Notes From A Workday: Greensfelder

by Matt Hayes

Trail workdays are a great way to meet people, give back to the community and learn more about the hows, whys, and whos of trailbuilding. While I'm not a master trailbuilder I have learned quite a bit of things over the years donating countless hours of volunteer time to keep St. Louis' trail systems in good shape through maintenance, reroutes and expansion.

This is not meant to be a comprehensive post about trailbuilding nor will it answer all the questions you may have. I think it is easier to address trailbuilding issues as a FAQ - frequently asked questions topic and to use pictures as often as possible. I do not claim to be a great teacher, in fact I'm quite self-conscious about speaking in public and think I do better by showing instead of telling. When I have to lead a crew I find it personally challenging and quite an effort to stay focused. I want everyone to have a good time and I want everyone to want to learn and not feel "bossed around" or disregarded. All volunteers get my complete respect and attention.

With the pictures available to me from the latest trail day at Greensfelder I will help explain what's going on in each photo. If you find anything incorrect or misleading or wish to elaborate on a subject please post it as a comment at the end of this article. The blog is not a one-way street and should be considered a forum for discussion.

Flowy Singletrack
When singletrack is flagged GORC doesn't just meet up in the woods and begin laying down pin flags. In most cases before the first pulaski ever hits the dirt, several months, if not over a year, have passed. In that time GORC trail stewards will meet with land managers, scout trail features, design initial trail lines, adjust the potential lines, perform a GORC peer review, and finally get final design approval from the land managers.

This single photo depicts over a year of design preparation

Let's talk about what we see in the photo. First, look at the tape around the tree trunks. Note the direction they are tied. The tied knot always faces the trail corridor. So, if you look down the tree line where trunks were marked every 30 feet or so you can see that the knots are facing the trail bed. This allows the trail designers to see how the singletrack will thread between the trees. When you are walking through a forest it can be hard to visualize where the designed trail is supposed to go if the initial flagging knots are not synchronized.

Next, check out the two trail tape colors. It doesn't matter which color is used - we typically use the standard orange tape. When alternate lines are found or during a peer review some designers see a different way of doing things we will mark the alternate lines with a different color tape. Again, this is so we don't confuse ourselves and this helps us visualize our options quickly. The tape is affixed at shoulder to head height were possible to facilitate line-of-sight and clinometer use.

After a GORC peer review with other trail stewards that are not directly associated with the design is complete and a final line is selected, we will get the land manager's approval. Once the design is signed off we prepare for the workday by laying out pin flags on the forest floor. The pin flags are placed on the downward side of the trail. They are spaced 5 - 15 feet apart so all the volunteers can see where the trail bed should go. Tight, intricate and complex trail segments may feature pin flags only a foot apart to show volunteers exactly where the singletrack must go. Leaves are raked to the low side of the trail so the dirt is exposed and the work begins. The trail bed is cut in to the hill slope with the final tread left 3% - 5% off-camber to facilitate water drainage and prevent pooling. The tread backslope is beveled at a 45 degree or less angle to keep water flow from eroding the backside of the slope. You can see in the picture how the high side slope is angled or feathered.

The dirt that is removed in the making of the bench cut is scraped off the trail on the down side or slope. The dirt must be pulled far enough away so that trail users do not think the "fluff" dirt is part of the solid tread. If the fluff is used as a trail bed it will quickly rut, and worse, erode. It is very important that only the bench cut is used as the tread. This is also why we must make the bench cut wide enough for multi-use traffic, especially at places that have a high equestrian use such as Greensfelder.

Lastly, you can see the new trail is not just a straight cut through the trees. It is designed with flow in mind - this keeps all trail users engaged with the trail and entertained. The trail appears more natural this way. The singletrack is designed around the mature live trees. Only saplings and deadfall are cut and then only sparingly. Large, old growth trees are used as trail anchors and keep the singletrack line from drifting or migrating when horses or bikers may want to use an easier path. If you ever visit a trail system that has few trees you can see how the trails can be very wide from trail drift. A trail system like SIUE prevents singletrack from growing wide due to the thick undergrowth. Next time you ride, check it out.

