MTB Trailcare

After all the work on the walled turn up high, a change of scene was welcome.  We moved down to the intersection of Three Hills and Casuarina today.  The most difficult section of Three Hills is down low, where there is very little sideslope and a tendency to waterlogged soil.  It needs to be completed before the wet in summer.

Where we worked today is similar to the combined Casuarina and Three Hills trail we completed recently, so we know how to manage the subtleties of drainage.  It was agreed that drains were what we would do today.  After scraping out the trail line we carefully excavated subtle drains.  While not completed, this section of trail will be like join the dots next time, with the drains being dots.

Excavated organic matter was used to fill in parts of the old trail line closure below our worksite.  Better soil was taken up to start construction of a technical trail feature where the trail goes between 2 trees.

Ash, Doug and I were fortunate to receive help from Zac today.  He's a very enthusiastic young guy with an interest in trail building (he has a trail at home about 10km from Nerang) and an ambition to ride for Australia in the 2018 Commonwealth Games MTB event in Nerang.  He was riding by, offered to help and did a great job with enthusiasm in difficult conditions.  I hope he does make that Comm Games team.  He seems to have a good heart and a lively approach to life.

It may have started like this

But the weather turned early and was not pleasant.  Lightening strikes within 500m, big, cold raindrops and hail made things interesting.  It also made photography a nightmare due to all the humidity and fat rain.  Anyway, here's what pics I have, starting in the same place as the last photos.  The drains are gentle and long

While effective drainage is the number one priority, in this place where 2 trails come together we have to build a trail that brings descending rider speed down prior to the merge.  In addition there will be a tight (3.5m radius) turn for riders using both Three Hills and Casuarina away from the velodrome.  We don't want braking bumps and other panic at this spot, so we have decided to build in a series of tight, but short turns after what we plan as a faster and exciting trail farther up.  I guess almost nothing shows in these weather affected photos, so use your imagination

Perhaps the start of the fun going up is our V Tree TTF.  With rain falling it was an ideal time to start buiding up the roller through the trees.  It has a long way to go though and will change in shape before completion.  Nice colours in the rain

I didn't even try to get pics of how we used diggings on the old trail closure.  The weather was just horrible, but we were happy with what we got done

It's still raining tonight so everything is getting a soaking.  That's good.  Tomorrow looks like a trip to Toowoomba to ride the trails there.  Neither Ash, nor I have been there and we are really keen.  Catch you on the hill.