Building New Singletrack

[volklgirl]

This weekend I'm attending a 2 day event called Trail School. Its purpose is to instruct students in the proper building of sustainable singletrack (day 1) and certification as a "Crew Leader" (day 2).

Today started with 3 hours of classroom time focusing on the safe use of tools, routing trails using natural features to control erosion and trail widening, proper digging of the trail surface to avoid water and erosion damage, and avoiding fall line trails while maintaining good trail "flow" and interest. The presentation and bookwork were both interesting and incredibly informative.

Our instructor and Michigan Mountain Bikers Association (MMBA) Northern Chapter president, Eric:


A quick break for bathroom and pizza, then we headed out to actually design and build some new trail!! We had 9 people, so we split into 2 groups to tackle 2 different re-reroutes of an existing trail.

My group (myself, Chris, Dave, and Eric) was given a section of trail that is currently routed badly with a slow-speed braking downhill section that's starting to erode followed by a sharp switchback and steep climb with bad flow. The land manager (Justin) and Eric had already walked the trails and determined the points where the new trail should depart and rejoin the original trail, then we were given free rein to design the new trail between those points using all the principles we had learned earlier. It turns out that I have an eye for appropriate slope grades and good flow - who knew?? The guys just looked kinda lost, so I jumped right in pointing out features where I thought the trail should go. They just gave me shocked looks, then followed me around flagging it as we walked. . Finally, I ran sections of it when we had questions about clearance and turn shape until it just looked right. Once we had it laid out with little red "pin flags", Eric and I picked up any deadfall and debris then Chris used a leaf blower and Dave used the weed eater to clear the trail.

Click each pic to go to host site, then click "Full Size" for a larger view
Here's Eric clearing deadfall along the pin flag line and trail "corridor" (the clear area to both sides of and above the trail):


To the left is the new trail markers, to the right is the old trail:


Chris leaf blowing the trail "tread" (the actual 18" trail surface) - you can actually see it begin to take shape:


Dave weed eating the tread:


A section of the new trail:


The new trail meets the old trail:


And.....our very first rider, already!!!

Turns out this guy had been loudly protesting the re-route, saying that we were closing his favorite part of the trail. When asked what he thought about the re-route, he grudgingly said "Well, it's slow now, but it'll be fun once it gets ridden in". Wow.

Tomorrow we'll be learning skills to be Crew Chief then going back to close and disguise the old trail. Then we're all going to ride the re-routed trails!

 

[Pequenita]

Very cool!

I spent a big chunk of today protesting me personally getting into mountain biking -- I was volunteering at an adventure race and actually stationing a MTB checkpoint. I think it'd be lots of fun, but I just can't afford picking up a new sport that's got all sort of fun gear, so I'm sticking to my trail runners for the trails!

 

[Jilly]

I'm not surprised that you have "the eye". Think about glade skiing, race skiing or bumps. We find the best trail given the lay of the land. I think you've trained your inner eye for skiing and just translated it to biking.
The whole course sounds really interesting. I was talking to our local ski hill management team about what were the plans for the summer. I mentioned that they should be looking at MTB. There is a course there that was sanctioned for an Ontario Cup race about 15 years ago. It could be recut as I'm sure it's overgrown. Also I think it would be a great summer activity for the racing kids (and big kids). There are a lot of clubs in the metro Toronto area, but none out here. They just need someone to get things rolling. I'm not the one, but there has to be someone out there. All they need is name! Right now one of my client has a kid in MTB at Hardwood Hills. 1 hour drive each way, just to train and ride. We have lots of hills and valleys here, no excuse!

 

[volklgirl]

Very cool!

Indeed it was! Awesome seeing it take shape right before my very eyes.

I spent a big chunk of today protesting me personally getting into mountain biking. I think it'd be lots of fun, but I just can't afford picking up a new sport that's got all sort of fun gear, so I'm sticking to my trail runners for the trails!

Al you really need to get started is a bike and a helmet. E-bay is a wonderful thing! If you like skiing and trail running, you'll love the flow and speed that comes with mountain biking. Plus, it's spectacular cross-training for skiing.....it incorporates the same balance while in motion and weight shifting mechanisms, and visualizing your line at speed will help you learn to dance with the mountain.

 

[volklgirl]

The whole course sounds really interesting. I was talking to our local ski hill management team about what were the plans for the summer. I mentioned that they should be looking at MTB. There is a course there that was sanctioned for an Ontario Cup race about 15 years ago. It could be recut as I'm sure it's overgrown. Also I think it would be a great summer activity for the racing kids (and big kids). There are a lot of clubs in the metro Toronto area, but none out here. They just need someone to get things rolling. I'm not the one, but there has to be someone out there.

