Lake Ross, Townsville - Australia

[Trevor_S]

here are a couple pics of the great work Peter and Gary have been doing recently











This new trail is Phase 3.

Phase 1 was constructed late last year and early this year with lots of excavator work by Gary and lots of work by volunteers.
Pics here
http://trevors.smugmug.com/gallery/6...77478741_3N55K
and here
http://trevors.smugmug.com/gallery/6...77473040_NjdzN

Phase 2 was done by Greg J and his band of merry volunteers, around the foreshore of the Dam itself. (late 2007 & 2008)

Phase 4 will be to replace that nasty uphill 4-wd hill climb road (misery hill) with some single track but that is a big project as the terrain is VERY rough.

Of course none of this come together without the concerted effort of Peter McLean, and I do mean a lot of work by Pete, none of which he is paid for and he can never get enough accolades for... and of course the great guys at NQ water (now the TCC), who worked with Pete on the bureaucracy to make the entire thing happen. A legal, XC Trail network.

[MyOtherBrotherL]

Good Looking work!!

I have a couple of questions about trail that is built with a Mini-X.

I recently visited Douthat State Park in Virginia and was a little disappointed with some of the trail improvements that they did. They weren't horrible but they just didn't seem to be up to the normal IMBA specs that I’m used to seeing. The contracted crew used a Mini-X exclusively for their trail building and drainage repair. I guess because the blade doesn't articulate they didn't do any finishing work. One brand new reroute seemed to be trenched on both sides. Mind you there were lots and lots of grade reversals but it just didn't look right and I have my doubts about the longevity of the trail (but that's just my opinion).

Anyway - My questions for you.

1. How many feet a day were you getting with the Mini-X in the terrain your pictures represent?

2. And how are you doing your finishing work? (Back-Slope and Out-Slope)
Volunteers??
The Mini-X??
A Ditch Witch or like running up behind the Mini-X??

L

[Trevor_S]

Good Looking work!!

Anyway - My questions for you.

1. How many feet a day were you getting with the Mini-X in the terrain your pictures represent?

One Operator and one assistant who is there for safety, to help eg if a track is shed, and in charge of trail construction. Worst case 10m per hour – best 20m per hour gives an average of 15m per hour.

2. And how are you doing your finishing work? (Back-Slope and Out-Slope)
Volunteers??

Yep, Volunteers

The Mini-X??

the X builds the trail, one Excvator track sitting on fill, we wanted about a 600mm wide tread in this instance, the X then walks back at the end of the day, raking the fill off the side with it's buckets.

The trail network has been built progressively, Phase 1, 2 and have been done, Phase 3 being worked on now, Phase 4 yet to be built. Phase 1 and 3 mostly done with the X,

The trail was used in our local 8 Hour race (300 competitors) earlier in the year as well for social riding and light racing. It's a looped course at the local Dam.

More pics here:

Trail Construction
http://trevors.smugmug.com/MTB%20Trails/585576

Social Rides
http://trevors.smugmug.com/gallery/5...01615863_7dvaD

8 Hour Race
http://trevors.smugmug.com/gallery/5...01467121_QxAKW

Night, Club Racing
http://trevors.smugmug.com/gallery/5...71468542_8oDtU

[dburatti]

Nice work with a versatile tool! I spent a month on the Lost Coast of California in the King Range building some sweet singletrack on a Takeuchi TB016. I wish more of them came with a wrist-twist. The one I ran didn't.

D

[Trevor_S]

and the trail work continued with a work all weekend that just past, lots more single track added

[Skookum]

Awesome, thread, cool project. i love trails that are set next to bodies of water.

i've never seen sandbags being used for retention on trail before.

[radair]

Yes, I'm enjoying this too. Was also intrigued by the sandbags; wondering what happens to them when the bags break down.

[Trevor_S]

what happens to them when the bags break down.

They're geofabric bags, made from the same stuff used to line dam walls etc. We have them sewn up and from 100m rolls of geofabric. They don't really break down, well they do if ridden over of course but they are never used on the trail surface. We also throw a little grass seed in them (the bags are of course porous) so after a time they have grass coming out of them and form a very stable surface. Traditional sand bags are useless and break down within weeks in our climate, these things last many many years before they start to break down.

I am not a big fan personally but the guy in charge of this trail project is but that's one of those things we agree to disagree on but that's kewl..

For example I used some here on another trail that I was constructing but disguised them with rock afterwards.


They are also used as the foundation for bridges some times, the bearer logs are laid on them. We mix some cement with dirt, fill the bag, wet it down... voila... We did that here on another project



finished bridge here

[Skookum]

They're geofabric bags, made from the same stuff used to line dam walls etc. We have them sewn up and from 100m rolls of geofabric. They don't really break down, well they do if ridden over of course but they are never used on the trail surface. We also throw a little grass seed in them (the bags are of course porous) so after a time they have grass coming out of them and form a very stable surface. Traditional sand bags are useless and break down within weeks in our climate, these things last many many years before they start to break down.

I am not a big fan personally but the guy in charge of this trail project is but that's one of those things we agree to disagree on but that's kewl..

Interesting.

Hmm i think i understand both points of view. It's putting alot of trust in the bags in many respects and may cause headaches later. i personally wouldn't be a fan at all, if you're not providing it to become part of a stable organic slope using grass seed. But since you are and the time you're saving i can see why you are using it.

My concern would be more of the trail possibly sluffing off on sporadic spots, but from your pictures i think there is more than enough rocks around to patch up problems if they arise in the future.

[Trevor_S]

This is kind of what it is supposed to look like if done properly with geofabric bags and where we got the idea from originally.

http://www.deltalok.com/dl/menu.asp?...ctpics/005.jpg