in Quarry Ridge (Moderator: schrader)

How would everyone feel about starting a new thread a few days in advance for workdays?  I'd love to come out and help with the trails, but today, for example, I didn't see the post on this thread until last night and I worked until midnight.  Or perhaps change the name of this thread to designate it as the "check this daily for work day info" thread.  I'll check this thread regularly in the future if all work day stuff is going to be here, but new members might not realize it with the current thread name.

Also, similar to what knl2stl said, I fully support putting in the spaghetti bowl trail(new name for it?) to add the mileage for those who want it, but I wish I weren't forced to ride it if I want to do the xc loop.  With it being just a bunch of basically flat ground turning back and forth, too tight to have any speed, but just enough up hill through parts to make it annoying, it's just not fun to me.  It would be something I have to put up with if I want to do the xc loop.  If there are others in agreement, would it be possible to still have the straight away "double track" route open also?  I don't think you'd have people running into each other like if you had a trail going down the hill crossing routes.  You can't go through there very fast anyway and the double track route is pretty wide.  I hardly ever end up on the same trail as someone else at QR so I doubt the path crossing issue would even come up much.

It is amazing what a motivated group can get done, nice work guys.  Fun to see kids out to, I think this gets them even more stoked to ride.  We got new xc line, new DH and a maybe a long xc style hill climb coming too. A big thanks to Skota and Jeff for the hard planning work.  Tom and helpers, thanks for carving out that DH line... well done.

The new single track will get faster as it gets ridden and become more fun.

If you want to skip it you can always do the route that goes out to the service road and back to the beginning of the xc loop.

the old doubletrack cannot remain open.

I agree about the new posts for workdays. I tried that, but then nobody responded and people started posting back to here talking about that work day. I joined the party and started posting here, too.

The new trail will get better once it packs in, just like any new trail. The new trail crosses the old double track, so it won't work to have both options. There will be plenty of pedaling as you accelerate out of corners, and berms will likely be added in the future to speed up the trail. I fully expect to be averaging the same speed in the twisty stuff as I did on the double track once it wears in and I can maintain momentum in the corners. I have ridden many trails just like this and it can be very fast (it's beginner-level easy if you go slow, difficulty progresses quickly as speed increases).

I am surprised to hear people wanting double track. With that in mind, let's rent a D6 and I'll put in a new logging road for the next reroute!

Jeff

at the risk of dufus status, please explain why the section of trail @QR that has been closed and rerouted is referred to as double track. thanks for the enlightenment.

at the risk of dufus status, please explain why the section of trail @QR that has been closed and rerouted is referred to as double track. thanks for the enlightenment.

I was originally a raod used by service vehicles and thats why its so wide, technically it is one lane now but a car could fit down it pretty easily. 

at the risk of dufus status, please explain why the section of trail @QR that has been closed and rerouted is referred to as double track. thanks for the enlightenment.

I was originally a raod used by service vehicles and thats why its so wide, technically it is one lane now but a car could fit down it pretty easily. 

Doubletrack refers to the two tracks left by those service vehicles. As in wide enough for double tracks. This was a common "mountain bike trail" when it was a new sport and bike-specific trails were rare to non-existent. Kettle Moraine was the biggest mountain biking area in Wisconsin at one time and it was all designed as doubletrack so that the DNR could use trucks to drive the trails for maintenance. They did not understand singletrack and would not allow trails to be built that were singletrack as they did not have trust in the biking community to maintain our own trails. The trails there have all been upgraded to singletrack over time.
It was common in areas with two-way trail the tire tracks would often both be used for biking for two-way trails. One track was going each way like a two-lane road :

thanks for the clarification. i only knew it as a 'single' lane trail and was unaware of its purpose in a previous life.

the old doubletrack will not remain open.

 

Guess you gotta take the bad with the good...

I do love the rest of the work that's been going on at QR, and another thanks to everyone involved.

The doubletrack was single lane, but if you look closely at the corridor it is pretty obvious it was a road because the cleared corridor is about 12-15 feet wide. When they built it they cleared the trees and likely ran a dozer through there. In contrast, singletrack builds around natural features like trees like on the long downhill route. Singletrack minimally disturbs the natural vegetation (all of the clearing we did was mostly the invasive species honeysuckle) and the dirt path is only 1-3 feet wide total, minimally disturbing the ground. Singletrack blends into the terrain and many times you can't even see the trail unless you are looking. Doubetrack is the logging road you see cut into a hillside that is visible from miles away when the leaves are off the trees.

Jeff

^ I know.  And I do agree that in the sense that I'd much rather only see singletrack as new trails cut into any wooded area.  I'm a huge nature lover.  To me it's just that zipping down the xc loop is fun to do a couple times each trip to QR but I do prefer the nice straight shot back to climb the hill and do it again, rather than a mandatory 1/2 mile of basically flat ground spaghetti noodles trail attempt at crunching miles into an area with limited space each time I want to ride that trail loop.   At the same time, I realize that the spaghetti stuff probably appeals more to those people which the xc loop is intended for anyway.  I totally respect the fact that it's being done to make the trails more appealing to a larger group of riders.  Sorry if I came off as being complain-y.

dont worry FirstRWD I have potentially good news for you.

There is a plan for an easier climb throught the woods that would be mostly straight just above the section you like. Look for a workday on that section maybe in the spring and come out and help.
 8)

I'll be there!