It’s day 10 of my 29 Trail challenge and I managed to ride just one more trail today. While the ice and snow have melted a good bit here in Georgia, a lot of it is sticking around, keeping the trails wet and slushy. I called the Gwinett County trail hotline this weekend in hopes of riding on the east side but all the trails were closed and remain closed today.

Since not all mountain bike trails have status hotlines and I didn’t want to drive too far only to find closed trails, I ventured out to Sope Creek figuring I could at least ride the gravel loop by the river if the trails were shuttered. Turns out parking is free at all National Parks and Recreation Areas today in honor of the MLK holiday so my timing was right!

In 2009 I helped out during a couple trail work days at Sope Creek and I was eager to see how the new trails were holding up so far. I was also curious to see how the re-vegetation was progressing on the old trails I helped close that spring. The lead into the trail from the river side was in good shape but things started getting a little tacky as soon as I got onto the new trail. To be honest some parts were more than tacky – they were downright muddy and clearly others had ridden the trails this weekend.

Near the top of the first climb I saw one of the new trails being cut and by the looks of it I’d say it might be open to mountain bikes (though I don’t know for sure). The upper forest road portion of the trail was in good shape and the new switchback descent on the other side was covered in a nice crust of snow that was still firm and crunchy – not muddy at all.

I rode to the upper Paper Mill Rd. parking lot and headed back, stopping at the lake where I used to ride my bike off the dock and into the water as a beginning mountain biker. That probably wasn’t great for the bikes but it felt awesome in the summer after a long ride!

All told I was able to get in about 8 or 9 miles of riding this morning and it felt great to finally get back on the bike. With temperatures in the upper 40s it was a nice hour in the saddle despite the muddy spots. Fingers crossed for blue skies and dry trails over the next 3 weeks…

Saturday was National Trails Day and I got a chance to help out with the MTB trail reroutes out at Sope Creek just outside Atlanta. I assumed this would be just another monthly SORBA work day with maybe a dozen volunteers so I was blown away to see nearly 200 people ready to work at 8am! Apparently REI promoted National Trails Day involvement pretty hard and was able to get a good group out there, most of whom were not mountain bikers. The SORBA guys were clearly in charge though and ended up leading several groups of ~20 volunteers each.

My group (led by SORBA Atlanta prez. Tom Tomaka) was assigned trail closure duty – sorta like demolition work on a construction site. While we piled sticks, leaves, and logs on top of the old, eroded trail other groups were busy constructing split-rail fences at the entrances to the old trail to route riders and hikers to the new dirt. Still other groups did finish work on the new trail sections, clipping roots and tamping loose dirt to make the trails smooth as butter.

Trail closure step 1: Find sticks and logs to pile on closed trail.

Trail closure step 2: Place sticks and logs on trail.

Trail closure step 3: Cover with leaves. Where’d the old trail go?

Some die-hard Sope Creek riders will probably be disappointed to see the steep, rocky trail sections replaced with bench cut smoothness but the reroutes had to be done to address some serious erosion issues. It’s rare to see mountain bikes allowed at all on trails managed by the National Park Service like those at Sope Creek and the good news is that there are plans to build a brand new loop / network of bike trails in the park as early as this fall.

Long Cane Trails LLC did the initial machine work on the reroutes.

At the end of the day the volunteers were able to open at least 2 new trail reroutes which was honestly really satisfying. I managed to get a quick ride in on the new trails (“first tracks” as snowboarders would say) and I gotta say these new sections flow much better than the old stuff. I also ended up working with singletracks member GoldenGoose and didn’t even know it until afterward – small world (see if you can pick him out in the second photo above).

Even if you didn’t get a chance to help out in your area on Saturday, make a point to help with trail work at least once this summer – contact your local MTB club to get involved!

This weekend I made good on one of my New Years resolutions and helped out with some trail work out at Sope Creek mountain bike trail inside the Chattahoochee River National Recreation area. The morning got off to a cold start (my car thermometer said it was 17 degrees when I left the house) but that didn’t stop 15-20 Atlanta area mountain bikers from showing up to help out.

The Sope Creek mountain bike trails are in pretty bad shape and unfortunately the only trail open to mountain bikes is a badly eroded double-track that used to be a road bed. There are big plans for new singletrack in the next year or two but in the meantime mountain bikers are doing their part to help out and show goodwill toward the National Park Service and the hundreds of walkers and joggers who use the trails every week.

SORBA-Atlanta organized the work day and we got started with some safety training and an intro to the basics of trailwork. Our job was to clear out grade dips that had become clogged with sediment using hand tools called Pulaskis and McCleods to help slow the erosion that has devistated the mountain bike trail. The work went pretty quickly and it was a great opportunity to sweat and socialize with riders working toward a common goal: better singletrack!

After the work party a couple of us hit the trails on bikes but honestly we were ready to call it quits after a short loop due to the weather and the lack of trail variety. Sope Creek isn’t a trail I would choose to ride in its current condition but I’m optimistic about the changes taking place there thanks to the efforts of SORBA and the NPS. With work parties scheduled at Sope Creek and other MTB trails each month there are plenty of opportunities to stay involved – see you at the next trail work party!