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You are hereForums / Trails Information, Conditions, Maintenance / "The Beast Trail," West Feliciana Sports Park / Beast Conditions & Maintenance
We were waiting until most of the leaves fell before blowing them off the trail. Probably waited too long, but Tanner and Collin manned the 50cc backpack blower and ran down the trail. The rest of us followed with the machettes to clear the remainder toe stubbers and face slappers that have encroached a little. A great problem we have is that the trail is now long enough that we cannot make it through the trail without running out of gas. So, the blowing ends in the piney woods. Have to catch the rest a later day. Overall the trail is in great condition.
There were a couple of trees that we could not move by hand that we need to remove with a chain saw. At the bridge over the log and just before the bridge in the right of way. The bridge in the right of way would actually make a great ramp prop, so we may consider leaving it. What do you think?
Thanks for the report Chris, I may have time to take out those trees on Thursday afternoon. Tree ramps built with smaller logs and covered with dirt are a pretty good idea; I got practice building one at home and they go together pretty quickly. Then again, things come apart really quickly with the Stihl unless it gets stuck.
What is the Right Of Way?
photos attached as a reminder.
The power lines coming in from the North into the park. The trees are cleared of the power lines. The first bridge of the right of way is the largest bridge that you could drive over. The tree is at the 2nd bridge that is smaller.
2 hours today, I cut the trees Chris mentioned. Over the log bridge was actually a collection of three bent-over trees. I cut them, laid down the logs, covered them with dirt, and made a mogul behind the wooden ramp (see photo).
Notice the transition I mounded at the bottom of the wooden ramp. I also cut a tree to the left side that prevented riders from squaring up to the ramp. Also the ramp (following the random angle of a fallen oak) takes the rider out of the path of the trail to the right. I cut behind the ramp to allow more rollout room for the rider to transition back up the trail.
Stuff like this encapsulates changes we need to make all over the trail in the black diamond sections: keep it tough, but make it a good design.
The other, lower wooden ramp at the top of "thrill bump" drop I added dirt to the transition back down to make a smooth mogul.
On the second fallen tree (a rotten oak) that I cut near the middle of the Powerline, I decided that this placement would not be good for a ramp for these reasons: It was angled 45*, it was very near a wooden bridge at the bottom of the jump, and lastly, a jump here would make most riders slow down, erasing the payoff factor, or flow for a long climb back up that we need to keep in mind when evaluating all of the Beast's descents.
Finally, I moved the angle of a switchback near the top of said long climb inward, in front of a stump rather than behind it, which gives a smoother curve into the last part of the climb, rather than a sharp 90* angle.
In closing, the trail is blown by the Morgan boys and it looks fantastic in the Winter! It was almost ridable today and should be sweet tomorrow. The Beast dries remarkably well. It is like no other trail in Louisiana or Mississippi. After seeing a lot of other trails in the Gulf South this year, I'm confident that The Beast could eventually be the best.
So I guess the prelim is basically finished. It sure felt good to get to ride it finally. Some sections were slower or tighter than I expected they would be, some slight modifications and packing will help a lot though. I'm certainly ready for a little break from trail work, but while its fresh on our minds we should post up any touch-ups that should be done. No more top 10 lists!!!
1. Sandy climb- if we could get our hands on some echo stones or large flat rocks or cement chunks, I think that might be better than the cement mix. I saw some piles of asphalt chunks on the road side the other day, might stop and ask about it.
2. Bench cuts- The current ones seems wide enough, but just barely. I think it would be good to extend them a little further, to the bottom of that grassy slop should be all that is required for east prelim.
3. XC trail climb- that bastard annoys me because the flow is almost like a pump-track through there, until you get 7/8ths of the way to the top of that and then nearly fall over backwards. Not sure what to do with it, could shave down the top a bit and use that dirt to lessen the grade. Or could re-route the climb to the right just a little, bench cut it and that might keep the pump-track theme. Anyway, someone please ride it, examine it, and give me an opinion.
4. Kill the grass- I know there was talk of some herbicide that would be sprayed sometime, this will be a huge help in making things faster.
That seems to be all of the major stuff that will make this trail complete. Here are a couple other thoughts for later on.
- Hard right- The first section of trail I built, after the little climbs you go down and then there is a horrendous right turn that kills the flow, a berm might work, or it might need re-routing.
- This one is just a thought for now, will need to re-ride and examine to know for sure. The Morgan trail has a sweet flow and some nice speed, but there were a couple turns that were nastily off-camber. Maybe some dirt work or bench cuts would ease them a little, and I remember one that made me think a dirt berm would fit it perfectly.
Post up if you can think of anything else.
