Sunday, October 26, 2008

Sunday Ride w/ Jason

Jason and I hit Corby and the GSC mid-afternoon today. I was a little off from hiking and he was kind of tired from lifting, so we just cruised. He did a few of his signature stops for me in the middle of some down hills, and even in the middle of a couple uphills, just to keep me on my toes since he was leading today. I promised him that if he did it again, I was going to plant that 29" wheel in his ass. Joking, of course - I know it wouldn't fit in there.

It was very windy, so much so that talking was difficult over the noise in the trees. There are some branches down, and we were definitely keeping our eyes out for falling objects. Need to get out there with the chainsaw it looks like.

In the Brownie trail, we were cruising along and a deer jumped off the trail in front of Jason. At that moment I looked over and saw two more deer right by the trail. We slammed on the brakes and all three of them just stopped and looked at us. We were less than 10 feet from them and we all kind of just hung there and stared at eachother. They were not scared and infact they started grazing while we were stopped there. I got a picture of them, but of course it kind of sucks.

Ran into Hoppe out there leaf blowing the GSC. Trail was very smooth and fast where he had been. It was certainly a lot of work, and he should be thanked for his efforts.

On the older trails, fall leaves provide a protective barrier and a regenerative layer. This regeneration will help protect the hills and gulleys from spring rains. Leaf cover will also allow us to ride when it is more muddy. Wet leaves don't stick to tires, wet dirt does.

On the other hand, it does slow down the riding for a month or two. And, leaf litter does increase the risk of bike damage from hidden sticks and rocks - so it is totally a give and take situation. Hell, last year I went through a couple deraillers because of trail clutter. Sucked.

Anyway, this is a point of contention in other areas of the country, and there are alternative viewpoints - but I'm pretty sure it is the case around here. Other thoughts? Trail Hippie, what do you think?

6 comments:

choppe said...

Just wanted to thank David Crook for his efforts with the chainsaw cutting out the "nubbins" and such after the trail was blown enough to see them.
Lansen, your point about the leaves does make sense but as we discussed, I felt that blowing would help dry things out as the leaf cover does retain moisture especially in the low lying areas.
The weather, although cool, does look dry for this week so we'll see if it helps.

Anonymous said...

I think your front tire WOULD, in fact, fit nicley in Jason's ass. As for the leaf blowing, your points are equally valid. GSC and Corby North have no erosion problems and should be kept buff and blown. South maybe should be kept free of tire shredding debris but left alone with leaves. It makes the uphills tougher, but may protect erosion. Let's see what happens this winter.
Thanx to Hoppe and the Crookster for the trail work. Those nubs needed to go. Thanx to Jason for providing comic relief for Lansen. Save some of those dismounts for me, wouldja Jason? The jealous-at-work-24hours hippie

choppe said...

If anyone would like to volunteer to do any blowing on the first half of the GSC or Corby North I would suggest using or borrowing a good size back pack blower. I used my small blower and it made for a very long day.

JDOUG said...

If you miss any nubbs Crook just ride behind the hippy... For some reason he likes to ride over every one of them.. Sounds like the 4th of July...

shawncforce said...

I hope everybody knows there are 2 backpack blowers at the shop ready to use.

choppe said...

Thanks for the info on the blowers Shawn. Wish I had picked one up instead of using mine... I'm sure Dave and I would have gotten alot more done.
I did ride the GSC tonight... one very slow first lap while stopping to pick up the fallen branches and limbs and one final lap before dark. Frozen toes but the ride was still good!