WVP/Chimney Rock TM SUNDAY 11/9 9am

[Kirt]

We are back at it with a County Park Commission scheduled session for SUNDAY Nov 9th @ 9am

We will meet at Newmans Lane AT 9AM. Tentative projects include the bridge repair on blue and then moving over to white, fixing a couple of muddy areas.

Come join us if you can.

Usual info:

- Tools will be supplied
- We will be walking to work spots
- Bring gloves, something to drink & bug spray (though we have extra if needed).

Let me know if you have any questions and hope to see you there.

 

[Kirt]

Bringing this to the top again. Hoping a few people will show to help knock out the projects.

 

[rottin']

On my radar now...

 

[Patrick]

oh yeah....

 

[Kirt]

Bump for tomorrow. Please join if you can.

 

[pooriggy]

IN

 

[Patrick]

Before

During

Maybe @Kirt took an after???

 

[jdog]

We also re-alined the trail in another spot and moved dirt for 3.5 hrs.

I wish more people would show up for these dig days. If not, please consider making financial contributions as you see fit.

Donate - JORBA

Donate to support advocacy and the construction of new trails, upgrades to existing routes, and the installation of signage to enhance rider safety and

jorba.org

 

[Norm]

I wish more people would show up for these dig days. If not, please consider making financial contributions as you see fit.

At a certain point, we need to say that volunteer hours are needed far more than the money. Unless we can start paying trolls in pennies, we need people to do the work. Money doesn't help in these TM sessions even a fraction.

I didn't go today but I have done my fair share of work at this park. Time and time again, these sessions pop up and the people who ride 1000+ miles here every year come up with lame ass excuse after lame ass excuse to never show for a single session.

Unfortunately, we've now lost our park rep who has put in approximately 45 billion hours over the past 18 years. Today is literally the day that you will need to stop saying, "Well someone else is going to take care of it."

Now everyone needs to step up a little bit if you want to have a park to ride.

 

[Cole]

At a certain point, we need to say that volunteer hours are needed far more than the money. Unless we can start paying trolls in pennies, we need people to do the work. Money doesn't help in these TM sessions even a fraction.

I didn't go today but I have done my fair share of work at this park. Time and time again, these sessions pop up and the people who ride 1000+ miles here every year come up with lame ass excuse after lame ass excuse to never show for a single session.

Unfortunately, we've now lost our park rep who has but in approximately 45 billion hours over the past 18 years. Today is literally the day that you will need to start saying, "Well someone else is going to take care of it."

Now everyone needs to step up a little bit if you want to have a park to ride.

I know I need to do more. Rode a bike more this year than ever...

 

[jdog]

At a certain point, we need to say that volunteer hours are needed far more than the money. Unless we can start paying trolls in pennies, we need people to do the work. Money doesn't help in these TM sessions even a fraction.

I didn't go today but I have done my fair share of work at this park. Time and time again, these sessions pop up and the people who ride 1000+ miles here every year come up with lame ass excuse after lame ass excuse to never show for a single session.

Unfortunately, we've now lost our park rep who has but in approximately 45 billion hours over the past 18 years. Today is literally the day that you will need to stop saying, "Well someone else is going to take care of it."

Now everyone needs to step up a little bit if you want to have a park to ride.

I was going to ride this am, but I had this feeling that no one show up to dig.

I was right.

I am glad I went.

Here is an open challenge for others to do the same. Especially if you’ve never been to a TM before. It’s rewarding as hell to ride a section that you worked on.

 

[Steve Vai]

Would be cool if there was a list of things that need to be done and folks could go in whenever to work. If that’s legal? Not specifically at CR but in general.

 

[pooriggy]

Yeah, this is a good time to remind everyone that if you ride trails, you should be volunteering 2-3x/yr.

The primary people who fix, maintain and build trails are volunteers. There is no fee to use public land, the payback is your time.

The hardest part of being a Jorba rep is getting volunteers to show up. Places like 6-mile, Allaire, Stephen's, CR, that get hundreds of mtbers/wk and 2 volunteers show up on a Saturday and one of them is a hiker. This is disheartening.

Get involved, this is your responsibility as a mtber. Missing 3 rides per year is not going to make or break you. Showing up 3x in a year to volunteer WILL have a huge positive impact on our trails.

The like button is a nice sentiment, but liking trail stuff and not showing up is as useful as throwing a drowning man some "likes".

This post is not meant to call you out but rather a request to please do what you can, when you can.

Tanks

 

[Patrick]

Would be cool if there was a list of things that need to be done and folks could go in whenever to work. If that’s legal? Not specifically at CR but in general.

Beyond the general "pick up sticks" ?? Garbage collection? work the water issues in spots?

Probably too large/dangerous to go alone - like reworking the guardrail by the hi-tek crew.

There are a small number of people doing most of the work. probably the same at each of the parks.

---
at CR yesterday -

The bridge project had 1 person I've not met before - Leslie. Then it was Ranger Ryan, Kirt, Iggy, and me. J was working on white. If we had one more person, we could have sent them to help J, cause we had enough around the bridge to get the heavy lifting done, then split up smaller tasks.

