Trail Conditions

[mergs]

Folks

Taking a cue from the folks at CLIMBonline.org, we've added a Trail Conditions status block which is now available on JORBA.org. To see the status of the parks we're actively stewarding simply point ye browser here: http://www.jorba.org/
and note the top right "block" called Trail Conditions.

Our chapters will do out best to keep it up to date. Some chapters will indicate the report date so you can know when the last onsite report was done.

Just a general note on statuses. In general most of the year the conditions will be good. That means use common sense when riding and encountering muddy spots. Stellar will probably only occur once we hit dry spells and even the porrly draining parks are dry. Poor is typically monsoon season, or late winter early spring freeze thaw (that we're getting now). In the winter if the ground is frozen/dry you are good to go. When the snow is melting, please dust off the road bike. 🙂

I know, I know... I am preaching to the choir here 😀 , but it bears repeating. Cheers!

 

[Norm]

This is really cool...IF it's kept updated. Should there be more parks? Round Valley?

I also think you should add a static entry of "Stellar - Road" just to reinforce the silly notion some people have that they just absolutely must ride the trails regardless of conditions.

Anyway, cool addition.

 

[mergs]

This is really cool...IF it's kept updated. Should there be more parks? Round Valley?

I also think you should add a static entry of "Stellar - Road" just to reinforce the silly notion some people have that they just absolutely must ride the trails regardless of conditions.

Anyway, cool addition.

I totally agree... if its not current, ya'll are gonna ignore it!

Believe it or not, we currently do not have RV covered. We would love it to be, but that "special someone" 😉 has not yet stepped forward and commit to it. Here's our current coverage:

http://www.jorba.org/index.php?page=16
We omitted several parks (Monmouth Co for example) just for brevity, and you can usually assume adjacent parks drain similarly as the ones listed. We'll adjust the list as time goes on as needed.

 

[Norm]

Ok so today I checked out the Trail Conditions. They seem to be in contention with some direct observations. Yes I know this is not real time. A few suggestions:

1. Make it a point to have these updated Thursday every week. Otherwise the status should be ????
2. Setup contacts for updates. For instance, Jeff rode LM and said it was basically good (JORBA def: conditions OK, some mud possible). You know Jeff so you can trust him. This is a good way to setup a network of trail spies to make the feature better. Of course they need to send the conditions in to some "rep". The "rep" can't be responsible for combing the message boards.
3. Sort by conditions. SWEET at the top, then good, and so on. The list was nice and tight when it started - they were all poor. Now with the different conditions and dates, the list is a jumble. It would be nice to look at the list and say, "Ok looks like the Confederates have SWEET conditions. But us Union Boys really should stick to Ringwood or Round Valley."
4. Minor point, but use 3/27 as your update instead of "March 27", as it helps with readibility.

Please don't take this as criticism. The fact I have gone to the JORBA site 5 times this week means it's a great feature, since I usually don't go there. So big job on that addition. I've designed UIs for many years and this is what I would toss out as my immediate reaction to the feature. I hope this helps in some way.

 

[mergs]

Ok so today I checked out the Trail Conditions. They seem to be in contention with some direct observations. Yes I know this is not real time. A few suggestions:

1. Make it a point to have these updated Thursday every week. Otherwise the status should be ????
2. Setup contacts for updates. For instance, Jeff rode LM and said it was basically good (JORBA def: conditions OK, some mud possible). You know Jeff so you can trust him. This is a good way to setup a network of trail spies to make the feature better. Of course they need to send the conditions in to some "rep". The "rep" can't be responsible for combing the message boards.
3. Sort by conditions. SWEET at the top, then good, and so on. The list was nice and tight when it started - they were all poor. Now with the different conditions and dates, the list is a jumble. It would be nice to look at the list and say, "Ok looks like the Confederates have SWEET conditions. But us Union Boys really should stick to Ringwood or Round Valley."
4. Minor point, but use 3/27 as your update instead of "March 27", as it helps with readibility.

Please don't take this as criticism. The fact I have gone to the JORBA site 5 times this week means it's a great feature, since I usually don't go there. So big job on that addition. I've designed UIs for many years and this is what I would toss out as my immediate reaction to the feature. I hope this helps in some way.

Norm, thanks for the comments above, they are all good ones. I'll see about implementing them early next week (I'm outta here in about an hour and won't have time to get a hold of the reps, etc).

I have been thinking along much the same lines. Thanks again.