It was like a blast from the past when 6 motos went by us going up Birdhouse Sunday. and all 2-strokes. Truly awesome, the ring-ding-ding and smell of oil in the exhaust. Made me wish for all the bikes I had in the '70s.
The trail didn't look all that happy about it, though. Those tight, steep switchbacks near the bottom took a severe ass-beating from the knobbies and several berms looked to be in pain as we made our way up. Can't fault the riders; no gratuitous roosting or power-sliding, just riding the trail. The little 125 in the group was wound pretty tight climbing the steep stuff.
So is this sustainable? I can't see this trail surviving in that scenario. Do we need to re-think the switchbacks?
While I won't pretend that the turns were/are perfect, they lost a lot of their composition before ever getting measurable moisture (almost a year) and getting packed in. They all could be wider but with the terrain and workforce that was what we could do at the time. Either way, I don't have any problems revisiting and doing some further hardening and rework. We can get something together when we get back from Montana.
I was gonna chime in and give my two cents then realized how long its been since my last trai day. So I will just add that i too have an opionion on the matter and leave it at that.
Why is it so hard for moto riders to understand the damage they cause on trails like this? I would never consider riding up this trail on a moto. Just because its allowed doesn't mean you should.
The goal is/was to design build trails that withstand traffic (motorized and non-motorized) in both directions. I think for the most part, Birdhouse does this but the turns were a concern. I'd like to do some rework of the existing turns before we do anything major. Again, the fact that this new trail hadnt had measurable precipitation for the first year of existence played a big part. I'll take a look when I'm back.
Were lucky that the west side of 337 doesn't get near the moto traffic as the Cedro area. If it did, some of those trails would not hold up for long and end up like the east side of the hwy did.. Motos, tight, steep single track and hikers and bikes don't mix well. The law says they can be there so Yes they have the right. That don't make it right or mean they should.
There were a few moto guys that helped regularly with constructing Birdhouse. I think we can expect more and more help from that user group but I haven't put in enough time in courting that group but will put more energy into that working toward 2014.
Remember, the motos have been riding the entire area (Cedro/Otero) for decades. They can be a great partner and if you think mtn bikes are limited on the SRD, think about their situation of only being able to ride on the south end of the district. At least mtn bikes can ride foothills, east side non-wild, Placitas, etc in addition to Cedro/Otero.
I should also mention the $350,000 grant NMOHVA brought in that's paid for all the signs, kiosks, etc.
I'm also hoping to get a grant for Yamaha in the future to improve the culverts under NM-337 for a new trail. They (Yamaha) give out grants regularly in the tens of thousands. IMBA on the other hand you may be lucky to get $1,500. I'm not saying we do things because of the money, but as they say, membership has its privledges...
Have you considered making cinder block berms like some of the high traffic bike parks use? They seem to hold up fairly well to bikes and motos. Alamo Switchbacks in the Jemez used cinder blocks too. Maybe the motos could help hall them into place.
1. Count me in on re-working the turns.
2. A better turning area could be picked for some turns though short-cutting could become an issue.
3. The soil in the area and the drought have not helped at all.
4. Tyrebyter, skerry gets agitated when Birdhouse is called Birdcage. Wrong connotations or something like that...
Notice I managed to call it both in the same post. Creeping senility.
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