I will bring the shovel and if I'm not exhausting from the hike, will poke at #3 and chop at #2 a little. And maybe will try to remove some of the smaller stobs from lynn's trail.
A bridge might be a good idea for #1, but I think it would probably need to have a turn at the top. So we would need something a little better crafted than the mosquito bridge, lol.
I've still got a bunch of those cement garden edger sections. Some of them are curved slightly, but could be broken in half to lay flat. All of them may cover most of the sandy section?(I'll haul em' out regardless (I'm sure we will use at some point)
What about a bridge/ramp using those wood poles at the bottom of the sandy climb? We could rescue some wood from the fallen gully bridge Lynn mentioned and finish that out. I could do that if someone Would leave a hand saw out there near the wood pile.
I'd use a chainsaw to cut the wood though. It's just a matter of disassembling with a crowbar and pulling it out of the woods. I'm pretty sure I'll be out of town this weekend but my tools are yourn if you want to pick them up. I might drop some tools off at the park if I'm passing by this week.
I like the ideas for the sandy climb. I think it's long and steep enough that any "rock garden" effect is going to put it over the top in terms of difficulty though, not really what we wanted to do in this part of the trail. So if the tread can be as grippy yet smooth as possible, that would be best. Maybe put in the stones, asphalt too, and seal that sucker together tightly with concrete?
Hope everybody enjoyed the beautiful weather, here comes a tropical rainstorm (good weather to work on the trails I guess).
After racing the entire trail, I have similar inclinations and I wouldn't deter anyone with the desire to make the trail better, whatever part of it that is.
I must press forward on Phase II of trailbuilding. I've made a request to the WF Parks Director to bring in Tim and the Bobcats. Hopefully most of the work in Phase II can be done by Bobcats and not our hand tools.
When I get over to the trail next, I'll begin flagging Phase II areas. Anyone is welcome to preempt or join me on this potentially creative hike through the woods; there's plenty of orange flagging tape behind the trailhead sign. I suggest starting from the Northwest end of the existing trail and beginning the flagging from that end.
Hope that thing stays away! With the ground so completely saturated, trees will uproot even with tropical storm force winds.
I think the bobcats are very necessary for the gully because there isn't much that hand tools can do there. Interested to see what kind of bench cutting job they do. But do you intend to do most of the new trail with them? I was thinking most of that area has big canopy trees and not much underbrush, so a rake and shovel would be the most important tools, I guess flagging will give better indication though.
I definitely want in on the flagging this time. I guess a hike would be a nice break from normal trail work, I only have a couple more weekends that I can work before I leave the country for a month, so I should keep at it. Maybe next weekend I will do a big hike, get a feel for the area and see what good features there are.
Outstanding work! Y'all tell me the next To Do List, you were out there this weekend. I'm taking Tuesday off to work.
Worked 7 hours today. I put two more planks on the mosquito bridge. The reroute into the pasture on the Eastern side didn't sit well with me so I cleared the original route. I mowed everywhere that needed mowing in the Prelim loop. I chopped some stobs. I painted green dots on all the trail signs within the Prelim loop and added a green arrow sign at its beginner exit back to the trailhead. A guy from Lafayette was there practicing for the race and loved it.
1. Come out and ride the trail, the whole thing. Enjoy yourself. As you ride you'll get a feel for how the new trail works.
2) Finish Mosquito Bridge on Eastern Side - just needs more decking and it's done.
3) Escalator safety measures - Chris said he'd handle the netting but to my knowledge this hasn't been done just yet.
4) Bench cut steep, short off-camber climb near end of Rob's Trail. Took a close look at this one today and I'd imagine it is possible to go up with enough momentum. Rob, have you cleaned this with your bike yet? If so, we can take it off the list.
5) More dirt work in big hill on Western Side Wider tread needed, probably the most urgent issue. Just preride it and you'll see what's needed.
6) Cut stobs Quite a few remain, but they are pretty well marked.
7) Powerline wide bridge safety measures - this and other slippery-when-wet bridges should be treaded with chicken wire.
8) Spray paint field route Should be handled by Charley and Holly.
9) Tape trail with Caution Tape Should be handled by Charley and Holly.
10) Find some course marshalls The more the better. Good photo op.
How is this for interesting; its the morning of the race nobody has ridden the race course in its entirety yet!! Added a couple things since Lynn rode, and nobody had time for a ride yesterday.
1) Will do in a couple hours.
2) Might do some last min stuff in morning.
3) not sure?
4) I did a reroute that goes straight up and then makes the turn at the top. Will ride it early in morning and see how it handles.
