Trail Conditions - Grandma's Trail

[gopherhockey]

Starting a trail conditions thread for Grandma's Trail....

[Trevize1138]

Sweet! Thanks, John!

I'll be riding at lunch and will post the first, "official" report then. :cool:

[Trevize1138]

The trail's dry but definitely has that soft, new trail feel. :cool: Probably too late in the season to expect it to firm up with the exception of the ground freezing.

[Trevize1138]

I need to get out there with a rake tomorrow but overall the leaves aren't too bad and much of the trail is quite bare.

But dang, is it ever dry! In some spots I feel like I'm just pushing sand around. Chances are the next time we get moisture it'll freeze so I don't expect we'll see things truly firming up until after the spring thaw.

[Trevize1138]

After digging in the dirt a bit yesterday there actually is only a thin layer of frost in the ground and the trail's soft but much firmer than a week ago. The snow storm ended up a big disappointment today and temps are to warm up quickly this week. I'll keep a close eye on it and will try to do a little work this week on beach cutting. That wil tell me how the thaw is going. But, i'm thinking it'd be good to ride this trail a little earlier than others due to it's youth and low traffic. If anything, it needs a bit of packing in.

[Trevize1138]

For whatever that's worth. :cool:

I dug a little this afternoon to get a feel for how the bench-cutting should go on part of the new section and found no trace of frost in the ground. Conditions on the existing trail are soft but drying out quickly. I wouldn't classify it as "muddy" exactly although I did have to stop and scrape off my shoes occasionally.

For a more established and higher traffic trail I definitely wouldn't open under these conditions. But, I actually think it's better for the trail if at least I get out there tomorrow during lunch and do a couple laps in the name of packing things in.

Any of you coming home to the area for Easter weekend want to hook up for a group ride? :jumpy:

[Trevize1138]

Boy, I had to cringe a bit riding the trail just now! I still hold to my theory that it's better to ride the trail in its current condition than not, though.

It's soft pretty much all over, only some spots are actually quite dry while others are quite moist. There's a good wind so the moisture won't last and with my work schedule I won't be able to ride it again until this weekend.

So, seriously, if anyone in the southern MN area wants to hit up some new singletrack, let me know and I'll point you to the trail! It desperately needs riders these next few days! :cool:

[ruck_14]

Boy, I had to cringe a bit riding the trail just now! I still hold to my theory that it's better to ride the trail in its current condition than not, though.

It's soft pretty much all over, only some spots are actually quite dry while others are quite moist. There's a good wind so the moisture won't last and with my work schedule I won't be able to ride it again until this weekend.

So, seriously, if anyone in the southern MN area wants to hit up some new singletrack, let me know and I'll point you to the trail! It desperately needs riders these next few days! :cool:


Where is the trail located again? Is it just north of the airport in Wells? If I wanted to come down and ride, do I need to get a hold of you first?

Thanks,

Josh

[quickerpicker]

I'm up for a ride on Easter Sunday. Where do we go?

[Trevize1138]

Tell ya what, how does 3 p.m. Easter Sunday work for everybody? :)

Josh, it is, indeed, north of the airport. You go about 1/3 of a mile West of the airport, turn right and park at that little "driveway" type deal that the farmers use to get into the corn field next to the patch of trees just to the south of the slough. You should easily see the rock garden entrance.

Anybody else having trouble finding it, PM me!

[werts]

the trail is fun! i did a little bit more bench cutting today to get the north hill side rideable. there where a bunch of turns that need a little rethinking. its still pretty tight, but not as bad as last fall.

[Trevize1138]

the trail is fun! i did a little bit more bench cutting today to get the north hill side rideable. there where a bunch of turns that need a little rethinking. its still pretty tight, but not as bad as last fall.

Nice work, Tim! I had time this afternoon to see what you did. I also did more bench cutting around the underside of that tree to complete the new, fun rolling downhill past where you worked. I followed that up with a whole lotta raking.

[Trevize1138]

Tell ya what, how does 3 p.m. Easter Sunday work for everybody? :)

Josh, it is, indeed, north of the airport. You go about 1/3 of a mile West of the airport, turn right and park at that little "driveway" type deal that the farmers use to get into the corn field next to the patch of trees just to the south of the slough. You should easily see the rock garden entrance.

Anybody else having trouble finding it, PM me!

Unbelievable. My cold is now worse and i'm hacking up a lung. Trail should be in great shape if anyone does want to ride today! Let me know if you need help finding it.

[ruck_14]

I was in Wells today and drove out on 190th St on my way back to Mankato. I drove on the road that splits Roshenberger's Slough(spelling??). Am I pretty close if I'm out at the slough?

[Trevize1138]

I was in Wells today and drove out on 190th St on my way back to Mankato. I drove on the road that splits Roshenberger's Slough(spelling??). Am I pretty close if I'm out at the slough?

That's it exactly, Josh! :cool:

[Trevize1138]

Is "chronically under-ridden" a valid condition? :cool: Spring has sprung and now I see myself in a battle with all the little plants that are trying to grow up right on the trail tread! It's also very dry and hopefully that'll be helped with rain this weekend.

With our new loop design and other improvements this trail's getting pretty fun! :banana:

[devo kenivel]

You guys have any pics yet of this place? I am a sales rep for a company and Wells is in the middle of my territory and would LOVE to get out and ride another trail. Is it pretty technical?

Thanks guys for adding another trail.

[werts]

http://www.morcmtb.org/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=558


shoot me or Chris when you come on down, so we can ride with you.

[Trevize1138]

You guys have any pics yet of this place? I am a sales rep for a company and Wells is in the middle of my territory and would LOVE to get out and ride another trail. Is it pretty technical?

