How to Build a Mountain Bike Trail

Err....ah, I mean multiuse.

First gather a good group of friends who are dedicated and willing to help. You're going to need it.

Next, plan, plan plan. You should actually spend more time planning then building thus minimizing future maintenance and repairs. Then begin your layout using a clinometer. Its the most important tool and it never touches the ground. We had Blane donate one to our club, apparently he just had one laying around. Paul and Tom are using it to layout the ribbons on the trees and determine where our trail will lay.

Now its time to do just a little bit of work. The corridor has to be cleared so we can get in there and lay out the pin flags. With our trail build, we a are closing another so some trees have to be kept for transplanting later on.

Next begin to layout your pin flags. Lots more thought and planning. This is where you work in your grade reversals and fine tune the trail meter by meter.

And here we have our finished corridor ready for some tools. Note in the pictures below that both the pin flags and tape are on the low side of the trail. Also of note is the knot on the tape faces the trail side.

Start by raking the debris off the top; leaves, pinecombs/needles, twigs etc.. Start at the pin flags and rake up keeping your debris at least a meter and a half away from the low point. We're going to use this stuff later.

Then scrape off the organic top soil. We had to keep this for our regen area so taking it away in the wheelbarrow was labor intensive. Of course, Sara and Peggy had no problem.

Start the major grubbing by laying out the top line. Here Derek uses the pulaski to keep it consistent, about 1m wide. Tom marks the line straight down.

Then get your chain gang going. Using your pulaski your first strike is made at the top line. In and pull then move over. The second person goes 4" lower, in and pull. Third person goes another 4" lower, in and pull and so on. Here Tom is the lead man followed by Vince. Below its Jacob and myself followed by Blane. Blane is clearing the soil and moving it to the side and down the hill.

Now its time for the final shaping. You have to cut your back slope and outslope. You can use a spade but its best to use a grubbing hoe with a razor sharp edge. Have a trailer spread the dirt downhill.

Now pull your pins, spread your debris back for the natural look, add any choke points like the logs below and you have your completed trail.

The final step is your trail closure. Remember to toss the soil up from as deep as possible.  We were lucky enough to use a roto-tiller. Then spread your dirt and add your transplants.

(before)

(after)

The regen on the right and the new trail on the left. Great job team!

For more information and to learn some of the finer points check out the resources found on IMBACanada.com

Homage to Ice - Race Report

The reports on course conditions were pretty negative leading into the race so we were suspect on the drive up. Turns out they were correct, snow and ice covered trails with almost all singletrack unrideable.  However, being the first race of the year I knew I just wanted to give a solid effort. Ride smooth and consistent. This track made it a challange.

The first race rust showed early as I put my number plate on wrong. After some engineering and borrowing some clippers I was back on the right track.

Rust also showed at the start. For some reason the pace off the line caught me off guard for a second. Guess I forgot it was a race but I settled early in the straight line of riders sitting maybe 15th. Would have been 16th but Kieth's pedal came apart at meter 225. Bad luck.

We turned onto the first bit of snow, I went through it aggressively as I do all winter and and got some "poster boy" cheers on the backside of the start loop.

When I turned and looked up the opening climb I couldn't help but smile. People falling off their bikes, running, spinning nowhere or sideways. Easy to tell who had been winter riding and who and been spinning on the trainer for the past few months. I rode up a lot farther then most people around me and was in striking distance of the top seven when I had to dismount. Looked up and saw JC found a sweet tuft of dirt on the left so I headed over there and stayed top ten.

Hit the first bit of singletrack and was happy to find out it lead to Devils Drop. Then up 'the trench' and onto the remaining singletrack. It was dry but soft. In fact it was just made the day before.

Photo Credit - Cecile Gambin

The rest of the race just felt like a time trial. Riding on slush or ice covered double track. Don't get me wrong, there were long stretches that you could ride, the frozen ice, but on the other had there were sections that were a struggle. Slushy snow that  made it a challenge to hold the bike upright. When that became frustrating you would run until you got tired of doing that then ride again trying to keep you bike upright.

