The Inaugural 2008 Berryman Epic Tour/Race:

The Inaugural 2008 Berryman Epic Tour/Race:
A Brief Report
by Matt Hayes

In early 2008 it was announced on the Internet that some race-minded folk were going to be staging their own epic-length bike race in Missouri. Their goal, it stated, was to bring a race like Syllamo's Revenge or the Ouachita Challenge to the Ozark hills. The btepic.com website started taking orders in early April for those that dared. The race payout was substantial and schwag giveaways promised to be huge.

Too soon, summer came to a close and the Burnin' at the Bluff V 12-hour came and went - in a ball of flame, of course. As the weekend of October 24-25th approached I grew anxious. Lisa even wondered what it would be like.

Will the course be marked or will get lost and resort to eating crawdads and katydids?
Would the weather cooperate or would we find mud bogs and frosty handlebars?
Would the trails be sweet or just plain suck?

The weekend before the race I went down by myself and checked out the Courtois sections at the start and below Highway 8 to get a feel for the trail and see how well it was marked. I came back and explained to Lisa that there wasn't anything to worry about - the trail was well-marked and in perfect condition. No downed trees or bad sections.

On Tour day Lisa, along with Jim and Wendy Davis, set off with 40+ riders and everyone stayed in high spirits. I drove around to each crossing with directions, a pump and water handy. I think many appreciated seeing a road, wheels and a face towards the end of the 56 mile ride. No one got injured and no one got (permanently) lost.

That evening Scott, the promoter, raffled off a ton of prizes. Several high-dollar items included 4 Redline Monocog complete bikes, a cargo trailer, a Garmin Edge 305, an LED light kit, a wheelset and a bunch of other things. Lisa and I didn't win anything but it looked as though over half the people present got a schwag prize.

That night Scott Piepert and Bryan Adams arrived to get the lowdown on the course. I told them it would be a blast. The next day would come too soon.

On race day over 92 bikers lined up in the parking lot of the Bass River Resort. At 8:30 everyone took off and it only got faster in the coming minutes. The super fast geared guys were off the front - and Matt Keeven on his single speed. Bryan, Scott and I all rode single speeds along with Jim Krewet and a couple of other folks.

The organizers had placed a temporary bridge across Brazil Creek which was a blessing. The creek is over 4 feet deep now and 15 feet wide from the equestrian traffic. All the racers ran down the switchbacks (they are nearly unrideable now), across the bridge and received their first checkpoint zip tie. I was the second ss guy through with Jim, Scott and Bryan right behind me.

Next, we jammed over the Berryman trail over to the Berryman campground. I passed several guys and felt quite good. My left knee has been giving me trouble and I had hoped a new pair of shoes, a lower bike fit, new cleats and some insole shims would do the trick. So far, so good.

Lisa met me again at the second checkpoint at the Berryman campground. Again, I was the second SS guy in but was already 5-8 minutes behind Matt "morale crusher" Keeven. I set off down the lower Courtois and tried to make up for lost time. Jim Krewet passed me at the campground checkpoint but I kept him in sight almost the whole time heading for the 3rd stop at the end of the Courtois. The trail followed several creek drainages and whenever it had to gain some elevation it shot up the hillside. I was forced to walk many of these tall climbs in order to conserve energy.

After getting to the third checkpoint I finally caught up to Jim on the gravel road back to the Berryman campground. We agreed the pace was fast and I admitted I was feeling slightly blown. My knee started hurting and I knew things didn't feel just right.

At the fourth checkpoint back at the Berryman campground I had to sit down. Lisa cheered me on but deep down I knew Jim had me. He set off on the remaining leg of the Berryman back to Bass Resort while I composed myself.


Once I hit the singletrack I knew I was in trouble. My hands were beginning to sting and blister from the rigid fork and my 32:19 sissy gearing felt hard. And then the unthinkable happened.

I really hate leg cramps but boy they sure loved me. I had to stop 7-10 times over the remaining 15 miles to keep me from losing my mind. The agony was obscene and it hurt to see people passing me. Scott Piepert passed me at the running spring and that's when I tried to pull it together and finish it off.