Critical Line Selection: Something's Got to Give (Sorry, Stump)
Flush cut stumps or large dead ones must be removed with lots of hard work. You may think singletrack can just go through the forest willy-nilly but when you factor in fall-line issues, grade percentages, line of sight and the flow of a given radius curve you can understand why a simple stump can get in the way of our trail bed.

Sometimes the singletrack line dictates some very hard work

This particular stump was almost in the middle of a critical spot on the trail. If we went above it the trail was too steep dropping into some drainages. Designed below it and the trail had a crazy-sharp turn, a steep step-up and poor line of sight (on a bad turn, no less). So the trail had to go through it. We chopped and chopped and chopped and finally got it out. This was a circumstance where the extra work was completely worth it. The trail absolutely flows around the bend and sets you up for the drainages. With great line of sight to boot!

Trail Tailings and How to Prevent Trail Drift
This photo depicts the need to remove excess dirt from the trail side. This trail piece curves around a drainage bowl and all too often I see our trails drift. Equestrians and bikers, by their nature, want to use the easiest path available to them. This would mean cutting the contoured trail curve and walking in a straight-shot over the fluff. Eventually, this creates a maintenance issue as the used line would pot-hole and erode to an off-camber mess. Not too mention the tread would grow 10-15 feet wide and never look quite the same again.

Trail duff/fluff must be removed off the trail bed away from the edge

The extra dirt is removed further down the drainage to "show" trail users the intended trail line. With the excess dirt gone, the downslope contour is visibly unsustainable, undesirable and not worth the effort to shortcut. This is an important step in the trailbuilding process that cannot be emphasized enough. The trail is not finished until the fluff dirt is removed away from the benchcut.

The Weed Wrench vs. Sapling
You may notice larger tree saplings that are cut waist-high or higher. GORC used a tool called a weed wrench that can pull these stobs out of the ground, roots and all. The tool needs a bit of trunk length to use as leverage when pulling the roots out of the ground. Simply cutting saplings flush to the ground presents maintenance and other issues.

We use a tool called a weed wrench to remove stobs.

As a trail beds in over time and the dirt settles the stump will seem to grow higher and higher out of the ground. The roots will become exposed and eventually rot. This can lead to trail erosion and is an eyesore to all user groups. A cut tree stump is an unnatural feature that is man-made - a negative feature that is better removed during the original trail construction process.

Hopefully after reading this you have had some of your questions answered and hope to see you out at a trail workday in the near future. GORC is always seeking out new volunteers and members. If you have additional questions or wish to share your thoughts be sure to comment on this post.

Some other useful information:
What to Expect at a Workday
Maintenance Concerns
Reporting Your Volunteer Hours

Klunkerz (featuring Easter Candy): A Review

by Matt Hayes

This is a documentary by Billy Savage that recounts the pioneering days of mountain biking. I bought it on a whim at the Alpine Shop just after Christmas and finally got around to watching it. Originally purchased as "motivation" during longer trainer sessions, it never made it to the basement as I'm unfamiliar with long (over 60 minutes, are you kidding??) indoor training sessions. Too hard, too boring.

So it made perfect sense to zone out on a Thursday night in front of the bigscreen and continue to "recover" from the Ouachita Cha!!enge. A bowlful of Easter candy and a Miller Light on the table meant it was showtime.

Klunkerz tells the history of mountain biking through interviews, narratives, archival footage, and still photos. Industry legends, as well as some obscure characters, ride the way-back machine to set the record straight.

The documentary is almost 90 minutes not including the 5 bonus features. Like Dogtown & Z-Boys, the old film footage is jumpy but it's simply amazing that someone even captured the action in the mid-to-late seventies - remember this is before ipods, wikipedia and cell-phone video recorders. Gary Fisher, Tom Ritchey, Charlie Kelley, Joe Breeze and Charlie Cunningham, among others, provide extensive insight into the past through their interviews, photographs and home videos.