5) I widened a couple of the bench cuts and filled in that small ditch. They are still narrow, but I was able to stay on them, although your right pedal might not clear a stroke, so just roll through it. They are also very soft, so hope they dont get completely rutted up.
6) Took out several bad stobs on west prelim, and took out that vine that hangs down at the bottom of that drop and looks like its going to wack your head.
7) Chris painted some black abrasive paint on all the brides, not sure if he wired that one or not.
8) Everyone pitched in on this one.
9) Done while Charley was doing power slides on the golf cart. A blind cyclist should be able to find his way around this course!
11) Shoveled and packed dirt into the washout, smoothed the transition so its a lot less dangerous. However, the first heavy rain we get might cause some erosion so watch out in future.
10) There are many places someone could cheat if they wanted, like any of the 14 or so times the trail enters the baseball field, so we just have to trust people.
12) Added a log and packed dirt into the front side of the thrill bump.
13) Pulled all the crap out and fixed the bulldozer damage, so no riding through the field with large earth moving equiptment. Pulled up and moved the trail signs.
14) One of the Morgan boys put the leaf blower on the entire trail, very good thing because main trail had a lot of leaves and was almost hard to see!
4- No I didnt make it up that one on my SS, biggest problem is really soft, unpacked dirt. I think the best thing to do for now is reroute so that it just goes straight up and over, should be able to get up it easier and it will flow faster. I will bring the rake and test it out on bike, and see what works best.
4.5- I almost made it up the other steep one on SS, ground is better packed, but it was slippery at time (unclipped near top, had nothing to hold on, nearly fell over backwards!). But with gears and dry ground it should be doable, but not easy.
5- You are talking about the bench cuts I assume? I questioned if or not they had wide enough tread, but they looked pretty and I was more focused on length than width. I will work on getting them a little wider, and again will test with bike.
7- Where are the nails/staples? I will see what i can do. What/where is the best way to get the wire to the bride? i cant recall where its at exactly.
11)Downhill root washout - I'll get this one too.
I'm coming up probably thursday, if not then friday.
Oh, how long do we expect the event to last saturday? Later than 2:30? I would think not, but if so lets have a radio (lsu/bama).
All the tools and supplies are back at my house, except for the red rake. I gathered them up from different spots on the trail. My garage is your garage; take what you need whenever. Perhaps we should establish a stockpile of tools somewhere in the park.
That West side climb that's all sand: I have two ideas about it. A) build a wooden climb, North Shore style, up the whole thing. B) Bring out 2 bags of concrete; mix it with the sand and the morning dew.
I rode the whole trail this morning wearing the helmet cam, it's terrific. The bridges are dry, but the ground is a little damp at daybreak with the mountain dew. I'll have a virtual preride video posted on Thursday morning.
12) The "thrill bump" drop could use some dirt shoveled on top of it, there's quite a bit of separation now between the tree and the transition. 10 minute job.
Is there any chance WFSP would be willing to provide us with tool storage, or even some tools for that matter?
I'll have my shovel, so should be able to take care of thrill bump (thats the tree across the trail that makes a drop going downhill right?)
Just thought of another thing, has anyone made the re-route of the bulldozer damage yet??
It is really almost the consistency of concrete (rocks & sand) so adding some cement and water mixing it up would do the trick I would think.
I am planning an extended workday for myself this weekend to make sure the bench cutting is complete and other areas of concern are addressed on the preliminary trail. Probably will follow the TO DO list posted recently. My chainsaw is completely unreliable at this point, but I'm sure there is still some stuff that needs to be cut down, or trails made wider, or more headroom. I'll make a mental note if I see anything.
Anybody else going to be there? I'm going to try and beat the running event that morning and park down in the Northern end of the lower pasture.
Larry & Rob,
Sorry for not posting this yesterday. Mentioned to Lynn that I would probably be out there on Sun. instead of Sat. I'm testing out some road bikes today, doing some family stuff.
Please let me know what you guys couldn't get done today and I will handle up on it tomorrow (Sun.) I plan to ride or walk the entire prelim route looking for flow issues, pull trees, orange tape some unclear routing (for the race), rake, etc. You guys have put in a good bit more work since I was last out there, so some of the stuff I wanted to accomplish may have been done?
My goals are to collect wood for a bridge I was planning to build and start that. I also want to finish bench cutting (using some of the wood poles to re-enforce) on that area where the trail splits (Rob you know where I'm talking about). I'm not going to change anyone's trail, just follow through on some of my ideas from 2 week ends ago. I also can't wait to check out some of the recent work that's been done that I haven't seen yet.
Thanks guys!