Limping back around 7 miles an hour and ruining my chances for a good overall placing I kept my legs turning but applied no pressure to prevent the hell cramps from popping in to say hi. At the last checkpoing Jim and Wendy cheered me on. I mentioned the cramps, the pain, the possible bonking and they wanted to know if I wanted some gum! They're pretty damn funny even when you're feeling down. I got to pedaling back to Bass and promptly got passed by 10 more racers on the gravel road back to base.

I pulled into Bass not a moment too soon and had the best ride of my summer in Missouri. The Lynskey rocked out even if I couldn't keep up and I promise to tighten my bottom bracket before starting the race next time around.

Overall, Chris Ploch got 1st overall, Matt Keeven got 1st Single Speeder (4th overall wtf?!!), Jim Krewet got 2nd SS, Scott Piepert 3rd SS, Me (Matt) 4th and Bryan Adams 5th.

Many thanks to Scott at Springfield Bicycle Co. for organizing the event and chopping out over 70 downed trees to make for a memorable (and sickly fast) race.

See you next year at the GORCtoberfest when GORC merges mayhem with the Berryman Epic. It's in the works, see you then.

Creve Coeur Park/ICCP Workdays Oct. 25th

We will be working on a continuation of the trail built at Creve Coeur Park in the Spring, as shown marked in pink on the lower map. When this is complete, hopefully after the next workday scheduled for November 22nd, there will be approximately 3.5 miles of singletrack. Not bad, a 7 mile out-and-back, right in the center of the STL Metro area with more to come.

There's also a workday scheduled at Indian Camp Creek Park, so if you live out in St. Charles County, please consider helping out there.

Fall 2008 Workday Schedule Posted

Bryan posted this on StlBiking:

The following is GORC's upcoming workdays for this fall. We would appreciate your help at a workday or two. If you ride a mountain bike, you've probably ridden at one of these parks. So, come on out and help make them better. Go to GORC to find out the details. The calendar on the home page lists more specifics and go HERE to find out what to expect at a workday. Keep an eye on GORC's forum for details as the workdays draw closer.

Some tidbits...
Klondike is getting a new boardwalk over the sandpit leading to Powerline. This will be 80-100 feet long with some skinny off shoots. Construction of the Ewok village on Donkey Kong will begin next spring. We're always looking for people with freeriding experience to come give us a hand at Klondike. We want to do more there and the park is making baby steps, but most of us are XC geeks, so we need some expertise.

SIUE has added an extension to Trail 2. We'll be working on finishing up a small lollypop near there.

Greensfelder will see continued work on the Declue Extension that links up to the Scenic Loop. We've seen what a wet season can do to a new trail and have plans to nurture this trail along. Mainly, I think everyone has seen how good the Dogwood trail can be when more people go out and ride it. The Declue trail can benefit in the same way.

Creve Coeur Park has 1 mile of new trail. We plan on tripling that this fall with your help. This park could have up to 6 miles of trail when we're done. Go check out it out, very fun.

That's just some of what's going on. So, you can see we could use your help. Pick your favorite trail and give us 4 hours of your time. It will be well worth it. Also, GORC's forum now has a Trail Reports & Conditions section for most of the local trails. Go check it out if you want to know what the latest conditions are or post up the condition if you have been there recently. You can also use this forum to list any trees down so that it gets back to the Land Manager.

Creve Coeur/Bangert Island Mini Epic

After driving all the way to Durango and back, I was looking for a ride that didn't involve much driving. The closest trail to me turns out to be at Creve Coeur Park, and I hadn't been there since the workday in the Spring. Now that Bangert Island is above water, and clear, I figured, why not ride both of them?

We started at Creve Coeur and rode that. Brian, Glenn and others have done a nice job getting the rest of the section open to ride after the small turnout at the workday. What's there now is about a mile of twisty, fun singletrack with lots of switchbacks, turns and drainage crossings. After the Fall workdays, there will be around 3.5 miles of singletrack there!

Next, we headed down the steep gravel road by the Corporate Picnic site, and rode down to the lake. Went around the lake, over to the bike path that leads across the Page Avenue Extension to the Katy, and took the Katy to Bangert Island.

