Anyone have anything they'd like to rant about?

[jm2e]

I see at least two different car tire tracks in that pic.


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[XXX-er]

prius tires don't count gota be at least Tacoma sized

[Roxtar]

I see at least two different car tire tracks in that pic.


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x2.
I don't think you can blame bikes for that one.

[XXX-er]

so weren't we by definition sposed to rant about stuff ?

[evdog]

I see at least two different car tire tracks in that pic.

What's your point?

No one ever drove on that section before bikes widened it to road width. No vehicle access at one end, no public vehicle access at the other.

[VTskibum]

Came off bridge was bit surprised to see this many frozen ruts


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[rideit]

Yeah, well fuck you too, Pinkbike!
LOL

[ironhippy]

Wow, that is a really interesting failure on the downtube, too! Which tube did you dent 3 years back? Top or down?

Downtube. It was a pretty significant dent, I literally thought "good thing this is aluminum, I don't need to worry about that!"

I put probably 5000+ kms on it after it was dented.

[Magsrgod]

Canyons f’in stupid for letting Jack go, Jesse is a good pick up but Jack is Jack. OK done.

[evdog]

Local bike club spent $20k+ on this flagship bridge. They were told the river peaks at 12 ft in a big storm. This storm dropped about 1" rain over 6-8 hrs and max flow reportedly hit 9ft. It's around 6.5 ft in the second pic.

Their comment: "well how high did you want us to build it?".

All of this after badmouthing the local scout troop who built the previous version and "had no clue what they were doing." That bridge lasted around 5 years. I've heard the foundation on this one has already moved a couple inches.

Can't wait for that 100 year event that now seems to happen annually.


Normal flow




$20k and can't even keep your feet dry

[ironhippy]

There aren't rules on how you should build the bridge?

Anything with approval has be well out of the flood path for permitting around here.
We get lots of water in the spring, that bridge wouldn't last one season.

[BigHerm]

Plan to fail...

[Vt-Freeheel]

Scouts be laughing now

[Dantheman]

Scouts be laughing now

They should troll the shit out of the bike club's social media accounts, "Bummer about your bridge, we'd be happy to come fix it up for significantly less than $20k."


Moving on, it's been snowing so much here I haven't ridden my commuter in weeks. Been riding indoors trying to maintain my base fitness, but it's impossible to get as many hours in and even with being able to watch movies it's boring AF in compared to commuting.

[evdog]

There aren't rules on how you should build the bridge?

Anything with approval has be well out of the flood path for permitting around here.
We get lots of water in the spring, that bridge wouldn't last one season.

If there aren't rules, there should at least be common sense. Like not building a bridge so its profile sits in the exact path of the highest velocity of stream flow at peak flood. The design at least has a minimal profile but if the current flips the bridge deck upright it'll be game over for sure.

[toast2266]

If there aren't rules, there should at least be common sense. Like not building a bridge so its profile sits in the exact path of the highest velocity of stream flow at peak flood. The design at least has a minimal profile but if the current flips the bridge deck upright it'll be game over for sure.

That's a bummer. There's a trail bridge going in over a creek near me, and the amount of engineering that's going into it is impressive. It's on forest service land, and they've brought in engineers (from out of the area) a couple times now to design the bridge.

I'm guessing that whole process + the installation of the bridge is going to end up costing quite a bit more than $20k though. I think it's well into the 100's.

[Dantheman]

I'm guessing that whole process + the installation of the bridge is going to end up costing quite a bit more than $20k though. I think it's well into the 100's.

Wow. How high and long is the span?

[toast2266]

Wow. How high and long is the span?

I'm not sure what the specs ended up being. I think the span is probably ~50-60 feet, or maybe a bit bigger. And the bridge will be big enough that a mini excavator can drive across it (because the trail on both sides of the creek is getting built at the same time as the bridge). I think the biggest thing is probably just that the creek feeds into the town's water supply, so they want to make sure it's done right.

[jm2e]

Came off bridge was bit surprised to see this many frozen ruts


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Honestly, I hate 95% of the wood that exists on mountain bike trails. On the rare occasion that wood is used to bridge a swampy zone, I've almost always seen it come up short, making the bridge more of an island in the mud. That picture makes me mad at stupid wood application more than people riding in wet conditions. How many tire and foot tracks can be found on either side of that stupidly skinny and "bermed" bridge as well? Build it right or don't build it. Based on the foreground, it should have been rock armored instead.