Early on I thought there was no way I was doing two laps. But I stuck to my mantra; ride strong and consistent. By the time lap two started I was feeling good and still sitting around top ten. My nutrition was spot on and the entire race and I had people around me to keep me motivated and focused.

Photo Credit - Cecile Gambin

The second lap seemed a bit easier with the snow melting more and getting packed down. But I was getting tired. Started crashing a lot. Wobbly arms and excessive speed weren't a good mix. I had at least eight high speed crashes over the bars, off the side, into the snow. So much fun. I would just get up and start running. K.I.M.

Towards the end of lap two the ice splashing on my legs was causing my calves to cramp. Flashback to 2010 cramping. But I took a few seconds to stretch it out. Powered through the small hills thinking of Blue Ridge and finished the race strong.

I couldn't have been happier with how my race went. It was a good test of fitness which seems to be on the positive side of what I expected.

Congrats to Mr. DeCal for his victory, Mr. Roberge for his 3rd age group and Mr. Fleury for his 2nd age group. Young Megan had a great sprint at the end of the 25k race to win first overall female. Niagara racers made out like bandits; 6 racers, 4 podiums and 3 draw prizes. For the record I finished 12th overall and 8th in the 20-39 cat.

In the car on the way home Meg got some trash talk in saying something along the line of "I can't believe we're giving a ride home to someone who didn't podium". That hurt but its bulletin board material for the next one. Actually it was hilarious, we all had a good laugh. The day was full of moments like that, couldn't have gone better. Guess I had to shake off the rust to remember how fun this race stuff is.

A View To A Hill

"I'm so happy to look up and see sky instead of mountains"

On the way to Aunt Sue's I told the car that I was nervous, "the same nerves I get before a big race". I knew it was just a ride with a good group. But I also knew it was a difficult ride, a long day in the saddle. It was Caesar's Head, on to Brevard, Rosman and up the Blue Ridge Parkway before climbing the backside of Caesar's Head and descending to the car. The mapped out route said 183km. Dan, Emily, Tobias, Guy, Rob and myself had chosen the monstrous ride simply for the challenge.

The five k from Aunt Sue's to the base of Caesar's Head was the perfect warm up for the climb so I started out at a respectable pace but not killing myself because of the long day ahead. I remember the climb being harder last year and I made it to the top in 43min. Much faster then last year but I wasn't really going for time. We enjoyed the vistas from the top because that's what the day was about.

The descent was fun as usual and we were riding just a few feet apart. Through the valley sharing the workload. A head wind made this slightly down hill run sorta tough but we made it to Quotations for a refuel. Now it was just the crappy highway stretch into Rosman and the base of the climb up to BRP. Which is actually just a right instead of the left we took up to Whitewater a few days before.

After the turn you get placed on a hill that has you saying "holy hell is it going to be this bad"? But its just a brief introduction and you roll through a mostly flat valley for a few k then its on to the suffering. The rises weren't terrible but they were consistent and kept going and going. I didn't time it but it took about 90minutes from the highway, maybe an hour straight of climbing.

[I was hurting and Emily beat me up by 3-4 minutes. I just couldn't close the gap. Let me take a second to say...that girl rode amazingly all week. Always at the front, attacking hills, working, impressing and surprising everyone she rode with. It was a pleasure to be in her group all week.]

When we got to the top the wind was strong and the rain clouds moved in. Made me finally realize how the weather can change so drastically in the mountains. We didn't stick around to long. Once around the overpass there is still more climbing and a trip through a dark tunnel. Then finally a super fun descent maybe 6-7 minutes and we flew down with huge smiles on our face. But that ends at Cherry Gap and there is more climbing, about 125m. The Pigeon Gap and again, a super fun descent lasting a whopping 45 minutes through Pisgah National Forrest. We stopped in Brevard for some turkey sandwiches after surviving the previous 5.5 hours on gel, Snickers, Cliff bars/blocks and homemade treats. Real food tasted great.