This was my first time at Bangert. Knowing only that it was an island that is sometimes underwater, or cut off from the mainland, I didn't really know what to expect. Surprisingly, there was more variation in the terrain than I expected. Don't get me wrong, it was only a few feet here and there, but it's enough to have allowed the designers to give the trail some flow throughout most of its length, rather than just being a flat ribbon as in the picture. Evidence of being underwater is also everywhere, with driftwood, and a layer of dried mud covering most things. Hats off to the GORC St. Charles County Crew for the fine addition of another 2.5 miles of singletrack to our area.

Then it was back on to the Katy to retrace our route. The ride ended up being about 25 miles; a mixture of dirt singletrack, pavement and the Katy. It was a different kind of ride than using the Katy to link Lost Valley, Matson, and Klondike, and a nice change of pace. I rode it on a cyclocross bike and pulled my son in a trailer except on the singletrack, when we traded off riding and babysitting, so you could pretty much ride these trails on any kind of bike you like, when they're dry.

All Trails at Greensfelder Now Multi-Use

As of Monday, May 26th all trails at Greensfelder County Park are multi-use. It's more important than ever now to make sure you're up to speed on IMBA's Rules of the Trail, and practice good trail etiquette when encountering equestrians out there.
IMBA's website has an interesting article about bike/equestrian interaction.

I Am Spartacus

Tom Erb designed Spartacus several years ago to help with much of the rockwork at Klondike, but since we've been using it quite a bit as of late, I thought I'd mention it again.
This is a very clever device, made out of chains arranged in concentric circles, that lets you move heavy objects, usually rocks, when you don't have the luxury of bringing in heavy equipment. The rock is maneuvered onto Spartacus, and then up to 8 handles allow for a number of people, strong of back, weak of mind, to carry or drag it to the desired position.
The plans for building your own have been released under the Creative Commons license, or you can pay Tom to build one for you.

New Trail at Bangert Island

Mike Dunston and rest of the St. Charles County GORC Crew have been busy as usual. May 20th is the scheduled grand opening of a new 2.5 mile trail located near the intersection of I-70 and 5th Street. Here's a preliminary map to give you an idea of the location. We'll keep you updated as we get more details.

Creve Coeur Park Trail Update

Due to a very light turnout for the workday 2 weeks ago we were unable to open as much of the trail as hoped. Brian and Glenn, along with Drew Black, Aaron Coburn, and Eric Walter then went on their own time during the week and grubbed and raked the corridor connecting the 2 largest sections which had been cut. While only a relatively small section of trail is ridable, hopefully it will give you a taste of what's to come at this park. There may be another workday there this Spring, scheduled on short notice, so keep your eyes on the GORC Calendar.

This is going to be a fun place to ride. It's been described elsewhere as being like SIUE with climbing, so if that appeals to you, then please try to make an effort to come out, if not this Spring, then in the Fall.

Creve Coeur County Park Workday- Saturday, April 19th 9 a.m.

The new trail is in blue at the bottom right.

Come and help build the first section of brand new singletrack at Creve Coeur County Park. There is currently 2-3 miles of trail flagged, approved, and ready to build, with more to come. The trail is rollercoaster-like dirt singletrack with a few climbs thrown in for good measure. The first phase consists of a loop connecting to an out-n-back. We'll begin building the out-n-back, and depending on turnout, attack the loop.

Momentum Cycles is supplying coffee and bagels in the
morning, and we'll have schwag from Sunset Cycles and O'Fallon Brewery.

Enter the Park on Streetcar Drive (off Dorsett Rd), follow the road past
the first baseball field and tennis courts, park in the large gravel
parking lot just past the tennis courts on the right. St. Louis County
Parks is providing lunch afterwards - bring gloves, water, work shoes,
and weather permitting, your bike.

GORC Bike Patrol

Over the years GORC has done a number of things to help spread the
word and educate people as to the consequences of their actions on
the trails:

1) Developed a page on the GORC website listing IMBA's Rules of the Trail
which advocates adhering to certain principles while riding.
2) Created Trail Conditions forum on website where users can describe
the current state of each trail.
3) Published blog and newsletter with educational articles intended to
explain how natural phenomena, and riding in certain conditions affect trails.
4) Erected kiosks with signs at SIUE asking that users respect the
rights of others when using the trail.