[evdog]

And then people would just ride on either side of the armored path. Rocks are scary, y'know?

[skaredshtles]

And then people would just ride on either side of the armored path. Rocks are scary, y'know?

...

[californiagrown]

$20k and can't even keep your feet dry

Maybe im no seeing the situation correctly, but it looks like the bridge comes up like 100ft short of where the stream channel is during a 1" rain event. So this isnt really an issue of how high the bridge should have been built, but more an issue of not intending (likely intentionally) for the bridge to be operational during any kind of larger storm event. I mean who the fuck cares if that bridge was 20' higher... youd get to the end and still have half the damn river to cross.


in my (professional) opinion, to install a bridge that remains operational during large storms and stays out of the highwater mark, and satisfies all regulatory requirements youre looking a significantly more robust build on the order of 6figs. If it was my build with no oversight agency i would have built a much smaller bridge, tethered to one side that was made to float off its foundation in high flows and could then be re-set by 2 people once water levels lowered. Correct me if im wrong, but that looks like an area where its frowned upon to ride trails the day or two after a storm anyways....

[evdog]

Maybe im no seeing the situation correctly, but it looks like the bridge comes up like 100ft short of where the stream channel is during a 1" rain event. So this isnt really an issue of how high the bridge should have been built, but more an issue of not intending (likely intentionally) for the bridge to be operational during any kind of larger storm event. I mean who the fuck cares if that bridge was 20' higher... youd get to the end and still have half the damn river to cross.


in my (professional) opinion, to install a bridge that remains operational during large storms and stays out of the highwater mark, and satisfies all regulatory requirements youre looking a significantly more robust build on the order of 6figs. If it was my build with no oversight agency i would have built a much smaller bridge, tethered to one side that was made to float off its foundation in high flows and could then be re-set by 2 people once water levels lowered. Correct me if im wrong, but that looks like an area where its frowned upon to ride trails the day or two after a storm anyways....

That assessment is spot on. This preserve closes after every rain event for days if not weeks since the area becomes a muddy mess (bridge exit will look like VTskibum's pic above for a month).

I was just being sarcastic about the $20k bridge that can't keep your feet dry. The bigger issue is spending all that $$ on a bridge that isn't going to last. We get storms every year or so that dump 2" or more in a short time. So it's not a matter of if, but when this bridge is going to wash out.

Breakaway bridges like the one shown below (tethered to the tree) have been used for years in other canyons with great success...simple, inexpensive, fun to ride, and easy to put back in place, easy to replace if needed.

But the local bike group's paid staff have gotten a bug up their ass about building big flashy, permanent bridges they can post pictures of and tell us all how much wonderful work they're doing.

There was a breakaway bridge in use for years before the boy scouts built their bridge. It was tough one to wrangle back into place since the crossing can be a few feet deep at low water and it's a wide enough span the bridge was fairly heavy. The big issue was no one (especially the rangers) wanted to wade out in cold water to put it back. If it were up to me I'd put in a solid, low profile fixed bridge. High enough to be above the normal water level that we have most of the year, but low enough that the peak flow and most debris would flow right over it during a big flood for a day or two until the water recedes. I bet it would last years longer than this bridge for a fraction of the cost.

Unfortunately anyone who questions the bike group's trail coordinator gets written off as being clueless, doesn't know what they're doing, etc. "The rangers just don't get it". And well, the boy scouts....

[Dantheman]

Cutting 4130 CrMo.

[VTskibum]

Honestly, I hate 95% of the wood that exists on mountain bike trails. On the rare occasion that wood is used to bridge a swampy zone, I've almost always seen it come up short, making the bridge more of an island in the mud. That picture makes me mad at stupid wood application more than people riding in wet conditions. How many tire and foot tracks can be found on either side of that stupidly skinny and "bermed" bridge as well? Build it right or don't build it. Based on the foreground, it should have been rock armored instead.

Missed this earlier. Most of the year this bridge is fine. Pretty marshy area in general so low lying and literally 10’ from a lake. Between end of this bridge right behind where I’m standing to take the photo, there’s one that basically floats on the lake, no $20k of funding coming for this as it’s 100% volunteer, but still limited by what we’re allowed to do in a state park. Did hear they just got permission to re-route this so hopefully makes this bridge unnecessary. Also never noticed the “berm” part of that, almost positive it’s just a matter of freeze/thaw pushing that segment up. This is a connector trail around the lake that ties together two better parts of the trail.


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