Killing time...buffing trail.

Went out to Greensfelder with my dog (sasha) last night and this morning to buff out some rough spots on the dogwood. There was a downed tree coming out of a corner that was killing flow, and had a serious re-route. This was bugging me big time. When I rode the trail Friday, I thought the log was small enougg to move by hand. It turned out to be a tree, and a saw would be the TECH. All I had was a garden rake, so I moved on to some of the muddy boggy sections. I was able to smooth out some sections, hopefully to promote draining. These were sections battered by horses, and the postholes trap water in them. I was able to buff out two areas. THese areas will help carry speed throug turns. I was running low on light and water for the third, and it was a large area. It still has some work to be done. The lower part of the trail is on the agenda for tonight. THat will take several hours to complete.

This morning, I woke up late, but still got going at 7am out of the parking lot. THis time I was armed with a bow saw. A dull bow Saw. It took 25 solid minitus of sawing to get through this log. It looked dead, but it was not rotted as much as first glance would lead you to believe. The log was across the trail, and was elevated about 9 inches off of the ground. Several logs had been loosly stacked on both sides, but it was shoody work. It looked like many had tried to roll over it, and dragged a chain ring. It was too high for horses to walk over, so I am guessing this was the source of the problem leading to the re-route. I was short on time, so I will need to go back an clean up the logs. I moved them off of the trail, but they need to be placed right so debries does not build up and soak the trail out. I forgot my camera both times, but I feel these actions were justified. I reviewed the IMBA handbook before doing this work.

The trail already has some bomber fast sections, the transitions into and out of these are what needs work. It will rock for the Sep 7th race.