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How often to you do trail work?

  • Never (I'm a freeloader)

    Votes: 14 20.0%
  • Sometimes yearly (I know last year was a mess)

    Votes: 8 11.4%
  • 3-4 times a year (I fulfill my obligation)

    Votes: 8 11.4%
  • 6-10 times a year (Friend of the trails)

    Votes: 6 8.6%
  • Monthly (Hero)

    Votes: 11 15.7%
  • Weekly (Rockstar)

    Votes: 9 12.9%
  • Moar (Do you even have a day job)

    Votes: 4 5.7%
  • Irregularly (I put in my time, Just not like cyclical)

    Votes: 10 14.3%
41 - 60 of 62 Posts
We don't need everyone doing trail work. Especially unsupervised! Our local race community requires 10 hours of trail work hours per person. That generates probably 5000 hours of work. Many of our trails cannot be modified or improved. We have a few hundred miles here in Austin.

You end up with limbs like these cut at torso height. Or worse yet broken off into spears.

All this one did is ruin a glove, bloody a knuckle and send me into semi safe a runout where I hugged the next tree.

Other people have not been so lucky. A man was extracted with the limb in his body. After many hours or trying to get to him and get him detached.



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Discussion starter · #45 ·
Not really, more hiking than biking.

It would be sad if you came back to Hogan. You would ask yourself 'why?' many times.
That place has always been a red-headed step-child and lived 1 foot on the edge of legit so it's not too surprising. I mean they built a fence that passes through the trail in 2 spots and cuts one un-official trail off so they could host cows for 1 year.
 
Discussion starter · #47 ·
I used to until the dude bros took over and turned every trail into a series of 20 foot gap jumps.
It's pretty frustrating watching some trails get re-purposed when you enjoy them as they are.

Sanitizing or building gap jumps, it's bizarrely the same thing, it changes the fundamental purpose of the route.
 
We don't need everyone doing trail work. Especially unsupervised! Our local race community requires 10 hours of trail work hours per person. That generates probably 5000 hours of work. Many of our trails cannot be modified or improved. We have a few hundred miles here in Austin.

You end up with limbs like these cut at torso height. Or worse yet broken off into spears.

All this one did is ruin a glove, bloody a knuckle and send me into semi safe a runout where I hugged the next tree.

Other people have not been so lucky. A man was extracted with the limb in his body. After many hours or trying to get to him and get him detached.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
For me, this is one of the most frustrating aspects of the incompetent engaging in trailwork - leaving staubs.
Take the branch at the trunk.
Take the trunk at the ground.
One or the other, whichever the situation dictates.
=sParty
 
Humble Brag Alert:

The most recent edition of our local trail guide mentions, "someone raked A LOT of rocks during the summer of 2019 so this trail is much better now". That "someone" was me and I spent about a week raking stones off of my wife's favorite trail as my anniversary present to her.

I continue to do trail work on my own a few days per year as the organized trail days tend to be junk shows without as much actually getting done by the time you organize stuff, socialize, apres' beers, etc. I prefer to take a hike with a shovel, rake, and pruning saw.

My wife offered to buy me one of these setups but I think it's a high price to pay for altruism - but super cool nonetheless. Trail Building Tools | 3 Piece Handle w/ McLeod, Rogue, Saw Tools | Trail Boss Trail Building Tool

FWIW, I was on USFS and NPS trail crews in my younger years so I kinda know what I'm doing.
 
Discussion starter · #51 ·
I continue to do trail work on my own a few days per year as the organized trail days tend to be junk shows without as much actually getting done by the time you organize stuff, socialize, apres' beers, etc. I prefer to take a hike with a shovel, rake, and pruning saw.
No doubt, a few skilled workers can outperform 10 times more random volunteers. That said I think the big volunteer days are important and serve a similar purpose as beginner MTB club rides. It introduces people to trail building and makes people a little more aware of what kind of things trail builders deal with. Also, it's a big recruiting tool. If you have a small crew and are looking to bump your numbers a little bit, you can draft the 1-2 kick ass workers out of the 30 that show up for the junk show.

Also, thanks for helping out! I'm super curious about the portable trail tools myself.
 
Clearing deadfall, cutting back bush (i guess some people might like their bush wild, but the California grass if left alone is ridiculous) is pretty no brainer. Clearing rocks gets debateable. If its a heavy use all ability trail its ok, but otherwise i try to leave rocks alone. Cutting drainage also takes some thought. Ive seen others just dig a thin line from puddle to edge of trail. Thatll last all of a few weeks, i bet. I dig more than a little groove, usually recontouring the edge of the puddle. I also try to look at how riders will be going through and am pretty careful avout not making abrupt edges. The better ones ive done im observing are working and weathering well. Pretty satisfying. Some others i can see edge building up so prob wont be as effective at end of season.
 
Depends on the year and what projects are going on. Really didn't do much of any trail work in the first 10-15 years that I rode, but over the past 10 years I've done a fair bit. Trail building and trail maintenance are an addictive obsession with me. Once I get going I have a hard time doing much else until it's finished (I never imagined it would be so rewarding). Then I might go several months or even a year or two without doing much other than trimming back some brush, moving a fallen tree, clearing some loose rocks off the trail or raking out some bad ruts from a recent rain or careless mud riders occasionally.
 
Discussion starter · #56 ·
Depends on the year and what projects are going on. Really didn't do much of any trail work in the first 10-15 years that I rode, but over the past 10 years I've done a fair bit. Trail building and trail maintenance are an addictive obsession with me. Once I get going I have a hard time doing much else until it's finished (I never imagined it would be so rewarding). Then I might go several months or even a year or two without doing much other than trimming back some brush, moving a fallen tree, clearing some loose rocks off the trail or raking out some bad ruts from a recent rain or careless mud riders occasionally.
There is something very satisfying about riding a trail and knowing that you helped build a feature, pull a tree out, or even just that you brushed it and made it more fun for a season. Seeing other people riding and enjoying it makes it even better.
 
There is something very satisfying about riding a trail and knowing that you helped build a feature
it's also addicting. i spend easily way more time behind the business end of a shovel than actually riding. but if we don't build what we want, it's certainly not going to just appear out of thin air...
 
There is something very satisfying about riding a trail and knowing that you helped build. Seeing other people riding and enjoying it makes it even better.
it's also addicting.
Oh absolutely. We had a 5 mile trail approved by the FS, NEPA in hand, flagged out and no money to build several years ago so we got permission to start work on it with 100% volunteer labor. After about the first mile interest sagged but I just kept riding out to the end of the trail where my tools were stashed almost every day. Sometimes working for 20-30 minutes sometimes losing track of time and spending most of the day. My wife would text after 5-6 hours wondering if I was alive. She called the trail my mistress, ha ha. Sometimes the only way I knew it was time to quit is when I physically couldn't lift the McCleod any longer. I had to set a timer on my pre-work sessions I was so unaware of the passage of time.

Anyway, FIVE years later we completed it and it's still one of my favorite trails.

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but if we don't build what we want, it's certainly not going to just appear out of thin air...
Unlike those people who regularly seem to pop up out of nowhere and start telling you what you SHOULD be doing with the build. I love those people, specially the look on their faces when you toss them a tool and tell them to put up or shut up.
 
41 - 60 of 62 Posts
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