Taking the next step, we're going to try to reach users more directly, on the trails.
IMBA has created a program modeled after the National Ski Patrol, called the National Mountain Bike Patrol. Although the name sounds a little serious, the intent of the Patrol is summed up by its motto "Assist, Educate, Inform." There is no enforcement component whatsoever to the Patrol. Patrollers will be doing pretty much what most GORC members already do anyway: riding the local trails, offering to help anyone with mechanical or medical problems, and just trying to be goodwill ambassadors for the sport. The difference is that we now have formal approval from the landmanagers to do so officially. To date, we have approval to Patrol SIUE, all St. Charles County Parks, and Lost Valley & the Hamburg Trail.

If you're interested in joining, or have more questions about the NMBP, post your questions on the GORC Forum, or get in touch with Rockboy aka Rob Horn, the program's coordinator.

Cancelled -Greensfelder Workday - Sat. March 22nd, 9 a.m.

Due to the precipitation that Mother Nature has dropped on us recently, and the fact that I-44 may not be passable tomorrow, St. Louis County Parks has cancelled the workday.

If you've ridden the section of the new DeClue extension that was built last Spring and Fall, you probably noticed that it wasn't quite ready for prime time. This workday aims to address some unfinished business, and hopefully will allow for the completion of the A & B sections of this extension. If that happens, you will be able to ride the trail out, follow a small lollipop and then retrace your way back up to the old DeClue. This will be slightly better than the current out-and-back, plus the trail should be completely rideable.

After this, work will continue on the extension which will cross the Scenic Loop road and eventually connect back to the Roundhouse parking lot. There's lots of work to be done on this, and it's going to take some time, so come on out and help! We'll be meeting at the radio tower parking lot off of Allenton Rd. at 9 a.m.

One Trail, Two Days

Ah Winter, one day it's 73 degrees, the next it's 15. Don't you love it? This little story concerns the SIUE trails, but could just as easily be about any of the other trails in our area.

Day 1. Two weeks ago, a group was out reviewing the location of the proposed new trail at SIUE. It had been very cold for the previous week without any precipitation and the ground was thoroughly frozen. The temperature was around freezing when we started, but the forecast was for temps in the upper 50's that day. Now, several of these people in attendance were some of the most experienced trailbuilders in GORC (I'm not including myself here). Not one brought their mountain bike, thinking that with such warm temperatures, the trails would be thawed by afternoon. Well, to everyone's surprise, by the time we were done, even though it was in the 50's, the trails were firm and dry, perfect riding conditions...

Fast forward to Day 2. Yesterday, Kirby and I headed out to SIUE in the early afternoon. Temperature was 19. To our surprise the top layer of soil was a gooey mess. Apparently, with there being so much moisture in the soil from the recent rains, the ground was completely saturated, and the strong sunlight was enough to melt away the top layer even at that temperature. Also, it had only been below freezing for one night. We walked down the trail a bit and could see where someone who was riding had been sliding across the surface at every curve and riding off the trail to avoid muddy spots.

So, what's the moral of this story? Well, it's that even if you think you understand how trails react to certain weather conditions, in Winter, all bets are off. Here in MO/SW IL we're lucky to be able to do some riding year round. Just be aware that in Winter and early Spring, there are more things to consider before you decide to go out and ride. Sure, it may not be a big deal to leave a few tracks on a trail, but when you multiply that by hundreds, or thousands, it's easy to see how real damage can be done.

It's not GORC's place to tell you when you can or can't ride, only the land manager of a particular trail can do that, but you can use your head and the info that's provided on our website to make decisions that will minimize the impact you have on the trails. We'd all much rather be building new trail, instead of having to fix damage to what's already there.

Happy Trails.

First Aid

TRAILSIDE INJURY MAINTENANCE

Mountain biking is an exciting sport. It is both thrilling and exciting. It can also have some bumps, and bruises. This article is going to give you some tips on what to carry on your person or your pack that will help you make it back to your car.

