Thank you to all who came! So much to do, we ran out of time this day.

A little photo journey for the trail work on January 3.

The crew @ 29 + 10 kids (not all pictured)


The tools - dig baby, dig!


Kids, 2 - 15 years old - They all earned their keep this day. Brian Furbee was the camp master for kids trail camp.




Crazy Steep - 45 degrees and steeper in a few spots. It was the bench from hell!





Before - Sample of the less steep areas


After - Initial bench and tread is cut in. Brushing and final tread work to be done later


Before - Approach to the rock ledge- get that rock!


After - This will not be a shopping cart trail. Lots of character and pinch points to control speed.


Before - Rock ledge - just a little weedy


After - filled with dirt and rock. The path is a stable 18 inches wide with good mix of flow and tech


Rock Bridge - Rich lead the charge here. Instead of installing a non - native wood bridge, we opted to use native rock for a more integrated look.


There is still a significant amount of work needed just after the bridge, including an area that will need to be build up nearly 3 feet to transition over a immovable rock. This whole section will be world class when complete. Keep your eyes open for the next trial day if you want to help. It will most likely be in a couple weeks.

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The world does not revolve around you but your actions impact us all!

Thank you to everyone that worked on the trail looks incredible

There will be trail work this weekend if you are interested. Starting at 8 am, Miner's Ridge parking lot.

We are doing really well on the progress. Lots more done since last Saturday. We have a secret weapon. None other than the trail godfather himself, Rich Julian has been working, busting it out himself with the rangers. So I will let his email and pictures I took this morning do the talking....

Rich Julian -I finished all...... that would be all....

Rock Bridge looking north


With the dogs for scale


...of the rock work, going around the two big rock prominences , making the trail connection from the bridge down to the two big rocks and around the turn back to the trail and past that. The rangers helped me move three big rocks and that set me off. Then I was able to finagle a huge boulder in place using the rock bar and complete the trail to the bench cut they started last weekend. Ed came out to see what had been accomplished

Looking west


Looking east


We bush wacked through from the west end glider port. Tough tough work. . The whole time we can see the pole I set up on the east side of the trail. As the bird flies it is right there but when you look at the contour we have to work thru it is a piece of work.

Looking back at the pole (blurry white dot center). East end pole in foreground.


Ed wants to use the SWECO to rough cut the west side glider port portion but get it on the trailalignment he needs to make the approach to the trail head that means a dirt ramp and some intricate rock work at the very beginning. He said he might get to that tomorrow but I doubt it. So that might be on the calendar for Saturday. It will be some extensive rock work but the rock is abundant and most of it has flat sides. All those wanting to do rock work this weekend would not be disappointed.





We are sooooo close now I am sweating. In talking with Ed it is amazing how much the powers above him are paying attention to what organized bike interests are having on the decision makers such as Chris Zirkle. Being organized and becoming the Gorilla at the table matters. Numbers matter.

Ed is very proud of how well this trail is coming out and he plans to show it off. So what ever we can do to make it look great is well worth the effort. It happens that a lot of higher ups are watching this evolve so we are doing the job justice. Visually it is very pleasing and it is passing the kid test. My grandson just wants to blaze it. Nuff said.

Rich

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The world does not revolve around you but your actions impact us all!

^^^ Awesome work Rich!

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Obama's America: Our enemies don't fear us; our allies don't trust us.

RJ is one tough gnome.

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Thus, if we are to understand the world, we should live somewhere between judgement and amazement — Alfredo Lopez Austin

Great work folks! RJ is back in the game!!!

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If you are the big tree
We are the small axe

I just got back from a jog down the new trail. (first time my fat arse did that in about 5 years, prolly because I was stoked to see the new portions of trail)
This thing is friggin unreal. It's Miners loop mixed with portions of Prescott (minus the pines), bits of Sedona (minus the red rock) mixed with thin neighborhood poach trails
The pictures make it look wide in places but I really think it's too skinny(if that's possible) in places. There's a bit of exposure here and there where you could find yourself way down in the brush if you're not careful.
The work around those huge boulders is unbelievable. Rich and the rangers worked their butts off to pull off the task.-Thank you!
This trail will definitely be in my local ride from now on

Thank you to everyone that made it out on the work days. It was nice meeting you all and it will be a pleasure to ride this and many other trails in this area

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You never know what tomorrow will bring so go ride your EBike today or walk your pooch
Fear the Yeti
"Go ride your bike today, don't let the old man in.."

Mike

Rich is amazing, BB. Secret Weapon, indeed!

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Scum on a Bike

The second rock bridge went in yesterday. Two down, one to go.

