Topic: Adopt a trail!
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Posts
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Hi all, and welcome to our new forum. I will post up here info about adopt a trail etc so people can access it at anytime. Watch this space.!!!! Any questions ever hopefully someone will try to get some answers for you.
"I never said it was going to be easy, I said it was going to be worth it!" "Cake or Death?"
I would love to do a bit of a profile of each trail and adopters for Facebook and/or a web article over the year if you would like to help facilitate?
No idea who looks after which trails.
If Adopters would like any assistance from me during the year please let me know. Eg. Event to get numbers for a working bee. Closing trails being worked on. Etc.
Send me an email onlinecomms@rockwheelers.com.au
I thought there was a list that had the trails who looked after what and contact details. Â Looked on google drive without success… sure someone will have it.
I have last years list and contacted everyone on it, have culled a few and added some more, was waiting to finalize after adopt a trail open day to finalize and pass on, but can do if needed?
"I never said it was going to be easy, I said it was going to be worth it!" "Cake or Death?"
I have last years list and contacted everyone on it, have culled a few and added some more, was waiting to finalize after adopt a trail open day to finalize and pass on, but can do if needed?
When you’re ready is fine, I have enough to keep me busy in this space for a while yet 🙂
Hi all Adoptees, This morning some usual suspects and a couple of parents came out and cut all the lower trails at the car park end, we managed to get easy st to boulder dash and all it surrounds cut!! So hopefully the cutting of easy st and boulderdash is ok with you Keith and Gazza?? Damo and Russ are heading up the trails this arvo, we shall see where they get to. Planning another trail cutting bee for prob 2 weeks time, a few of the upper trails need doing.
"I never said it was going to be easy, I said it was going to be worth it!" "Cake or Death?"
Any cutting is ok with me. 🙂  Tony says he has started cutting Boulder Dash if not, I will get on with it after I get back about 1 April.
Boulderdash is all cut now Gazza 🙂
"I never said it was going to be easy, I said it was going to be worth it!" "Cake or Death?"
Words from the wise. Haydns email resurrected by onegee.
“Whilst riding the recently cut UTR last week with Geoff Jordan , we both agreed about how enjoyable it was with longer site lines, readily visible apex’s and the “feel” of the freshly cut grass seeming to add some traction to the dry dusty, soil.
It was great to see the grass hadn’t been raked but was being allowed to decompose and add some much needed organic matter to the tread.
Whilst the subject of our poor quality soils is where many a TBC conversation begins and ends there are some things we can do to help, like not raking the freshly cut trail . One of the contributing factors that makes our soils highly erodible, is the lack of organic matter, resins etc. to hold them in place. We place high value on our trees at Douglas because they are a great source of this organic “glue” that binds the soil particles together.
We don’t have a heavy forest canopy to provide lots of leaf matter or shade to retain moisture and provide protection from torrential rain drops. The steeper slopes add to this problem of lack of water retention, and topsoil runoff. We’ve all seen the luxurious canopy of Melaleucas’ alongside the Ross River as well as the surrounding vegetation and native forest. This is especially visible on the riverside bike path at Douglas. It’s no accident that before the development of that suburb this was where we had one of our most memorable MTB trails.
It was originally created by Motos and dropped off the highest bank down onto the lower riverside area slaloming between the large healthy trees. We named it “as good as it gets” the soil was river loam, sticky when wet, grippy, even when dry and not a rock or pebble anywhere in sight. The challenge was to see just how fast we could rail the naturally evolving berms and it wasn’t uncommon to howl with delight at the amount of traction and G forces it provided.
What’s the connection with our current hillside trails you’re asking? Well over the hundreds of thousands of years the Ross has been travelling down its path it has been bringing topsoil and it’s nutrients onto its flooded banks in the wet and they also happen to be where a lot of the organic nutrients contained in the topsoil that originate on the Douglas hill slopes end up after heavy summer rains.
So by building contour trails along our hill sides (think of the terraces on the hillsides in S E Asia ,slowing the water flow) and retaining as many trees as possible and leaving the freshly cut grass on the trails we are adding to the organic base of our soil and therefore assisting in making our trails more sustainable. Thoughts from the Trails”
Haydn
"I never said it was going to be easy, I said it was going to be worth it!" "Cake or Death?"
TBC ADOPTA-TRAIL GUIDELINES
Rockwheelers Trail design and building at is only undertaken or supervised by the Trail Building Committee (TBC).
