Wharton Conditions

Any info on what conditions should be at Wharton this weekend?
 
Yeah, snow will likely be gone, but even if it doesn't rain the ground will probably be soft. Temps haven't been quite high enough to promote quick draining and there was around 5-6" of snow over ice on Saturday. Maintenance listed on the schedule this week so I suspect Kurt will be chiming in soon.
 
We just got back from riding. the snow is gone and the trails are in good shape. Obviously, after the rain that is forecast for tomorrow, it will need time to dry out, but snow and ice are gone.
 
Rode Wharton today - did 50 miles form Atsion for the orange, blue and green trails. They were in really good shape -- two sections on the orange were basically stream crossings, but one of those was easy (only like 3 inches deep). The other was up to my hub, though, so be careful -- if you are riding clockwise, it's about a mile or two after the split between orange and blue. Otherwise, though, trails were in really good shape. The only soft parts were where the pine needles sit deep along a section that almost looks new (on the combined blue/orange/green section -- is that section new? It looked and felt like it) and they weren't even soft in the sense that there's risk of damage -- they just made for slow running (trail felt loamy.) The fire road sections from Atsion around the bridge weren't great, but I was able to zig-zag around the water.
 
Hub deep water crossings where there were no water crossings before, means the trail is not draining and the sand is saturated. If people keep riding in conditions like that, the Batsto mtb trails will end up as nothing but sugar sand.

Better to ride the double track in conditions like this, then wear down the mtb trail to sugary shit.
 
1speed said:
Rode Wharton today - did 50 miles form Atsion for the orange, blue and green trails. They were in really good shape -- two sections on the orange were basically stream crossings, but one of those was easy (only like 3 inches deep). The other was up to my hub, though, so be careful -- if you are riding clockwise, it's about a mile or two after the split between orange and blue. Otherwise, though, trails were in really good shape. The only soft parts were where the pine needles sit deep along a section that almost looks new (on the combined blue/orange/green section -- is that section new? It looked and felt like it) and they weren't even soft in the sense that there's risk of damage -- they just made for slow running (trail felt loamy.) The fire road sections from Atsion around the bridge weren't great, but I was able to zig-zag around the water.
Click to expand...
Maybe we'll see some new faces at the t/m to repair the damage we create hmmmm?
 
pibbles said:
Maybe we'll see some new faces at the t/m to repair the damage we create hmmmm?
Click to expand...

Doubtful. 1 Speed is from west of the river.
Frank McGuire wrote an article in DirtRag about soil types and riding conditions several months ago, blowing well deserved kisses to Allegrippas, but also mentioning that the Newark DE riders were upset that the PA riders would regularly destroy the local DE trails in the winter. And based on what appeared to be questionable second hand information, went on to suggest those same PA riders should visit the pines instead of DE in the winter. Give Dirt Rag a big f u for legitimizing riding in inappropiate conditions.
 
Last edited:
I probably should have mentioned in my conditions report on Friday, that we did not ride on the orange section where it gets wet. We only rode orange to where is splits and then stayed on blue. Believe it or not, the orange trail gives me motion sickness! So weird.
 
slingblade_uhhuh said:
Hub deep water crossings where there were no water crossings before, means the trail is not draining and the sand is saturated. If people keep riding in conditions like that, the Batsto mtb trails will end up as nothing but sugar sand.

Better to ride the double track in conditions like this, then wear down the mtb trail to sugary shit.
Click to expand...

For some reason many people seem to think there is endless soil in the pines. Unfortunately there is a thin layer of organic matter, some soil (made up of years of organic matter) then sand. That's it.

There is only so much land the park system will give riders.......

May want to give a second thought to "shredding" in the wet.
 
slingblade_uhhuh said:
Doubtful. 1 Speed is from west of the river.
Frank McGuire wrote an article in DirtRag about soil types and riding conditions several months ago, blowing well deserved kisses to Allegrippas, but also mentioning that the Newark DE riders were upset that the PA riders would regularly destroy the local DE trails in the winter. And based on what appeared to be questionable second hand information, went on to suggest those same PA riders should visit the pines instead of DE in the winter. Give Dirt Rag a big f u for legitimizing riding in inappropiate conditions.
Click to expand...

Not sure if you are joking, but kinda crazy to segment people into such categories. What is this, the union vs the confederacy? 1speed (Marty) is a stand up guy and I doubt he would be "shredding" in unsuitable trail conditions. I was only here once, and we went over a stream that was up to my brake rotor, but the trails were frozen solid and I left with no mud on my bike. Could this be what we are talking about?
 
743power said:
Not sure if you are joking, but kinda crazy to segment people into such categories. What is this, the union vs the confederacy? 1speed (Marty) is a stand up guy and I doubt he would be "shredding" in unsuitable trail conditions. I was only here once, and we went over a stream that was up to my brake
Click to expand...

Stating now I am not attacking 1speed, just putting info out during the wet season.
 
Marty is a real nice dude and i'm certain he rides responsibly. Likewise, slingblade and pibbles are passionate about Wharton and may come off negatively and in the wrong vain when read in typed words, but they mean well. No need for forum drama after a long winter guys.

My whole team rode Wharton yesterday as well. I chose to take the day off the bike, but from the pics I saw it looked great. Can we all get along, and join JORBA while we are at it?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Trail Conditions

Current Conditions

powered by Trailforks.com
Back
Top Bottom