Mid-State: Burchfield

[TenSpeed]

à bientôt

Nowhere are trails that maintain themselves. All you are doing is traveling to other areas with stronger volunteer bases. It is regretful that you are not satisfied with your area's trails. However, if you aren't part of the solution...

Yep. Oh well.

[mjpo]

à bientôt

Nowhere are trails that maintain themselves. All you are doing is traveling to other areas with stronger volunteer bases. It is regretful that you are not satisfied with your area's trails. However, if you aren't part of the solution...

Yep. Oh well.

I never expected a PM either. You have shown your true colors here. Do me a favor and enjoy other boards as well. I'm tired of you.

[TenSpeed]

à bientôt

Nowhere are trails that maintain themselves. All you are doing is traveling to other areas with stronger volunteer bases. It is regretful that you are not satisfied with your area's trails. However, if you aren't part of the solution...

Yep. Oh well.

I never expected a PM either. You have shown your true colors here. Do me a favor and enjoy other boards as well. I'm tired of you.

I am tired of a lot of things.

[mjpo]

Trail day this Saturday July 23rd. The goal is to get the trail cleaned up for the upcoming Poker Run. We will focus on getting Swamp Thing cleaned up and open for the season.
Meet at Riverbend. 9:00 to noon (or later if we need to get it done, but I need to work in the afternoon).
Thanks.

Reminder....rain or shine! Thanks

[mjpo]

Swamp Thing is open. Thanks to Dave and his kids, Paul, Steve, Reid and Bill. A lot of hard work today and it is looking good. Thanks guys.

[reidabel]

Yes, thanks everybody. To those that weren't there, note that the path has changed in the bridge area, with fewer bridge crossings for the moment. The path winds around where some of the long bridge sections were ruined. Take it easy the first time through, follow the raked paths. Remember that it is to be ridden backwards, along with Dragonball Run and the section along the river that connects Dragonball Run to Swamp Thing. That section along the river is now named Swamp Thing as well, as you will notice with the sign that directs you off the two-track and along the river. As far as I know, the section along the river was not named at all, but I could be wrong. Maybe it was part of Swamp Thing all along. At any rate, it rides backwards now. Follow the green arrows.

So the whole advanced mountain bike loop at Burchfield is now open, as far as I know. Maybe somebody could go through it with a GPS and tell us the total length?

[AllMountin']

GPS log- double loop:

http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/sEYARN3JQTo

This includes all sections, with both Serenity and the full length of Dragonball included. As noted in the Swamp Thing thread, GPS mileage will come out shorter than actual. You'll get more accurate mileage from a properly calibrated bike computer.

Paul and I each cleaned the long log ride today (Paul did twice in fact) *and* the new bandit log ride at the end of Dragonball (is it official yet?). First time we've both cleaned all of the tech in a single ride, which was schweet. We also made good on all of that talk about jumping in the river. Now all that's left is to sit back and wait for Reid to build us some new Mid-State gnar to session... and wait for the E. coli to set in.

Big thanks to all of the contributors today. A pox on the rest.

P.S.- The trail tastes like chicken.

[TenSpeed]

Rode today. Trying to figure out the advance loop. Started at Riverbend and rode the trail in the following way. Hansens, Randy's, Frank's, Annie's, Kentaro's, Looman's and ended up back on the entrance road. Back to the parking lot. Then off towards Swamp Thing on the trail to head out to McNamara's Loop. At McNamara, hit the advanced loop by the parking lot, and back to McNamara loop. Over Peppermint Creek bridge, left to the trail that runs parallel where Reid built the stunt, the sign says DragonBall. This is where the confusion starts. When you finish Reid's stunt...where do you go next? I figured over to Swamp Thing, but what about the old DragonBall? Do you head left back towards McNamara to pick that up, and then head to Swamp Thing?

Speaking of Swamp Thing, nice work on that, very clean and easy to ride. Are there plans for the bridge area?

[geardaddy37]

I think I know exactly where you're talking about if you're talking about the huge tree that Reid wants to turn into a death stunt LOL!.and yeah, it's a bit confusing...if you go left it kicks you out by dragonball, and you can ride that all the way down to the new swamp thing. If you go right, you go through to a section which ends at reid's little stunt, and then that hooks into swamp thing, etc. I don't know if there is a way to string both of these together without back tracking. All in all though it is more fun than the old flow, IMO. I have to think the new trail system has to be close to 15 miles...ok maybe 13 ish...but still at least adds 3-4 miles to the old trail length. Good job to all and hope to see you at Poker Run! Then we can all just follow the leaders and find out the real flow!
Bill

[reidabel]

