RR: The Legend of the Luck Stone

Why are people idiots on the trails? If you see something on the trail that isn't bothering you, why
would you remove it? On to my RR rant...

The day was a beautiful one, Jim and I took an afternoon toodle in Bethpage. We rode the usual
route. On this day we made the decision to ride a little bit of the outside section of the park. Its
a little loop of technical, rooty and twisty single track that we like to speed through. In the
entrance to this little loop, there is a stone buried in the ground, it sticks up enough that you
*must* ride over with both wheels in order to receive good mojo for the ride.

We approached the entrance and noticed a hole in the ground where the Luck Stone used to be buried.
We stopped in horror. Our jaws dropped, we were mortified. Somebody had unburied the Luck Stone and
threw it onto the side of the trail. All that was left, was a hole in the middle of the trail. We
threw our bikes on ground in shock and walked over to the hole. Un-f'ing-believable! 15 years of
riding this section, and Jim had never seen anything like this happen, 15 years of riding over the
Luck Stone...

Who was the asshole? Who did it? Whoever it was, deserved to get the biggest saddle sore on
their ass in the history of mountainbiking. The sadness and the anger were slowly beginning to
overcome us...

We quickly got to work to put it back. We dug the hole out a little and rolled the stone that
weighed about 40 pounds back into where it had laid for the many years. We filled in the hole around
the edges and watered it down. The Luck Stone was back home...

Hopefully, it will remain there for the next phase of mountainbikers to ride over...

- CA-G

Can-Am Girls Kick Ass!

 

Carla A-G wrote:
> Why are people idiots on the trails? If you see something on the trail that isn't bothering you,
> why would you remove it?

Grrrr, I had one of those this weekend too. We were doing maintaince at the local playground
and some kid in body armor was adding a log pile ramp off of a small, technical, but perfectly
good drop!

"Whatcha building there" "Dude, adding a new trail". "What do you mean 'adding'?" "You'll be able to
ride this section when I'm done, so that will mean it's a new trail." Note the sarcasim "Can I
borrow your bike (double crowned level betty) for a sec?" ...

Once we undid his "new" trail he was a good worker though, so he redemed himself.

 

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] says...
> Why are people idiots on the trails? If you see something on the trail that isn't bothering you,
> why would you remove it? On to my RR rant...
>
> The day was a beautiful one, Jim and I took an afternoon toodle in Bethpage. We rode the usual
> route. On this day we made the decision to ride a little bit of the outside section of the park.
> Its a little loop of technical, rooty and twisty single track that we like to speed through. In
> the entrance to this little loop, there is a stone buried in the ground, it sticks up enough that
> you *must* ride over with both wheels in order to receive good mojo for the ride.
>
> We approached the entrance and noticed a hole in the ground where the Luck Stone used to be
> buried. We stopped in horror. Our jaws dropped, we were mortified. Somebody had unburied the Luck
> Stone and threw it onto the side of the trail. All that was left, was a hole in the middle of the
> trail. We threw our bikes on ground in shock and walked over to the hole. Un-f'ing-believable! 15
> years of riding this section, and Jim had never seen anything like this happen, 15 years of riding
> over the Luck Stone...
>
> Who was the asshole? Who did it? Whoever it was, deserved to get the biggest saddle sore on
> their ass in the history of mountainbiking. The sadness and the anger were slowly beginning to
> overcome us...
>
> We quickly got to work to put it back. We dug the hole out a little and rolled the stone that
> weighed about 40 pounds back into where it had laid for the many years. We filled in the hole
> around the edges and watered it down. The Luck Stone was back home...
>
> Hopefully, it will remain there for the next phase of mountainbikers to ride over...
>
> - CA-G
>
> Can-Am Girls Kick Ass!
>
>
>

No worse than a trail i loved for the simple reason that it was full of rocks. now it has a 3" bed
of bark on it. i hate bark; it saps energy like riding on a spring mattress. or worse, sections that
were fine to ride because the trail was just right, and they get destroyed by stupid kids on ATVs
(it is quite possible to ride an ATV without destroying the trail).

