The new Tranquility trail system is now in place, is marked by over 1,600 flags and is over 7 miles in length. The reason for the new rerouting is to help improve erosion problems that arose over this past year. The new sections of trail are quite bumpy still, like the original trail when it was new. With riding the new sections will smooth out over time and evolve into a mature trail similar to the rest of the course.
At this time I would like to ask for any volunteers to come out any time at your convenience to help refine the new trail sections. People with weed eaters are needed to burn down the grass down to dirt level. People with shovels and spades are needed to fill in ruts and level off bumps and ridges. If you can even do just a couple hundred feet at a time I will be so ever grateful for your help. I do so appreciate your help and your patience with the new course as it matures. Thank you.
A quick note to single speed riders: Because of the current grass cover and existing bumpiness you will probably have more fun riding if you run a couple cogs easier on your gearing. I still promise you will get a good work out. Happy riding.
Doug
Monday, October 22
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Finally had a chance to ride the rest of the reroute on the south hill and the reroute on the north hill. I think Doug must be obsessive-compulsive seeing how much he has done!
The difference between the old trail and new is overwhelming to me right now - the length, the bumps, the increased drag from the grass - it is difficult to ride more than a lap or two for me.
I think the biggest priority is getting the tread trimmed down to the dirt. This will take a long time because much of the trail has several years of grass laying down - a couple hundred yards per hour is a fast pace. I try to trim about 18-24 inches wide.
In my mind, the first two sections to trim down are the downhill along the tennis courts/soccer fields to the road. That will allow people to bail out onto the road and back to the old singletrack at the middle creek.
The north hill reroute is fun and challenging and should be trimmed down soon as well.
The meandering interior around two miles in length will take many hours to trim down to the dirt.
The current trail condition is the worst it will be and the most difficult to ride so please keep that in mind when forming an opinion on the trail. As the tread is trimmed and the bumps smoothed, it will become better, faster, and more fun.
Everyone can thank Dale for taking the new North section down to dirt level with his weed wacker. It makes a huge difference. Thanks Dale!
From now on riders should follow the flags and ride the new sections at Tranquility and stay off the old rutted bypassed trail. We are going to reseed the closed sections later this Fall.
Also cleared the tread of dead debrie through the shumak, cut out small stumps and reflagged so it. Please don't break off the low branch at the 180 degree turn. This is a technical trail feature. If you have to dab, then dab, don't make it easier.
The bottom section of the downhill along the tennis court/soccer field is trimmed to ground. I widened one turn so we can carry more speed. Please use the outside path.
One rider stopped and thanked us for the new reroute. He said it was great and he noticed improvements to the tread each time he came out.
I can make it out this weekend for a little more weed wacking. Does it work best to just use regular cord on the wacker, or would a plastic blade attachment work better?
Actually Tim, Dale and I cleared more trail with weed wackers tonight. While there is still trail to use the weed eater on, it may be more advantages to start working on smoothing the course using shovels, scrapers or the much recommended hula ho. Mulhalls sells these. If you need a weed wacker to use I currently have Greg's and I'm toasted on the weed wacking for a while.
I'd rather do tread scalping than hula hoeing, myself. I only got a 100 feet or so where you cross over the middle angle road. That flat needs to be done to where Doug worked on the hill. There is also the trail along the soccer field. I did the flat west end but it needs to be finished through the hill.
Regular cord works best. Scalping the tread kicks back a lot of dirt so wear long pants, sleeves, hat, eye protection, gloves, and keep your mouth closed. 8-)
OK ... hula hoeing it is. I had to google 'Hula Hoe' because I was not familiar with the term. After much reading ... I now am well versed in a variety of hoe's, and proper hoe'ing technique. A 'Hula Hoe' can be referred to by it's more technical term of "stirrup hoe". So I guess I will be "stirrup hoe'ing" ... although "hula hoe'ing" sounds more fun? :-)
But seriously, thanks for all the effort and work on the reroutes and trail extensions, things are shaping up nicely!
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