. We hope to get a couple of more miles completed before the race this fall on Sept. 23 (MNSCS Single Track Escape). The "guy" (he goes by Mr. Anderson) you ran into is the designer/trail leader of the whole trail. I, Kyia helped build a significant amount of it and had some input on the design. Also, we are bummed about our local shop ONAG closing, a lot of really cool people worked there and they too have really helped with bicycle advocacy, and trails. A lot more than you could say about other shops (big box) in this town. Do your part and support your local shop, it effects your cycling community. Ride On!

[gopherhockey]

It would be cool to get some pictures and a trail review... if you guys ever wanted, just write something up and send some pics and we'll get it on the map.

[Ablumke]

couple quick questions and comments. I'm unsure how to get on the email for trailwork and club issues. I live in St. cloud and would love to help out with jail trail, riverside or Plum Creek which is nearly unridable due to being over grown. A couple of friends nad I had talked about going into Plum Creek to weedWack it and hopefully make it ridable, what would we have to do to make that possible? also any plans on expanding that wonderful trail?

[ryno lite]

Try the Mid Minnesota Cycling link below. They are the ones in charge. I'm not sure how else you can get in touch with those guys. I do look forward to sneaking up to Cloud and checking out the Jail Trail!

[Nickel]

I didn't know where else to post this but I rode the Jail Trail today and it was really great. Twists and turns and a huge hill that kicked my butt. There are some downed trees that I don't think one person could move by themselves. There is also a section out of the woods where you go over some bridges and it is very overgrown where you cannot see where you are going very well.

It might be a good idea to place a sign with the big sign about avoiding the trail when it has just rained. There were some rather big ruts that have formed and hardened. I was also wondering if anyone knew where the best place to park was? I parked near the Kiwanis park, in a lot near some sort of assisted living facility.

[WuShih]

Parking is allowed along the road by the entrance/exit to the Jail Trail. Otherwise, some folks choose to drive up on the curb and park along the edge of the field next to the woods. That's where they park for trail work. Other than that, 4-5 blocks north is a strip mall you could park at. I recommend the road or grass nearest though.

I may drag a friend out with me to help with those downed trees if they are still there next week. I don't know who to contact either at the moment.

As for those spots with ruts...it's seems to always be wet there, so they really never go away, perhaps there are plans to fill in a bit but again, I've no idea who to talk to.

I'm also hoping to get there again soon with a camera and take some pictures, I'll post them when I do.

[Nickel]

Thanks for the response. I'm not sure how many people it would take to move those trees. For some, I wasn't sure if they were part of the trail or not (not down but you had to duck underneath). It's a really nice trail, I was surprised to see the deer that I did.

[WuShih]

I'm not too sure if that bigger tree, more towards the end (3.5 mi mark) is supposed to stay low or not, it wasn't a month or two ago.

Yeah, I was suprised to see the deer as well, I rode some switchbacks right around them. The first time out there I saw a deer and it jumped right next to me from the bushes, scared the s@$t out of me. Good thing I was going slow or the tree I found immediately after might have hurt a bit more. :D

[Ablumke]

Yeah that tree towards the end is sweet! it is fast becoming part of the trail i hope or atleast hopefully then can leave enough of it to use as an obsotacle. it is pretty high but for TechFun it was a blast popping over it. It took me several times but I mastered it now.

[kyiabikes]

Hey Everyone,

If you are interested in helping out with the construction of the next phase of the Jail Trail, and clean up from some down trees, send me your email address and I will get you on the official list.

We are starting trail work again this Wed. August 9th and hope to work every following Wed. We meet at 5:30 p.m. at the trail head sign.
www.midmncycling.org (http://www.midmncycling.org)

[babuhr]

I rode the Jail Trail on Saturday morning (8/5) and had a great time. I do not get to ride trails as smooth as that pretty much ever! Coming from Duluth, it is a real treat to ride something without roots. The dirt is just solid (and fast)! The corners reminded me of something you'd find in a network of BMX trails and I kept expecting to find a 6 pack of doubles around some of the corners. It perfectly suited my lowered seat - stand up riding style. Definitely be goin' back to this one next time I'm in the area. Nice job to the builder(s).

[JeffroB]

Great Trail! Great Location! The only down side is I am spending too much time there, wife getting irritated.

[BridgeR]

Finally got to ride the trail after they finished the Expert Loop. Very nice... it adds a whole new dimension to the trail and makes it worth the stop. Good job trailbuilders!

[MickUZE]

Hey does anyone have pics of this trail. I use to ride this trail back in the day when I went to college that was like 98-2001. It was very very raw back then but we still had fun! Just want to say great work to anyone that help build this one! I hope to make it up there someday.

Keep building trails!

UZE

[ryno lite]

Yeah Baby!

Sure was great to ride a new cluster of MN singletrack. The Jail Trail is pretty damn cool! I rode it Sunday afternoon and it's now one of my favorite MN trails. It doesn't have much elevation, but it's laid out well so it rides well plus it's tight and twisty enough with some good obstacles so that there is challenge for most riders. I'd highly recommend this trail if you are in the St. Cloud area. For me it was worth the trip from Mpls to ride. I liked it because it was different from the local trails in the Twin Cities. Anyway, I give this trail 5 bananas out of 5 bananas!
:banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

I'd also like to thank the Mid MN Bicycling crew for all their hard work! Thanks alot, I really enjoyed your trail!

P.S. We probably need to get this trail a heading in the forums and a spot on the trail descriptions page.

[kyiabikes]

I'm glad to see so much "LOVE" for our trail, there is more in store. This Wed night we start work on another spur. We are incorporating a lot of rocks and roots, nice and tight, and challenging. This will be an Expert spur! The locals are really stepping up an working hard on this. Thanks for riding our system, come again anytime!