Let me see if I can help ... you had all of the first few sections, but when you come out of Looman's Run, you should not go down the road back to the parking lot, but rather cross the Riverbend entry road and take that trail, named Forest Hump. Where you used to be able to join back up with the wide trail from the pond back to the lot, instead follow the new trail, named Nathan Dynamite, to the left. These is no post for the sign there yet, but there is a rock pile on a corner and sticks all over the 50-foot connector back to the pond trail. Wind through trees then eventually a field, taking you out to 100 yards North of Peppermint Creek bridge. Go left then over the bridge toward McNamara, and about 100 yards up on the left enter the new field section named Glorious Poperd's. This is the section that needs riders to break it in further, but I am finding it okay if not perfect, and plan to keep riding it each time. You eventually end up at the McNamara lot. From there, cross the lot and go behind the wood roofless shed that used to hold the port-a-potty. This is a new section named The Timinator that has a cool big dip a couple of hundred yards in, followed by a scenic ridge above the swampy river overflow area. It kicks you out at the beginner trail that runs along the river - cross it and head into Bob's Supremacy, which is now run backwards. When you eventually get out of that, you will be put out onto the main non-advanced trail that takes you North toward the Riverbend lot. Go left toward Riverbend and follow it until you reach the place where you come to a signpost where to the right you would be in a field and turn uphill in it to then go downhill to the Peppermint Creek bridge. Instead of doing that path through the field, turn left at the signpost, which says the new trail name of Remember Me on it. At reaching the intersection above the swampy area, turn right and follow that trail back out to Peppermint Creek bridge. From there, keep going North and follow the green arrows that direct you left on Serenity (sign not up yet) about 50 yards North of the bridge. A few hundred yards into Serenity there is a cutoff to the left that you can take to Dragonball Run. If you continue straight you will stay on Serenity until hitting the intersection where Dragonball Run used to start, but now ends. Some people are now going straight through Serenity, then heading South on the two-track at that intersection to get back to the old end of Dragonball Run, which is now the new beginning of it. Either way, from this intersection head North along the river on the two-track. A couple of hundred yards up there is a sign with a green arrow for Swamp Thing. You head along the river on the trail that used to run the other way there, then come out to the two-track and back in along the river, then eventually to the old end of what used to be Swamp Thing. Now, ride Swamp Thing backwards and go left when you get out of it, to get back to the Riverbend lot. That's the whole advanced MTB loop, at least a 9-mile run with lots of variety. I hope that made sense!

[TenSpeed]

We skipped the Forest Hump part, because honestly, I hate it. I would rather just skip that part. I would like to work on that part at some point. The two "bridges" need some work, like a smoother entrance along with some other stuff.

[reidabel]

Ah, and that's the entrance to the new stuff ... I suppose you could head back to the parking lot, then as you said, follow the two-track along the river past Swamp Thing and Dragonball Run, then instead of continuing along the river towards McNamara, where you would cross the bridge, take the left that says Yellow Cutoff, which I believe puts you out at the Peppermint Creek bridge. From there you could rejoin the advanced MTB loop by following everything else mentioned in the long description above, heading South over the bridge toward McNamara. It sounds like you might not like Glorious Poperd's much either, though, it can be bumpy. If you find you don't like it, you can go South from the Peppermint Creek bridge on the two-track all the way to the McNamara parking lot and rejoin the advanced MTB loop behind the wood roofless former port-a-potty section.

The "Death Stunt" is on Remember Me, 300 yards in, and is only a thought at this point, it doesn't yet exist. I haven't checked it out with Jeff at all beyond a mention, and it would be a TON of work. With at least a six-foot dropoff on one side, and a possibly severe camber, it's not for everybody's taste. It would be a lot of fun to build and ride, but I don't want anybody getting up on it that is going to get in trouble up there. So I don't know that it's ever going to be built.

What I AM cleared to work on is the log at the intersection where Dragonball Run and Serenity both end, reaching between those two trails. The plan is to maximize safety there, since it is a multi-way intersection, and have it be a one-way stunt where you would come out of the "doorway" at the end of Serenity, then cross the two-track, go up onto the stunt toward the river and have the end of it bear right and merge onto Dragonball Run's last few feet. You wouldn't be able to run it from Dragonball Run unless you circled back. This will prevent people from being dumped out into the intersection when coming off the stunt. It's the best way I can think of to cut down the chance of collisions there.

[TenSpeed]

Can work be done on the first stunt on Hansons? I feel like this could be one heck of an area to ride.

[AllMountin']

While I respect your desire for safety, I would note that even with heavy foliage, that is a pretty high visibility spot where you exit the log ride. I'm used to riding it while exiting Dragonball. It ends with a nice opportunity for a wheelie drop, which I realize may not be everyone's taste. Note that virtually anyone that is looking to do the freeride oriented stuff is also going to be looking to run Dragonball. They're in the same vein. Being that nobody has yet ridden it in the opposite direction- do consider the exit onto Dragonball. I've contemplated trying to enter that log ride from the North, but IIRC there is a large tree on the river side just to the North that hampers one's ability to make a wide enough turn to get on the log clean. It *may* be more tolerable as an exit, but will make for a tight turn coming right off the stunt.

Whatever you do, I'll be fine with. Just throwing that out there. It *would* make a nice little loop for repeat attempts if run from Serenity to Dragonball, as you described.

You also alluded to two seemingly different sections now having the "Swamp Thing" name. If you were looking to name them separately, might I suggest the '92 Robert Redford classic, "A River Runs Through It". It just seems... appropriate, given that every spring a river does in fact run through it. Particularly the left line after the split where the trail parallels the river. I know... a little late for names. Signage being already made and all that.

As for the new sections from Riverbend crossing to McNamara: It builds character. Or at least muscle, endurance, and grit. But it's no crime to skip it. What *is* a crime- and I can't believe Reid just suggested it- is ignoring trail directions. Traveling from Peppermint Creek to McNamara is the wrong direction on the beginner trail. Better to run it from Riverbend all the way to McNamara along the river IMO in the designated direction of travel. From there you can run Timinator to Bob's to beginner trail to Remember Me to Peppermint Creek to Serenity to beginner trail to Dragonball(optional) to Swamp Thing part 1 to Swamp Thing the sequel and boom- you're back to Riverbend. No violating and no mashing through fields. It's a valid option.

[AllMountin']

Can work be done on the first stunt on Hansons? I feel like this could be one heck of an area to ride.

Are you referring to the little log pile to bridge stunt before you get to the big 3 option stunt? What do you have in mind? Somebody already added a couple 2x6 boards to eliminate the gap and risk of endo...