But, in a world of lesser and lesser common sense, and people thinking only of themselves, we are
destined to continue to complain until the end of days.

~Travis
--
To reply by email, remove clothes.

travis5765.homelinux.net, Primary Administrator TF Custom Electronic, Owner/Founder/Developer
(current project: Automotive exhaust flame-thrower)

 

Someone is always removing obsticals in the trail. If you cant huck over it leave it, as someone
with more skill than you is looking forward to clearing it, or someone with equal skills, keeps
trying. WOULD YOU REMOVE THE ROCKS FROM A ROCK GARDEN ?

 

On Mon, 21 Apr 2003 11:16:20 -0400, Carla A-G wrote:

> We approached the entrance and noticed a hole in the ground where the Luck Stone used to be
> buried. We stopped in horror. Our jaws dropped, we were mortified. Somebody had unburied the Luck
> Stone and threw it onto the side of the trail.

Probably some hiker who was pissed that this rock interrupted the oblivion that they always seem to
walk around in. Or some parents who were pissed that this rock made their kids get off and walk
their bikes a bit. As long as there are people who think nature is this sanitized thing that allows
them to wander about without engaging a single brain cell, this will always happen.

--
-BB- To reply to me, drop the attitude (from my e-mail address, at least)

 

> Why are people idiots on the trails? If you see something on the trail
that
> isn't bothering you, why would you remove it? On to my RR rant...

Loosely related to this; whenever I build a trail with an obstacle I always provide a "wuss around"
- this has consistently prevented people from altering the [usually fairly challenging] obstacle.
It's very telling to look at the trail wear many months hence; I'd say the "wuss route" gets about
70-90% of the use.

 

Jronan3847571 wrote:
> Someone is always removing obsticals in the trail. If you cant huck over it leave it, as someone
> with more skill than you is looking forward to clearing it, or someone with equal skills, keeps
> trying. WOULD YOU REMOVE THE ROCKS FROM A ROCK GARDEN ?

Exactly, the most amusing part was that the kid had the look down (Armor, FS bike with a burly
setup, etc...) but was sisafying the trail. It was like a vegitarian butcher.

 

On Mon, 21 Apr 2003 12:08:32 -0400, Technician <[email protected]> wrote:

>No worse than a trail i loved for the simple reason that it was full of rocks. now it has a 3" bed
>of bark on it. i hate bark; it saps energy like riding on a spring mattress. or worse, sections
>that were fine to ride because the trail was just right, and they get destroyed by stupid kids on
>ATVs (it is quite possible to ride an ATV without destroying the trail).
>
>But, in a world of lesser and lesser common sense, and people thinking only of themselves, we are
>destined to continue to complain until the end of days.
>
>~Travis

Here is my local complaint about sanitizers. In the pictures below the trail used to bounded by the
the two rocks on the left hand side of the picture and the line that you currently see was covered
with all the small rocks that are now on the right hand side picture. Boneheads started riding
around the two rocks creating the area on the right side. Then when that section got all crapped out
and rutted they kicked all the small rocks off of the orginal trail.

http://www.mountainbikebill.com/images/Trails/CalveraLake/CalveraLake-MTBRide-02-RockyST-NECorner-
ofArea.JPG

Bill Porter www.mountainbikebill.com

 

