Today I got a little bit of a late start. As part of my "recovery plan" it was to be an easy pace riding day, so whatever - I just needed to be faster than the rain, right?
I hit Boyette for a couple of reasons. 1) to sort of get an idea of what needs to be done on the upcoming workdays, and 2) to assess the damage from all of the rains that we have had over the last two weeks.
I hit the Nesses and all of the Quadrants first. Everything looked great except some yahoos had a drop set up in Baby Nessie going the wrong way. Can you envision SURPRISE! CRASH!? This is the second time I tried to block it off. Next time is major permanent. (Bring on the rocks!)
The quadrants were in some primo shape. The rain has packed the trails very nicely so they are fast and furious again. Yes! Some trimming needed here and there, and a couple of bad switchbacks need to be reworked, but they were fun.
Canyon has a couple of slick spots that stone will fix, so not bad. North Abyss? Sweet! The second half of Sidewinder and a couple of parts of SWAMP Thing are being torn up by a few tires. Garry's Loop has erosion on the big switchback and needs to be closed for repairs as does the mucky mess at the end of Sidewinder.
Now - the part that impressed me was that only a few bikes had ventured into Ridgeline. I walked part of it and the first climb/drop/climb is bad, bad, bad. The exit of the practice loop is like rock hard; well, it is hardened with rock. Obviously we need to do more of that. I could see where only a few bikes had gone on with the rest of Ridgeline. This was great news as it shows that MOST people get it when it comes to sensitive, wet, clay trails. Let them dry some and ride it another day when it's in good shape. I saw two guys from Ft. Lauderdale cleaning the clay off of their tires and shoes as they realized it was not the day to ride this trail. Way cool on their part! They came back out and went and rode other trails that were drier! This is the way it should be done folks.
I was impressed.