The Rockwheelers TBC has recently proposed and established the Adopt-a-Trail program for trail repair and maintenance. This is an opportunity for riders to provide much needed and appreciated TLC to their favourite trail. The Douglas network is already benefitting from this initiative.
At this stage, the TBC has decided to trial the programme on mostly older hand built trails at the Douglas network; leaving a lot of the machine-made, longer trails to regular TBC working bee maintenance.
The Rockwheelers Douglas network is graded with the IMBA colour coded system, which takes into account, tread width and surface, side slope, gradient, obstacle height and type, and technical difficulty.
Bearing this in mind, when repairing trail, it is important not to:
- alter signage;
- the grade of the trail; or
- introduce features
without consultating the TBC.
Another feature of the IMBA trail system employed at Douglas is the Stacked Loop concept, with lower loops being easier and as the trails gain elevation, they become progressively more technical.
We also try to incorporate the Gateway Trail concept, which ensures that the rider’s initial introduction to the network off the tarmac, is thru wider easier trails to allow time to get their MOJO (co ordination) together, before attempting obstacles. Some of these design principles are not always obvious to the casual observer; however they are important in ensuring that newer riders have safe and fun filled early experiences.
These concepts are a big part of Rockwheelers recent record growth.
When repairing trail, some of these less well known guidelines may be compromised. If in doubt, consult a TBC member for their assistance.
A large part of the Rockwheelers success can be attributed to attempting to address all rider’s needs and abilities. This is one of the main reasons for the TBC existence. Thankyou for your wholistic contribution to MTB.
"I never said it was going to be easy, I said it was going to be worth it!" "Cake or Death?"
Adopt A Trail Tribe 2017 List
"I never said it was going to be easy, I said it was going to be worth it!" "Cake or Death?"
Hello to the Adopt a trail Tribe!!! Welcome trail fairies and budding trail fairies!!!
This weekend we have scheduled a working bee for Douglas at 06:30 am Sunday 4th of March. We need as many people to come along as possible. Obviously those of you who already have an adopted trail will want to spend your time on it, happy for that, however if you have surveyed your trail and it’s ok (doubtful) then come and help the rest of us!
I have just placed signage up at every entrance to Douglas that it is closed. We need to inspect it and make sure it is safe to ride, it certainly won’t be able to this weekend.We walked some of the lower trails and they are obviously sodden. I also walked the lower part of Easy st and the jump trail. Just in this small section alone I have seen at least an inch of soil removed from many sections. Deep erosion ruts, faces missing from berms and washed into drains, drain works exposed and dangerous. I wouldn’t be surprised with some minor land slips on the above newer trails??
So we need so many people to turn up, I will grab every rake, every hoe, every shovel from the container (hope there are some left), I am bringing my wheelbarrow as we will need many loads of dirt re-distributed onto big erosion points. Please also bring any tools you have as with so much damage I want 50 people at least to turn up and maybe in 3 hours we may get easy st cleaned up, then we only have 30 other trails to do!!!!! There are wide water ways I have never seen before flowing down the hill, quite amazing.Please if you know anyone, or you are new, don’t be shy at the very least you can rake some trail, I will show you how to clear some drains, shovel some dirt, if we get enough people we can get you moving rocks and future proofing these bad erosion points. You will be needed, handy, will learn and most welcome!!! Please pass on to all channels!!!
Flowing through Douglas!
Some ruts that need filling, drains need cleaning and de berming.
section on Easy needs filling in, soil way below in a drain. Rock work maybe around roots for future if enough people?
Jump St drain exposed needs some dirt.
Front side face of entry jump on jumpo st, hard to see but an inch of soil missingin roots there.
different angle from above.
easy st below old rnr entry eroded.
RNR exit onto easy at bridge, lots of soil missing.
"I never said it was going to be easy, I said it was going to be worth it!" "Cake or Death?"
Mar 23, 2018 Fruit Loop Trail Report
Fruit Loop (Douglas Mountain Bike Reserve)
Minor Issue / Yellow
Variable – some wet spots, or some dusty spots but overall good conditions“Team Ward”
Spent 2.5 hrs working on the last pinch corner on Fruit Loop:
– Dug a new drain above.
– Dug an inside drain on the corner.
– Burried a rock drain across the trail at the bottom.
– Put 4 barrows of deco on top of the root.
Thankyou to Nathan and Finn for coming and getting stuck in! ????
Minor erosion (trail braiding, small ruts developing, brake bumps)trail work done
2.5 volunteer hours
4 attendees
10 total work hours
"I never said it was going to be easy, I said it was going to be worth it!" "Cake or Death?"
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