the future is so bright I gotta wear shades

Actually the future looks like hard work, sore muscles and a sore back, blistered hands, sweat maybe a little blood and a whole lotta dirt and fun.

Last night I attended the the meeting of the minds, the minds that make our local mtn bike club the well oiled machine that it is. There were many topics on the agenda last night, one topic that was not but always seems to creep unexpectantly into our conversations was that of trails, new and old. It seemed that almost everyone in attendance has one or two projects up their sleeve. I have a good feeling it's going to be a very busy fall/winter/spring.

I have my eye on finishing the Chestnut trail at Bays Mountain as soon as the temperatures allow. That and adding some new features to existing trails and fixing some water drainage issues. I also would like to see another trail extended to make it sooo much more fun to ride and eliminating a nasty rutted fireroad.

Fat Tony is on the ball getting us in on the grant writing scene so maybe one day we can incorporate some heavy machinery to take some of the work load off our over burdened shoulders. He also has his sights set on a new downhill trail at Sugar Hallow park. Evidently a group of riders took it upon themselves to create their own trail without asking the park's permission. What they created had good intentions but didn't workout so well. The park found out about the illegal trail and has asked us to go in and create something along the same lines but more sustainable. We obviously have no experience in building a downhill trail and so far our cries for help has yet to awaken the gravity crowd.

Then there is also the land adjacent to Warriors Path, on the other side of the interstate. All we really lack to begin building is permission to access it via the land under the bridge/interstate which connects the two pieces of land. We've been waiting patiently for some time but it looks as if the ball might be rolling again.

All this and a couple of other small projects are looking like a super busy year for the small trail building crew that shows up consistently at the workdays. If only I had a magic wand to wave over the hundreds of riders in this area that take our cities trails for granted but never lend a hand and give back. Many have no idea what goes on and many do but just don't seem to care. I lie awake at night and dream of what could really happen if we could get these folks on board and coming out to workdays. Oh the trails we could build!