Mardi Gras Survived Successfully!

Thanks to all of the tips it was a breeze making it through another Mardi Gras.
Here, our own Sniker risks life and limb to ensure that the keg tap was installed correctly. She gave it a very thorough inspection, and after giving it a thumbs-up, the beer was flowing again in no time.
It was that kind of personal sacrifice and generosity that allowed everyone to have a good time, even on such a cold, blustery day.

GORC Wants Your Ca$h

Yep, the Trail Pimp's got expensive taste. What with buying new trailbuilding tools, paying for newsletters, posters and other printed stuff to get the word of GORC out, and even putting on the Midwest Mountain Bike Festival, things add up. What better time to renew your membership?
Not a member yet? 10 bucks a year is a bargain to help maintain and develop new singletrack in the STL, isn't it? Don't forget to check out the work schedule to see other ways you can help.

Workdays this Weekend

There are several workdays going on this weekend. Why not get out and help build some trail.

First, is our own re-route and maintenance at Matson Hill on Saturday, from 9-1. We're going to re-route the one climb that's become a little too rough to sustain. As usual, there will be a ride afterward pending the weather.

If that's not enough for you, SMBA has a workday going on Sunday, Feb. 19th to reroute a section of the Cove Hollow Trail. This is a really fun, technical trail which is going to be even better once they get done fixing up a few sections.

Also, for you people in Illinois, Rod is having a workday at Lake Lou Yaeger near Litchfield on Saturday the 18th. They're steadily getting trail built and pretty soon it's going to be a place to go for mountain biking. There's a real nice lake for swimming there as well.

Tool Review: Fiskars Loppers

I borrowed a well-worn set of these 15-inch Fiskars Powergear Anvil Loppers for a while at an OTA workday and was pretty impressed. They went through stuff as big as my 24" bypass loppers but were a lot lighter and quicker. I think the geared drive works well with short handles. With the longer-handled geared loppers you have to move the handles a long way to get it onto whatever you're cutting. I like the small size because you can carry them easier and munch through scrubby brush faster than with the big'uns. Long handles are nice for thorn patches though. Anvil loppers are generally better for hard woody stuff, (and trailwork) while bypass are easier on the plants in your yard that you're pruning, not killing. Both work fine. Also, these are made in Finland, so they have that freaky european playschool style going, if you're into that.

If you're looking for a little set of loppers, these are GORC-recommended and worth the twenty-something bucks. Besides, the club already has a bunch of big loppers now thanks to a discount from Fiskars. For some reason Lowe's didn't have them but Home Depot did, although the last time I was at Lowe's they had a screaming closeout on fiskar's 24" bypass loppers for $12, and of the two big-box stores, Lowe's usually has nicer stuff.