These were specific projects - they were aligned with the VTM effort.
So the county was advertising, we were advertising. There was the Saturday version at the Sourlands - I think that was just George & Mike.
So it is either the time of year, malaise, or poor reach to the people who would care.

---

It is volunteers trying to get volunteers -

Perhaps pulling in the YDKS crowd? Other influencers in the space?

no easy solution -

 

[christryon]

Would be cool if there was a list of things that need to be done and folks could go in whenever to work. If that’s legal? Not specifically at CR but in general.

Funny you should ask...stealing this from the NYNJ Trail Conference Trail Maintenance Manual:

TRAIL MAINTAINER RESPONSIBILITIES

• Inspecting/reporting - Every time you ride, keep an eye out for issues (obstructions and hazards). Anything you can't or don't know how to deal with, post here. Include a picture with something for scale (glove, bike, or helmet), and a screenshot from trailforks of where you are on the trail. This might not sound like a big effort (and it isn't!), but for those that maintain, knowing what needs help directs our prioritization and planning. It gets us to the problem faster 🙂 Things to look for punji sticks (anything sharp pointing towards trail users), blowdown/deadfall.
• Clearing the trail of natural obstructions and litter. I encourage everyone to ride with a bag they can throw trash in and pick up anything. We are the first line of defence.
• If you feel comfortable, carry a pocket chainsaw. I do and used it yesterday with some other bikers to clear deadfall from Clayton. They are good for maybe up to 8" diameter logs. Foldable saws are also extremely useful.

If you'd like to go out on a dedicated mission, here's some ideas:

• Carry a pair of loppers or hand pruning shears and clip anything in the trail corridor. A trail corridor is 2' on either side and 8' tall.
• Go out with a normal bow rake and clear any low spots (where water is gathering) of leaves, sticks, etc.
• Go out with a pulaski and where there are nicks that are full of sediment, clear them out.
• Simply picking up trash is always a good idea.

The tools mentioned above can be bought at many places, and the links are not endorsements of any brand or retailer, just examples. You don't need to spend lots of $ on any of these tools. They all wear out and you will need to buy new ones over time.

Some of these tasks take a little expereince to know what to look for on the trail, so volunteer a few times and you'll learn what to look for.

You can always reach out to a JORBA Chapter Lead like @Kirt @Norm or @jdog or me and let them know you'd like to go out, and is there anything that needs attention. We all have long lists of work to do. If you look at the JORBA website, there's a page for every park, and each park has an email address. You can reach out and the Chapter lead will be happy for any help!

Trails don't build or maintain themselves. @Norm is right, there's a lot of muscle needed.

 

[Cassinonorth]

The hardest part of being a Jorba rep is getting volunteers to show up.

Learned this pretty quick. It's pretty demoralizing, won't lie....and not even for stuff like trimming. That sucks, 100%. Don't blame people for finding excuses to avoid those sessions.

Being able to ride over a feature or section you worked on is pretty damn cool.

 

[christryon]

Yeah, this is a good time to remind everyone that if you ride trails, you should be volunteering 2-3x/yr.

The primary people who fix, maintain and build trails are volunteers. There is no fee to use public land, the payback is your time.

The hardest part of being a Jorba rep is getting volunteers to show up. Places like 6-mile, Allaire, Stephen's, CR, that get hundreds of mtbers/wk and 2 volunteers show up on a Saturday and one of them is a hiker. This is disheartening.

Get involved, this is your responsibility as a mtber. Missing 3 rides per year is not going to make or break you. Showing up 3x in a year to volunteer WILL have a huge positive impact on our trails.

The like button is a nice sentiment, but liking trail stuff and not showing up is as useful as throwing a drowning man some "likes".

This post is not meant to call you out but rather a request to please do what you can, when you can.

Tanks

This is spot on. I've organized public sessions almost every month this year, and some sessions it's been just me or 1 other person. This past Saturday, We had 5 total and we were able to rebuild a small section of trail. Without them, it would have been trimming and nick clearing. The bigger projects never get done without lots of muscle.

 

[Steve Vai]

Funny you should ask...stealing this from the NYNJ Trail Conference Trail Maintenance Manual:

TRAIL MAINTAINER RESPONSIBILITIES

• Inspecting/reporting - Every time you ride, keep an eye out for issues (obstructions and hazards). Anything you can't or don't know how to deal with, post here. Include a picture with something for scale (glove, bike, or helmet), and a screenshot from trailforks of where you are on the trail. This might not sound like a big effort (and it isn't!), but for those that maintain, knowing what needs help directs our prioritization and planning. It gets us to the problem faster 🙂 Things to look for punji sticks (anything sharp pointing towards trail users), blowdown/deadfall.
• Clearing the trail of natural obstructions and litter. I encourage everyone to ride with a bag they can throw trash in and pick up anything. We are the first line of defence.
• If you feel comfortable, carry a pocket chainsaw. I do and used it yesterday with some other bikers to clear deadfall from Clayton. They are good for maybe up to 8" diameter logs. Foldable saws are also extremely useful.

