Soquel Demonstration work planned for Feb. 16th! Let's get a big ole crew out there!

[squashyo]

Who's in!? I know a lot of you ride here...time to give back and make the trails strong for another season. With these new rains, dirt should be awesome for moving. Any new faces planning on making a showing?


Sign up at: Trailworkers

[StuLax18]

Are you going to ride in from up top and work on stuff again? If so I might join you for that.

[squashyo]

Are you going to ride in from up top and work on stuff again? If so I might join you for that.

I am definitely riding in but not sure what trail we are working on...we'll coordinate closer to the date. Based on how many cars pack the lot every weekend, sure hope we see some new faces.

[dvo]

Any idea as to why the two side trail step downs were closed down on Corral?

[squashyo]

Any idea as to why the two side trail step downs were closed down on Corral?

Please say it ain't so!!!

[dvo]

They are both in the fire road section on the right, one midway down the other almost at the intersection with Sulphur. The first one had a tree felled and cut up across the landing area and the second had slash dragged across the beginning of the trail closing it off. Both looked to be intentional closures as opposed to accidental.

[StuLax18]

Aww man, I actually liked those. Last time I rode them I got them mixed up and thought the harder one was the easier one until I was in the air. That's the day I decided to get gripper shoes.

[c-wal]

Please say it ain't so!!!

I was bummed to find them closed off on Wednesday... Why was the jump on Braille closed too?

[squashyo]

I saw two jumps removed on Braille which bummed me out! The first being a ramp jump that has been there forever and was sturdy as all heck (no idea why this was dropped). The second was the dirt jump after wall ride. Pretty sure the dirt jump was closed because a tree fell on the landing and they haven't got a chain saw up there to clear it. I can't think of any reason why they closed it otherwise.

We need a good showing for these trail work days so we can keep the stunts in place and to add new ones, all...come on out and help if you can!

[sparkyJay]

Who's in!? I know a lot of you ride here...time to give back and make the trails strong for another season. With these new rains, dirt should be awesome for moving. Any new faces planning on making a showing?


Sign up at: Trailworkers

All signed up. This is a great group to do trail work with. Seriously.

[ARider]

Yeah, what's up with shutting Demo stuff down (Patty & company?)!!!!

Kinda hard to go out and work on trail if the result is closing down fun stuff that has been there for 10+ years and building "grandma go arounds" to bypass steep techy climbs (ridge trail).

Don't dumb down the Demo, make it better!

Perhaps start a trail work night to correct all the work that was done the previous day?

[Carl Hungus]

Yeah, what's up with shutting Demo stuff down (Patty & company?)!!!!

Kinda hard to go out and work on trail if the result is closing down fun stuff that has been there for 10+ years and building "grandma go arounds" to bypass steep techy climbs (ridge trail).

Don't dumb down the Demo, make it better!

Perhaps start a trail work night to correct all the work that was done the previous day?

Nicely done bro.

[pliebenberg]

...held field training/certification sessions on Thursday and Friday for their chainsaw crews. Drew, Patty and myself were fortunate to be invited to participate in getting certified; we will be able to assist CDF when it comes to using saws to maintain/construct trails at Demo.

The connection with this thread is that there was a significant amount of tree-felling activity along the upper road portion of Corral Trail; some of the side trails may have been impacted (really) by this. It may be some time before the firewood harvesters are able to get this downed wood hauled away so ride with caution. Drew and/or Patty may have a handle if some of those side trails may remained closed.

Some pix:

Lunch time


Parking was at a premium


Before "real" trees were tackled by the trainees they had perfect their cuts on "totem" poles.


There were 8 teams consisting of 1 certifier/instructor and 3 trainees


Almost all the trees selected for felling were "leaners" or had some other sort of defect. The harder the tree was to deal with meant it had more instructional value.


"My" tree; students are graded on what the stump looks like


A few bikers came up Corral; they didn't have to wait very long to get waved through


The saw's not stuck; the instructor and the trainees have stopped to discuss how to perfect the face cut for falling this difficult leaner


Part of the training had to with tearing down the saws for cleaning and sharpening the chains after the session in the woods


Here Drew removes the bar on...


...the new MBOSC chainsaw!


Go MBOSC!

Sign up at Trailworkers!

[Tim F.]

Please say it ain't so!!!

Oh, very much so! Trees down along the tread of the trail, jumps and berms torn out, the shoot up above the Sulfur intersection has a load of dirt dumped on it. Some of the kickers on the side of the fire road were graded, and the rain bars on the roads were graded over(lucky if you can get 2 inches of air of most of them).

Sucks, Corral used to be a fun trail, now it's more lame than Sulfur or St Joes.

[StuLax18]

Wow, the only time I ever rode it was with you also. Didn't even get to fully experience it.

[rho]

i'm a big fat ol maybe. I'm getting some wisdom teeth removed the day before... so... I'm pretty sure riding won't happen, not sure if digging will be possible or not.

[Tim F.]

Will there be a vote on what (jumps, berms, ect versus drainage work) and where we work? As shallow as it may sound, most people don't want to work on drainage, when they were expecting to work on what's significant to their interest. With the amount of man hours spent on demolishing popular segments lately by Patty and Drew and company, they can put in drainage work during the week. New volenteers, as well as old get turned off expecting to work one thing, and then end up working on what they consider insignificant or overkill issues.