Using crusty, bomb-proof Schwinn Excelsiors, the guys rode all around Marin county and Mt. Tam. Much of the historical footage comes from the Repack races and a few awesome crashes are captured. The best part of Klunkerz is the verbal flowchart that ties all the big names together. You learn that Ritchey was utilized by Gary Fisher's upstart company who was financed by an outsider who had been-there/done-that 20 years prior off-road, how the manufacturing pioneers slowly grew apart and that basically they were all hippies who eventually became businessmen.

I learned a lot about the sport. I learned that no matter what bike I'm riding I'm not allowed to bitch about its spec, weight or handling. I learned that if a Surly Karate Monkey cobbled together with a Redline front fork, Tektro mechanical discs, Truvativ Stylo crankset and a Fuji-branded tree stump masking as a saddle was T-boned by a DeLorean doing 88 in a 35 and that said K'Monkey was geographically knocked clear back to 1980 onto the Repack starting line it would be considered some competitive space-age shiznat! Someone would trade 4 pounds of weed for its secrets and before you know it the Karate Monkey would be the hottest thing to ever grace a VeloNews cover, the space-time continuum would be frayed, you would never be born, I would be rich and Dr. Octagon would be leader of the free world. Something like that. Damn this skitzofrenya.

Time to cash it at the recycling center...

What? Oh.

It's a great documentary and DVD. The small budget coupled with very limited archival media raises a few minor viewing issues. (Editor's Note: Billy Savage responded with some terrific insight on the making of Klunkerz in the Blog comments area. Check his comments here.) There are several repeated clips and the interviews are a bit static. For every character in the film the same interview location was used for their respective segments. What's important - and this is where Klunkerz shines - is that the riding masses discover where the awesome fun-ness of off-roading came from. Rumors are unravelled, personalities are explored and we find out that racing is in fact the mother of invention.

The bonus features include a philanthropic segment on Joe Breeze, Tom Ritchey, and Gary Fisher, a brief recap on the making of Klunkerz, and some other Klunkerz-related video clips.

Out of Easter candy and after midnight, I crashed out and dreamed about riding Pearl Pass in Crested Butte, CO. This is a must-watch DVD that ranks among the top 5 that capture the essence of mountain biking. Unlike YouTube quality, adrenaline-hyped 35 minute bike porn that Pricepoint.com literally shovels into your shopping cart for $1.99, Klunkerz sits on the top shelf with the likes of 24Solo and Off-Road to Athens. Support director, writer and producer Billy Savage by buying Klunkerz. I heard he took a financial wrecking ball to the chin for this film and it's not helping when people download his hard work on Torrent-shopper.russianbackup.ru/fo'real.

Watch it.

2009 Ouachita Challenge - Tour Day, April 4th

as reported by Matt Hayes

Update: The results are now posted!

GORC conquered the 62 mile Ouachita Challenge yet again. This year marked a welcomed departure from the wet weather of past Challenges and only good, warm sunshine rained down on the course riders. The OC covers parts of the Womble and Ouachita trail systems with about 23 miles of gravel and pavement sprinkled throughout. Riders come from all parts of the Midwest including Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Illinois and Oklahoma.

The GORC train pulled into Oden early Saturday morning and almost everyone would make it across the finish line by day's end. Bryan, Steph, Lisa and myself carpooled down and stayed in a clean rustic cabin just a 1/2 mile outside Oden, AR where the Ouachita Challenge starts and finishes. Larry, John, Scott (Kirby), Scott (Scooter), Randy, John Twist, Josh and Tammy stayed about 30 minutes away in different cabin overlooking the Ouachita River. Three keglets also made the 8 hour journey.

Bits of Salsa were left all over the trail

We all got started with about 300 other Tour riders at 8am at the Oden School parking lot. It was the usual cluster with everyone jockeying for a better position heading into the singletrack. Bryan and myself rode together and threaded the needle to get a top 20 spot entering the Womble.

I should mention at this point that both Larry and John Donjoian were rocking rigid singlespeeds and staying near the front. Scott Piepert rode well and was out of sight in no time. Ouachita Challenge veteran, Lisa Troehler, rode consistently and this was the first Tour using her lightweight titanium Steelhead 29er. Scott Whitaker and Randy Houck, along with John Twist and Scott P, had never ridden in the OC but all would end up doing just fine.

