gopherhockey
05-22-2003, 10:27 AM
At some recent trail work sessions and in talking with guys at the trailhead, I have often been asked the question "Are we building singletrack or a freeway?" - especially after viewing what we call the new trail a "XX" trail.
I posed the question to the "dirt bosses" and received this excellent reply back from Dale Gundberg, our Lebanon Hills Trail Steward:
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I have had quite a few people mention to me that the current loop looks like a "freeway with a few difficult obstacles thrown in"
This is actually a good comment! The best trail builders at IMBA are routinely accused of building freeways (using that exact term). Those of you that will attend one of the IMBA trail schools in June will hear this same thing repeated. Very few people on the planet can build an 18-inch wide trail with perfect flow. It's the riders that determine the perfect flow, IF, and only if,
1) you build them a 4-foot corridor trail and through use they "find" the magic line, and
2) you, as a trail builder, have managed to capture "the magic line" somewhere on your 4-foot corridor.
If you laid out the trail improperly and your 4-foot initial construction missed covering where the magic line should
be, the riders will never find it.
The IMBA trail school instructors always caution the "freeway-phobic", that they just need to let the trail mature for a year. It will tighten up, the best lines will form and harden, the primary tread will narrow to 18 inches, and all will be right with the world.
As an example, look at the bypass trail in the SW corner of the park. It was 100% Dingo built at an initial minimum width of 48-inches. It just celebrated it's 1st birthday this month. Look at it now!
Ride on.
Dale Gundberg
I posed the question to the "dirt bosses" and received this excellent reply back from Dale Gundberg, our Lebanon Hills Trail Steward:
---
I have had quite a few people mention to me that the current loop looks like a "freeway with a few difficult obstacles thrown in"
This is actually a good comment! The best trail builders at IMBA are routinely accused of building freeways (using that exact term). Those of you that will attend one of the IMBA trail schools in June will hear this same thing repeated. Very few people on the planet can build an 18-inch wide trail with perfect flow. It's the riders that determine the perfect flow, IF, and only if,
1) you build them a 4-foot corridor trail and through use they "find" the magic line, and
2) you, as a trail builder, have managed to capture "the magic line" somewhere on your 4-foot corridor.
If you laid out the trail improperly and your 4-foot initial construction missed covering where the magic line should
be, the riders will never find it.
The IMBA trail school instructors always caution the "freeway-phobic", that they just need to let the trail mature for a year. It will tighten up, the best lines will form and harden, the primary tread will narrow to 18 inches, and all will be right with the world.
As an example, look at the bypass trail in the SW corner of the park. It was 100% Dingo built at an initial minimum width of 48-inches. It just celebrated it's 1st birthday this month. Look at it now!
Ride on.
Dale Gundberg