The new rangers have training next week so unlikely that the final section will be cleared by next weekend.

Jan31 will be a mega build day. Looking to recruit the boy scouts to cut the foliage back along side the trail - there's some real eye pokers now. It's not work that requires trail build skills so great match.

The dirt workers and rock hounds will complete the trail AND (depending on numbers) the connecting trail that links to Lusardi.

Lining up sponsors currently. Have some great giveaways.

Re: All-stars kill it on Lilac reroute
How Good is this new trail? Some 29er mtn biker pulls up to the post trail work beer quencher, which only sports the best craft beer available of course. He asked what was up with the trail closed signage. Seeing the opportunity to send a Guinea Pig out for a critique of the worthiness of our work I asked him to ride out and come back with his opinion. So he goes out and later while we are busy enjoying the beers someone sees him return but mistakingly take the old Lilac trail back down to the bottom of the hill because a crew had left the trail closure open. So we thought there goes our feedback!

Not so, he takes the time to climb back up the road back to the parking lot just to tells us how stoked he was over the new trail. His thoughts were good flow, total engagement because you could not look away and thank you thank you. It was great to listen to how much he enjoyed it. So show up on the 31st and help us get this puppy open

Rich

While the city has incurred cost for CEQA (California Enviro Quality Act) and mitigation (so this is not net loss habitat), other than the full time ranger staff salaries, having the mountain biking community build the trail is a huge money savings. Sitting on the Community Planning Board I see what some of these projects cost and it's mind boggling $$$$$$! City staff (the downtowners) visited the trail to inspect progress last week and were beyond blown away.

10 years ago mountain bikers in San Diego were black sheep, labelled hooligans, land rapists out of fear and ignorance. Slowly but surely via the efforts of San Diego Mountain Biking Association volunteers we've established ourselves as community leaders.

Upon completion of this and the connection spur to Lusardi, I'm aiming to have a ribbon cutting ceremony, possibly a community event even (this IS a community amenity - the community needs to know who supplied it) with the local city, county, state politico's. The city is not the only agency that controls open space in San Diego. The county, CDFW, and USFW also have their lands. As we all know CDFW regulations ban bikes from all wildlife reserves except where specific language (like at Crestridge) allows it. The trails plan at Del Mar Mesa lacks an east west connector that all of the local citizen's advisory committee's and community planning boards say is necessary for a succesful trails network. CDFW controls that portion of DMM preserve and since 2008 when the closure of trails caused a big hue and cry, CDFW has steadfastly stuck their head in the sand.

With 700 households going in on the east end of the CDFW vernal pool reserve, the impact will be significant if CDFW doesn't institute a real management plan. Simply putting "closed - stay out" is not management. An E-W connector serves as a route that the dog walkers will use. Without it, they'll go all over like Rover. Interpretive signs along the route can educate the casual user about the biology and life cycle of the pools. For me, it's obvious. It'll take community pressure to drive home and land the message. The ribbon cutting ceremony and good work done at Black Mountain is the foundation upon which we can positively influence the powers that be. Validation, validation, validation.

I'd like to say thank you to all the people involved in this and for all of their hard work.

Early start to things this morning..

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You never know what tomorrow will bring so go ride your EBike today or walk your pooch
Fear the Yeti
"Go ride your bike today, don't let the old man in.."

Mike

Oh sure, I bust my ass on the hard pan and you walk in and take the cake work? I will remember this when I am assigning job duties on the 31st. KP sounds about right......

Thanks for getting out there and working on the last section. The rangers and the alpha project will be out there at some point this week to brush the majority of the last section. They will leave a ceremonial section for us to officially clear and open on the 31st.

Saturday Jan 31 work schedule looks something like this

1. Open and complete the last bit of the Lilac trail
2. Create a connector from the Lilac trail down to the Carmel Valley Rd Bridge. Soft easy dirt
3. Cut the link from the north side of the bridge to the existing old service road (100 yards in soft easy dirt. Bridges for the culverts are ready to be installed.
4 Brush the up-slope side of the Lilac trail. Close proximity of the bushes push riders to the soft outside line.
5. Clear the artichoke off of the service road on the north side of the bridge.
6. Rest
7. Celebrate the days accomplishments with Ballast Point, SPORTea, food, and a boat-load of prizes, including a 29r frame.

So, bring friends and gloves. It is going to be a busy day but with enough help, we can get it all done and have the afternoon to bask in our accomplishment.

See you on the 31st--> Black Mountain MEGA build day, Jan 31

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The world does not revolve around you but your actions impact us all!

That's a very fine bench cut you've made there. I pulled all the stumps out of that section Saturday so you would have easy digging.

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Velo Ergo Endo