It'd be cool to see someone step up. In fact, this course was held at a commnity ski hill in Grayling called Hanson Hills. Their new land manager is a huge adventure sport guy, so it was just natural that he leaned to improving and adding to the existing trails. Our next trail days after this will include laying out an additional 10 miles of trails on top of the 11 (I think) they already have. If you find someone interested in taking on the project, point them toward the IMBA website - it's packed full of info on being a Trail Coordinator and dealing with land managers, as well as the Trail School stuff.

 

[Sheena]

What a fun way to spend your day!

I am finding that I like single-track more and more.

Have you had a chance to ride the trail?

 

[geargrrl]

Trail School is cool. I've been to several. I find building trail incredibly rewarding. I have my girlie pulaski (only 2.5#) that is MINE.

Do you just use the leaf blower to mark your line? No flagging? It looks like your forest floor is pretty clear of scrub and undergrowth.

Srrsly, I'm president of our local IMBA affiliate, and that is a big part of what we do. I love it.

In fact, I'm going to do some mapping for our bike park this morning.

For ski area, Gravity solutions, the folks who designed Whistler, are the ones you want to consult with.

You will find that people will always complain about trail changes, even if it's for the better. We have a saying in our club - put up or shut up. This means, that unless you sit in a few land manager meetings to understand what the land manager's needs are, or, attend a trail school to understand the why's of sustainable trail building, we aren't really interested in hearing you whine.

Here's one we built last year, this is part of the skills area of our new bike park
https://www.fttrc.org/photos/tccbeacon/workday.htm

gg

 

[volklgirl]

Have you had a chance to ride the trail?

Yes. After today's session and building, we all rode the entire trail including both re-routes. Both were very nice. I have more updating and pics from today, but I'm pooped, so I'm gonna watch a little TV, eat something, and go to bed. Remainder of the story will be coming tomorrow night.

 

[Skier31]

Nice job, looks like fun. Great way to contribute to the community.

 

[volklgirl]

geargrrl,

Nice website and beautiful pics. We're pretty lucky at Hanson Hills. It's almost all hardwood with about 2-3" of topsoil over sand, so there's no real "cutting in" and very little armoring or tree cutting required.

OK.....that was a really long nap . Time to update the thread with day 2.

The morning class work consisted of learning proper armoring and switchback construction, the use of "rolling dips" to aid watershed, "reclaiming" (covering up) the old trail, and basic information on being a crew leader and a Trail Coordinator. Pizza for lunch at noon again (sigh), then off to the trail.

Because it was decided that our group's re-route would be the new trail and the old trail would continue to be used as an alternate advanced route, we had very little work left to do other than some final trimming and flagging the trail opening. Once we finished that, we headed over to the other re-route to help the second group.

Group 2 still had a significant amount of work to do. They had started at the end of the re-route and had worked backwards along with trail with a number of "climbing turns" (switchbacks that aren't so tight and are not built up on the outside). The main reason for the re-route was this totally erroded climb quickly becoming a huge sand pit.


Above this erroded area, "trail dams" were erected to prevent further erosion and allow natural cover to settle and grow over the old trail:
Digging the trail dam pit


Setting the dam

 

[volklgirl]

Day 2 continued

While some were setting trail dams and others were continuing to clear the new trail, a couple of us worked on reclaiming the old trail. First we filled in as much of the big ruts as we could, then we loosened up a bit of the top soil and knocked down the edges of the ruts

The dark area is the fresh top soil exposed and loosened


You can see where we leveled out as much of the pit as possible

Then the fresh topsoil is covered with natural debris to both disguise and protect the tread (can you see where the trail was?)


Finally, the old trail is blocked off and the re-route sign is installed



The proud builders

Walking out on the new trail


And - our first riders already!


We all got to ride both re-routes.....I even made the uphill section without walking any of it .

A couple of weeks later, we all received really nice certificates and a classy sew-on patch recognizing us as MMBA Certified Trail Builders. Cool .

I highly recommend this experience for every off-road rider. It certainly gives you new skills and a new outlook on the trails you ride every day as well as an appreciation for the work and dedication that goes into building and maintaining our precious trails.

 

[Gina23]

wow, cool. thanks for posting this!

 

[SnowHot]

Volklgirl, I'm impressed and enthused with this project.
I've participated in similar projects with the motorcycle club, but its been a while.
Kudos to you!

 

[RachelV]

This looks like so much fun, and so satisfying to be able to see people using & enjoying the results of your work. I need more hobbies with tangible results.

 

[altagirl]

Nice work! I'm jealous - it sounds like you have a great surface to work with. We've been building some new DH-only trails in Draper, but it's a lot of work digging out the scrub oak that's everywhere. The end result should totally be worth it though!

Good on ya for building trails!!!