Thanks guys for adding another trail.

Yeah, what Tim said. :)

It's fairly technical but also fairly short at the moment. We're working on that, though. Tomorrow we'll be working on further improvements to what already exists.

[Trevize1138]

Things are finally firming up now. The new work we did last night really paid off. I did some spot-fixes a couple places to improve flow this afternoon, too. Speeds are increasing! :banana:

[Trevize1138]

Trail's in great shape!

Tim came down for a lunch ride and once we figured out how to keep his chain from dropping it was fun. The weeds are growing like ... well, you know ... but I do seem to be winning that war and the line is becoming clearer.

[Trevize1138]

Trail is a little soft but dry enough to ride. Tomorrow it should be perfect. My computer clocked my max at 15.4mph! Last fall I was lucky to get over 10, so we're doing something right with design now.

[Trevize1138]

Trail's the most firm it's been all season! Tim and I had fun on the drop:

[Trevize1138]

Just testing the new functionality as conditions haven't changed much since the last update. Need to get out there with a weed whipper, though! :cool:

[werts]

The trail is really fast, we did some more reroutes tonight and it really flows. plus we had a blessing in a tree that fell down, and forced us to redo, and rethink the entrance to the trail, which frankly want much fun. but now i simply cant wait to get back down and ride.

[Trevize1138]

rode yesterday at 1 and the trail was about perfect even though it rained all day Wednesday. Probably a lot drier today but hopefully there's still some good moisture deeper down to help set up for trail work tonight.

[werts]

the trail is so fast get out and ride

[Trevize1138]

So dry, in fact, we could use some rain! The trail could use some more raking as well so I'm not slipping on ground-up leaves on some corners. But, it's faster than it's ever been! Just clocked 8.2mph average out there over lunch. :cool:

[Trevize1138]

Average when I first opened this in April: 6.5mph.

Average last night: 8.4mph.

[Trevize1138]

Trail's in great riding condition. Even with yesterday's all-day rain it's definitely rideable. That either means we've done our jobs making it sustainable or that's just how dry it's been lately!

[Trevize1138]

Trail's just a hair too wet to ride. Tomorrow it should be perfect if we luck out and get no more rain.

[Trevize1138]

Trail is taking a little longer to dry than normal. Not too wet to ride anymore but ideal conditions are a couple days away probably.

[Trevize1138]

On Friday afternoon the trail wasn't in as bad a shape as I feared considering all the precip we've gotten. I'm sure it's worse right now after those nasty storms last night. I'm hopeful that this week's forecast holds true that we'll get a lot more sunny, hot days than T-storms and by Saturday it'll be perfectly baked. :cool:

[Trevize1138]

Trail's darn near perfect thanks to the wind today!:banana:

[Trevize1138]

Trail's smoothed out, grippy and nice! :banana:

[Trevize1138]

There were a couple damp spots yesterday but otherwise OK. Undoubtedly too wet to ride today after last night's storms, though.

[Trevize1138]

Title says it all. 17.2mph max speed today! :banana:

[Trevize1138]

Trail's even a tad dusty now but managed to score 5:45 for a fast lap! 9.6mph, baby!

[Trevize1138]

Trail was dry but not dusty last night for the group ride. Pretty steady rain since then so I'd guess it's wet now but am curious to see how quickly it dries out.

[Trevize1138]

Just about perfect right now. No dry/sandy spots. Some burrowing animal is still making a mess of things here-and-there, though! :)

[Trevize1138]

That's the sound I'm making around just about every corner. Trail's in damn good shape and a joy to ride!

[werts]

its fast, go ride

[Trevize1138]

I took a week-and-a-half break from riding this trail and it's got leaves and organic matter all over. But, a couple days of riding has gone a long way to clear off the loose stuff. Need to go back and rake off some key areas but aside from that it's in awesome shape. Benefit of a low-traffic trail: if it's not too muddy to ride it's tacky and awesome. :cool:

[Trevize1138]

Trail's dry and some trees out there are dropping some kind of small, round shells of something like a nut (acorns?) and it's like riding over ball bearings in a few spots. Very over-due for a raking!

[werts]

the trail is really dry, and thanks to chris's work with the rake in great shape. took russ down for a few laps this morning. had some good crashes and put down some fast laps.

[werts]

super fast tonight had a turn out of 4 riders. rocked the flat pedals on the 1x9. i never realized how exhausting that is.

[Trevize1138]

Trail's in good shape in general but fall is definitely here and I'm gonna need to do regular raking. No slippery leaves anywhere, thankfully. :cool:

[Trevize1138]

The fall, southern MN winds are blowing like crazy so it's hard to keep up on the raking but the trail's in fantastic shape!

[Trevize1138]

Walked the trail and it's predictably damp. If I get time this afternoon I may actually ride it but slow and with the intent to help pack in some of the new re-routes. But, it's definitely not "fun" conditions.

[Trevize1138]

We had August in September and now we've got December in October. Trail was frosty in a few spots yesterday but not bad. It's very likely muddy and nasty today!

[Trevize1138]

If I had more time I'd go rake it and it'd probably be about perfect tomorrow ... alas :cool:

[Trevize1138]

Should have posted this before this past weekend, but the trail is closed until Jan 1, 2010 for the annual firearms deer hunting season.

I think the hunting season actually ends before the 1st of the year but I'm too lazy to look that up right now. :cool:

Thanks to all who helped with trail work and especially those who came down to ride for the first, official, full season at Grandma's Trail! We'll have to have a party or summin.

[Trevize1138]

Great XC ski conditions! Would take a lot to pack it in enough for biking.