Saturday, February 28, 2004

Woodwork And New Lines

Today was a work day up at the Woodlot with Tim. We did a ladder that went just above the ground so that we were above a very wet ledge on the trial. However we started the day by trimming the previous section that we could not complete last week.

Today we had a visitor or two. Taylor showed up and we exchanged some ‘ideas’ about the trail. In the end he left in a bit of a huff and I was left there shaking my head. Then Cory came by and we discussed the line for some of the rock sections on the trail. When he rode down the 2nd rock section, he had a bit of contact with a tree and actually broke it, so Tim had to completely remove it with the saw.

Tim and I finished the ladder and rode out to the ladder roll down near the end of the trial. We decided to scope out the rest of the hill to decide where we are going to extend the rest of the trail (We found the Cellar Door). Some very, very interesting possible lines were found and we cannot wait until we are in the position to punch through the extension of the trial.

We then rode down the rest of the Snakes and Ladders and then Shotgun. Tim was riding in front of me on Shotgun and I was all over his back wheel (him on a full squish and me on my hardtail). It was very gratifying knowing that you can keep up to a FS on a hardtail. In the parking area, Tim and I had a beer and watched others depart on their rides. I swear I have never talked to so many people at the Woodlot before. It seemed I knew everyone that was there that day.

Saturday, February 21, 2004

Murphy's Law

Today I was up at the Woodlot with Tim. We rode from the top of Snakes and Ladders down to where we are working on the trail. Today was my first ride on my hardtail in quite a while. (I fixed my ovalized headtube with JB Weld with a little help from my friends). I had a very minor spill to start the ride down, and put a nice cut in my shin. It sure is different to be on the hardtail as compared to the full squish. Today we did the longer turning bridge that went across the last creek. Now I must say that there was something in the air today beacuse if there was something that could go wrong, it did go wrong.

Firstly we has a really hard time cutting trees for the stringers. Everything was getting hung up when we were falling the stringers. Then we had a hard time getting enough rung to do the whole bridge, then we broke a Froe that we use to split rung and finally we ran out of gas for the chainsaw so we weren’t able to finish cutting the edge of the of the bridge or trim wood properly. After we finished nailing the rung in place we just decided to ride out before something else went wrong. So we blasted down the rest of Snakes and ripped up Shotgun.

Riding on the hardtail sure forces you to be a much smoother rider.

Saturday, February 14, 2004

A Lovely Day

Today was a day of riding and a bit of building / maintenance. Rob and I hit the Woodlot early, 7:00am. In fact we arrived just as the sun was rising and on the way up, I was questioning whether we would have enough light to ride once we were at the top. So on the way up to the top (Gold) we dropped into Snakes and Ladders to drop of my big back pack so that my hike up and ride would not be so laborious.

So onward and upward we went to Gold, which was an okay ride. We cleared allot of logs that had fallen across the trial. Gold had allot of small mud holes at the top part of the trail, but it was still an okay ride. So we then made our way to Blood Donor, which has recently seen allot of trail building loving. There was lots of new wood work and 2 new gap jumps.

We then made our way down the road to Snakes and Ladders to fill in a BIG HOLE that has been around for a while. It was basically a big pit of mud and water. In the last week or so, someone had put rocks in the hole but had only done half the job that was needed. We started by draining the hole and digging a drainage ditch and then we piled a TONNE of big rock in the hole to elevate the whole section and ensure we never have a problem there again. It was topped with some good dirt and we were basically done.

We then rode the rest of Snakes and Ladders and then Shotgun and we were at our cars by 12:30pm (Seeing as it was Valentines day, we hauled ass to get home to the Wives). Overall, a productive day with a good ride thrown in.

Saturday, February 07, 2004

The Perfect Crossing

Today I was back up at the Woodlot with Tim to do some building on Snakes and Ladders. We decided to do the next bridge on the trail that covered a really swampy area. Basically I did the framing and nailing of the rung and Tim spilt the rung and did the approach. Once all the rung was in place Tim went to work on the edges of the bridge and made it really look like a snake. It was a really nice day out but because there was only the two of us, at times things took allot longer than expected to get done.



Tim left a little earlier than me so I went back up the trail to fill a bad little hole. I had to jump in the nearby creek to get most of the big rocks needed to fill up the hole. So once I had all the rocks, I dug out the crap in the hole, arranged the rocks and topped it off with some nice gold dirt.



I then rode out the rest of the trail and made my way out Shotgun. I had another stupid spill on Shotgun, this time my pedal clipped a log on the side of the trail which then sent me into a spin and a launch over the bars.

Apart from my little spill, I had a decent day of building and a okay ride out to the car.

Sunday, February 01, 2004

Solo Serene Ride

So today was strictly a riding day. I headed to the Woodlot early and made my way up to Krazy Karpenter to start my ride. On my way up, I ran into Cory and a friend of his that had already done a run down the hill and were on their way up again to hit Snakes and then home. We talked for a bit and I continued my way up the hill.

There had just been a light dusting of snow at the top of the mountain so it was really quiet and serene. I geared up and started riding Karpenter, but the very first drop off the plank was not rideable at all. There was snow and ice all over it but worst of all, there was a big fallen tree across the stunt. I made my way down the trail, but there was so many freshly fallen trees that it was almost not even worth trying to ride the trail.

Once I got to the bottom of the trail I headed back up and hit Tsuga. It was in really good shape and was flowing really well. I then hooked up with Snakes and Ladders which was an absolute blast especially the berm to bridge to jump……sweet!! The Boa Bridge was really neat to ride across as the curves mess with your eyes but it is dead straight. I then hit Quick Hit and it is in pretty good shape considering I have not touched it for more than 6 months. And then it was Shotgun and home. A good ride overall.