Spectators on the Womble photographed riders flying through numerous wet water crossings and ascending several hill(mountain)sides with a great deal of exposure in many spots. The downhills smoked forearms and brake pads. A tree early in the ride took JohnnyD out but he got up and trucked on with a few meat puppets clinging to his knee. Lisa crashed a couple of times, the second which landed her in a creek and completely drenched from head to toe. She persevered with a huge knot on her forearm and a tweaked ankle.

Bryan and myself paced ourselves with the intent of finishing the ride in a respectable time. John Twist caught up to us and we rode together for about 25 miles. I made sure to stay hydrated but had to make about 5 nature stops along the way. I've felt the torture of dehydration too many times and stopping for 30 seconds is fine by me. After yet another wizz stop I played catch up to reach John and Bryan just as we descended to the bank of Fiddler's Creek. The creek was as high as I've ever seen it and the race promoters were on the fence as to letting the riders cross. We all used a guide line to cross the cold, swift thigh-high creek. The numbing coolness eased the pain of completing the first 30 miles.

Matt wrecked but feeling better overall than previous events

The next 30 would prove to be a personal challenge. After cruising 8 miles down a never-ending gravel road all three of us entered the realm of the Ouachita beast. Unlike the smooth, contoured Womble that occasionally garners a wimpy complaint from riders that it crosses shallow streams and drainages too many times, the Ouachita is an out-and-out test of strength and will power. The trail was never designed for mountain bikes and makes fast use of the available mountains by climbing suddenly and swiftly. The super rocky Ouachita features devilishly technical sections in the form of Rocks with a capital R. Rocks all over the trail, Rocks on the switchbacks, Rock fields for trail beds, Rocks on Rocks, tire-shredding Rocks, sidewall snake Rocks - there's even Rock berms and Rock Gauntlets. Put it this way, it makes you appreciate the new sections of the Ozark Trail.

By this time, Scooter was long gone and I decided to see if I could catch up to him. With 20 miles to go I thought surely I would at least catch a glimpse near the end. I knew I wasn't feeling top-notch by this time and had been fighting an internal struggle of commode-al proportions but what the hell. I climbed like a goat and embraced the granny lifestyle. I passed two guys but quickly faded on Brushy Creek Mountain about 15 miles from the finish.

Boom. Sigh...

I started walking the super steeps and holding brief conversations with trees. Eventually I was passed by one of the riders. The previous up-and-over, Blowout Mountain, aka Blow Up aka Blow Me had taken the wind out of my sails and torched the ship.

Thank the scientists for CytoMax. I perked up after drinking some of the stuff that a checkpoint volunteer had offered and started riding again. I was using my Edge GPS with the course map on the screen to motivate me to the finish. I didn't want to see the stats - speed, average, distance to go(!) - just the map.

On the last gravel road before evaporating in the wind I executed a sepuku move and torqued it back to Oden. Though blown-out completely and utterly destroyed, I wound it out and went back to the single speed handbook of rocking out the gravel climbs. I caught and gapped a strong, stout rider only because there were two significant climbs and he was ignorant to the ways of the single speed.

Once on the pavement I knew it was nearly over. Legs burning, neck melted, face missing, I continued the most awesome death train of my life. The Silver Bullet was out of control and going to mushroom cloud Oden. Well, that's what it felt like... whatever, it's my recap. Write your own.

Lisa just after crossing the finish line

I'm confident I got 6th, maybe 7th. It was my personal best yet 7:05 going counter-clockwise. Steph and Josh were at the finish with Josh riding 20-odd miles and Steph completing 52 miles. Tammy didn't feel too hot and opted to sit it out. First-time OC rider Scooter turned in an impressive 2nd place overall but since it was the Tour he got the same dog tag prize as all the other finishers. In fact, he finished 37 or some minutes in front of me so I had no chance of ever catching him on Brushy Creek. It would have been nice to know that so I wouldn't have tried so hard and detonate myself and the bike. It was cool - he killed it the whole way.

