A Humbling Experience

Sometimes even your own expectations fall short. Last Sunday 22 local riders showed up for the 3rd annual first annual Humbling 100... or in the parlance of some, Just Another Big Ride ("jabber"for the phonetically challenged). As the cliche goes, "only those who have gone too far know how far one can go,"... well, last weekend we got a glimpse down the long dark corridor of what is possible.
Members of the Trail Building Colletive helped clean and mark close to 70 miles of singletrack for the Pedaling Productions (www.pedalingproductions.com) event. For those not familiar with the hidden gems that the Naples/Italy/Bristol Valleys hold this event was an eye-opening opportunity to sample the goods and white-knuckle it down some of the region's best singletrack descents and become re-aquainted with their granny gear on some of the unmaintained fire/seasonal road climbs cloaked in golf ball sized, loose, pea gravel.
New singletrack along the Naples Creek "Bluff Trail" and Ontario County Park were unveiled for a mass audience. For those of you that liked that, there is more to come; please contact us (trailcollective@gmail.com) for project overviews and timetable.
A re-cap of the day is not what this blog is about, we'll leave that to some of the others - see our links at the side. But please check out the photo gallery and the Garmin data...even upload the course and have at it! Or, just check out the new singletrack... The quick and dirty stats were 111 miles, 16,648 ft of climbing, 10,600 calories and 12:43:00 ride time. For the real data go here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/776836
During those 12 plus hours there was a lot of time to do math: 53 total attempts, 4 completions - your turn for some mental gymnastics.
Enjoy the pics and we'll see you at the Burning Bike Festival this weekend (September 12-14) at Ontario County park for trail building, singletrack ripping and beer drinking - maybe not in that order. Enjoy.

Preparing to be Humble(d)

August has been all about getting the legs back for 10 hours on the bike because if you haven't heard, there is Just Another Big Ride (JabbR) coming up. On September 7th the local mountain bike community will be riding the best singletrack Western New York has to offer - that, and some climbing too. FYI, this is the 3rd year and the planned course has yet to be completed. For more info go to www.PedalingProductions.com.

Utah+ Rental bike + free beer = Good weekend

Trail RIDING Collective

The more astute, and dedicated, of you will have noticed that there have been very few posts this summer. Surprise, surprise... riding has given way to exploring new singletrack and re-visiting old favorites. Sooner or later the GPS files from Shindagin, OCP, Birdseye Hollow, Hi-Tor and Mossy Bank will be posted. Favored events on the horizon are the Humbling Hundred (formerly the Horrible Hundred) on September 7th, and the action packed Mountaineer/Highlander weekend in conjunction with the Burning Bike Festival at Ontario County Park September 12, 13, 14th - for more info go to http://www.victormtbc.com/
This promises to be a fun weekend of riding, partying, riding and partying in that order.

Outside Looking in on the Auburn Trail Extension Project

As of late most of our postings have been substantive, relating to what we've done in the area and how the projects are progressing, however today we'll depart from that to weigh in on a larger scale local project just outside our sphere of direct influence. The Auburn Trail Extension http://www.auburntrail.com/index.html
project is determining how to best use the $885k grant to extend the Auburn Trail from the Fishers Fire Hall to Powder Mills Park. Many trail advocacy groups are already on board and steering the ship in the right direction but lately they have come across a stumbling block. Rightly they are seeking public input for the project, but unfortunately our comments did not come in under their quota for character so we are taking advantage of this venue to voice opinions and concerns......well, that and post some pics of new singletrack in the area.

The Auburn Trail Extension project offers a great opportunity to promote healthy lifestyles, attitudes and most importantly, it can be the vehicle of change to motivate people to re-examine their habits. Yes, we all love the illusion of solitude that narrow singletrack can provide, but certainly The Auburn project isn’t the venue to pursue that end. As someone correctly pointed out, don’t let the process get bogged down by arguing over the minutiae of trail width. That debate can be avoided by setting a clear scope and goal for the project. Having a 3 ft wide path will not viably accommodate joggers, cyclists, in-line skaters, strollers and wheelchairs without users feeling cramped, infringed upon or injured. We have the opportunity to “design out” these problems from the beginning, doing otherwise would be reckless. On the other hand, a path 6 or 8 ft wide can more easily manage two-way traffic and makes the idea of commuting via bicycle or by foot to work, the grocery store, the coffee shop or the gym more appealing to a larger audience. Getting people involved in a non-sedentary activity should be the impetus. As active cyclists we need to understand that fostering a healthy community and culture benefits us all in the end.

Less Blogging = More Riding & Building

Spring is in full swing and doing well to keep the summer heat at bey - seems to be the perfect ingredients for lots of trail building and even more riding. That being said, the trail projects at Ontario County park are in full swing and ready to be ridden and burned in. The new trails offer lots of higher speed flow and moderate technical challenges, so they are available to ride for all ability levels. For those of you looking to bite off more than you can viably masticate....stay tuned, or even better find out how you can be involved in the process.

Upcoming Work Day, May 4

The Trail Building Collective has recently joined forces with the Genesee Off-Road Cyclists (GROC) www.victormtbc.com to build a new network of multi-use trails at the Ontario County Park in South Bristol. This is an exciting new project and promises to deliver Dryer Road type twists and turns, with a bit more high speed FLOW. The varied topography, camping facilities, and playgrounds include all the right ingredients to create a local mountain bike destination.
For a detailed description of the May 4th events please visit the GROC website:
http://www.victormtbc.com/index.php?option=com_extcalendar&Itemid=77&extmode=view&extid=94
Projects in focus for the day will include an overview of the project scope, clearing existing trails and building a kids loop.
We encourage all parents to bring their kids, their bikes, a snack, and your imagination for a fun morning of creating a singletrack playground for those who will be the future trail builders.

Bridge building

Wednesday provided another beautiful early spring morning along Naples Creek for trail maintenance. Since it is still fishing season we decided to forgo any chainsaw work and proceeded to build a stone bridge across a spring fed wet spot to give the trail a chance to dry out and avoid erosion. This was the ideal project for a small and nimble crew. The pictures tell the story well, but the true test of success was coming back through after a 2 hour ride and seeing sun-dried mud harden the stone in place like mortar. I hope to publish that video soon.
Stay tuned for a trail work schedule and upcoming projects.

Sun, switchbacks, and a visit from the DEC

Wednesday morning brought back a long-lost friend - the sun. Casey, Jeremy and myself met up in Naples to christen some new shovels, clippers and a sharp new mattox. The recent clean-up of the tentatively named " Bluff" trail overlooking Naples creek has gotten a bit of foot traffic from the locals and has generated some positive feedback.
Our arrival in compact, fuel efficient, foreign automobiles with bicycles attached to trunks and rooftops looked a bit out of place in the parking lot early on in the trout fishing season. Upon careful consideration we decided to ring our forest ranger contact to ensure that at least the officials weren't opposed to us working in the area.... we got the OK, but someone showed up to check us out anyway. The timing of that meeting was perfect, a new contact was made, and hopefully we have another ally who can help with material support - Bonus! A productive morning of benching, fallen locust harvesting, and rock hunting yielded a tidy, well-drained switchback WELL under IMBA's cost estimate. This posting is a bit revisionist so I'll keep it short and let the before and after pictures say most of the words.