Big changes to come at the Woodlot

For a few builders having people help would divide the glory… Thankfully, that is the minority in the mtb community.

Perhaps some of you on here have noticed that some of the builders at the Woodlot are pretty aggressive when it comes to protecting their work. Having experienced the one trail day that was held at the Woodlot as a vollie I can tell you that they would be pretty aggressive and vocal about what would be considered "lazy work" in their books. The builders that are being referred to in this thread expect every rider that shows up to a trail day to work as hard as they do(very unrealistic as I have spent the last 2 years with these guys being the rock bitch.) since a trail day is a one day build.

The last trail day that was at the Woodlot had the guys running around and getting even more stressed since nothing was getting done to the standard that these builders impress upon themselves. Having recently acquired our own trail at the Woodlot (thanks guys) I can tell you from personal experience that "Ewan and Co." are willing to "divide the glory" BUT you have to prove yourself. Denise and I logged some serious bad weather conditions to be able to take over one of the existing trails. If some of you are serious about helping at the Woodlot then contact me and you can help us out.

What I have found though, as I have put this offer out many times now, is that most people want to help on the "Glory" trails not the other ones. I know that theRob and crew have put out offers for people to help as well and very few show up for them too. If you want to build on the "Glory" trails put in your time with us other meager builders, it might be easier to get in and know the "Glory guys".

Thanks guys for showing D and I the "building" ropes. Props to you for building trails that can hit 7 pages of replies when you bring up change.

Myself,therob,thedude have all put countless hours,effort and money (Thanks Maple Ridge Cycle and FVMBA)into our building. There has been some "unauthorized" modifications to our stuff, it had been getting to us, me especially, I had to step back a bit and see why I build and ride. I build/maintain to ride. I build/maintain for others to ride and enjoy. Sure there are always a few dinks that think they know better. Hell, our little posse has had exchanges with the other builders in the past, but it always came to the point that in order to keep the woodlot standards up to where they are, we had to buck and do it properly or don't bother at all.This equals huge time and effort.Not only on the nice crisp spring mornigs either. We're talking in the snow and rain. Hell, I've even managed to drag my wife up at night, in the rain to do a couple hours here and there on drainage.
It's the grunt work that makes a trail smooth and flowy.
It's the grunt work that takes most of the time.
It's the grunt work that ,for the most part, goes HUGELY unnoticed.
Problem is, not many "outsiders" want to do the grunt work.

PRIME EXAMPLE: 2 years or so ago, the 3 of us were building. Some younger dude comes bashing thru the bush "cuz he heard our chainsaw.He carried a shovel, and a handsaw. He exclaimed "I'm gunna build a huge gapper up there on the road. Wanna help me??" We quickly shot him down and pinned him under the bridge we were building. J.K.
He bitched rock for us, he bitched planks for us. For an hour or 2 anyways. This guy was running with five gallon buckets full of soil and rocks. RUNNING.
It was awesome to see. But then he had "to go".We told him our tags on this b.b. to get him to come up again, quite a big help he was.

Guess what, we have not heard a peep from him since.
4 of us, bitching rock/dirt/planks all for a section of trail that you blast over in 1/2 a second or so???? I think we showed him a quick intro into what it takes to tackle a trail let alone maintain it.
Platinum was a huge undertaking to build, it's a frickin' shame idiots think they know ways to make it "better".

"Adjust your skill level to the trail, don't adjust the trail to your skill level"

my rant over.

man, this is still alive? haha

I'm putting the call out for freakonaleash to put in his 2 cents.

Good entertainment.

Safe to say that the Woodlot has become the Sombrio of the MBT community yet?

Beautiful terrain. Beautiful work (from both building groups). So much anger.

Good entertainment.

Beautiful terrain. Beautiful work (from both building groups). So much anger.

My anger only makes me stronger ,Mike.

