Blue Clay trail status

[sirbikes]

After tonight's ride folks have reported that the Juvenile side (beginner) is under water. It should not be ridden. Please avoid the entire area. Please enter the trail at the inner loop by going left after crossing the ditch and going in where you normally come out.

Thanks,
SBA

[JMoney]

Is there any place I can do some raking or anything to fix up the trail. I still need some more community service hours, thanks.

[sirbikes]

Meet Saturday at BC around 9am. We are having a trail work day. Bring rakes. See sirbikesalot.com for more info.

[Van-Go]

Is there any place I can do some raking or anything to fix up the trail. I still need some more community service hours, thanks.

Sent you a PM.

[Ridinhigh1500]

We have some big douche bags around here I went to BC yesterday afternoon and someone had destroyed one of the mounds on the pump track. I can't stay there for long but I will try to make it out there on saturday. Also thanks to who ever decided to put a big ass log on the trail heading back to the parking lot. :<<

[sirbikes]

Are you kidding? Anyone who messes with the pump track will answer to the county. And I'll find out who you are -- you're talking to the guy with a lot of camera equipment after all.

We have some big douche bags around here I went to BC yesterday afternoon and someone had destroyed one of the mounds on the pump track. I can't stay there for long but I will try to make it out there on saturday. Also thanks to who ever decided to put a big ass log on the trail heading back to the parking lot. :<<

[ncmtb]

What is the game plan for Saturdays workday?

[sirbikes]

I think Steve wants to do some raking, and a couple of short re-routes that make a lot of sense. Give him a call 443-8086.

What is the game plan for Saturdays workday?

[travisty]

If your talking about the first jump off to the right, Mark from suburban was out a couple weeks ago getting rid of the gaps and fixing the track. I haven't been since he was there, but he is working on the track to make it better. It may look rough unfinished but if anyone can make that track fun it's him. But hopefully it wasn't someone out there really messing stuff up.

[sirbikes]

Hey can you PM his contact info? I need to call him so we can coordinate everything.

If your talking about the first jump off to the right, Mark from suburban was out a couple weeks ago getting rid of the gaps and fixing the track. I haven't been since he was there, but he is working on the track to make it better. It may look rough unfinished but if anyone can make that track fun it's him. But hopefully it wasn't someone out there really messing stuff up.

[bikesnbeer]

Ummm, when IMBA trailbuidling school was here they worked on the pump track. Berms and fixed standing water.

[bikesnbeer]

This brings something else that I have mentioned on this forum before. Don't you think that the people that are supposedly "destroying" the pump track and trail do not use sirbike's blog or this forum? If the county wants to be involved in the park shouldn't the proper signage be posted???? Instead of sirbikes threatening people after a post like the one above this about the pump track being destroyed, shouldn't there sign saying it is county property and a county park and only the county has the right to do work, all others will be held accountable for their actions? The county needs to step up and make this more park-like if this we want this action to stop.

Also, about the tree across the trail, I know who did. Mother nature. It was a rotted tree that fell during Ida. Come on people, use your head.

[sirbikes]

Signs, trail kiosk, maps, gates, park ranger, a budget, etc... Someday.

[Mteer Biker]

I like the new log lying across the trail... will make us all better riders.

[bikesnbeer]

No, it makes you a better log crosser.

[travisty]

sorry I don't hve any contact info, but you can probably contact him through suburbans website. To reply to the maintenance berms and standing water were fixed ..now gap jumps have to go..It's work and somebody has to be willing to do it so thanks to all who do!

[jsavage1]

are they only working on the pump track sat??

[Ridinhigh1500]

I wish there was a sign by the trail head that said what the status was so people would be less inclined to ride it wet. Also a way to chain off the parking lot would be good too. I don't think that is asking to much of the county either since it is a county park.

[mysteryrider]

I wish there was a sign by the trail head that said what the status was so people would be less inclined to ride it wet. Also a way to chain off the parking lot would be good too. I don't think that is asking to much of the county either since it is a county park.

You already have a sign at sirbikesalot.com



The whole chain issue has already been discussed, installed, then removed..nuff said..

[VTHokie]

We are trying to get the details on closing the trail worked out on the MOU with the County. We are currently asking for some signs to close sections of the trail when necessary (like the ladder bridges that are currently out of commission). Legally it is best not to close the park due to rain. Who makes this decision to close the park because of rain? How often during the day is the park looked at? How do you notify people on the web AND at the park when the status changes? How do you stop people from riding when the park is closed? Who makes the decision to open the trail back up? What is the criteria for opening and closing the trail? How do you deal with all the upset people when the trail is closed and they are determined to ride?