"Carla A-G" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Why are people idiots on the trails? If you see something on the trail
that
> isn't bothering you, why would you remove it? On to my RR rant...
>
> The day was a beautiful one, Jim and I took an afternoon toodle in
Bethpage.
> We rode the usual route. On this day we made the decision to ride a little bit of the outside
> section of the park. Its a little loop of technical, rooty and twisty single track that we like to
> speed through. In the
entrance
> to this little loop, there is a stone buried in the ground, it sticks up enough that you *must*
> ride over with both wheels in order to receive good mojo for the ride.
>
> We approached the entrance and noticed a hole in the ground where the Luck Stone used to be
> buried. We stopped in horror. Our jaws dropped, we were mortified. Somebody had unburied the Luck
> Stone and threw it onto the side of the trail. All that was left, was a hole in the middle of the
> trail. We threw our bikes on ground in shock and walked over to the hole. Un-f'ing-believable! 15
> years of riding this section, and Jim had never
seen
> anything like this happen, 15 years of riding over the Luck Stone...
>
> Who was the asshole? Who did it? Whoever it was, deserved to get the
biggest
> saddle sore on their ass in the history of mountainbiking. The sadness and the anger were slowly
> beginning to overcome us...
>
> We quickly got to work to put it back. We dug the hole out a little and rolled the stone that
> weighed about 40 pounds back into where it had laid for the many years. We filled in the hole
> around the edges and watered it down. The Luck Stone was back home...
>
> Hopefully, it will remain there for the next phase of mountainbikers to
ride
> over...
>
> - CA-G
>
> Can-Am Girls Kick Ass!
>

Bummer, good work putting the stone back in, should've put a taller one back instead.. This kind of
thing happens all the time with a set of dirt jumps I help maintain. During the school holidays its
amazing how industrious kids will be, they bring shopping trolleys, pallets, pieces of furniture -
anything to fill in the gaps in the smallest set of trails, pity they can't actually be arsed to dig
some jumps of there own in winter.

Steve E.

 

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] says...
> On Mon, 21 Apr 2003 12:08:32 -0400, Technician <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
> >No worse than a trail i loved for the simple reason that it was full of rocks. now it has a 3"
> >bed of bark on it. i hate bark; it saps energy like riding on a spring mattress. or worse,
> >sections that were fine to ride because the trail was just right, and they get destroyed by
> >stupid kids on ATVs (it is quite possible to ride an ATV without destroying the trail).
> >
> >But, in a world of lesser and lesser common sense, and people thinking only of themselves, we are
> >destined to continue to complain until the end of days.
> >
> >~Travis
>
> Here is my local complaint about sanitizers. In the pictures below the trail used to bounded by
> the the two rocks on the left hand side of the picture and the line that you currently see was
> covered with all the small rocks that are now on the right hand side picture. Boneheads started
> riding around the two rocks creating the area on the right side. Then when that section got all
> crapped out and rutted they kicked all the small rocks off of the orginal trail.
>
>
> http://www.mountainbikebill.com/images/Trails/CalveraLake/CalveraLake-MTBRide-02-RockyST-NECorner-
> ofArea.JPG
>
> Bill Porter www.mountainbikebill.com
>

Looks like it was once a nice trail too. here is an idea, assuming somebody has lots of time and
access to several land mines.

Under the larger stones, place a land mine. the stone should be enough to press down the mine
trigger so when the rock is removed, it blows up (should only be done on the rocks big enough they
will not move from people riding over them).

then on each side of the trail, half burry a set of police spike strips.

Obviously, nobody would actually do this as knowing some of the rocks contain land mines would
severaly limit your wanting to use the trail, just in case you set one incorrectly. but it's fun to
make up ways to stop sanitizers. perhaps a time-laps security camera would be better suited. just
ride in every day and change tapes (gives you an excuse to ride the trail too). make sure the camera
is very well hidden and that the recorder is free from weather problems. the only issue is providing
power to the equipment. perhaps you can hire a NASA electrical engineer to build you a high
efficiency power inverter that can be run from a watch battery.

I think the spike strips are a good idea though.

~Travis
--
To reply by email, remove clothes.

travis5765.homelinux.net, Primary Administrator TF Custom Electronic, Owner/Founder/Developer
(current project: Automotive exhaust flame-thrower)

 

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] says...
> Hopefully, it will remain there for the next phase of mountainbikers to ride over...
>
Nope. Gone for good.

Once unseated, it's never the same.

You'll go back and someone will have removed it again. Years later, you'll look at other riders on
the trail and think (was it them?).

nk