Wax on, wax off. :D

why do you people think you own the forest? =\ cuz yah don't. if you're really bent outa shape by people riding what are commonly referred to as public trails, go make some secret ones so you can bask in your allmighty glory where it doesn't hurt the biking community.. I believe in hard work, but not fascisme..

why do you people think you own the forest? =\ cuz yah don't. if you're really bent outa shape by people riding what are commonly referred to as public trails, go make some secret ones so you can bask in your allmighty glory where it doesn't hurt the biking community.. I believe in hard work, but not fascisme..

lol…very constructive comments. I think most of this has been covered.

if you're really bent outa shape by people riding what are commonly referred to as public trails, go make some secret ones so you can bask in your allmighty glory where it doesn't hurt the biking community.

They tried that, but word got out very quickly.

The only time I've ridden Platinum was something like 3 years ago. Great trail, defines flow. With sessioning, I was able to clear 90%, exceptions being the 1st gap (awe factor), and the 3 pack at the end. And, I was shown the trail by someone other than the builders, by someone who- at the time- wasn't comfortable attempting the stunts. But, the rider was respectful of the trail.

Builder's choice, IMO. But, why advertise? Just make the changes, post a sign at the top if you need to, and be done with it.

I don't know…the whole vibe out there is, for lack of a better word, creepy. You don't get the same sort of "Angro Internet Rage" with other builders on this forum. For the record, I single out Mr. T and Ewan as the "Angro" guys. No, I don't know them personally, but I have received threatening PM's from both on occasion after having before singled them out for their shitty attitudes on this forum.

Are they like this in person? Who knows. I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt.

Robot seems to be the calm voice and reason of both groups, while the, erm, thedude :rolleyes: , Clown, and TheRob are just good guys that are simply frustrated at not being able to build quality stuff in peace. And, their trails are quality, too.

Finally, I know the next thing posted will be, "If you don't like the builders, don't ride the trails". As stated: once was enough on Platinum, to witness it first hand. Great trail. But, personally don't enjoy the hike-a-bike, pushing the big bike up. Plus, the bad vibes. Would rather grab my little Slayer, ride up to Cabin trail, and enjoy a flowy rip down while not having to hike.

Or, better, Cypress…the land of gnarl, flow, good vibes, and good times.

this thread needs to die now….its a dead issue…builders do what you want ..no more griping or bitching from others…lets just see what happens…
i think if you close the ride arounds its gonna cause people to ride through anyways…and make a mess of the mess your trying to stop from happening..
stop saying your gonna do it and do it or dont .. then see what happens…maybe nothing ,maybe something..i think those trails are to popular for nothing to happen after you close the squid lines and not everyones gonna know thier closed to non jumpers and are still gonna have people hit them regardless if there are squid lines or not .. the sad truth is ,your not gonna get what you want ultimately because you cant stop everyone from hitting those trails even if sighns are put up unless you are there and stop them yourselves…it will all start with one person saying "who cares what they want " and riding the trail with or without the squid lines and then others will follow and then it will be back at square one..
i for one will stay away from those trails as i have respect for the builders..well the ones that arent anal about thier shit and are generally good people ,,i dont get out enough for rides these days to give a shit what trail i ride as long as i get a good ride in and have a blast..im happy just to have a place like the woodlot to ride thats close to home and well maintained by these people so i dont have to drive for hours to get somewhere else..
if they dont want a trail day or feel its not worth thier time then they can do the work themselves.. fine with me..but id hate for this to become a big enough issue that they decide to say "fuck it " and go somewhere else and then everyone gets fucked and has to drive forever for a quick burn…not worth it …
quit jumping down thier throat when they have a bitch and enjoy what you got…or go build your own trails and then get on with your day..
any further comments will get the following response from me ..hands over my ears…"BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH"…
thanks builders for woodlot…

werd, I think the builders are long gone from this thread anyway

werd, I think the builders are long gone from this thread anyway

rightly so.

pretty sure the oringinal intent of this thread was to disemminate their plan, NOT to solicit feedback from the peanut gallery. which is exactly what the non-builders are … the peanut gallery.

which is exactly what the non-builders are … the peanut gallery.

How do I say this in a nice way?………….

You have a fucked up attitude man….this is precisely why I dont attend NSMBA trail days anymore or even pick up a shovel unless a friend needs a hand.

The "Im a trail builder,Im better than you,I have more right to be here than you" attitude is very prevalent these days

I remember when builders built for fun and satisfaction…..do you?

Im afraid mountain biking is losing its happy factor……