in CamRock (Moderator: TheMayor1)

Heading south from CamRock sport the new Creekside Connector is trail is ridden in and packed for the entire length. Almost all rideable. With a warm day tomorrow it should be very good after that. The Expert woods loop of IMBA influence and Veritas is ridden and packed as well. Some deeper ruts in areas that are tricky to negotiate.

From Rockdale north is also stomped and should be good after tonight. Includes Beer Cave, Beer Run, and Mayors Meander.

Some of the Connector looks like it has seen some walking traffic. But I have not been on it to see the extent or if it is ridable.

Got the Hutchens Clan out for some snowshoeing on the Creekside Connector late this afternoon. It is really in fantastic shape. A good solid 18" of hard packed goodness for your snow biking pleasure. I would think it would be rideable on any bike with these conditions. Just a bit more fun/easy to deal with any ruts and trail irregularities on 4" tires with about 5psi.

With the beautiful moon out tonight it is a shame I am not able to get out tonight for a night ride. I would think lights would be optional on the trails tonight.

I did not get out on the rest of the trails for other updates.

I was finally able to get out and punch through all the way from Rockdale to Cambridge.
Trail is mostly rideable from Rockdale to the Roundabout. The Cannonball Connector is another story. Very tough going. I was able to ride about 1/2 of it. Pushing the rest. Very variable conditions: from virgin tracks, to deer traffic actually packed enough to ride, to areas that a couple of 'shoers had been on. I also had a good folding saw with me and did a lot of removing of downed trees. Also "rescued" a lot of the oaks by just shaking the snow off their leaves.
If we really want to get new sections of trail open for snow biking we have to get a stomp organized. I think one good stomp session with 4 or more folks and trails would be golden the next day. Either that or we wait until either a warm spell or rain to harden things up. As Walt said, to much air in the snow now to support a bike.
The Expert Woods and Creekside Connector are in fantastic shape. Almost like riding on dirt. About a four mile loop of snow biking goodness.

I have the day off tomorrow if anyone wants to go out in the morning and SNOWSHOE it out.  2-4" predicted as well!!

I have the day off tomorrow if anyone wants to go out in the morning and SNOWSHOE it out.  2-4" predicted as well!!

That would be awesome if you can get a stompin' party together 8) That is exactly what the rest of the trails need. I would think even if we get another 3-4" the Creekside Connector and Veritas/IMBA Influence loop will be good to go. They also get a lot of other traffic. If you can get on the trails starting at either Rockdale or the CamRock III parking area and head north on the Connector that would be really awesome. I would love to see all of that trail stomped and connected. It would be an epic snow biking trail! It would also be fun to have some fun fast downhill sections to ride

I would love to get it organized, as well as join the fun, but I am leaving town shortly for some skiing up north with the Hutchens' Clan. Won't be back until next week. Have fun out there! It is about as beautiful as it gets. All the snow has really wreaked havoc with the trees, but it is really beautiful scenery.

Anybody been out after the last snow?  I might get out there but have limited time, so I'd rather go if it's been ridden and the trail is obvious under the fluffy four inches we got.

Josh (my son in law) and I stopped on our way back from the Kettles yesterday. We rode the same route as we did last saturday, took less than 1 hr.

Anybody been out after the last snow?  I might get out there but have limited time, so I'd rather go if it's been ridden and the trail is obvious under the fluffy four inches we got.

Thought these were "go anywhere bikes" do more stomping and we will all be out there on regular steeds

Josh (my son in law) and I stopped on our way back from the Kettles yesterday. We rode the same route as we did last saturday, took less than 1 hr.

How was kettles by the way?

So we only got about 1" from the snow over the weekend. Maybe Madison got more?

Anyway, the Hutchens Clan rolled back from our ski trip on Monday just in time to head out for celebrating New Years. I managed to get out late on New Years Day before the Rose Bowl and stomp and groom the Connector. I threw on my MSR shoes with the long powder extensions to have a bigger foot print. I found a ton of variation in trail conditions. From ready to ride trail to sections that were virgin snow that has not been touched this season.

The trail from Rockdale north is ridable. Includes Beer Cave, Beer Run, Mayors Meander, and the north direction of the Connector. It looked like a couple of fat bikes and even a skinny tired bike had been on it. I worked on smoothing out ruts, widening the packed trail, and clearing some more debris. I would compare this as technical fat bike trail compared to the packed highway that the Creekside Connector is now from all the traffic.

