No Dig, No Ride: Adopting Oil Can

I grew up with the ‘No Dig, No Ride’ mantra being bullied into me. Throughout the late nineties and early millennium this was the most strongly held tenet in BMX circles. It wasn’t just a way of ensuring riders could extract only as much as they put in, but that in a world where skateparks, public dirt jumps, pumptracks, and other ready-to-ride facilities were still a pipe dream, if you didn’t build something yourself then you would simply have nothing to ride.

  The best place to start is the start.

‘No Dig, No Ride’ taught me to care for and nurture the places I rolled my tires on and ever since I have tried to put back a little into as many mountain bike trails as I could. However, living a nomadic life means that I have rarely been in one spot long enough to put spade into dirt and dirt under nails as much as I’ve wanted. So when I moved to the Shore this winter I resolved to balance my trail karma books once again by joining in NSMBA’s efforts at revitalizing the Shore.

Upon hearing about the Trail Adoption Plan I knew it was something I had to be a part of. I’ve traveled to a lot of mountain bike areas that have healthy trails and communities but the scope and energy of TAP is extraordinary; I hope other areas around the world look at the example they have set and endeavour to work in a similar fashion with land managers.

  The brave souls that came out on this cold February morning. Left to Right: Mark Wood, Gord Moreside, Liz Kovics, Digger, Kevin Rutherford and James O’Hearn.

After months of liaising with the NSMBA’s Trails Director Mark Wood, chirpy Irish love boat Pete O’Loughlin and myself have been partnered up with Dizzy Cycles for the adoption of one of Fromme’s oldest trails – Lower Oilcan.

  This corner is much tighter than the rest of the trail and unfortunately, due to springs in the slope here, has eroded considerably. The left hander here will be realigned so as to avoid causing more erosion and allow a more enjoyable turn for riders.

A couple of weeks ago we took a stroll through Lower Oilcan with Dizzy Cycles owner Gord Moreside, Kevin Rutherford, James O’Hearn, Liz Movics, Mark Wood and the ever-jovial Todd “Digger” Fiander. The reason for this walk was to talk through our concerns and ideas for the re-working of the trail with the people we will be working with and those whose opinions and advice we respect. The following is a little bit about the cold February morning walk through and what we plan to achieve with the trail.

Lower Oilcan, Digger tells us, started life as an unofficial hiking trail – a route that got people from Point A to B as quick as possible. In this case point A was the Baden Powell and point B was toward the 6th switchback. The trail was considerably fall line and followed many skidder roads. Mountain bikers discovered it around 30 years ago and over time numerous people have had a hand in either fixing it up or adding to the trail experience.

  Skinnies getting skinnier. The angle of approach to this skinny doesn’t make it easy for the back wheel to track and the result is constant damage to the skinny. Realignment to allow a better approach is key here.

On the whole it is one of the more fun trails that starts between the 5th and 6th switchbacks on Fromme. It is easy to break the trail into three distinct portions. The top third being fun and flowy, the middle having lots of low-to-the-ground skinnies that were added at some point as part of various re-routes and alterations, and the lowest third which has a very steep section followed by a rats nest of trails that mingle with Jerry Rig, Grannies, Crippler and various “loamers” that were hastily cut and now are now scars on the forest.

In short, our plan is to try and tie all three portions together and make a “purple” trail – not quite hard enough to be a black and too technical to be regarded as a blue. We want to give the trail network on Fromme a relatively inviting flow trail from higher elevation. Nothing too buff and easy, but something that is an alternative to the steep, technical gnar trails that surround it. Lower Oilcan is ideal for this because it is somewhat there already: it is on pretty low gradient, it traverses the side slope more than most trails, and there are no sections of steep, technical trail on it.

  There is always going to be maintenance and upkeep to drainage on trails. The first task is to get the water running off the trail and keeping riders on it.

I asked Mark Wood what his impression of the riding experience of this trail was like and he said, “The last time I rode it was for Wade’s Excellent Adventure two years ago. I was tailing Wade and if you can remember, we had the best day in what was a very wet June. There were lots of boggy muddy bits leading into the milled wood planks which we entered way too hot and I watched Wade greasily slide off at the first off camber turn on the wood with me shortly thereafter. We looked at each other and said ‘we put this in the race?!’”

