#mbosc

[bikejoel]

MBOSC’s First Ever “Old Growth Classic” Mixed Terrain Race, Part 2: The Start! • 8/25/18

When you see Mark Davidson's smiling face first thing in the AM, you know it'll be a good day! Plus, he pointed me towards the Verve truck for coffee. Dan was already in line waiting for a cappuccino, but I opted for a drip so I could get to breakfast more quickly. After downing a pretty decent breakfast burrito, we made our way to the Meadow where people were assembling for the start. 

Since we weren’t racing in a competitive way, we staged pretty much at the end, or as some like to say, in ‘the party at the back.’ (Kinda like a mullet.) We did some pre-race limbering up moves. There were some announcements we couldn’t hear, and then we were off!

The first mile and a half is a paved climb up and out of the campground, then a brief descent before another 4-1/4 miles of climbing, this time on dirt. That first descent was where I realized that there must’ve been some air in the rear brake’s hydraulic line; it worked ok on flat ground, but, dang, not so good when facing downhill! Continued...

[mywinepal]

3 Ontario Winemakers Share their 2019 Harvest Experiences

3 Ontario Winemakers Share their 2019 Harvest Experiences #harvest2019 #ONwine @MBosc @Rosehall_Run @WineCountryOnt @MuscedereWine

This is my second year interviewing winemakers in Ontario about their latest grape harvest and wine production.  To get a more complete picture of the harvest I asked the following questions to three winemakers in three different grape growing regions of southern Ontario, which should have some differences in climate and harvest.  The three winemakers I interviewed this year are:

Amelie Boury,…

[sulafest]

VanWineFest: @WestenderVan Sip your way around the world at #VIWF @ClossonChase @MBosc @QueylusVin https://t.co/4wenfINX6J @MichaelaWine

https://twitter.com/VanWineFest/statuses/829880105283571712?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=tumblr #WineFestival | All The Worlds' Wine Festivals!

[bikejoel]

MBOSC’s First Ever “Old Growth Classic” Mixed Terrain Race, Part 5: The After! • 8/25/18

After arriving back at the campground in Little Basin I snagged a quick shower and made my way over to the expo for beer, post-beer cocktails, the awards.

Paul won an award for having the most number of flats. Well, he and another guy had two flats apiece, so the MC decided that since the prize was a tire pump that they should pump out some pushups in a contest to see who got the prize. As former military, I think Paul had the edge, and he was attempting to psych out the other guy by wearing a full pack and doing ‘decline’ pushups (with his feet up on a box.) Showoff! Luckily the MC put a stop to the madness after about 20 minutes and awarded them both prizes.

Simone, of The Next Ride mountain bike group I ride with, won her age group outright, so no push ups required :-)

Around about 7:00pm we were having dinner and there was an announcement that the last rider of the day was coming in, so please come over and make some noise. We did, and were tickled to discover that it was our campground mate Deepa(!) It was her first gravel event and she gutted it out to ride the whole thing. Congrats, Deepa! And, nice champagne chug at the finish as well:

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/1799457927

[bikejoel]

Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz Trail Crew Field Trip: Walking the Emma McCrary Trail looking at Trail Features • 10/21/17

Now that we’ve had some in-class time learning the concepts of trail design and construction, it’s time to go walk some trails and see how it’s all implemented.

[bikejoel]

MBOSC Demo Forest Dig Day: Clearing the drains on the Fow Trail • 12/2/17

First Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz “Dig Day” at the Soquel Demonstration Forest. Today’s task: Clear the drains on the Flow Trail in advance of the winter’s rains.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/1299625135 https://www.strava.com/activities/1299773038

[bikejoel]

MTB - Trail design pop quiz • 11/10/17

When the overturned dump truck on Skyline tried to stop me from riding Skeggs, I should have listened...

Skyline aka HWY 35 (approx 12750 Skyline) about 3 miles south of HWY 92 is likely to be closed for hours today. Luckily no one was seriously hurt. I was second on the scene and set up road flares ahead of the blind curve just before the accident on the north side. I provided first aid supplies to the first guy on he scene, who was already providing First Aid to the driver of the big truck. The guys in the pickup who had no time to react as they saw the truck rolling over in front of them. They credit their airbags for saving their lives, and I believe it! Rainy season is just starting, so the roads are extra slick. This one bend seems to catch people off guard on 35, as I’ve seen a few incidents at this same spot over the years. Be careful out there!

Once the CHP and Fire Dept showed up on the scene, I drove back to Hwy 92 and took the long way around to Skeggs, only to find that Mehrdad and his son Sepand had decided it was too wet to ride there and had left to go to the gym instead. I was debating whether to ride, but just then a couple guys rode out and said that the trail conditions down below were fine.

However, about 3 minutes into my ride along Sierra Morena Trail it started to drizzle. Nothing too heavy, though, so I continued along. As I went, the precip continued to get heavier...

Since I've been taking the Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz trail design, building and maintenance workshop series I've been paying attention to things that were previously invisible to me. For example, the clogged drain pictured above. 

It sits in a swale created by grade reversals in the trail (a low spot between two higher spots). Ideally the water puddling there would have flowed directly to the left off of the trail, but a berm (raised edge) has built up from compaction of the trail tread and displacement of dirt and organic matter off to the sides, preventing the drainage and causing the puddle. 

The rest of the trail was in great shape, but even though the weather report says only a few hundredths of an inch of rain has fallen, it all seems to be collecting in a few spots like this.