If you'd like to go out on a dedicated mission, here's some ideas:

• Carry a pair of loppers or hand pruning shears and clip anything in the trail corridor. A trail corridor is 2' on either side and 8' tall.
• Go out with a normal bow rake and clear any low spots (where water is gathering) of leaves, sticks, etc.
• Go out with a pulaski and where there are nicks that are full of sediment, clear them out.
• Simply picking up trash is always a good idea.

The tools mentioned above can be bought at many places, and the links are not endorsements of any brand or retailer, just examples. You don't need to spend lots of $ on any of these tools. They all wear out and you will need to buy new ones over time.

Some of these tasks take a little expereince to know what to look for on the trail, so volunteer a few times and you'll learn what to look for.

You can always reach out to a JORBA Chapter Lead like @Kirt @Norm or @jdog or me and let them know you'd like to go out, and is there anything that needs attention. We all have long lists of work to do. If you look at the JORBA website, there's a page for every park, and each park has an email address. You can reach out and the Chapter lead will be happy for any help!

Trails don't build or maintain themselves. @Norm is right, there's a lot of muscle needed.

Sweet. I own all of my own trail tools and can do projects in the AM before work. Like a lot of people, I'm not super inclined to give up the one free day I have a week to dig when I can be riding my bike. Doing smaller things over an hour or two here and there is a lot more plausible.

As a side note, I've become, or even "we've" become a little spoiled at Chimney Rock. I know Kirt and Jay are going to be there most of the week and if a project needs doing Paul is gonna send a group of 50 dudes to bang it out in a few hours. I feel like we get busy work to stay out of the way so the old feelings of riding a trail you built isn't the same.

 

[thegock]

Funny you should ask...stealing this from the NYNJ Trail Conference Trail Maintenance Manual:

TRAIL MAINTAINER RESPONSIBILITIES

• Inspecting/reporting - Every time you ride, keep an eye out for issues (obstructions and hazards). Anything you can't or don't know how to deal with, post here. Include a picture with something for scale (glove, bike, or helmet), and a screenshot from trailforks of where you are on the trail. This might not sound like a big effort (and it isn't!), but for those that maintain, knowing what needs help directs our prioritization and planning. It gets us to the problem faster 🙂 Things to look for punji sticks (anything sharp pointing towards trail users), blowdown/deadfall.
• Clearing the trail of natural obstructions and litter. I encourage everyone to ride with a bag they can throw trash in and pick up anything. We are the first line of defence.
• If you feel comfortable, carry a pocket chainsaw. I do and used it yesterday with some other bikers to clear deadfall from Clayton. They are good for maybe up to 8" diameter logs. Foldable saws are also extremely useful.

If you'd like to go out on a dedicated mission, here's some ideas:

• Carry a pair of loppers or hand pruning shears and clip anything in the trail corridor. A trail corridor is 2' on either side and 8' tall.
• Go out with a normal bow rake and clear any low spots (where water is gathering) of leaves, sticks, etc.
• Go out with a pulaski and where there are nicks that are full of sediment, clear them out.
• Simply picking up trash is always a good idea.

The tools mentioned above can be bought at many places, and the links are not endorsements of any brand or retailer, just examples. You don't need to spend lots of $ on any of these tools. They all wear out and you will need to buy new ones over time.

Some of these tasks take a little expereince to know what to look for on the trail, so volunteer a few times and you'll learn what to look for.

You can always reach out to a JORBA Chapter Lead like @Kirt @Norm or @jdog or me and let them know you'd like to go out, and is there anything that needs attention. We all have long lists of work to do. If you look at the JORBA website, there's a page for every park, and each park has an email address. You can reach out and the Chapter lead will be happy for any help!

Trails don't build or maintain themselves. @Norm is right, there's a lot of muscle needed.

My preference is to carry on every ride a 300mm folding Silky saw and a heavy duty hand lopper (for up to 0.75" face slappers and thorns). That way, if you see something up to an 8" log, you can deal with it on the spot. A prominent poster on this board asked me on the White trail at CR 10 years ago, incredulously, whether I carried the saw on every ride.

 

[christryon]

Sweet. I own all of my own trail tools and can do projects in the AM before work. Like a lot of people, I'm not super inclined to give up the one free day I have a week to dig when I can be riding my bike. Doing smaller things over an hour or two here and there is a lot more plausible.

As a side note, I've become, or even "we've" become a little spoiled at Chimney Rock. I know Kirt and Jay are going to be there most of the week and if a project needs doing Paul is gonna send a group of 50 dudes to bang it out in a few hours. I feel like we get busy work to stay out of the way so the old feelings of riding a trail you built isn't the same.

For Six Mile, @jdog implemented a trail section concept where each person is responsible for a part of a trail. Maybe that’s something the new Chapter Lead will implement for Chimney. I find that gives a great sense of ownership and encourages exactly what @Steve Vai is talking about.