Trail Work - Tuesday, 6/17 - 6pm

[gopherhockey]

So the XX loop is open, but we're still doing trail work... yes, thats right, we still have lots of fun stuff to do this year.

I haven't had a chance to talk to the other guys about this Tuesday since Tim & Dale have been out of town... but this Tuesday I figure we'd have some fun with rocks! Everyone loves playing with rocks.

We have 4-5 rock bars and a ton of rocks waiting for us up along the side slopes from the very bottom trail all the way up to the rock garden in the old expert loop. These rocks are just sitting there waiting to be rolled down to the trail and used to expand the existing rock gardens.

You probably know the sections I'm talking about now that you have had a chance to ride the trail. There are small rock placements, but currently they are way too easy - people can take a simple straight line right through them. We want to place more rocks to make it more of a challenge... to keep riders on their toes and to avoid giving people the chance to just bomb through the xx loop without using some skills.

This is really fun stuff. It isn't even really heavy work when you use the rock bars. Many of those huge rocks back in there now I took out and placed all by myself. Just think what we could do with a dozen people for a couple of hours!

Unless I hear otherwise, this will be the plan. I hope you can make it Tuesday for rock-fest at Leb.

Don't forget about the REI trail day next Saturday as well. This is a fun event - see other thread for more information.

[KleinCrazy]

John,

I just got done riding 3 laps on the XX and I have a section that needs alot of work.

I was with Mark and Lora the whole time they were laying out the Berm corner. We are not even close to what they had planned and flagged.

I know the Wheelbarrow blew while you were working on it but to complete it like they had layed out we need to move about 3 times as much rock and 5 times as much dirt in there.

If you want me to, I can go back in a re pinflag how they had it layed out as I remember it very well.

Other than that, The trail rider beautiful. I was able to clean everything, just not all on 1 lap. that is going to take some practice.


I had a specatcular fall on the Rock hill, caught my front skewer on a sharp rock and lauched an endo. I somehow came out unscathed, but my heart was doing about 220 while i was in the air.

L8er
James

[gopherhockey]

Yea, the berm we have in there is definitely too small. It helps, but one really can't even use it as much of a berm the way it is now. To get the 3-berm thing they were looking at will take some work as well... The pin flags are laying on top of a log right by the berm if you think of it, that would be cool.

I have ridden berms before, but on a moto-x bike where the bikes really shape the turn by riding it in. This one is going to take some masterwork by the berm-savy... ;)

[Jake]

Our crew worked the entire shift last Tuesday on the berm. It isn't finished, but this was as much as we could get done before dark. We were working on the supporting wall and had to fill it in enough to ride for the opening on Wed.

Agreed, it could start sooner and more to the left. We'll continue this Tuesday. If you're available, we'd love to have some help.

We thought we might be able to haul some rock from Moe (Larry, Curly and Moe) to fill this inside of the berm. This might require carrying the gravel in 5 gal buckets over quite a distance. As it is, we put in a base layer of large rock, followed by some smaller ones, then dirt.

Saw your car on Sat., but waited in the lot for almost an hour. Figured you were doing expert laps.

See you Tues.

[KleinCrazy]

Yep were inside doing 3 XX laps. If you going in do 3 xx laps and exit vie the x trail you get over 10 miles. kinda nice.

I'll try and make it tomorrow.

James

[gopherhockey]

We *might* have t-shirts available to people at Tuesday's trail work. Dale, the trail steward, got some ordered from a place that did our last ones.

[Trevize1138]

I'll be there ... to ride and not work!

NEENER NEENER! :crazy:

I have no excuse, except that I just wanna ride my bike tonight after work instead of digging out rocks. :)

[gopherhockey]

No t-shirt for Chris I guess... ;)

Rumor is that 2 individuals from the IMBA Trail Care Crew will be there to help us out tonight. (not Mark & Lora from a week ago)

Too cool! What a bonus...

[manual63]

No T-Shirt for Chris......Neener....Neener....Neener!

[gopherhockey]

Thanks again to everone that came out this evening to help out! It was hot out there, but we got a lot done and your efforts are again appreciated! I believe everyone got to bring home one of our new Trail Crew t-shirts as well... and we have more, so come on out next Tuesday (or this Saturday) for more trail work at Lebanon.

Tonight we did a few things:

Tim & Dale rode around and placed some new signs along the trail. You will see them next time you ride. These are the beginnings of trail designations. (like the XX loop is really the "Q" trail on Dale's master plan)

Another crew went and built up the berm some more... it looks really nice now. May need some tweaking still, but we think you will be able to carry some speed around it now. We were blessed with a visit from Scott Linnenburger and Aaryn Kay - another IMBA Trial Care Crew. They stopped on their way up to Duluth and decided to come out and help us! Thanks guys, you rule!

My group did some rock collecting along a few of the rock garden sections. Most of the rocks were not put in place but set there for future use. Please remember that the trail does change ever so slightly once in a while as we tweak these rock areas. Always be ready for a rock to be in the middle of the trail - we look for where you guys ride, then dig in a huge rock to make things interesting ;) We also went over to the tabletop where Shad (and Mike) helped shape a lip on the top of the jump. It is small enough to still ride safe for all those not wishing to jump, but helps others get more air.

Again - thanks to everyone that showed up to help out!

(as always, pictures have been posted...)

We'll be meeting again next week for some more fun - more on that later.

Oh, and just so people know we will be taking the month of August off at Lebanon. No trail work Tuesdays during the month of August. (we may have group rides that night instead so we can enjoy what we've all built!)