Now just the long gradual climb up to Caesar's Head with the wind at our backs. I did get dropped on the first hill near the start due to dead legs but found my rhythm in the valley and made it to the top less then a minute behind the leaders. We descended CH together to wrap up the day.

It was a ride that I've wanted to do for a while. A long day on the bike with a ton of climbing, up and down mountains. I can't really describe the feeling after the 183k ride with 10,000ft of climbing but needless to say we were all proud of ourselves ROUTE INFO.

So obviously the next days required some rest. We cruised to Starbucks in Clemson. It was kinda funny to think that our "recovery ride" was 70k.

On sort of a smaller note, Friday was our annual Caesar's Head challenge. I had planned to (try to) climb Sassafras. Once at the top of CH I decided it wasn't the best idea and some people had other plans so I just descended to eat lunch at Aunt Sue's and spend the day in the sun. For the record, I didn't race up with the group I started out ahead and was going for a personal best. I gave a massive effort and stood at the end pounding on the pedals with my eye on the clock, trying to beat 40min. I did it...by two seconds, 39:58. I guess next year I gotta go sub 38.

Here are some random pictures from the trip.

C'est La Vie

Its been a few days but...

I'm in south Carolina for a week of riding and rest and yes its living up to the hype. Drove through the night on Friday to get down here to the warm weather. Beautiful sights when the day broke on Saturday morning and we found ourselves in the mountain of Tennessee.

Ironically when we went for a ride Saturday evening to stretch our legs after the long car ride it started raining. But we stopped for the photo opp. at a camp on the other side of the lake. So here's (most of) the crew.

That evening it was early to bed since most didn't get much sleep in the car.

Sunday was a massive group ride. We planned a 100km loop around Lake Keowee. I suppose this is dubbed a flat ride because we don't climb any mountains but we still netted about 1400m. The groups split naturally with the different abilities and by the end of the day most people had an empty tank. Arm and knee warmers were needed but that's a far cry from the winter tights and balaclava. What a great day one. ROUTE INFO

Day two it was time for a mountain introduction and a few of us decided to take Brevard highway through Rocky Bottom and out to Rosman. The initial climb as a nice leg warm-up and the descent to RB was super fun. On the way back up we saw an old man sitting in front of his shack, on a switch back, with a shotgun. I'm sure it was a walking stick but we wanted to believe it was a shotgun. Afterall Deliverance was filmed in the area.

After a refuel it was on to a climb to Whitewater Falls for some nice vistas. Jerome told us about this area the day before and we though we'd check it out. Dan, Emily, Tobias, Jeff M. and myself were unsure of what we would find as we climbed 281 but the hills gave way to a bit of descending to break up the climb. The descent down the backside was short, step, fast and fun. My descending skills are increasing even with the cantis going into the corners. ROUTE INFO

Sore after day two, time for some rest.

Rest day was a drive to Clemson to check out the small university town and a stop a Starbucks to chill in the sun. Stay tuned for the BRP report a bit later.

March Madness

Listen, those "play-in" games are bullshit. You fill out your bracket and the tournament starts on Thursday. I'm trying to get into the tournament, get my research done and I got these experts, experts who won't shut up about a 16 seed playing a 16 seed. That's not tournament basketball and no one cares to know what team is going to lose by 30 to Ohio St. So here it is...

East
I hear Kentucky is young and dynamic with three talented freshmen. They play fast and can score some points. Ohio St. is inside-out the same as the team that went to the finals a few years ago but they don't have depth. That Sweet 16 game is gonna be great. Washington v. North Carolina may be the best 2nd round match-up in the tournament. I took Clemson over West Virginia because I will be in Tiger Town all week. Would love to watch that game at a bar down there.

West
I like Duke here. Not only because I like schools named after people but because I've been a fan since 1990. Of course their 2nd round match-up against Michigan will be exciting with all the trash talk due to the Fab Five documentary that aired last weekend. UConn-San Diego St. should be great in the Sweet 16 and any of the top 4 seeds could win this brackett.