  The milled planks in question. It is a very fast approach to this turn and the running grime that riders have dragged onto the wood makes it very slick. More so, the line of sight and approach speed fools riders into thinking the trail goes straight on. A little adjustment with the entry line here will help reduce accidents.

The milled planks are a feature of the trail. We have surveyed numerous trail users over the last few months and many have said how much they like the low woodwork. We will endeavor to keep as much of it in as we can because it allows intermediate riders a chance to practice their balancing skills low to the ground. However, some of it has been identified as rotten and dangerous so will have to be removed. The pieces that will have to be removed are the ones directly after fast corners or fast straights. The heavy braking required to slow riders enough to get onto them has resulted in significant erosion and the wet, greasy wood is a hazard that land managers are keen to avoid. In some places we hope to corral riders coming into these sections by subtly altering the riding line and placing gargoyles to set riders up better for the speed and line required, in other places certain planks will be removed altogether.

  The beloved skinny line on Lower Oilcan. Parts of this will remain while a few sections will need to be removed in the meantime and, possibly, later replaced.

  A skinny in question. Stringers made of Hemlock and it seems to be pushing the nails out. This section will be pulled out and turned into on the ground trail.

Kevin Rutherford, one of Dizzy Cycles employees who braved the rain for the bash about in the snow, has high hopes for the trail once it is finished: “I hope that the trail becomes a destination. It seems to be passed by for higher trails like Seventh, or forgotten about when people drop into Ladies or Pipeline lower down. I hope we keep the fun character of the trail, but at the same time modernize it with more natural, sustainable lines. I’d like to see this first year TAP be a refurbishing of the trail, and next year plan some cool reroutes. Maybe some hard lines and easy lines to fit in with the “purple” colour designation? Ha!”

Throughout the planning stages we identified that this is going to be a two year project due to the considerable problems on the lowest third where some reroutes may be required and lots of decommissioning of the more worn trails that weave in and out of Lower Oilcan would be necessary.

  This skinny is a bit unnecessary we feel. It starts right on the exit of a fairly fast corner and acts as a dam for the natural flow of drainage which means the trail floods here rather than draining dry.

Dizzy Cycles are very motivated to see the project through – owner Gord Moreside has a legacy of his own on the trails as he was one of the original chaps to build Expresso and is keen to get back onto the trails. I asked him why he had decided to adopt a trail.

“The trails need some love. Oil Can – it needs some love! I personally feel that after almost twenty years of not doing any trail work in my backyard and just enjoying the efforts of others, I can no longer continue to take and not give back. Gone are the days of guerrilla trail building. Trail safety and trail credibility are a necessity. From a business standpoint, partnering with knowledgeable and experienced trail builders and TAP will also give Dizzy Cycles (hopefully) some credibility in the off-road market. It will also allow for the store’s staff and some customers to bond and enjoy the experience of what I know to be a very rewarding accomplishment – trail maintenance and trail building.”

  We have to care for the trees and keep drainage clean in spots. Not huge jobs, just fun tasks.

From this walk through (and numerous others over the past three months) Pete and I will draft a trail assessment that will go to the land managers for approval. Once they have taken a walk through themselves and signed off then the scheduled volunteer days can begin.

Pete and myself are both newbies to the Shore but we aren’t new to mountain biking. We have both chosen to move a long way from our homes to live here and we both possess a worldly experience in trail building. However, this does not mean we aren’t without fear. We have seen the anonymous and not-so-anonymous internet haters spitting barbed insults at TAP for “dumbing down the Shore”. We are aware of the heritage and legacy of trail building on the Shore. We are willing to take some flak because you can’t please everyone all the time, but what we hope is for anyone with an opinion to come out and join us on the dig days. That is your option unless you wish to flame us on the internet – which you can do so below in the comments field.

We look forward to getting started on this project and getting to know the employees and customers of Dizzy Cycles much better over the next year or two. Thank you to the NSMBA and Mark Wood for establishing such a process of coordinated rehabilitation, and to the dozens of businesses and many builders that have come forward to be a part of TAP 2012.

  Discussions and theoretical discourse in the rain, snow and sleet. Fingers were cold but the banter was warm.

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What would you like to see on Lower Oilcan or the Shore in general? Have you signed up to help a TAP project? And how much do you put back in? Building loam trails doesn’t count.