MTB Trailcare

What started out as a simple cleanup of Casuarina, ended up an epic for Ashley and I today. After my 8.5 and his 9 hours on the tools, I feel sorry for him.  He has had 3 huge days in a row and 4 in the last week with only one person to help him per day.

Where are our helpers?  We know you read this site.  We need more.  We need your help!  

So much work has been done to improve trails that the number of riders has jumped, especially in the last 6 months. There are now so many riding over recent trailworks, in every trail condition from bone dry, unstable, closed, sodden and even in a howling gale, that all we can do is repair the damage riders are doing, when we are supposed to be working towards the official opening of Brett's and Pete's trails and then so much more.  

The attitude of the riding public is almost one of trail abuse, rather than use, as demonstrated in the pics to follow.  We did not make it far up Pete's, but Mick Willis sent us pics of what he found farther up the new section of trail and put time into repairing what he could.  

The short and tall is that sections of trail stable during and after the recent torrential rain, have now been jellified by hoards of MTB wheels - not motos or horses - by us.  No-one stops to remove fallen sticks from the trail.  Seems no-one uses obvious stable lines, but instead ride through the same bog others made.  No-one gets off and walks and it's pretty clear no-one turns around and goes to the fire roads or home.  And almost no-one helps.

Let's be clear, again; QPWS expect us to maintain trail to a high standard.  There is no way IMBA/QPWS standards can be compared to the old Nerang trails - "illegal" trails built in haste, with little time to consider sustainability.  We have no problem with that and apparently, nor do Nerang riders who seem to like the way things have changed.  

However, QPWS expect us to prove we have not only the capability, but the capacity to maintain our trail system.  That is why work on new trails will only be OK'd when they are sure we can continue to maintain the works done previously.  

Let's face facts - some of us have donated 1200+ hours to that goal in the last 7 months, but we have not yet had one trail authorised.  If you want it to stay that way, keep reading, riding and not helping.  If your goal is the legalisation and modernisation of the entire Nerang trail system, then please come and be part of solution.  Tell your riding friends to get on board.  At least talk about respect for trails affected by weather, including subsoil water that works against tread resiliance for one to two weeks after heavy rain in Nerang.

Sorry to be Mr Misery.  It's not all bad, despite the increase in downed trees and increasing trail saturation.  See what we did today:

Casuarina optional loop going clockwise.  Job one, apart from clearing minor debris, was a downed tree.  Chainsaws are not permitted and QPWS staff have a multiutude of disasters to attend all over SE Qld after ex-tropical cyclone Oscar.  Before and after pics

Job two, a little farter up the loop

We removed a lot of cat's claw vine and lantana and trimmed vegetation to improve the sightlines

More downed timber and obstructed views followed

We subtly cleared the trail, removed dirt from the bridge and between the slats and added simple, alternate drainage

We changed lots of little things from there to Five Ways and then started on the North Street loop.  Things got harder at the first bridge.  

Runoff debris made up of 50:50 blue-metal and silt, plus weeds have been obstructing outflow for years.  A slippery surface and poor line of sight have made this quite cool bridge a disappointment.  Lantana, cat's claw vine, strangler vines, detritus and dirt were all removed.  The runoff ballast was used to make a 60cm approx roller upslope of the bridge, shaped to drain trail flow away from the bridge surface.  Here are the before and after pics

More from the other end of the bridge, but really from everywhere, we removed weeds and stowed them off the trail.  The mound of green waste was 6x3x1.5m or so, spikey and nasty

After the bridge, lots of weeds were removed and sharp bits of root on the fallen tree were trimmed safer.  The line onto the bridge is now encouraging in both directions.  You can see the size of the new roller/drain in the next pic

We had been told by a regular rider that there was a tree down on the new section of Pete's.  Rather than sort out more minor issues on Casuarina, we headed to Pete's, but we didn't make it to the fallen tree, because we came across a nasty, new bog-hole ridden-in by our MTB mates this week.  Before I post those pics; here is what Mick Willis sent from farther up Pete's.

To give perspective, the tyres on the bike are 2.5, big-bag, DH tyres.  Big tyres.  Mick did repairs on five areas of wheel damage, because he had some tools with him.  In one place he elected to place a temporary corral made of wood to keep riders on a more stable trail line.  Why they needed to be shown that line is a mystery to all trail fairies.  Riders we met later said that the parts of Pete's Mick worked on were in good shape.  Here are his pics

Mick decided wisely not to tackle this next little disaster lower down the trail.  We came along later in the day.  

What can you say - the trail is a few months old and rather than ride above the mud created by riders, other riders rode through, then more and more did the same, until some understanding genious rode an alternate line below the trail, in ground that would obviously be soft as well (being below the bog-hole).  New trail buggered and then widened - great.  Remember, there was a tree across the trail just a little farther up, so it takes some character to ensure the tree is not the only reason to avoid the trail!

First we dug out maybe 1-1.5m3 of heavily soaked soil and mud.  As happens everywhere in the park, water follows tree roots above layers of impervious soil.  The water comes for days or even months after soaking rain.  In this spot we could not create an effective rolling grade dip.  It would have been so deep that any exit channel would have been industrial in size

So we used a technique that has been effective elsewhere (eg Baileys and Exit trails).  Starting with larger rock and stones embedded in the soft base, we added a layer of salvaged trail surface, mainly blue-metal

Then another layer of rock and stone and another layer of blue-metal-dominant fill

A number of riders used the new tread and as expected, it is very plastic under load.  We have no doubt a tyre rut will form on the climbing line and require further attention.  When it finally solidifies, explosives won't move it, so we will make sure it solidified flat, given the chance.  

We were not here to do that job though, so we had to get to the fallen tree.  We heard it was maybe a bit more than 30cm in diameter.  That would have been nice. 

A dead tree of over 1m base fell against a large, live tree, both ending up over the trail and taking out most of 3 trees on the other side of the trail.  It was like a bomb site.  In the next pic, the vertical, wishbone branch was embedded 15cm into the trail.  The impact must have been massive

Remember, this tree fell days after the wind and rain ended.  We warned in a previous trail news that things would not be stable for some time.  Anyway, it took a lot of cuts and manual handling, but we cleared the trail

We were shot by now and pretty sad to see all the rolling grade dips on Casuarina below Pete's had wheel ruts in the clay base.  Ruts that will have to be cleared out to allow water to drain freely and keep the trail going strong.

A couple more things.  We used our new trailwork flags today.  30cm fluoro diamond flags either side of the works and ribbon-tape at the works.  They are easy to see, put up, take down and transport.  Riders had no problem identifying the site of works

Lastly, this is the creek on the North Street Fire Road near the velodrome.  

The creekbed was 1m deep and dry the day after ex-cyclone Oscar moved away south.  It's not dry now is it?  What you see here is what is happening under all the trails right now.  Water does not just run off in Nerang, it runs bleow the ground and appears where it will and when it will.  It is up to all trail users to respect the trails they enjoy and remember this pic.  If it looks and feels less than stable, it is time to go home, or better still, you didn't come to ride, but to help make the riding better - on the end of a shovel or pick

Happy trails for all