· An anti-inflammatory or Tylenol
· Triangle bandage or bandanna
· Antiseptic hand wipes
· Large and small band-aids
· Gauze pads or 4x4
· Large non-stick pads
· Self adhering elastic wrap (Coban)
· Ziploc bag

All of these items can be placed in the Ziploc bag for quick visualization of the items that you need. You can get fancy and carry Neosporin with you, butterfly closures, benzoin to get stuff to stick, etc. But the list above is a bare essentials list. Coban is nice to have because it does stick to itself and you don’t have to worry about being too sweaty for tape.
The first on the list is a must have! If you fall down, hit a tree, or are just going really hard, it is nice to have a pain reliever on hand to be taken at a moments notice. An NSAID such as Ibuprofen helps reduce swelling incase of injury as well as a mild – moderate pain reliever. Never exceed 2400mg of Ibuprofen in a 24 hour period of time. Tylenol is known for fever reducing as well as mild to moderate pain reliever, but not known so much as a swelling reducer. Never take more than 4000mg of Tylenol in a 24 hour period of time. Also, a well known fact about Tylenol is that it should never be taken with alcohol.
The triangle bandage or bandanna has many uses. The major use is to immobilize a suspected fracture. If you fall on the trail and you suspect that you have broken a collar bone, the bandage can be tied around the neck, with the sling part on the effected side to carry that arm in. This is done to keep from placing strain on the fractured collar bone. In the case of a fractured limb, the limb will swell almost immediately; there may/may not be obvious deformity, continued severe pain, possible numbness below sight of injury. ICE is the acronym for the immediate care of a fracture. Immobilize, cool, and elevate. On the trail you can use the bandage and a strong stick or bike pump to wrap the limb and immobilize it. Then go to the doctor! Another use for the bandage is to help with the covering of wounds, cleaning, etc.
Antiseptic hand wipes are used to clean your hands before working on your wounds. They can be used to clean wounds as well.
Large and small band-aids are used of course to cover your wounds, after you clean them. Or just to cover them until you get to the car or house to thoroughly clean the wound.
Gauze pads can be used to aid in cleaning the wound, or cover the wound. Covering the wound with gauze can be tricky because it tends to stick to wounds. If this happens, use some warm water to soak the gauze to help remove it.
The large non-stick pads are awesome. They are the gold standard in wound coverage. You can impregnate them with Neosporin and plop right on top of your well cleaned cut or scrape. These can be cut to size.
Coban is used to wrap over the non-stick pad. This works better than tape in the sense that it does not stick to your skin. This wrap can also be reused if not a bloody mess.
This is a small kit that can be easily carried on the trail with you. It can fit in a jersey pocket or in your camelback. It should be seen as essential as your spare tubes. In closing, if there is any doubt in caring for a wound yourself, seek help!

St. Charles County Parks Guided Rides - 2008

Once again, the great partnership between GORC and St. Charles County Parks leads to some great biking opportunities. There are now over 30 miles of trails open to mountain bikes, many of which GORC helped to build, spread throughout 6 different SCCP Parks. Everyone has to learn how to ride somewhere, so GORC will lead beginner rides to help introduce new people to the sport. Hot off the press:

For the third straight year, Saint Charles County Parks (SCCP) and GORC are teaming up to offer Guided Mountain Bike Rides. It's a low key way to introduce someone to off-road riding, and GORC will have experienced riders on hand to offer advice and riding tips.

The Guided Rides are conducted at a casual, exploratory pace, with the slowest rider setting the speed. We will try to use trails that are within the skill level of everyone who shows up, so some days may be more challenging than others. Plan on 1 to 1.5 hours riding, with available daylight and the group's enthusiasm being the deciding factors. Trails this year include Quail Ridge and the new trail at Bangert Island near I-70 and 5th St.

Ozark Trail Trip Planner and Shuttle

There has been some mention on the GORC message board of the new Ozark Trail Shuttle operated by the OTA, and how convenient and useful it is for doing point-to-point rides which had previously required you to go through the hassle of arranging vehicles for drop-offs and pickups.

What hasn't been talked about much is a new way for you to explore the Ozark Trail, and perhaps ride some sections that you may have never thought about riding, or even heard about before, for that matter. This is the trip planner. Here are a few screenshots which show how you can choose the type and length of ride you wish to do from a particular trailhead. It then gives you the options available which meet your criteria and gives you links to the relevant topographic and GORC-style area maps, as well as very detailed directions which will make it very difficult to get lost. You can then see if a shuttle is available for the date you wish to go, and if not, perhaps arrange for a custom shuttle.

This is a fantastic service that is the result of the settlement by AmerenUE over the Taum Sauk Reservoir incident. It's also a great way to find out more about the gem of a trail that we've got in our own backyard.