The Connector direction south was another story. A couple of bikers had tried it, walked a lot, and given up. Some areas were shoed and/or XC skied. Some were untouched sugar powder snow at 12 degrees. I am hurting today from the short "shuffle step" that I did for the length of the trail to try and make a fully compacted path in one pass. I feel like the Badger Band prolly does today after marching the length of the Rose Bowl parade, plus the hangover from the game :P Thigh and hip muscles are stiff as boards. Is it rideable? I would guess not yet. With only me stomping I would guess we want one of these coming warm days and a good freeze to make a hard surface to ride.

Someone had attempted the trails close to CamRock III. I was not able to get out and check their condition. I did not see trails through the upper prairie area. Post up on conditions if you got out there.

Be careful riding on these coming warm days, especially if you want to try riding on a regular, or skinny tired bike. The sun and warm weather will soften the trail and it will be easy to leave ruts. Of course us on fat tired steeds will roll over those with nary a notice. But your skinny tired brethren will curse you :D

Anybody been out after the last snow?  I might get out there but have limited time, so I'd rather go if it's been ridden and the trail is obvious under the fluffy four inches we got.

Thought these were "go anywhere bikes" do more stomping and we will all be out there on regular steeds

Dave, the Creekside Connector and Veritas trails are very well packed right now. Packed like summer trails. I would think they are ridable on a regular mountain bike by a rider with some skills. You might find it a challenge.

Some photos from the stompin' and groomin' session:
1) Some trails partially groomed. The deer love our trails.
2) Untouched virgin trail.
3) After a "Chuck Stomp" on shuffle step mode :P
4) Looks like the deer love Rip N' Ride too! Must have been one heck of a New Years Party

I did not get any pics of the north direction Connector that is ready to ride. It is ridable, just narrow like Creekside was when it was first ridden after the big storm.




Party in the Rip N Ride!

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I was the skinny-tired rider out on the 1st (though it looked like another standard mountain bike had been out before me).  I spent a lot of time hiking.

For skinny folks, I found the IMBA-Veritas loop to be ride-able (did that loop in about 15 minutes), as were a few sections down near Cam-Rock 3.  The new trail from Cambridge down to the creek south of Cam-Rock 1 was easily ride-able.  The area up near the meadow was a constant hike, though there were 2 tracks from fatbikes that looked like they had cleared gettin' started.  I didn't actually venture into the meadow, as the trail was getting less packed the further I went.

Some notes:  The expert loop has a tree (or two) down at the bottom of the steep first drop.  Looks like it got uprooted from all the weight of the snow. 

Also, the bike/ped trail had some ruts in it from bike use (I was out skiing on it and walked a section when I gave up on the Cannonball).  Do I understand correctly that it is closed to bikes for the winter?  If so, it may be good to get some signage up to avoid user conflicts.

I was the skinny-tired rider out on the 1st (though it looked like another standard mountain bike had been out before me).  I spent a lot of time hiking.

For skinny folks, I found the IMBA-Veritas loop to be ride-able (did that loop in about 15 minutes), as were a few sections down near Cam-Rock 3.  The new trail from Cambridge down to the creek south of Cam-Rock 1 was easily ride-able.  The area up near the meadow was a constant hike, though there were 2 tracks from fatbikes that looked like they had cleared gettin' started.  I didn't actually venture into the meadow, as the trail was getting less packed the further I went.

Some notes:  The expert loop has a tree (or two) down at the bottom of the steep first drop.  Looks like it got uprooted from all the weight of the snow. 

Also, the bike/ped trail had some ruts in it from bike use (I was out skiing on it and walked a section when I gave up on the Cannonball).  Do I understand correctly that it is closed to bikes for the winter?  If so, it may be good to get some signage up to avoid user conflicts.

Thanks for the report, and good to hear from a skinny tired user. Maybe we should say standard tire?

I figured with the amount of use and the length of cold that places with a trail would be ridable with standard tire widths. More of a challenge, but ridable.

As for the Cambridge/Rockdale Bicycle and Pedestrian Path and it's use, that is up to the Dane County Parks to decide. I have offered my opinions and offered to help with signage, etc. I was told that would be the policy. So far I have gotten no response. The last I knew they were "encouraging" non-skiing users to stay off the groomed ski trails until a final decision was made. I have gotten no official response. They are very slow and/or reluctant to make any firm decisions.

Are there trails that still need to be stomped at CR? The mrs wants to go on her first snow shoeing excursion and I'm hoping to put her stomping to good use.