[StuLax18]

That's the one good thing from last time is that we had so many people that we were able to hit the drainage but also a lot more stuff. I know Drew and some guys put in a bunch of work on a really nice berm. They also did some work on a jump that Josh would know more about because I didn't see much of that. I'm guessing now that drainage is done the fun stuff can be focused on, and they seemed up to taking ideas on what to do.

[PACS]

Sucks, Corral used to be a fun trail, now it's more lame than Sulfur or St Joes.

Whoa, that's a bit harsh. You'd have to drop a bomb on corral for it to be as lame as Sulfur or St. Joes.

My experience with volunteering at Demo has been that, yes, you do spend some time clearing out drains, but you also get to work on features and you get a say in what stays or goes. Its volunteering, so you cant really go out there with the mind set that you are going to build kickers all day. But you can get out there as a representive of your style of riding and give back to the place that has put a smile on your face so many times.

The free beer and food aint bad either.:-)

[dirtvert]

The g/f and I are in!

[squashyo]

While I agree with the comments here about being part of the solution, I am a little pissed off that Corral was treated with such malice. Were there seriously not enough trees to train on that they had to pick trees that just happened to be on or effect the features/side play? Why did they have to drop anything on features at all? If you are training, drop the trees so they fall in places that don't impact the trails...isn't that what the training is all about...controlling the drop? This sounds very much like a planned sanitation which, if true, really sucks. Corral was my favorite trail and it sounds like it was basically turned into what it used to be which wasn't very fun. I love you forest guys but thumbs down on this one. Really bummed out!

[drew p]

Ok. I will tell you what I know and what I think. These are my opinions and not those of CAL FIRE or MBOSC.

I am not sure which side routes had trees felled across them or why. I do know there were many crews out there for the training who were not familiar with the forest or the trail network and may not have even realized they were falling trees across routes that were ridden. I do know my crew did not fall any trees across any trails. I also know that it is CAL FIRE policy to close off side routes and other features that are not constructed on sanctioned workdays, are unsafe, are unsustainable or causing other environmental impacts, or are a significant distance off of the main trail.

As far as what work is done on workdays, I have a couple of thoughts. First of all, you can't complain if you don't show up. We welcome input on workdays and what our projects are, but we have to remember that the priorities of the land manager come FIRST. The trails at SDSF are steep, ridden hard, and are mostly old logging skids or on the fall line and do not drain well. Building and improving stunts is great, but without the attention to drainage the trails have had on on workdays for the last decade they would be even more rutted, loose, skidded out, and eroded than they already are. What most people fail to realized is that CAL FIRE's mission is not to provide gnarly trails for you to ride, but to be responsible stewards of the public land while demonstrating multiple uses of managed forestland. This means that they must also consider other impacts, for example, the impact of sediment on endangered steelhead and coho salmon that live in Soquel Creek.

CAL FIRE is the best land manager mountain bikers in the Bay Area have had or will ever have. Demo is a special place, and we are lucky we have such a great relationship with the land managers. This relationship did not just happen by default, it is the result of a small group of people working hundreds of hours over many years with the forest managers, building that relationship and trust. So if you have not put in the effort and time to build those relationships and shown the land manager you are competent and capable of doing work that meets THEIR goals, I don't feel like you have the right to complain about what is done on workdays. I liked riding those side trails on Corral, but if the land manager wanted them closed I am not going to complain. Those side trails are insignificant compared to the trail experiences we make by working cooperatively with CAL FIRE, and MBoSC and Stewards of Soquel Forest have been working with CAL FIRE and there is a very bright and exciting future for trails at Demo ahead.

So look at the big pictures, show up, voice your opinions, and ride it don't slide it.

Drew Perkins
Trails Officer
Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[DrWheels]

I don't think I can make this one, family stuff - sorry. I should be able to do the March date, though.

[Carl Hungus]

What most people fail to realized is that CAL FIRE's mission is not to provide gnarly trails for you to ride, but to be responsible stewards of the public land while demonstrating multiple uses of managed forestland.

This is really the unfortunate truth of this whole situation. Lot's of people want to pretend like Demo is some kind of mountain bike park. In a perfect world, that's the case but the reality is, it's not. It's not even a park. This is our situation in the bay area. You can either work within the system...show up to these work days and politely and passionately share your opinions and vision. Or you can b!tch and moan on the internet, alienate the only real mtb allies we have in the greater bay area and build some bootleg trails that will eventually get the axe. The choice is yours and personally I don't care which one you choose.

Whatever you do though, don't throw people like Patty and Drew under the bus because they somehow haven't managed to transform Demo into Whistler South.

[StuLax18]

The workday at Demo on Braille a couple weeks ago is a perfect example of a day in which the environmentalist type goals and rider goals were both accomplished in one day. Pretty much all the drains were cleared out and made better, sections were smoothed over and made more resistant to water erosion, and a really nice berm was built. Not to mention the piece of wood put over that one turn that I guess gets pretty mushy, and the jump that was shored up.

The stuff getting removed/destroyed/covered on Corral sucks, but from what Drew is saying, it's just Cal Fire doing what Cal Fire is supposed to do. I don't speak for everyone, but personally I'd much rather ride Braille (for example) with no jumps/features than not get to ride Braille at all. I know for someone like you, Josh, that's not as easy of a statement to make though.