RR: Chicken Little meets Xterra

[John Harlow]

By now many of you know I've been concerned the Xterra race damaged "my" trails. So, I hop on my
high horse.. um.. bike - to go check them out. The trails leading up to them are still quite muddy
and I expect the worst when I get to the actual trails used in the course.

I turn onto the race trail and I immediately notice my tires fall almost silent. The trail has been
ridden to an almost shiny hard dirt surface, but other than that it seems normal. "Not bad" I
thought, "but I'll reserve judgment until I get to the problem areas..."

I keep riding and see that most of the "problem areas" are actually better than they were.
They weren't rutted or widened as I had feared, instead they had been ridden to a nice smooth
narrow track.

The few areas which were noticeably worse were the steep sections where people walked their bikes.
Lots of cleats digging and scrambling made a bad situation worse. Hiking kills!

Bottom line is: I am quite surprised and pleased to say the impact of the race was minimal at
worst, and in some ways actually beneficial. I'd much rather hike or bike the trail *now* than just
last week.

Crow never tasted so good...

 

[Mattb]

"John Harlow" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> By now many of you know I've been concerned the Xterra race damaged "my" trails. So, I hop on my
> high horse.. um.. bike - to go check them out.
The
> trails leading up to them are still quite muddy and I expect the worst
when
> I get to the actual trails used in the course.
>
> I turn onto the race trail and I immediately notice my tires fall almost silent. The trail has
> been ridden to an almost shiny hard dirt surface,
but
> other than that it seems normal. "Not bad" I thought, "but I'll reserve judgment until I get to
> the problem areas..."
>
<snip>
>
> Crow never tasted so good...
>

That's good to hear.

This year our local NORBA race The Rage in the Sage (which I sometimes do) fell on a really rainy
day. I was pretty bummed, thinking it would really mess things up. When I went out and rode it
afterwards I realized it actually packed the trail to a hardness I haven't seen in several years
and made the riding really great. As many of the other trails have gotten soft and sandy, the
trails involved in the race have remained very firm and fast. I was pleasantly surprised. Two years
ago the same race turned the trails into 6 Inches of powder that didn't settle down until the fall
rains came.

The one thing I don't like to see after a race is a blown turn that then gets immediately ridden by
hundreds of people. There's no time to correct it before the traffic hits so it's immediately worn
in and harder to fix than if just a casual rider blows it and we fix it before it catches on.

Matt

 

[Chris Phillipo]

> I keep riding and see that most of the "problem areas" are actually better than they were.
> They weren't rutted or widened as I had feared, instead they had been ridden to a nice smooth
> narrow track.
>
> The few areas which were noticeably worse were the steep sections where people walked their bikes.
> Lots of cleats digging and scrambling made a bad situation worse. Hiking kills!
>
> Bottom line is: I am quite surprised and pleased to say the impact of the race was minimal at
> worst, and in some ways actually beneficial. I'd much rather hike or bike the trail *now* than
> just last week.
>
> Crow never tasted so good...
>
>

Well Neddy always said don't ride around puddles, you'll just make them bigger. Perhaps he was there
yelling that at everyone as he beat them over the head with a frame pump.
--
_________________________
Chris Phillipo - Cape Breton, Nova Scotia http://www.ramsays-online.com

 

[Jd]

"MattB" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> The one thing I don't like to see after a race is a blown turn that then gets immediately ridden
> by hundreds of people. There's no time to correct it before the traffic hits so it's immediately
> worn in and harder to fix than if just a casual rider blows it and we fix it before it catches on.

Dilligence can't help what the racers decide to jack up. Just be glad it wasn't 2,000 pople for 24
hours straight.

JD

 

[Dave Stocker]

"Chris Phillipo" <[email protected]> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:[email protected]...
>
> Well Neddy always said don't ride around puddles, you'll just make them bigger. Perhaps he was
> there yelling that at everyone as he beat them over the head with a frame pump.

Since he is always at the front of the pack in the XTERRAs, perhaps he staked out little signs.

-Dave

 

[Bill Wheeler]

On Tue, 24 Jun 2003 01:26:03 GMT, "John Harlow" <[email protected]> wrote: [snip good stuff]
>
>Crow never tasted so good...

Goes well with discs!

Peace, Bill The mind serves properly as a window glass rather than as a reflector, that is, the mind
should give an immediate view instead of an interpretation of the world.
:-]