Dig stoke, who else likes to play in the dirt???

[toast2266]

I have some internal conflict with cutting trees, whether downed or alive. Just messing with the nature of things gets me thinking sometimes that I'm being a selfish prick.

I justify it (at least in my head) because a lot of our local forests are pretty unhealthy. Nothing is allowed to burn anymore, so the forests get choked out with a high density of shitty small diameter trees that never grow to mature sizes because a lack of fire means there's too many of them. So by cutting out small trees, I'm actually contributing to the overall health of the forest. Or at least that's what I tell myself.

[jackstraw]

Yeah, I'm not knowledgeable enough to speak about that specifically, especially on the east side. I've read about that being a big issue in the West, but I haven't seen the East mentioned. We have forest fires but they are not common. We generally have a solid amount of moisture and a dense canopy that keeps the ground damp. Although this year was a dry one, but nothing like a western dry.

[Rossymcg]

little booter in to a right hand catch berm. 6 of us now actively digging this trail, should be ready for santa to ride

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[LeeLau]

Working away on climbing trail "Deep Green". Last 100m is going slow as it's lumpy. Same basic method, routed trail over mineral soil ridges. Carefully take top layer of organic and moss off and keep it aside. Pull rocks and also keep them aside

Pic1. Benchcut the trailbed trying to keep it narrow. Line trailbed with moss and organic

Pic 2. Another BFR. Excavated around it so it can move into place flat side up

Pic 3. Warehoused rocks are useful to take up the space. Use rocks and mineral soil to fill things in

Pic 4. Trail sign

[LeeLau]

Can't get enough of dumbing down the trails of Dildo. Edit messed up Pic sequence. Pic 1 should be 2 and Pic2 should be 1

Pic1. Lumps.of loam and undergrowth. Move the Oregon grape to the side pulling it out by the roots so it can be replanted.

Pic 2. Hack away at trailbed. The organic goes further down trail and also on to the main trail where the original surface was getting washed away as the water was going down it.

Expose new route down to rock and mineral soil. Dig away some holes so big rocks can be moved so their flat side is rotated to be facing up

Pic 3. New route now has a flat landing with slight grade reversal so water won't go down main trail any more. Oregon grape replanted to keep things narrow. Main trail and new line cleaned up.

[jackstraw]

Finished up a .6 adder today. Needs some fine tuning rock work as it's an ass kicker in spots. Cleaned two lines in a few places to see what one will work. A lot of double fall line stuff is tricky to layout.

[evdog]

Rain over night and this morning meant it was time to dig. Aside from a storm in early Nov this was our first notable rain since March.

I re-bermed a section that was getting badly rutted. Hopefully a bigger berm will stop people from dragging their brakes here. Rain only penetrated a couple inches into the dirt but a couple rainshowers passed over just in time to tamp the trail down. Rainbow was a nice touch as well!

[grskier]

Is that where two lines merge, or am I missing something.

Bigger berms just mean jongs will over brake even more much of the time.

[evdog]

Maybe, we'll see. The dirt sucks right there, so not much you can do but fill it in and re-berm every so many years. I changed the angle of the exit so people shouldn't need to brake as much.

And yeah two lines are merging there. On the left is a jump. It was originally the only line but people started riding around it to rider's left and made a huge fucking mess because it immediately got rutted out and soon widened to about 10 ft. You can still see where it was to the right of the rock. There was a rut about 3 ft deep there and another one forming further right. So I filled and covered that and built a bypass that was less steep. It's lasted about 3 yrs but once a rut starts people seem to panic and either slam on brakes or they ride next to the rut and widen the trail.

[evdog]

More trailwork today. Someone came in last spring and built a turd of a trail that has berms which are more of a trench than a berm. Not surprisingly the ones that were flatter just filled with water. So now they will be re-built. The one below was the worst one. But all the berms were too narrow, so back wheel drags on the inner lip as you go around the turn. Super awkward. And the sections that traverse the slope have bench cuts that are too narrow so people ride off onto the uncompacted edge and create ledges.

