Hard to believe it's only February with the last two Saturday's we've had. Last week 60s and this week 70s, I sure hope the warmer weather sticks around and we have less moisture and hotter days this summer than we did last year.
We changed things up a little bit this week and met out at Van Dorn a bit earlier than normal so that we could get in a quick ride and then help the Friends of Wilderness Park with their trail day.
The earlier time meant that the frost was still on the ground for the start of the ride, this turned out to be a good thing as the trail was still frozen on top.
Looks like the parks department has been out doing a little work of their own, the trail under the bridge on Pioneers has been clear cut, smoothed out a bit and covered with wood chips. I'm hoping this practice is just to help with soil erosion and not a sign of things to come for the entire trail within the park, it'd be a shame to take the wilderness out of Wilderness Park.
Had another good group again today, mostly the usual suspects but we had one or two new faces as well. Love the core group we have for this ride, great group of people but we always have room for more to join in if you haven't made it out yet but are curious about the ride.
Made it about half way through the east side before our luck ran out and the frost melted and the firm trail started turning into muck. I think if a person was to wait until the afternoon sun had a chance to work it's magic on the trail, the dirt would be almost perfect around 2-3 in the afternoon. There isn't a whole lot of moisture in the park right now but the frost leaves just enough in the mornings to make the very top layer too soft to ride until it dries a little during the day.
Safely back on firmer trail it was time to turn around and high tail it back to meet up with the Friends of Wilderness Park and get down to some trail maintenance.
Met up with the rest of the group of trail workers out at the 1st street parking lot where we picked up our tools and a quick run down of what we were doing.
Gary came prepared and even brought his own tools.
Time to get down to business.
A little trimming, a little sawing, a whole lot of sweat and a few hours later and we were all done for the first of what I assume to be many trail days. Couldn't have asked for a nicer day either, we got a lot accomplished today but after the floods of last year, there is still plenty more to be done. Even if you don't come out for the Saturday morning rides you should consider following the Friends of Wilderness Park on Facebook and coming out and helping them get the park back into tip top shape. The park could use your help.
Next weeks SMNDFBR will have a special guest, someone who was there at the very beginning of the ride when it was on Wednesday and then Tuesday and then Thursday before finally, maybe, settling on Saturdays. That's all I'm going to say about that but if you're a fan of the rides from way back, you'll want to make sure and come out next week.
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