The Dayton area was recently graced with a visit from one of IMBA’s Trail Care crews. They travel all around the country to local mountain bike clubs and land management organizations, teaching sustainable trail building skills and giving advice on projects. We spent the morning in a classroom session, talking about different techniques for solving trail building problems and munching on bagels. After lunch, we headed over to MoMBA and broke ground on a new trail section in Hawk’s Lair, and put our new knowledge to practical use. The twenty or so of us made quick work of the section we were cutting in, and it was remarkable to see how a blank hillside could turn into rideable trail so quickly. It was definitely a cool way to spend a Saturday, giving back to the trail system that has given me so much, and I look forward to my next opportunity to cut more new trail!
The morning classroom session. Powerpoint hell, punctuated with cool mountain biking videos. Also, Jim’s funny hat.
The volunteer crew. Pretty good turnout! Don’t mind me…
Playing in the dirt! This is what bench cutting looks like.
Checking the downslope with the McLeod tool.
The finished product! Although not really. This is only a small section of a half-mile, black-diamond trail addition to the park.
[…] provided another opportunity for me to give back, this time in the form of a trail work day at John Bryan State Park. It was a well-timed trail day […]