-Ben
Larry will have to give you the full update because he kept tugging on after I left. I took care of #4 on Lynn's list, in the process I noticed that where your trail connects to the main trail, it hasnt been finished yet. I think we forgot about that one, I got a good start on it but not sure how much is left. Also, I noticed that the low parts of your trail have standing water on them for the first time. They didnt after the rains last week, so I would expect they will dry up soon.
The split and bench cuts look pretty good, the newer route looks a lot better option now (much better flow), you might need to clean up the old route a little, oh and there is one large stob that needs to be cut out on the new drop (very visible). Most of that area is cleaned up and in good condition, but have a look and see what you think. The deer have been rutting up the bench cuts a little though.
Also, I brought the wire, but didnt have a chance to use it, so I left it by the red trail sign.
We made a ton of progress on #1 from the list, but I underestimated how much there was to do. No one has done any clearing on that trail since I started on it back on the first day came to work. There was a massive amount of chainsaw debris and vines, at one point we estimated it would take us 30 mins to clear about 20 feet of trail. We decided that we just dont have the time or man power to finish this before next weekend, so we made an exit into the field and cut the grass, skipping quite a long section and reconnecting. The fence also needs to be cut in about 4 or so places.
Thats all we were able to complete from the list today. I put in almost 6 hours, not sure how much Larry did.
I think we should eliminate the eastern trail and Western trail of the preliminary loop for the race. We could reroute riders to the left after popping out into the pasture right before the trail enters the eastern trailhead. Then route racers along the tree line along the left side of the pasture and then a left turn to enter the beginning of (Rob's trail) and using all of that section before joining the existing trail.
I think that using the beginning of the preliminary trail and Rob's trail (Omitting the Western trail and Eastern trail) would still add about a mile to the length of the race. Those two sections (Eastern & Western) need way more work. Plus we won't need as many course marshals, and prep time to get those sections & existing trail race ready.
I can put all my efforts tomorrow into making sure the route change I described above is good to go. We will still need to mow really well along that tree line if we go with that route.
I am tired of stressing over this trail trying to complete it before a race, that we still have to plan for. We just simply do not have enough people helping out! I say we go with the rock solid sections and make them better along with the existing trail.
Sorry for repeating myself so much. I just want to be clear about what I'm suggesting. Obviously Lynn needs to chime in on this, but what do you guys think?
B
-Ben
We've put in a lot of work on this loop, and the majority of it is rideable, so its kind of a shame not to debut it. It shouldn't take much more work to get it connected and fully rideable. But as you said Ben, time is short and the to-do list is long.
My main issue with the prelim loop, as I've said a few times before, is that its not going to be packed down, that means its going to be slow and not very fun. I'm not sure how well word has gotten around about the "good new stuff" that we are building, but it might be bad for business if people come with high expectations and ride this trail. People might not be willing to come back, even if we claim to have 6 new miles next spring (the beast already has a sketchy reputation).
I have a hope that if enough people pre-ride, it might get faster and better packed by the end of the day, and the overall impression will be positive. Maybe we could just stress the fact that it is a virgin trail and will not reach its potential for some time.
Ben, I think focus on making sure everything is ready to go on main trail, then have a look and see what you can do to the prelim. Don't worry about doing the reroute just yet, that could be done very quickly next weekend.
Keep on cranking and good things can happen, that's one thing I learned from 24HOCS this weekend. We'll get it done or if not, we'll make do in time. I plan to take another day off this week. Weather should be beautiful all week, do come on out and help tamp it down.
6 1/2 hrs. + 6 hrs. = 12.5 hrs. 10/31/09
We all have put in a tremendous amount of work in a short time. We have a great team up here and we know how to use Team Work and good communication to get things done. We don't talk and talk and do more talking about what we going to do. We get a plain and then we do what we can when we can.....
We Do.
There are times when we all have other things that are truly more important than mountain biking...... Family for me is the first thing (should be the 1st. for everyone), work is the second and then mountain biking.
Have also been stressing about the little time and big list. When I start stressing about things it becomes not fun anymore. enjoy Mountain Biking, its fun....(It's suppose to be Fun) it's not suppose to create Stress, also like building things and take something to make it better than it was before....(Being Proud to say, (I Built That!). Working with a Team, We Built That.
Was on the backside started stressing again..... Drank some water, ate a power bar, and plugged in the ipod to some really good music....looking ahead at the Mountain of limbs, briers, and vines as far as could see..... here I sit on top the Baddest push mower in the world. This thing has cut an estimated 2 1/2 miles through the woods, run over 1,000,000 stick, stubs, routs, logs, vines and has even tried on unseen barbwire. Flipped it on the side to take a look....busted out laughing, all that stress seamed to go away. Rob and I was talking earlier about the blade. Turning the blade over it probably cut better, its sharper on the back side. This Monster Trail Cutter still starts on the first pull.
