Monday, August 30, 2010

things learned on the CC inaugural ride

Great to see about 20 people come out to the inaugural ride! Riders hailed from Fremont, Valley, Wahoo, Lincoln, and Omaha. Seems everybody liked the new trail.

Two kiosks were installed Saturday by an Eagle Scout. These will have maps and other info shortly.

It's easy to miss the entrance to the singletrack.
To get to the singletrack from the parking lot, ride past the buildings and over the lawn along the bluff (currently flagged). The trail circles behind a cross and then turns right onto a trail and then takes a quick left onto the singletrack. If you are riding on a wide trail along the ridge, you missed the singletrack entrance.

The tread is compacting and it's getting easier to see. Orange tape is the primary markings, though there are silver arrows inside of different colored circles nailed to trees also. You should be riding on the knotted side of the orange tape.

The armored descent to the creek is very slippery.
Currently, the entrance to the armored (cement pieces put together jigsaw style) descent requires a right turn shortly after entering. Any speed will push you off towards the left into a rut, or worse, a tree. Until this entry is improved, please brake before the cement and roll onto it at slow speed.

Check the trail availability before driving out there.
Though written elsewhere, just a reminder to check the Calvin Crest MTB Trail page to see if the trail is available. Some customers have activities that will close the trail.

5 comments:

ChrisGardner said...

I wish that I could have made it out for the ride. What is the trail like (i.e., distance, elevation changes, technical sections)? Thanks!

buconine said...

Trail is around 4 miles. It can actually be broken in to two sections. There is a more technical section that goes up to the observation tower that has some steep, techie climbs and a switchbacked descent that might throw a few curves. I think there were only 4 people that cleared the entire trail without a dab or two.

Hope you get the time to ride out there. The CC crew did an amazing job at getting the trail ready to go.

dale said...

Nice pics and writeup by Mike
here.

dale said...

There are a few challenging ttfs but the trail is designed to be ridden and enjoyed, not necessarily push your limits.

Don't know the elevation gain yet but employed switchbacks, grade reversals, and a general 5% overall grade when possible. There are a couple 15% climbs but they are short durations.

T-bone said...

Trails are great for being so new. I was going to say something about that cement patch section. When I was doing my hot lap I came over that at a pretty good clip and ended up skidding most of the way down that. Be careful on that if it's wet. I would be a bad place to go down. Also, I was wondering if there was a way we could maybe make those hairpin switchback turns up to the tower more user friendly. That was the only place I really having trouble, but then again I'm on a SingleSpeed. Great work guys!