>>>>>

Although the rain was supposed to be done for the day, in retrospect, Water Dog or Arastradero would have been better choices, but it wasn't quite obvious initially that the weather up on Skyline was SO different from what we had at home. Though, who knows, often Sierra Morena Trail, which parallels Skyline, gets more precip than lower in the park. I just didn't want to ride down lower, only to discover that it was raining hard down there too. #weatherwimp

3 miles, 375 feet Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/1269639581

[bikejoel]

Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz Trail Crew Work Day: Pogonip—Lookout Trail Reroute • 11/4/17

Getting ready to build some trail! Today as part of the MBOSC Crew Leader Training Series we're going to put everything together by creating a brand new hiking trail from start to finish at Pogonip. We’re going to reroute a section of the Lookout Trail which currently is too steep. Too steep is bad from a couple of aspects: It isn't any fun to hike, and it isn't sustainable—when it rains, water rushes down the trail causing ruts and erosion. We'll make a path that meanders instead of going straight down. Plus, we'll build in elements that will allow the trail to shed water and drain properly, so it should be good for years to come.

Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz had a tool maintenance party last weekend, so everything is clean, sharp and ready to go!

The trail designer and his crew "pin flagged" the trail route, and "brushed" (cut back branches and shrubs along the path) for us. Our job is to do all the rest of the tasks: removing the "duff" (organic matter, leaves, etc), then scraping off the "loam" (the next layer down consisting of mulchy dirt and organic matter mix), then cutting the actual trail "tread" from the solid dirt below, which has its own set of requirements as well. We need to consider slopes (both "in-slopes" and "out-slopes" as appropriate), gradients, grade reversals, berms, waterbars, drains, to control how water will flow over the trail to minimize soil displacement (that is erosion). Where good dirt needs to be removed to get the right slope or grade, we can use that same dirt to create "rollers" or waterbars elsewhere for grade reversals to manage water movement. Dirt that is used to build up an area is deposited a little bit at a time and tamped down for proper compaction, all the while while paying attention to gradients. Finally, the duff is raked back up to the edges of the newly-created trail tread to help define the edges, and "renaturalize"'the project--making the trail look like it's been there a long time, and belongs in the setting. Lastly, we decommissioned the old alignment of the trail by renaturalizing that as well, with duff and cut branches from the new alignment.

Drew, the trail designer, has left us instructions for certain aspects of the new trail. Here he's specifying how to add a drain to deal with rain water.

Proceeding in stages, you can see at the bottom of the picture where the "duff" has been raked off to reveal the dark brown loam. The loam too will be removed to get to the solid dirt which will become the tread of the trail.

Perfecting the CalTrans Crew stance, Matt is demonstrating perfect just-standing-around-doing-nothing form. It's OK, he's earned it. He's been building up that bump of dirt next to the tree and compacting each thin layer with that big heavy compactor thing.

Darius with his drain. The picture doesn't do it justice. He's standing on the roller that's been created to shunt water off to the left. The depression was created to channel water away and down slope off the trail. It's been renaturalized and doesn't really look like a constructed "feature." 

With the renaturalization done, the new trail really doesn't look all that new!

And, done! Had about 40 people working today, and we got a lot done. OK, not the entire reroute, as there is a yellow jacket nest that needs to be relocated, but we completed about 85% of the project today. And you can hike on the completed part as of now. Enjoy the new, improved Lookout Trail!

Strava (because I couldn’t help myself!): https://www.strava.com/activities/1261326959

[bikejoel]

MBOSC’s First Ever “Old Growth Classic” Mixed Terrain Race, Part 4: The End! • 8/25/18

After leaving the second aid station we headed north on Cloverdale Road to do a loop through Butano State Park. Hooked a right shortly onto the dirt S Butano Fire Trail and climbed pretty much continuously up 1500 feet over about 6 miles. Parts of it were pretty steep, and the trail surface was that blasted white rock.

At the top of the climb we hook a right for the rip roaring descent down the Olmo Fire Road. I wish I’d gotten some pix along there, but it was all I could do to get down it without the rear brake. On the plus side, the Hakka was sporting 650b wheels, and the big, voluminous tires were great in the loose blasted-rock surface of the Olmo Fire Road. 

Continued...

[bikejoel]

MBOSC’s First Ever “Old Growth Classic” Mixed Terrain Race, Part 1: Getting There • 8/24/18

When Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz announced their first mixed-terrain race/ride back in the spring I was intrigued. It would include a weekend of camping in Little Basin State Park. (Little Basin recently became a state park, after being privately owned by Hewlett Packard for use by its employees for years.) There would be food, music, post-ride festival, Hakka MX demo bikes from Ibis, coffee by Verve Coffee Roasters, campfires...holy cow! I signed up immediately and then set about getting some partners in crime. I got Dan and Paul hooked pretty quickly. :-)

Conveniently, Paul offered up to take us in his Sprinter Van o’Adventure. He’d sleep in the Sprinter, and Dan and I would share a tent. We were off to the races! (Literally.)

Driving into Little Basin we felt we were in a world apart. Cell reception ceases almost as you drive in. We were truly off the grid for the weekend! We found our campsite, site 38, in the “Stargazers” area and got situated. Then I headed up to the expo area to get fitted for my Ibis Hakka MX demo bike. Pretty sweet! Felt very light, and was equipped with SRAM 1x with hydraulic disc brakes:

We were the first in the camp site, conveniently, since Paul’s van needed to be parked first in the tandem parking. Mari & Chris showed up a bit later in their tent-topped pickup truck. Deepa, Eric, and Quincy showed up pretty late and pitched their tents in the dark.