So who's up for covering the entire length of CBC in gold and maintaining a soil surface rather than rock work…… anybody ..{sound of crickets chirping}….. really anybody? Sure, abandon the old, cut a new line, that would be fun and cool, but er humping dirt for the unappreciative masses, not so much.
Rock or gold; the debate goes back and forward all the time. I strongly believe that each has it's pro and cons, each will work better under different conditions and circumstances and they need not be mutually exclusive.
Like most, I prefer riding on dirt, but as a part time builder, the last thing I want to do is to go back to the same piece of trail, year in year out, to re-fill sections of trail that have been blown out by any combination of high traffic, uncaring riders, novice riders and/or water. I would far prefer to build nice new shiny stuff or work on different sections of trails or 'gasp'; other trails that need work. As a consequence I have used a lot of rock work in the past and if people don't like riding the trail bed, trail features are added to make sure they stay on the trail bed. Don't like rock work, ride something else.
I personally love riding Todd's revitalized trail, it absolutely works with my less than elite skillz. I'm NOT saying it's dumbed down, I can just achieve more flow than previous and the wood work is hellalotafun. However, looking at the trail bed toward the upper section, I can already see significant signs of wear and tear in what appears to be less than a year. Signs of the increase traffic perhaps?
I'm not sure how many hours Todd puts into that trail, but it has gotta be in the region of 1000+/year or even a lot more. I doubt there are any other builders on the NS that can sustain that level of effort, so I really do question how sustainable a high traffic, all dirt trail will be.
Builders and good volunteers are in short supply, and I often wonder how long they will last bitching buckets of gold to the same spot year after year? Very few (if any?) have Todd's stamina and determination.
I suspect that dirt trails may require more work than people imagine, particularly on more advanced and steeper terrain. Sure Bobsled can be designed to minimize erosion with grade reversals etc, but it's not that steep. Is it realistic to consider a trail like Ladies, with all the traffic it get's, as a sustainable dirt only trail, if there was no Todd? I do not know the answer to this question, but it may be something the NSMBA should start to try and track. It would be good to know how many hours it took to build the bridge, install the rock work or establish and maintain a dirt trail bed and how long each lasted.
We may find that building a burly bridge or rocking in a difficult section of trail that takes 20-40 man hours to build but lasts 10-15 years is more 'time effective' than replacing dirt every 1-2 years? Who knows, may be Todd does?
Another thing to consider, dirt trails most definitely equate to a great user experience, but at what cost? We may end up with a few really nice buffed trails, but then will the DNV turn around and try to shut down all the remaining old school 'crappy' trails because there are not enough resources to keep them all buffed so nicely.
Sorry for any crap spelling I should be going home to watch the telly.
Please let me demonstrate the ride around; really it's no trouble.