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.