Southwest
Kansas should take this tournament. They a the most talented team in the country and they were embarrassed last year so they will be focused. I haven't seen Purdue play this year but I know who they are because teams don't change much in college basket ball. I bet they are big and have an inside presence, ready to snatch those offensive boards. I bet they play sound, fundamental defence and have a white guy perched outside ready to drop threes.

Southeast
Speaking of teams that don't change much, Pittsburgh is still good ever since Ben Howland was their coach. They are tough, gritty and athletic. Plus they've been playing all year in the best conference in the country, the Big east. Interesting to see how Jimmer pans out with BYU who lost their other star player for violating the schools honor code. I didn't take them but St. John's could make a run. Some recognizable tourney teams here. Butler, Old Diminion, Belmont and Gonzaga have all pulled off upsets in the past.

Gimmie Some Salt

T-15days.

The countdown for South Carolina is officially on (in my head). But what really has me excited is that the first mountain bike race of the season is only one week after we get back. So there is no time to dilly-dally and feel unmotivated. No time to make it up later. Its time to cram your three months of training into one. 

So feeling ready to go I hop on the rollers. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and the timer running off the ipod . Three songs or eight minutes later I'm ready to kill myself with boredom. Drastic measures had to be taken, it was time to head...outdoors.

Wednesday was a loop around St. Catharines on the mountain bike. I use well lit streets and bike lanes for this. Much safer. Ended up putting out some massive efforts. The first had me on the brink of collapse, the second and third had me ready to vomit. I was very please with how things went during the 90minute ride.

Thursday was more road riding. I took off a bit early from work and the goal was to crest Saylors in the daylight. Easily achieved but I had to turn the bike lights on for the rest of the trip. The entire ride was mostly high cadence flat land stuff except for the aforementioned climb and the descent down to Fenwick and back up using Canboro Rd. Again good efforts and I topped the 55k mark. Not bad for a night ride in -15 wind chill.

My first back to back outdoor bike trips in a few weeks and the first on weeknights probably since November. Ugh, I'm exhausted.

The windy roads await

2011 Race Schedule Outlook

I suppose its time to start looking at this.

The plan is to race less and maybe be a bit more prepared/rested for when I do race. It will also give me a chance to take a few weekend trips to ride places I normally wouldn't.

Apr 03 - Homage to Ice (Mansfield)
May 01 - O Cup #1 (Mansfield)
May 15 - O Cup #2 (Woodnewton)
May 22 - Victoria 100 (Mansfield)
June 05 - O Cup #3 (Hardwood Hills)
June 12 - O Cup #4 (Albion Hills)
June 19 - Lake to Lake (Port Colborne)
June 25 - 24hr Summer Solstice (Albion Hills)
July 9 - O Cup #5 (Buckwallow)
Aug 7 - O Cup #6 (Kelso)
Aug 13 - Mountainview 9hr (Midland)
Sept 11 - O Cup #7 (Duntroon)
Sept 25 - L!B Squeezer (St. Catharines)
Oct 16 - Hardwood 50k

May-Sept - L!B 8x12 Wednesday Night Series

Keeping an eye on....

• 24hr Hot August Nights - Always a fun event.
• Paul's Dirty Enduro - Should be a much larger event with some Crank participants in attendance this year. Although the event is 15 years old. I'm not sure where the Crank participants were before Crank.
• Kelso Weekly Series - If for some reason the 8x12 series doesn't happen I'll be doing this one.
• 8hr Races - The first one is right after the 100 miler so I don't think so. The Summer 8 is in a good place. Love Hardwood so I'll probably be there.
• Provincial Marathon Championship - Its at Mansfield and I'm not sure I want to do that race if its the same course as the 100 miler.

Notes:

1. That 100 miler will be a tough hurdle. First of all I'm not sure if I can complete that distance and secondly its two weeks before Canada Cup. I hope I can recover properly.
2. A (bi)weekly race series is a must.
3. O Cup season should be a fun one and I hope the tail end goes much better then last year when I missed a few. The goal is to win one or all of the first three. I'd like Albion to be my first expert race.
4. No marathon series races scheduled. Honestly, I'm a bit disappointed Haliburton is not running this year.