RR: Fecked Up Trails



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Bill Wheeler

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When will riders learn to ride responsibly?

I planned one of my early morning rides this past Thursday. I figure I better get the first one in
before Day Light Savings kicks in or out.

It's light enough for me to ride at 5:45 am. Since I've been in training mode its no problem for me
to get up early and put in a good morning work out.

I figure I'll take out the SS and leave the road bike gathering dust for a while. Did a quick
pre-ride check; Yep still got a chain, 1 rear sprocket and two wheels, I'm ret to go! Oh the joys of
simplicity!

I haven't been back on my local trails since the cold snap ended. Unfortunately after the cold snap
ended and the snow melted we got a **** load of rain. This makes riding Avalon pretty treacherous
and muddy (which is great fun at times don't get me wrong). My plan was to do a quick loop on the
Rockburn Branch trail and hit a few cross cuts while I'm at it. It started out very nice the trails
were soft but rideable with no mud for the couple miles. I start getting to the low areas of the
park and was glad to see the streams at a good level. I didn't notice a lot of fallen trees and was
having a pretty good, quite, peaceful, SS kind of ride....

I came upon part of the trail that is normally moist but still firm single track. I nearly **** when
I saw the destruction that had occurred. You could have driven two 4x4's side by side through what
used to be single track! WTF I shouted! How God damn dumb and blind does one need to be to cause
such damage!? Bike track after bike track wider and wider riders just kept widening the trail. It
looked like someone took a rotor tiller and tilled the forest floor for a good 200 hundred yard in
this particular spot.

GET OFF YOUR FVCKING BIKE AND WALK IT AROUND OR THROUGH THE MUD!

and that's what I did. I was so bent I didn't realize I was walking through ankle deep cold mud.
Hey, at least my bike was still clean.

Much of the rest of my ride was the same. Area after area fvcking ruined on the Rockburn
Branch trail.

Please if you ride these trails, ride responsibly. Keep single track single or soon all the dumb
asses will fvck it up for everyone.

Looks like I'll be riding McKeldin until June or July

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.
:-]
 
On Fri, 04 Apr 2003 23:13:48 -0500, Bill Wheeler wrote:

> GET OFF YOUR FVCKING BIKE AND WALK IT AROUND OR THROUGH THE MUD!
>
> and that's what I did. I was so bent I didn't realize I was walking through ankle deep cold mud.
> Hey, at least my bike was still clean.

We have a few areas where the trail gets widened, but nothing nearly that bad. It still pisses me
off, though. At least in my area, it has a lot to do with bad trail design and management.

In many cases, the trail will get widened just because a lot of people walk around some giant puddle
- bikes or not. It doesn't take a genius to design the trail so a giant puddle doesn't collect in
the middle - but it seems to take a long time for these things to get fixed.

I also don't know why land manager don't post "CLOSED FOR WINTER" signs. Sure, a few people will
disregard them, but most will comply.

Considering it rains like six months straight here, the trails are in amazingly good shape. That has
a lot to do with conscientious riders.

--
-BB- To reply to me, drop the attitude (from my e-mail address, at least)
 
"Bill Wheeler" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>snip for brevity's sake< Please if you ride these trails, ride responsibly. Keep single track
>single or soon all the dumb asses will fvck it up for everyone.
>
> Looks like I'll be riding McKeldin until June or July
>
> Peace, Bill

I was hoping this wouldn't happen...but I should've known better. I'm going to Patapsco next Sunday
(13th) even if it's raining and I just get to hike the trails. I want to check out how things are,
how chewed up folks have made them, and what kind of obstacles I can expect to crack my kneecap on
this season.

I knew MD riders would destroy the handful of good places we have...hopefully, the little place in
Laurel I ride is still okay - it sees so little traffic, I keep my fingers crossed on that one.

Chris
 
"Bill Wheeler" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> When will riders learn to ride responsibly?
>
> I planned one of my early morning rides this past Thursday. I figure I better get the first one in
> before Day Light Savings kicks in or out.
>
> It's light enough for me to ride at 5:45 am. Since I've been in training mode its no problem for
> me to get up early and put in a good morning work out.
>
> I figure I'll take out the SS and leave the road bike gathering dust for a while. Did a quick
> pre-ride check; Yep still got a chain, 1 rear sprocket and two wheels, I'm ret to go! Oh the joys
> of simplicity!
>
> I haven't been back on my local trails since the cold snap ended. Unfortunately after the cold
> snap ended and the snow melted we got a **** load of rain. This makes riding Avalon pretty
> treacherous and muddy (which is great fun at times don't get me wrong). My plan was to do a quick
> loop on the Rockburn Branch trail and hit a few cross cuts while I'm at it. It started out very
> nice the trails were soft but rideable with no mud for the couple miles. I start getting to the
> low areas of the park and was glad to see the streams at a good level. I didn't notice a lot of
> fallen trees and was having a pretty good, quite, peaceful, SS kind of ride....
>
> I came upon part of the trail that is normally moist but still firm single track. I nearly ****
> when I saw the destruction that had occurred. You could have driven two 4x4's side by side through
> what used to be single track! WTF I shouted! How God damn dumb and blind does one need to be to
> cause such damage!? Bike track after bike track wider and wider riders just kept widening the
> trail. It looked like someone took a rotor tiller and tilled the forest floor for a good 200
> hundred yard in this particular spot.
>
> GET OFF YOUR FVCKING BIKE AND WALK IT AROUND OR THROUGH THE MUD!
>
> and that's what I did. I was so bent I didn't realize I was walking through ankle deep cold mud.
> Hey, at least my bike was still clean.
>
> Much of the rest of my ride was the same. Area after area fvcking ruined on the Rockburn
> Branch trail.
>
> Please if you ride these trails, ride responsibly. Keep single track single or soon all the dumb
> asses will fvck it up for everyone.
>
> Looks like I'll be riding McKeldin until June or July
>
> 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.
> :-]

Damn shame Bill. I haven't been to Avalon since before the winter. I was planning on going out today
(not Avalon though) but the weather has closed in.

Later.

Marty
 
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