Have to get to this soon because people won't stay off the trails even though they're wet, and they'll just ride off trail around sections like this and make a mess.

Before & after:

[jackstraw]

^effort was made, but yeah that whole bench should have been much wider.

My latest berm is still a work in progress. The fill dirt needed to settle and then we needed to ride it to dial in the line. I also created a quasi french drain with my fingers crossed. So far it's ok, but looking forward to getting back to it in the spring and making it better.

[evdog]

I'm not the best berm builder, usually end up starting it too high and ending it too soon.

In the pic above I'd built a french drain at first but the dirt started getting mucky. Once I removed the rocks and left the drain open it seemed to actually drain, even in an hour it was more solid. I was debating whether to just remove the berm altogether here. It's not much of a turn so it's not really needed.



Whoever built this trail was pretty hopeless. Did what I could to fix the berms they made. They ride well uphill now which is the direction most are riding this trail, but they're still awkward/tight downhill.

Some before & after of 2 berms. First one was the worst on the trail:


This switchback was fucked. Vertical outer wall and a narrow trench with high inner berm that your rear wheel would get hung up on. You can see a second berm attempt behind that was abandoned.




I cut down the inner berm, angled the outer berm and moved all the dirt to the outer berm. Cut down the upper part a bit.




Upper view. I busted up the abandoned berm too. Once some brush grows on it next spring it shouldn't be visible.







Switchback above that wasn't as bad but still had an awkward surface that I fixed.




Both of them are still too tight to ride nicely downhill. May need to realign further





An example of the ledging I've mentioned. Trail was built with a narrow bench that was too off camber and people keep riding off the uncompacted edge forming a ledge. Later riders all seem to end up on the lower ledge due to target fixation or general ineptitude. Trail keeps widening as the tread creeps down the slope. This also happens every time a cobble pokes out of the tread. People in Socal have rockophobia, always riding around the most trivial rock and usually on the downslope side.







And a final section with the ledges removed. There is one more long section that is pretty bad but that will have to wait til the next rain storm to fix. These will look a lot nicer when grass grows in next spring.

[jackstraw]

I'm not the best berm builder, usually end up starting it too high and ending it too soon.

Same. I've only built a few of them, so it's a work in progress.

I treat it just like new trails that I've built. Ride it, figure out what is not right and then go back and make it better.

I've said this before, but it drives me nuts when people think the line as built first should stay that way. Sure, often it's a good line, but frequently corners need to be tweaked (usually wider) as it starts to roll faster. That's the biggest mistake around here and I am certainly guilty of making that mistake.

A lot of old school kooks think that the corners should stay tight like it's still 1991! They have no comprehension of how fast kids are hitting these downhill sections. I build (try!) above my ability. I think some get caught up in that also. They cannot envision next level riding beyond their own skills.

[Rossymcg]

bit of a chute in construction

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[Rossymcg]

this spring is going to be immense, our dig crew has tripled in size. Does anyone else really hold a grudge against the cuts who regularly ride the trails and have never picked up a spade?

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[LeeLau]

this spring is going to be immense, our dig crew has tripled in size. Does anyone else really hold a grudge against the cuts who regularly ride the trails and have never picked up a spade?

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Re grudges..you can't. If you do it'll poison you. I used to but now simply expect it. Nice work [emoji122]

[Rossymcg]

Re grudges..you can't. If you do it'll poison you. I used to but now simply expect it. Nice work [emoji122]

I'm in a Facebook group you're in. Im not from Squarmish but I'm fascinated with your trail network and did plan to spend this summer in BC but clearly not happening. There are people in the group who post up problems they've come across on the trails and ride away from them expecting others to deal with it. Ive made it a rule now I only ride with folks who build/maintain trails

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[LeeLau]

I'm in a Facebook group you're in. Im not from Squarmish but I'm fascinated with your trail network and did plan to spend this summer in BC but clearly not happening. There are people in the group who post up problems they've come across on the trails and ride away from them expecting others to deal with it. Ive made it a rule now I only ride with folks who build/maintain trails

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Bike Squamish is very toxic. It reflects the Squamish community well. Many takers. Few doers.