Not going to Strees out any more. If it gets finished that's great, and if not that OK to. No one wants it done more than our loyal and trusted mower. Going to treat him to a fresh oil change and new blade after we make the connection. Truly should not take more than 2 1/2 hours. Then entire new loop be brush free and cut. But there about 100 stubs that have to be taken out.
Every thing going to work out fine, we're going to have a nice event. Everyone coming out to have a good time! And that's what they going get.
Ride the "Beast", throw a bike around, Lynn talked about, T-Shirts, hand-crafted awards and plenty of refreshments and the possibility of cash prizes for Expert and Sport classes.
I still got nine plaques to make, I am not going to stress about that ether, I'll do my best that's all I can do.
In the event we just can not get the finishing touches done, Ben has thought out a good workable quick back-up plain. Could run the back-up, and after the race, recruit (invite) everyone to help us do some trial work. {Riding is trail work by pack it down. Seen that on a post somewhere but can't remember by who or where}. Explaining as Rob said, fact is that the new section need to be packed down and that's only going to happen with people riding. Letting everyone know we worked really hard to give them a fun day, and they can help us and have fun at the same time by being the first riders on this section. These riders coming, Should understand a new trail not going ride like a 10 year mature trail.
Off subject, went up to Clear Springs after work day. Wanted to see how or friends were doing. Let them enjoy telling about all the details. Talked a little with Lynn, Chris, Tanner, Holly, Charley and one of their team members forgotten his name. There were unexpected changes during their race and loads of mud. They all had stories and smiles on their faces, they had a Blast.
Even with the mud, cold, and unexpected changes, did not see one rider there that was not having a great time.
If we have a few unexpected things also...sure everyone will have a good time. That is the only thing that I am sure of....
If I make it tomorrow it will be late, plain on a full day Monday. Sorry about the Novel.
Larry
"I may have been last, but I was there"
This is larry forgive the type errors .....
I am at CS using iPhone
Rob Ben almost to conecting to the west trail behind the bench cut drop.
Eta to finish conection and have the mower over it also 2 1/2 hrs.
It did not get any easier
it's almost done....Les the rest of list..
I think Larry said he was going tomorrow morning. I was planning to go also and bring rain gear, but if its nasty I'll just wait for better weather (hard to bench cut, or anything else for that matter, in slippery mud).
Sunday looks like the best time, although I was hoping to get in a road ride sometime.
I found some appropriate wire to add traction to the slippery bridges, its about 1/4" or 1/2" squares. Does the escalator need it as well as the long wide camber bridge? What dimensions does it need to be? I'm thinking 2' wide and about 15' long. Maybe 20'? I should have some staple nails around to secure it and will bring a hammer.
Also bringing loppers and power saw to remove stobs, rake, shovel, trusty machete. Are there nails anywhere for bridge work?
It looks like the rain chances are diminishing for sat, instead its beating the crap out of LOCO. Larry, if you were planning to go saturday also, might as well just stay in and rest up friday, then hit it hard saturday (just dont drink too much). If we all show up we should make some serious progress, it might be a little soggy, but low humidity and cool temps!
So the only precaution for the XC meet saturday is to park on pavement until after about 10am? (and watch where you swing a machete or chainsaw between 9 and 10)
I brought a serious pile of the 1/2" wire, but I forgot staples and nails, so yeah make sure and leave those nails out there, we can just use some nails and bend them over to secure the wire. But it might require 2 people to carry and secure the wire.
Will see ya'll saturday.
Plan on spending as much time getting it done this weekend as I can.
Like Rob said good chance of rain tomorrow, will be going up rain or no rain doing at least a little something tomorrow. After 3:00 is the point where up over 24 hrs. and get less productive. If it starts getting sloppy will make it a short day, save my energy get some good rest to start early Sat. for a full day.
Glad Ben gave a reminder about the running event, I had forgotten about that.
Got Dads chainsaw will bring it Sat, emailed Lynn about the mower and few other things. Try pick them up tomorrow when leave the Beast or first thing Sat.........
Let me know if some one else picks up before me so I not make a unneeded trip.
Probably be around 10:00 or so before get there tomorrow. Gotta go to Dads get stuff then go home get stuff then drive up.
Robs loopers work great on the stobs, don't have a rake broke mine I will bring a pick ax.
Forgot to ask
Lynn, how many nails do you have? do I need to pick some up at Home Depot?