What happens when it is a nice day...we get a sudden shower before the park can be "closed"... then someone rides and gets hurt because of the wet conditions...their lawyers can say "you knew the park was too dangerous when it rains because YOU close it, but yet YOU didn't close it on this day and now my client has a broken leg/arm/collar bone...WHY?" It is better to leave it open with proper signage. Let the wet, gritty sand in your bearings tell you not to ride when the trail is wet...and when you spend tons of time working on the trail you tend to not want to destroy it. We can also use a little peer pressure (notice I wrote a LITTLE) to keep riders off the trail when it is really wet. The best fix is to improve the trail’s ability to handle the rain!

We are also working on getting a new and better kiosk at the trail head with signage stating the obvious...mountain biking is a dangerous sport, ride at your own risk, the trail/bridges are more dangerous when wet, it is not advisable to ride the trail when wet because of damage to the trail, etc.

This is an ongoing debate...there are good points on both sides...but let's not go with a chain across the parking lot. Like Mysteryrider said...that was already tried and when the $h!# hit the fan the result was the statement "Well, we may have to close the park for 90 days to look at this issue" uttered by one of our County Commissioners (who btw has the ability to do that!). But...in a way this was good because it started the MOU process that will hopefully result in better communication between the riders and the County.

[Weinkle]

We did alot of good work today. Getting rid of fall lines and making the trail more ridable, sooner after it rains. Behind the juvi center is a swamp. Pretty much the entire length of trail is mush. There is really nothing we can do with it right now except let it dry.
The inner loops are pretty good aside from a few short sections. The worst is just after you come off the long straight across the back. They are all raked so they can dry faster. You wouldn't believe how much water the leaves and pine straw were holding in.
The hilly side is still a work in progress, but is going to be awesome. We did some reroutes (1 temporary). They will get packed down as we ride, and you will see it will add a lot of fun to the trail while also making it more sustainable. The trails on the hilly side, aside from the fall lines) seem to be recovering from rain pretty quick. Our goal is to keep 4 to 4.5 miles of trail that we can ride soon after it rains, instead of waiting for a week for the juvi side to dry out.

Have fun riding!

[mysteryrider]

The hilly side is looking awesome..the re-routes are looking really impressive..


Thanks to all who worked hard on them..your hard work is greatly appreciated..

I can only speak for myself, as it feels great to give back to the trail as it needed some long needed TLC..

[Van-Go]

We did alot of good work today. Getting rid of fall lines and making the trail more ridable, sooner after it rains. Behind the juvi center is a swamp. Pretty much the entire length of trail is mush. There is really nothing we can do with it right now except let it dry.
The inner loops are pretty good aside from a few short sections. The worst is just after you come off the long straight across the back. They are all raked so they can dry faster. You wouldn't believe how much water the leaves and pine straw were holding in.
The hilly side is still a work in progress, but is going to be awesome. We did some reroutes (1 temporary). They will get packed down as we ride, and you will see it will add a lot of fun to the trail while also making it more sustainable. The trails on the hilly side, aside from the fall lines) seem to be recovering from rain pretty quick. Our goal is to keep 4 to 4.5 miles of trail that we can ride soon after it rains, instead of waiting for a week for the juvi side to dry out.

Have fun riding!

Weinkle:

+1 on everything you said. One of my favorite parts of our trail is zipping through the trees on the top of the hill. Adding what we did up there will just expand that and it was done with a nice flow in mind - probably added 2-3 minutes of trail which will be nice. That climb out of the bottom will be much better because it will go verticle to the fall - parts of it will need to be supported with a bench cut at some point I suspect. Anyhow, pleasure working with everyone Saturday - though I think I"m suffering from "rakers shoulder" today.

[Weinkle]

I agree Van-Go. There are spots that need to be bench cut. I think we are going to try to plan another work day in early Dec. We can see how the trail is packing down and where the trouble spots are.

[VTHokie]

Thanks to everyone that came out this past weekend and worked on the trail! I was sick and stuck in bed so I couldn't make it. One thing that needs to be pointed out is that the hilly side is hilly because it is an old County Landfill...and there are VERY strict state regulations that prevent us from digging anywhere on the hilly side. We talked about this with the IMBA Trail Care Crew and the County. The County's position is that there should be no digging anywhere on the landfill. The only option we have would be to simulate a bench cut by bringing in tons of dirt and "building up" the trail to achieve the bench cut shape without digging down anywhere. Kelly pointed out that this is a very difficult type of trail building that requires a great deal of dirt to be brought in and even when it is all done it is difficult to get the dirt to pack down enough to be sustainable (especially with our sandy soil).

However, we talked with the IMBA Crew about bench cutting into the mounds of dirt on the Juvie side. Collins felt that the soil would not hold up because there is too much sand and the dirt would crumble down into the creeks. However, he wasn't positive about how our soil would hold up. He suggested bench cutting a small section and ridding it for 6 months to see how it holds up to the rain and traffic. The section of mounds after crossing the very first bridge would be a good place to try this...when we finish dealing with the immediate issues with the ladder bridges and wet areas I would love to bench cut about 50 feet or more of the trail and make a nice flowing section right after you enter the woods...hopefully it can be sustained and we could do more with the other mounds behind the Juvie center.