MTB Trailcare

Way point 70 involves the redevelopment of 3 turns.  In previous trail news the evolution of the climbing turn at the lower end of way point 70 was posted.  Today we started the middle turn - the hardest.  Thanks to those who attended and worked so hard under the direction of Bruce.  Also thanks to the rain that stopped as we arrived.

As for the lower turn, the aim was to steel vertical from the turn by harvesting soil and stone from the high entry and depositing it through the lower part of the turn.  So we started.

Following are pics of our progress.

This turn will have an omega shape allowing for the 2 old trails to act as sustanable drains before, during and after the main turn.  These pics show a number of places more work will be done.  

The entry through the tree trunks will be a visual clue to reduce speed, but as you will be actually running straight at the time you pass them, they will not be a risk.  After the trees, the trail will drop into a reverse grade which is also a gentle right hand turn to direct you over a high point and upslope just past the larger tree trunk immediately before the main turn.  

The way we left the turn today, it looks like it will be really tight, but the outer edge of the upper part of the turn will become a gentle berm a metre or so above the current trail tread.  That tread will remain the chosen line for a lot of riders and is on solid base - durable.  However, there will also be many riders using the berm to descend and climb as the overall vertical drop of the corner will be halved or better, allowing the more dramatic lines to be desirable.

After shaping the corner with massive stones and lots of ballast stone, we added some soil.  There will be a rock to soil ratio of 4:1 in this construction and it should drain any water not removed from the trail by contour drainage.

A solid lower exit is needed and it must include lower trail edge protection when crossing the old trail, which will still channel water through the large stones and ballast.  The big stone was too big to lift. and had to be rolled by 4 people.

So at work's end, this is what we left.  Really great effort and result for a single trailcare session.  Thanks again workers and Bruce for running the show on Mongrel's