About the escalator, I misunderstood about the netting. Took it as to be on the sides of the escalator if someone fell off.
Understand now it to be a visual aid to insure riders see the path to stay straight before they start descent?
Talk to every one latter,
here at work and need to look as if doing a little something.
Larry
"I may have been last, but I was there"
Larry pick up the nails with the rest of the gear at my place tomorrow. I'll put them in a waterproof container. Please leave the ones you don't use on the trailhead sign for Robert and Ben to use. Thanks.
FYI:
The remainder of Ben's wood (poles) are stored in a brush push-back at the entrance to the Eastern side trail.
There is also decking wood that should be cut and stacked next to the bridge closest to the Escalator that we rebuilt (~1/2 mile backwards). The wood at the bottom of the Escalator could be taken apart and reused also.
There is a complete, unused bridge fallen into a gully not far from the rear of the Powerline entrance at the cow pasture.
If anyone needs the chainsaw, lawnmower, hammer/nails, crowbar, machete, shovel, hoe, gloves, or chicken wire, email me or call before tomorrow morning. Thanks very much to the whole club!
We are doing very well. There are a couple of urgent items of business. With everyone's help we should have no problem accomplishing all of these well within the time we have left.
1) Clear brush from Eastern Side of Preliminary Loop. This one is urgent. We have about a mile that needs finish work.
2) Finish Mosquito Bridge on Eastern Side - just needs more decking and it's done.
3) Escalator safety measures - Larry I'd like you to handle this. Please build decking at the top that's wider than the tread that we have now and nail/attach it to the Escalator itself. This should prevent further erosion. Your call on how you want to handle the netting or railing.
4) Bench cut steep, short off-camber climb near end of Rob's Trail. This one kills flow a bit but can be made fun with a little dirt work.
5) Bench cut steep, short off-camber climb in new Existing Trail connection. The second hole (to the left) still needs to have brush cleared and finished also. Part of this finish work should include bench cutting a little climb for good flow; my fault on this one.
6) Add green dot Preliminary Loop markers on trail signs and green arrows when Preliminary (beginner) section ends and returns to trailhead.
7) Powerline wide bridge safety measures - this and other slippery-when-wet bridges should be treaded with chicken wire.
8) Spray paint field route (Preferably Nov. 5-6th). The high school running team does this and it makes sense. We need arrows to direct riders from the end of the singletrack behind the baseball fields back safely to the trailhead and finish line.
9) Tape trail with Caution Tape (November 5-6th).
10) Find some course marshalls I bribe with beer, as much of it as is necessary.
We should put together a new to-do list. I will probably get back up there thursday or friday for a pre-ride and some finishing work.
Larry- About how far did you get on the East prelim loop and what is left to do on it?
Ben- What all did you accomplish today? Any new things to mark off the old list or add to new list?
I knocked #5 off the old list.
There are several things to add to new list:
Stobs - some of them are enormous, especially on East prelim, I think some should be painted bright orange or something. I might be able to take out some of the more problematic ones with my battery saw.
South end of Ben's trail - I cleared a bunch of it, but there was still some left to do. It wasn't as bad as East prelim, but it would be nasty to ride.
Downhill root washout - one of the steep rooted downhills right after you enter the woods from the field has a huge washout in it. I will try to shovel some dirt into the hole.
All Brush cleared and mowed on the entire East Side to the West Side top of the Bench Cuts. Done
Rob, it's clean as what you walked when you left. It came out good. It's drying very fast and can be ridden, has a couple small sandy spots. Cut out stubs but more left then has been cut.
Took longer than expected, about 4.5 hours.
The West Side has some spots a couple of passes on the mover would really help to clean up.
The starting section that has been cut is growing back very quickly, it needs Spray with wed killer or cut again.
Brought up 2ea. 2x12s 8ft. long to finish the Mosquito bridge, carried one started to work, but that spot is named correctly. Mosquitos were to bad, I left enough long nails, hammer, and red bow saw by the tree at bridge. There are 2 more 2x12s by the chicken wire.
Lynn your ear muffs and green bar are by the bridge.
Rob your rake is in the woods by the Bench Cuts on the access path. Ben moved his poles there. Could not push that mower any more, left it there on access path. Note: bring gas only about 10 min. gas left in can.
Another Note: Had left the wire cutters in the car. There some barbwire at the end of one of the last section on the East Side, painted it orange, it needs cut.
Can't think of anything else at this time.
Don't have any more days off until Race Day, got everything done I could. Keep me updated on things.
Larry
"I may have been last, but I was there"
This section where the very last gap or break is, East to West. Has a tremendous amount of stubs, they all very small. That red bow saw does a great gob on them. Again it by the bridge. It cuts better than one would think it would.
