Another gravel path... Courtesy of MEC and NSMBA

The work done on Cardiac Bypass is awesome. It was getting rutted. Those trees used to be easily ridden over, and with the erosion they just became big ring teeth grinders.

15 years ago a lot of BP was much more smooth than now. The one really steep section on the east side has eroded at least a foot. The root section just above the golf course could be ridden with a CX bike or fully rigid bike with clips and low BB (as could most of the trail).

I for one am glad to see that drainage and erosion repair are being done - that this is the direction being taken. After all, the original NSMBA mandate was to "maintain and repair existing trails". Unfortunately that quickly changed from rock work and small bypasses to builders creating monuments to themselves.

As for the traffic increasing, isn't that what this is all about? The NSMBA fought a long and difficult political battle to keep trails open, with opponents pointing to trail erosion as a primary issue, and trail riders being a small/elitist group. The NSMBA argued that trail riding was a healthy activity for all ages, and that trail sustainability would be addressed. There is now an increase in all types of riders, and with a lot of effort trail sustainability has been addressed.

There is another point to consider, and that is that Bridal Path is also used extensively by hikers and trail runners of all ages. Fixing rutted/gnarly sections benefits these users too. What's being done is a win/win situation for them, the NSMBA, and trail riders.

Oh, btw, for all of you telling Macaroo to put his shovel where his mouth is, he was at our trail day today.

So it looks like everyone kicked a goal in the end.

Tell me though…..was he a super hardcore gnar guy?

There can be a compromise between the two choices presented in the poll that will please more people
its not a choice of gravel poodle path or hard core gnarly mucky chunder

First up, sorry to use the following photos for an example, they just happen to be available in this thread.
If this trail work is where I think it is, there used to be two rounded rocks between the stump and the tree that made chainless descending more of a challenge, either you had to do some old school trialsy moves or slow and steer around. But this area was not the mucky eroded section like further up.
This is also a two way trail and when the trees are fully leafed out in June, it is hard to see on-coming traffic through this narrow section. The compromise would have been to only partially bury the big rounded rocks (the trail did not need to be raised to avoid water, just to fill in the grooves between the rocks)
With the compromise, natural speed bumps/beginner level technical trail features would have been left available) and the speed differential between two way traffic would have been reduced

I predict the long term problem for local trails will be increased traffic and differential in speed between riders/users. One-way trails are not the solution in most places since even walkers, dogs, gnarly dudes, and elite trail runners would be going at much different speeds in the same direction resulting in trail jams anyway

People really dont like change do they!? I dont necessarily like every single change that has been made on the Shore, but I sure as hell appreciate/respect the over all vision that is going on. I personally prefer riding technical slow trails, (I think a lot of people loose sight though on the difference between techy gnar and eroded chunder.)
I appreciate and generally approve of the work that has been done, and am definitely doing the best I can to be a part of it.

Its not 10-15 years ago and the ridership has increased, and more riders = more trail abuse, but it also means that industry wise we get more advancements, better bikes, cheaper parts, more choices and a hell of a lot of positives.

I’ve been on walkthroughs with two different land managers and found them both to be reasonable. Sure they have their guidelines but they really do want to work with us.

I do believe everyone is entitled to an opinion (including the OP) Personally I put my value and have more time for the opinion of someone who has done trail work and maintenance. To start with, they have more of an appreciation for how much time and effort goes into building a trail, and then more time and effort into maintaining it through all the riding (and abuse) it receives.

So to the OP, if you can’t make it out to Jerrys trail day (maybe your not into DH, more of an XCer etc) then maybe you can come along and be led by a girl on my next trail day on Richard Juryn (May 19th). Firstly I will take you for a walk to where I took that photo of an actual gravel path (which is part of the RJ trail system) then we can go clean up some horrendous mud bogs and gasp horror lay some gold ;)

Some of the work we did last weekend:

So it looks like everyone kicked a goal in the end.

Tell me though…..was he a super hardcore gnar guy?

not in the way you think ;)
i.e. not the Red Bull Rampage in Utah type of guy

So it looks like everyone kicked a goal in the end.

Tell me though…..was he a super hardcore gnar guy?

What matters is that he showed up and contributed. The second part isn't worth addressing.

Oh, btw, for all of you telling Macaroo to put his shovel where his mouth is, he was at our trail day today.

Tip of the hat to him for putting shovel to ground. Thanks [HTML_REMOVED] respect

Oh, btw, for all of you telling Macaroo to put his shovel where his mouth is, he was at our trail day today.

right on, Macaroo, careful, trail work can be addictive! :)

First up, sorry to use the following photos for an example, they just happen to be available in this thread.
If this trail work is where I think it is, there used to be two rounded rocks between the stump and the tree that made chainless descending more of a challenge, either you had to do some old school trialsy moves or slow and steer around. But this area was not the mucky eroded section like further up.

I see your point, but RJ is a green / blue trail that sees a whole lot of newer riders. You could see where the majority of these riders were riding around the rocks and the tree roots creating a pretty nasty muddy mess in the whole area.

Also, remember that the photo was taken immediately after the gold had been laid, so it should offer the compromise you speak of once it's settled :)

Oh, btw, for all of you telling Macaroo to put his shovel where his mouth is, he was at our trail day today.

Awesome! The offer still stands to come out and help at my next trail day too btw… I can always use extra bodies to lug gold and rocks around for me ;)

I love STFU. We need more of this attitude around here. Sometimes we come across as a bunch of granola eating, enviro-charity working Sarah McLachlan fans when the truth is we're FOOKING ANGRY AND WE AREN'T GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE.

I love STFU. We need more of this attitude around here. Sometimes we come across as a bunch of granola eating, enviro-charity working Sarah McLachlan fans when the truth is we're FOOKING ANGRY AND WE AREN'T GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE.

I read you as more of a nut muncher.

Cheers Ben

I read you as more of a nut muncher.

Cheers Ben

I do like my sweet and salty.
:earth:

Who is STFU actually made at? Everyone? Mad at Pete for defending Mac's right to an opinion? Clearly mad at Mac for his opinion. And yet both of them were out 'gravelling' Expresso yesterday. I think you may be MAD AT EVERYONE! Hope things start going your way in the future.

Great turnout yesterday on Expresso - including at least two very vocal folks who have been concerned with the 'dumbing down.' Hopefully both were pleased with what we are trying to do. They put in a great effort and the gravel is even dumber thanks to their help.

One thing I find very interesting is that on Expresso, where we faced some vocal opposition to changing the original line, we left it largely intact. Before we touched shovel to dirt someone had gone up and sharpied instructions for us on decaying wooden features with helpful hints like 'leave me', 'keep this' and the most audacious of all 'fix this'.

It was pretty clear there was a contingent that liked the trail the way it was and were willing to put some effort into preserving it. Or so it seemed. So when we started to ponder some re-routes that made our decision easy; we'll leave it for that group to ride/maintain as they'd like. I expected to see some action and some changes but there are trees down over the trail in several places and none of the broken or failing wooden features have felt the hammer's blow in almost two year's time.

To those of you expressing opinions respectfully - please keep doing so. That's why we built this place.

Fruit's getting dumb'd down too.

http://forums.mtbr.com/passion/news-fruitas-horsethief-drop-now-paved-851447.html

I post this not to enter the fray but simply for a little fun. Check out the link for a bit of a chuckle.