As many know, there are some repairs going on over on 6 bridges trail. Trail can be accessed by the new bridge. If you have interest in helping, Dirty Thursday work days at 4pm most weeks. Masks and social distancing practices are in affect.
In addition to that work, Art and I are doing work on the old race trail. This trail is over 20 years old and much of it was built before we knew anything about sustainable trail building. Being that the race trail was the first trail made for bikes in Ringwood I thought bringing it up to current standards was important. Also, after having the festival at Shepherds Lake several times, it became apparent that Ringwood suffered from lack of diverse inventory and stacked loop design. What that means is that we could use some beginner friendly trails close to the lake with more technical trails branching off of that. Since we can not make new trails, repairing old trails may be our best way to improve the layout of the park. We have completed the first of many repairs or re-routes on this trail today. I know some feel if they can ride it, it is perfectly fine, but many sections have gone past the point of repair and are starting to erode. What we hope to do is repair trail cupping if possible, and/or add drainages or grade reversals when the trail is aligned well. In some cases, the trail is poorly aligned and we may do a complete re-route.
We do have some rock roller lines planned and a great viewpoint possibility, if we can get that approval from the park. I think we are looking at 2 summers in all for this project. Work will continue in other areas as well. Right now we are not looking for any giant work days, more small groups.
new section:
closed old trail:
In addition to that work, Art and I are doing work on the old race trail. This trail is over 20 years old and much of it was built before we knew anything about sustainable trail building. Being that the race trail was the first trail made for bikes in Ringwood I thought bringing it up to current standards was important. Also, after having the festival at Shepherds Lake several times, it became apparent that Ringwood suffered from lack of diverse inventory and stacked loop design. What that means is that we could use some beginner friendly trails close to the lake with more technical trails branching off of that. Since we can not make new trails, repairing old trails may be our best way to improve the layout of the park. We have completed the first of many repairs or re-routes on this trail today. I know some feel if they can ride it, it is perfectly fine, but many sections have gone past the point of repair and are starting to erode. What we hope to do is repair trail cupping if possible, and/or add drainages or grade reversals when the trail is aligned well. In some cases, the trail is poorly aligned and we may do a complete re-route.
We do have some rock roller lines planned and a great viewpoint possibility, if we can get that approval from the park. I think we are looking at 2 summers in all for this project. Work will continue in other areas as well. Right now we are not looking for any giant work days, more small groups.
new section:
closed old trail: