12/6 Workday

Well the paint might not be dry on the "Neale's Trail" sign at SMV (I am bummed I had to work today and miss that), but we are looking forward to next Saturday!

Stocksdale is no longer the newest trail in the area (Swope stole that from us!!), but we are still working on some really new and cool stuff.   We have about a mile of new trail flagged, cleared and mostly destaubed.   This is some really fun stuff and will have some nice rocky, root-filled areas.   

The new stuff will continue the tradition of tight, flowey (is that even a word?) trail that we already have and add in some more technical features.   

It looks like it should be good weather late next week for trail work.   All help will be appreciated.  Donuts and coffee at 8 a.m. at the horseshoe arena.  

Questions, post here or give me a shout at:   sww "at" earthriders.org

The Work Behind the Bridge

I show up just in time to do the "work" of the first ride

The deck going on.

That looks like fun to me.

Ron holds the tools like a scrub nurse for Buzz.

Thanks to Lauren Taylor for snapping the photos.  

These guys are workhorses!

Ron on a big boy bike

Buzz, on the other hand, makes my bike look small

He was even able to walk across it without falling off

The final product.   Add a couple nice rocks on the approach and it is good to go.

Neil Battrum, Clay Lozier, Ron Bodine and Buzz Taylor were out working again today while I was catching up around the house.   

While Neil and Clay were doing staub removal Ron and Buzz were bridging a soggy area where a new trail will soon be open.   I actually rode up right as the last nail was going in (literally) and I got to be the first rider across.   

 

Trail Work Accomplished Today and Teaser photos!

Nice little rock drop with a "dumb" line also

You'll be able to take either a moderate route or a 

"black diamond" route down this rock.  You can huck it if you're up to it.

A nice little drop as you approach the bigger rock

Thank God that is Buzz's dog wearing pink.

Thanks for the crew that came out today for trail work at Stocksdale:

Buzz and Lauren Taylor

Ron Bodine

Clay Lozier

Neil Battrum 

and Anne Woody

Lauren and Anne were picking up trash for us, and sorted it for recycling!!

Also, congrats to the Swope Park trail crew on opening a brand new singletrack hiking and mountain biking trail.   Sorry I missed their trail opening.  Check their blog out, there is a link over on the left. 

 

 

Work accomplished today

Well, we had about 7 people out to work on trail today, counting Trace Larson with a couple of relatives who couldn't find us so they did some needed work in a different area!!

The rest of us worked down near the pond on the extension.   This is very close to being done.   I think about 8 more man-hours will have this section ready to open.  This will be a very fun 

little section with some switchbacks that will come around the pond on the city property and meet with the existing trail right as it enters the woods on the MDC property.   I will have a map of this soon (if Neale Shour comes through like he always does!!!).  

There will be a lot of small workdays in the coming months, so watch out for emails.   

Remember, our big workday will be Dec. 6th.   I think this is going to be a big day for corridor clearing to really establish the trail headed north in the woods.  

Thanks for those who came out today:

Buzz and daughter Lauren.

Neil Battrum

Steve Matthews from Paceline Products

Trace Larson and relatives.  

Also don't forget the Halloween ride at Smithville on Friday night.   Folks will arrive between 8 and 9 (after the kids are done grabbing candy).   A night ride and then chili/drinks and a fire to follow. 

Map Version 2.0 with the New Trail Extension!!

Once again Neale Shour hooks up with a good looking map!

Don't forget to come out on Saturday!

Post trailwork ride photos.

Neale smiles more when he is on his bike.  So do we.

Ron is so fast he is blurry. 

Not sure why Clay is grimacing so much.  You would think he is working hard or something.

The Extension is finallly open!!

We finally finished the extension between #5 and #6.  Thanks to Neil, Neale, Buzz, Ron, Clay and Chuck!!

Smoothing out the field a bit.

The last little bit of benching.

    

Trail Workdates for 2008-09

O.k. all,

ERTA had their big pow-wow to set trail building dates. The plan is
similar to years past. Each trail will have local dates at their
discretion for smaller workdays and at least one big workday.

Our big workday will be December 6th. We hope to have about 2 miles
of trail flagged and there should be plenty of corridor clearing to
do. Watch for posts closer to time, if the corridor gets cleared
more than I expect, this could turn into more of a bench cutting
day. We may well have an option for another big workday late in the
season, like March or later. If so, this would almost surely be a
benching day.

Also, watch for posts on a regular basis for smaller work days. There
will be quite a few of these in the coming months and there will be
ample opportunity to help out. I think we have Buzz Taylor and Ron
Bodine tapped on a couple of smaller projects that will be very cool
additions and they might appreciate an email to see how you can help.

As always, give me a shout with questions.

Thanks.

Matt

Trail Building Kickoff, Oct. 4th

We decided to have a little social event to kick off the trail
building season.

This is just a social event, no actual trail
building will be done! 

Come out to Stocksdale/Walnut Woods on Oct. 4th around 1 p.m. 

Food around 2 p.m.  There will be a little riding/hiking/trail running and then some food
and socializing. You can find out what our plans are for the coming
building season. We hope to add 2- 2.5 miles of new trail in the
coming months.

I know we have some great people lined up to help out with the day:

Platte Valley Bank will be supplying a big grill and some chefs.
(these guys were great to help us out at Spider Fest at Smithville a
couple weeks ago).

Orange Technologies will be throwing in some food. This is Neil
Battrum's company. Now if we could get him to set up webcams for the
trail!

I know some of the local bike stores might be there (we have let
Cycle City, The Wheel and Biscari know about it)

Paceline Products might be there as well (Chamois Butt'r saved me
today with my third day riding in a row). They were critical for our
trail opening in June and have given us great support.

What to bring: Your bike. Your family. A lawn chair.

Hope to see you there!