Hey - another mountain bike blogpost! Pat & I hit our Sandilands X-country Race trail again and had a blast. My conditioning is a little off but it still was a good ride. We stopped to do a little trail construction near a cedar stand but the ground needs to be raked and then hardpacked before it is really ridable. Also found a couple cool downhill runs off a ridge near our main trail - hope to develop them as well. Managed to twist my chain on one of my descents through some brush - glad my chain breaker was with me! Riding conditions were perfect, it was a balmy minus two degrees Celsius.
I'm enjoying the two U2 Vertigo singles (which Wendy graciously picked up in the Peg yesterday!) and admittedly I've had a listen to the Atomic Bomb rough tracks currently online - very, very good! Looking forward to the full-album release on the 23rd! I'll be picking up collector's edition complete with DVD & a booklet!
Later!
G
3 comments:
I thought of you on the trail yesterday. I've been carrying around a chain breaker in my camelback for years and never used it for any trailside McGyver work until Myron busted his chain on our ride in the afternoon. A few minutes later, we were going hard again as if nothing had happened. Something to be said for having the right tools.
And what is it about building trail that is almost as much fun as riding it? Any idea who owns or manages the land you guys ride on?
Sandilands is a provincial park - in other words a forestry reserve with trees destined to become 2 X 4's. I'm guessing our little trailbuilding does less damage than the skidders & lumber trucks. Hmm, sense my frustration a little? I understand the need/demand for lumber but it is somewhat odd that it is done in a provincial park. I have never met a ranger in the area, so I'm not actually sure it is really managed other than deciding which plot to harvest next. We just sort of keep our fingers crossed that it won't affect our trails.
Most of the main trails we ride off of - are maintained by the local Cross-country Ski Trail Association. There is an annual cross-country running race and an annual mtn bike race as well.
On top of that there is a heavy quad presence out here as we are very near a self-proclaimed redneck town - Marchand. I once saw a truck with dualies not only in the back but the front as well - on the side of the truck box were the words "marchand-style."
G
Serious? You're painting a pretty depressing picture of the land management in there -- perhaps it's time to put on your activist hat to protect that land? It's pretty sad that you'd have to protest to keep them from pillaging a park! Maybe even a little media attention would do wonders in a case like that -- most people in the province probably don't know that they're logging "protected" land.
We're quite familiar with the redneck element here as well. I've come to realize that if I want to do trail development in this area, I'll have to put aside some of my prejudices against those with a different sense of what forests are for. (can you tell how forced my diplomacy is? I'm practicing.)
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