Did see a Cottonmouth today when using the mover on that section he was moving slow across the trail to the creek about 20 feet in front of me.
Larry
"I may have been last, but I was there"
Got to the Beast late yesterday afternoon.
Rob and I met-up walked around talking about spots on both sides.
The bench cuts coming out good, the Deer love it. Rob had smoothed the path starting up that hill where 2 path bench cut is. Like what you done Ben on the cuts where I cut out a meadow that's going be fun with the up and down little hills. Where we cleaned and mowed on the east side. Never got the chance to walk back over it before left that day. Walked it with Rob, did not realize how far we went. It turned out great, it's drying out quickly, faster than expected. It's rideable.
Cut the barbwire fences, started on the last little spots that need clearing / mowed, had to stop because the mosquitoes were that bad and no Repeal.
Going up this morning to clear out the brush left to connect the West & East, cut some more stubs, try finish mosquito bridge. Still having a problem on knee that got twisted, don't know if I will be able to push the mower.
Leaving walked the entire prim loop. Where I mowed all the grass areas on the start has not been sprayed with weed killer yet. The grass is growing back very quickly.
Note Pic. After everything else gets done, we could put in some up-downs, or a few little low dirt log jumps, on this straight flat section to add some fun.
Hard to believe Ben, but this was that section where the brush was soo thick you could not walk through. Going to push the fence pole outward.
Larry
"I may have been last, but I was there"
I walked out the east prelim that we put so many hours into saturday, and yes it was amazing. If we had a before and after video, it would be shocking.
When Larry says Rob he means Ben and visa versa...
I made the approach line to that climb up the hill at the split (Western Side) trail a touch easier. Put the last two phone poles down at the bottom of the hill for an eventual bridge/ reverse escalator style ramp to gain some extra speed. Can be used without a ramp for race.
Larry and I also talked about (eventually) cutting a tree down to create a buttress for bench cutting the original route at the "split" so there will be an option to climbing that hill.
I walked the entire preliminary trail at the start of the day and most of it looks ride ready. Took out 30-40 stobs with my hand saw, but there looked to be about 4 times that many over the course. Pulled brush and cut a few more trees on the Western trail, looks ready (may need some areas mowed). I like the reroute were the prelim joins back with the existing trail, nice. Lost the trail in the X Country section...found what looked like 3 trails?
I didn't mess with the existing trail because I'm thinking Chris took care of that for the most part. Bridges still need chicken wire, but we will hopefully have good weather this week.
So what is left to be done to prelim??
Its possible all of the wind blew leaves all over the XC section, I'll have to rake it again, was thinking about a reroute anyway.
btw, I left my rake at the start of Lynn's trail in case anyone wanted to use it. Just let me know where its at so I cant find it to use next time.
Sorry about that, my dogs woke me up barking at 04:00 in the morning. Figure check the site and put in a post. 04:00 in the morning, I had not had my coffee yet. Leaving the house now to go up, to (getter done).
Had my coffee......
Larry
"I may have been last, but I was there"
4.- which one are you referring to? The XCtrail or the other one? The other one is unavoidable because its in a small gulley, and its too steep a grade to bench cut. The XCtrail, I question that one myself because it does disrupt flow a lot. Plus, the dirt is really soft there. I guess there could be some bench cutting there, it might speed it up and make it more solid. Or, it could just go straight over the top and route around that switchback- if you hit it straight on you should be able to get over it quick.
I'm not sure what my weekend plans are yet, I'm in a stupor of indecision. Since so much needs to be done, I'm thinking to go up and try to knock out 1, 4, and 5. If the ridiculous rain would stop, I would bring a bike and try to put tires on it.
http://www.weather.com/outlook/health/airquality/weekend/USLA0412?from=3...
The small, off-camber climb, not the big one straight up. Myself, Chris, and Charley will be fully occupied at 24HOCS this weekend.
I believe that Item 1 is the most important and requires the least forethought. If that were taken care of by somebody this weekend, we'd all sleep/collapse a lot easier Sunday night.
As for the Escalator, whomever handles it, go ahead and do as you see fit.
The trickiest part to the escalator, for me, is the narrow lead in prior to it (tree in the path, narrow approach on the right and roots with a 10 - 12ft. fall off on the right) The escalator itself is relatively safe. Its wide and not really that steep and provided you can get around that tree and over the roots you are home free.
I like the escalator, but maybe a slight re-routing for the race is better than building "safety" netting? (maybe a dismount and rundown option off to the right side?)