[Rossymcg]

Bike Squamish is very toxic. It reflects the Squamish community well. Many takers. Few doers.

I think its a reflection on the world as a whole.

You must have a very active dig/maintenance crew in Squarmish though, the amount and variety of trails in the area is top whack.
I'm not even asking for folks to get on the spade, just have a litter pick, pull out the leg scratchy weeds on the connecting trails, clear out a drainage sump/pipe.
Like you said ive got to stop letting it get on my tits but it boils my piss the cunts

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[californiagrown]

this spring is going to be immense, our dig crew has tripled in size. Does anyone else really hold a grudge against the cuts who regularly ride the trails and have never picked up a spade?

Eh, i work a desk job, so just being in the woods is a nice time for me, and ever since i was a child ive found digging in the dirt theraputic. It also helps keep you manual labor-strong, which i think is important. I find it really cool and satisfying (to my stunted artistic side) to create trail- be able to envision a path through the woods, and enhance the natural terrain into cool features to ride. I have a whole bunch of full days digging on trails or features that i will never ride (way above my paygrade) along with the days digging trails i do/can ride.

The one trail i built fully myself, i get stoked when i see fresh tire marks on it. I only get bummed when people try to pirate build shitty jumps on it, or dig out trail flora i intentionally left in because of aesthetics.

[jackstraw]

Does anyone else really hold a grudge against the cuts who regularly ride the trails and have never picked up a spade?]

I wouldn't say a grudge build wise, but its annoying when you know the amount of traffic on a trail and the amount of debris still down from the last heavy wind. The lack of 10 second trail maintenance from the masses is annoying.

My son just started working for MBOSC non profit. He's pretty stoked as it looks like he'll be off the computer and on trail once a week or so building and maintaining.

Snow is a coming, so looks like build season is officially going into hibernation. Cleared some tools from the woods yesterday.

[panchosdad]

this spring is going to be immense, our dig crew has tripled in size. Does anyone else really hold a grudge against the cuts who regularly ride the trails and have never picked up a spade?

My experience is that as you transition to a bigger paid crew you lose some of the volunteer culture. You also get less jank, for better and worse. Also, the grudge doesn't do anybody any good, least of all you, but I'm guessing you know that.

[teledad]

My son just started working for MBOSC non profit. He's pretty stoked as it looks like he'll be off the computer and on trail once a week or so building and maintaining.

SC = Santa Cruz? If so, congrats, that's a good crew. Matt has figured out how to raise funds and grow the program (they have volunteer days where 70+ people turn up) and Drew knows his stuff.

[jackstraw]

SC = Santa Cruz? If so, congrats, that's a good crew. Matt has figured out how to raise funds and grow the program (they have volunteer days where 70+ people turn up) and Drew knows his stuff.

Right on! Yes, I don't know anything about them, but looking at the web site and in my sons short time there, they seem like a great company. And "Matt", who I don't know, aside from you mentioning him here is without a doubt a likeable intelligent guy. Anyone that can grow a small non-profit focused on trail building and advocacy to the extent he has is impressive. Hopefully I'll get to meet him sometime when COVID ends.
My son is in their marketing department, but he's stoked to do some manual build labor once or so a week. The funny thing is he didn't plan to ride at all moving to SC. He is addicted to surfing, so logistically and time wise he didn't even bring a bike. Things changed! I am shipping his bike out this week.

[Rossymcg]

My experience is that as you transition to a bigger paid crew you lose some of the volunteer culture. You also get less jank, for better and worse. Also, the grudge doesn't do anybody any good, least of all you, but I'm guessing you know that.

No one i know gets paid for digging, we've got a good strong crew actively digging and we're getting along just fine. Ive no drama with everyone/anyone riding the trails.
There's coaches giving lessons on the trails that haven't done a tap, then the folks suggesting what we should build or how we should build them that havent done a tap.
LBS who use trails to demo bikes have given diggers deals on consumables and muc off, which I don't take, I dont want anything other that more users kicking in

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