February Bump Workday

I woke up this morning and headed out to Oak for the monthly workday. With all the bad weather the trails were in need of a little TLC to keep them in good shape. I had gotten home late and my truck was still in the shop, so I knew I was going to have to take The Giz (My car). The battery was low of course since I had not driven it in a few weeks, so I left the battery on charge the previous night. I had to wash it (I am not putting the roof rack on the top when there is dirt on the roof) and ended up taking a little longer than I wanted to get ready. I had to get the rack on the car so I could pick up my bike from the shop. We met at about 9:00 and I was in such a hurry to get there I forgot my camera as well as my season pass to the park. I am slowly learning that the BUMP guys are not the timeliest of people. I probably would have had time to get everything together, but I really didn’t want to be late.

We finally headed out and I went with the group to look at the Jeep Trail (Red Road). Almost all of the ditches needed cleaning of leaves damming up the water. After this first step then we had to remove all the mud and debris from the ditches. I really did not realize how bad they had gotten, but with a lot of work we slowly got them cleaned and moved to the next one.

When we stopped to fix the water bearm right below the bridge, I stepped off the side of the trail and sank down past my knee in leaves. It was decided to clean this out so we attacked it with the blower and rakes. The wind was not agreeing with us and whenever we tried to rake them over the edge the wind would blow them back onto the trail. After much battling we finally cleared it pretty well. The water berm got dug out so it could drain properly, but the end result was a large pile of dirt across the trail. We didn’t have anything to pack it down except our feet, but it is still going to be a large ramp. The small hill that was there before would toss you quite a long distance with the speed you were able to achieve coming down the hill. I am really looking forward to seeing what this new ramp will do.

We also found a tree that was dead, rotting, and precariously leaning over the trail right before the bridge. It was decided to take it down before it fell. Corb attacked it with the chainsaw and made short work of it as well as demonstrating proper chainsaw safety when negotiating a steep hill. A couple more ditches and it was getting to be about lunchtime. I was surprisingly sore from all the shoveling; however I did remember to wear gloves this time and made it through without any blisters (unlike last time).

We got back and ate a nice lunch in the sun. The day had turned out beautiful and I was comfortable in shorts and a t-shirt. I chatted with a few more BUMP guys and am slowly learning everyone’s names.

After lunch Corb was going to hit Quary road (the bump trail right below blood rock) with the blower. As I had already decided I was just going to work today and ride tomorrow, I headed up with him and Larry. We hiked up and cleaned off around Blood rock a little more (someone had already gotten it pretty well, but I think it dried a little and we were able to remove more leaves and headed down the hill raking and blowing as we went. There was a tree that was just the right height to catch me in the helmet along this hill. I ducked at the last second on my last ride to avoid this, so I was interested in removing it. Of course we did not have a chainsaw or an axe of any type, so we decided we could swing it (the top had fallen in the V of a tree so we couldn’t do anything with that end. We tried to swing it one direction but a small tree was I the way by a few inches. After trying to break it with rocks, we gave up and headed the other way. We had to bend a few small trees out of the way, but with all three of us we finally got it swung all the way across the trail so it was out of the way.

Lastly, I found a small jump that Larry had said was purposefully built, and we cleaned the leaves from both sides so we could make use of it. We also slightly dug out one of the water berms and put a few rocks to make a natural water diverter. Corb may have gotten a little overzealous on the rocks, but there is now a really good jump on one side of the trail at that point whereas the other side is still easily ridable.

I had a good time and really enjoyed being outside in the nice weather. It also feels good to work with your hands for a while after sitting at a computer all day every day.

I picked up my bike on the way home and realized I forgot my gift cards I got for Christmas. After running back home to get them I also picked me up a bike Cube to keep all my stuff instead of keeping it in a cardboard box. This is the first time I have ever put my new bike on the roof of my car (I have to use the Fork UP since it is a 20mm thru axel) but it worked wonderfully. I was a little scared to drive all the way to Chattanooga with it on there, but I think it will be fine.

Tomorrow: RACCOON MOUNTAIN!!!