I'm not questioning Larry's ability to come up with something ingenious, just the practical sense that it would actually provide real safety and the limited time frame we have to apply to other projects on the list. Besides, there are a half dozen other places we could put up netting too.
Just a thought. Watch I'll probably go off the left side now...
I agree with Ben. As long as we put the wire on it so its not slippery, the potential for danger is no worse than several other spots out there.
Total labor: 8 hours
First, the Good News:
I was taken aback a little about Chris's measurement of 5.5 miles. However it became clear to me today that he and his boys hadn't yet ridden the majority of the Preliminary Loop!
Due to this realization, it's clear that we'll easily make our goal of 6 miles for this phase, and I'd wager we'll be up to 7 miles! Chris measures all the field and travel back to the trailhead when he rides, so subtract about 0.5 miles from those measurements for true singletrack and we're still in excellent shape lengthwise.
Here's what I accomplished today:
This morning, I picked up all the materials from Ben's place in Prairieville.
I built the 8-foot bridge out of Ben's supplies (see photo).It is not completely finished; it needs wood for decking, which I ran out of. It has two small telephone poles as runners and two fence gates nailed on top of that.
In the afternoon I reconfigured and placed all the signage on the Preliminary Loop, making for a logical flow. I figured that if we ourselves can't find all the trail, no one else will. Now we all should know which way to go.
Some comments on how it came out:
Rob's trail doesn't cross hairs, I saw a dog leg and not the very end. Another insane climb right before the old trailhead though, you and Chris are sick puppies.
I like the dog-leg for the beginners out of the left side of the trail well past the gate better than veering off in two directions, nice job Chris. I will be marking the Preliminary Loop with a green circle on existing signs and green arrows when it leaves the main route to return to the trailhead.
The Bad News:
...that the Morgans haven't done finish work on the majority of the Preliminary Loop, starting on the Eastern side. I got surprisingly little brush clearing done today myself, and neglected to finish cutting all the barbed wire.
Updated To-Do List with map coming soon.
# Add safety netting, chicken wire, and/or decking to Escalator
Been looking at the escalator pic. trying figure a way to put in safety netting. Does it have to be net or could we put rails on the out side of the platforms?
I know rails straight up and down could cause more problems than good. A rider could have their bar ends hit the rails and cause a crash.
Have five each, 8 foot steel poles. Could we drive the poles in at a outward angle....making like a V.... with a post driver in about 3-4 feet then bolt 2-3 rows of railing on the posts?
Don't know how to make the words blue and go to a pic. like Lynn. Click bottom link take you to the pic. of escalator so you don't have search for it.
Then imagine what I am talking about with the poles slightly outward with 2-3 rows of railing.
http://tunicatrails.org/?q=node/21
Could this work?
open for helpful suggestions.
Larry
"I may have been last, but I was there"
Benn thinking more on this.
What about putting in the poles with outward slight slant, then bolt Chainlink fencing on the pols, then bolt the bottom of the fencing along the outside of the planks. be kind of like netting?
I don't have any fencing but driving in to work just now seen some along side the road and gave me the idea.
Go here and check out the down view (click to enlarge to get the big view) http://tunicatrails.org/?q=node/21 of the Escalator, this gives a better understanding why the safety barrier. Someone going off on the left side down that gully would be very very bad. Not to mention someone could get their shoes wet.
Larry
"I may have been last, but I was there"
I'm close on getting some safety netting to stretch between the 3 trees on the right as you come up to the escalator. If we force traffic to go to the right of the tree directly in front of the escalator (my preferred path), it will become the barrier to the left. I don't think it will be too big of a deal to install.
As a reminder to an earlier post before our 9/12 XC meet, we are having a small XC meet on 10/31 at 9 a.m. WFHS and Zachary HS, WFMS and Northwestern Middle will run one race beginning at 9 a.m. and ending by 9:20 a.m. It will cause very little interference with anyone working on the trail or riding the trail. The main inconvenience will be parking. You will have to park in the main parking area until 9:30 a.m. If you're riding between 8:30 and 9:20 a.m., give the right of way to the runners please.
A map of the XC race can be found at www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=331847
We are using none of the new trail and are mainly using the alleyways and the archery trail.
We've been running on some on the new additions every Monday and enjoying it. Once the XC season is over (after Thanksgiving), let me know about a major work day. It's possible to get some of my runners and possible some ROTC members. We did a lot of work after Gustov to get the trail clear. I don't check the site often enough to know about planned work days.
Nick Smith
Thanks Nick, glad to have WFHS XC out there running the trails and also willing to help out. I was out there this evening and saw the markings on the grass. Have a great meet.
Please send your email/phone number to info@tunicatrails.org and we'll be in touch about work days.