I trained for the OC this year the day of the event. My riding time has been short, sporadic and possibly uninspired so I'm happy with my place. And that brings up the bike, the Salsa Dos Niner. I have to hand it to the first generation Dos for I have abused it numerous times and have not yet snapped its legs. Awesome. Not to mention that it feels like a new bike every time I use it about 5 times a year.

The next person on the GORC passenger train to roll in was Bryan, followed by Larry (pretty sure he was the first single speeder across!), John, Lisa, Randy and Kirby. John Twist was sidelined at the last checkpoint by his stomach and race officials asked him not to continue.

Scott and Steph enjoying the PBR tallboys

As we all gathered and waited for the GORC riders to roll up, Jim and Wendy stopped by to sign in for Sunday's race. They hung out for a while and we wished them luck on their singlespeeds. At about the same time, Team Seagal greeted us with ice-cold PBR tallboys in hand. We celebrated on the lawn of the Baptist church across the street because school property doesn't allow alcohol. We should've brought the keglets but didn't think ahead!! I, as usual, had to reconfigure my settings and reboot my body. I laid on the dirt next to the road for quite some time. Everyone else seems to end long rides just fine. Myself? It's near-death. Edema, COPD, heart burn, cramps, sun exposure, bad juju, whatever, the end was near once again. However, this time was better than last year and I got to enjoy 2 tallboys in short order. Hot damn it tasted good.

Randy finishing up with a smile on his face

I'll say it again... I could probably ride it on the single but I hurt aplenty on the Salsa. I don't desire that sort of deep, dark inner struggle to survive...yet. The day you ride the course is the day you swear to do it never again. In your darkest moment you may even consider ending mountain biking altogether (mostly because you think it's all gonna end anyway real soon on the mountain top), but then you cross the finish line, you heal up in a few days, and then you tell everyone when registration opens at midnight.

Scott W. wrapping up his first Ouachita

It's a sickness. See you there next year! Oh, and the Berryman Epic registration opens May 1st and it's slightly easier and only 55 miles.

Boom.

Results
On-course Photos (coming soon)
GPS map and data

Matson Hill Reloaded

There was a workday at Matson Hill this weekend. Apparently not a lot of people knew about it. There were some conflicts with a few big events, namely the Ouachita Challenge, and the Ozark Trail Mega Event, but clearly, having only 12 or so people show at a park which is slated to have perhaps the most singletrack in the metro area was less than we hoped for.

Several of us had to leave early, so we decided to meet before the scheduled 9 am start so there would still be enough time to get some work done. Mike Dunston showed Glenn Meyer and me the planned reroute that we would be working on, and we went and looked at the reroute that was done last month to see how it was holding up.

The thing that struck me most was the current condition of the trail. Mike, Craig Seibert and St. Charles County Parks work hard to keep the trail in good shape, but the fact is, the trail is starting to show the effects of design decisions made 10 years ago, and heavier use. While we're all in favor of rocks an roots in a trail to provide a bit of an extra challenge, as Mike pointed out, the appearance of so many new ones, along with erosion channels, in a trail that has been used and packed down for 10 years is somewhat troubling.

The character of this trail is going to change. That's not a bad thing, but the days of going to Matson for its lung-busting climbs are coming to an end. A reroute a few years ago eliminated one unsustainable climb, and the new reroute will bypass the last fall-line climb in favor of more gradual lower line. There are a couple of reasons for this: first, once the park has 12-14 miles of singletrack, it will inevitably draw more traffic, something which this climb would not stand up to very well. One reason Matson has been able to get by is that it has historically seen fewer users than Klondike or Lost Valley. I can remember 5 years ago when I always had the park to myself. I almost never saw anyone else there. I almost always run into someone there now. Another reason is that some of the steep climbs have become sluices for water. Severe erosion is occurring, and the trail is in as bad a state from a sustainability perspective as I have ever seen. Fortunately, Mike and Craig are on top of things in preparing for the expansion of the park's trails.

Matson is going to be a very fun place to ride with lots of mileage, but it's going to take a long time to get that much trail built. If you can spare the time, please come out and help. The next workday there will be some time in the Fall.