treadwork done on north tp expansion

Nice cool day to finish the treadwork on the north Fort St expansion. We had 11 people plus Cody working 1.5 hrs for 16.5 total work hours. Thanks Mark, Dave, Chris, Bill, Paul, Brian, Greg + 2, and Steve.

We used Steve's blower to dress up the tread inside the trees. The first pic is just after the 180 at the southend of the treeline.

The next pic is the short grassland around a storm sewer drain in the middle of the treeline.

The final pic is in the grassland just before connecting to the wetland doubletrack.

This marks the end of construction. We still need to sign a couple places and install some pipe in the gulley for quick drying when we finally get rain. To get the entire doubletrack, ride to the right around the electrical tower just after the gulley north of the last ball diamond.

The doubletrack around the artificial wetland lakes was already there by illegal use of motorized vehicles, mostly 4x4s, quads, and motorcycles. Its a nice section to ride two or three abreast and talk. Watch for walkers and dogs too.

Thanks again to Melinda and Dennis at Omaha Parks for working with THOR and authorizing the expansion; and thanks to all the volunteers over last Fall and this Spring taking pride where they ride to help maintain and expand. Unfortunately, I didn't record all the non trailday hours put in by a few. I'm guessing about 125 hrs, Chris thought closer to 200, for the 3+ mile expansion. The use of Tigger (zero turn mower), Little Blue (sod cutter), and the established doubletrack made this possible in so few hours.

Enjoy the ride!

tranquility sod cutting sunday apr 10

Work to be done: cutting in the tread from the wetlands doubletrack to the west treeline, halfway meadow, and return to the doubletrack. This should finish the sod cutting on the north Fort St. expansion. Only thing left is drainage pipe in the gulleys between wetland doubletrack and Big Papio loop. Finishing expansion just in time to move into maintenance mode, i.e. mowing.

Date: Sunday, April 10
Location: Kansas Ave and 126th Ave.
Time: 13:00

Some grilled meat from the last trailwork cutting in the tread up to Fort St. and back. Thanks, Paul!

Trail crew. Greg's girls enjoyed working on the trail, raising up kids in the way they should go. Good job, Greg! The youngest was the trail boss and she cracked the whip on us. Thanks Eric, Paul, Chris, Greg and family.

tp north starting to take shape

Great turnout for less than 24hrs notice. Thank you guys and gal for changing your plans so quickly to help bring the trail in north Tranquility Park closer to reality: Eric, Susan, Mike, Dave M., Dave N., Paul, Michael, Todd, Brian, and Chris.

I was with the sod cutting crew working the out and back trail along the Big Papio Creek between Fort St. and the the wetland doubletrack north of the baseball diamonds. Eric called in some markers for access to a great 16" sod cutter.

With 6 people in about 20 work hours, we cut a mile of sod and pulled it off to create the tread! I, for one, am still sore the next day.

On the westside, Paul took these pics clearing the dead branches in order to create the trail corridor. Those 5 got in about 15 work hours along with assorted scratches and at least one puncture.

For those who need more advanced planning, this Sunday, 03.27, starting at 13:00 will be another trailday at north Tranquility. This will involved finishing the westside trail corridor and raking the multiple inches of leaves off the tread.

trailwork at tranquility tomorrow (Sunday 3.20) at 13:00

We have access to a sod cutter and plan to cut sod on the north side of Fort St. Will meet in the far north baseball parking lot at the NE corner.

Will have 3 or 4 people, one to run the cutter, and two or three to throw the sod out of the trail corridor.

We also have work on the west side, cutting dead limbs and clearing fallen limbs, brush piles through the evergreen trees.

Please bring hand saws, mcleods, no power equipment. We don't want to upset the homeowners with lots of noise.

Any questions, email or call Dale.

workdays at lake manawa trail sept 2, 7, 8

(Steve, Sorry I didn't get this posted a couple days ago. Dale)

Thursday, Sept 2 - mow and trim large portions of trail. 6 pm till dark.
Meet by red truck in parking lot.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Sept 7, 8 -- 6 pm till dark.
Will have shovels, blower, chainsaw, and trimmers. Come put them to work.
Meet by red truck in parking lot.

Bring work clothing, bug spray and your bike to ride to areas that need to be worked.

Thursday, Sept 9 - come and ride the trail and enjoy your work!

Steve D.

manawa work done - wed workday cancelled

Thanks to all who helped give manawa a hair cut and trim low branches. The crew, female and child included, put in 17 hours in two days to get our trails looking awesome.

No trailwork day needed Wednesday. Too muddy to ride now but Thursday should be about the right time!

Steve D.

New Trail Entrance @ Lewis & Clark

In spite of the early morning shower in N Council Bluffs, the ground was in good shape for trail work. There were 8-10 that showed up to complete the new route replacing Neverrest.

The trail crew got the rhythm - a production line down the trail.

The goal was complete the trail tread in areas that needed benching - on the downhill trail. The downhill trail provides an entrance to replace the chute the was to the right of the Monument.

When done, the crew moved over to the uphill replacing Neverrest. The new uphill trail was named "Super Model" for the curves that replace the straight shot up the hill.

At about noon - right on schedule - the crew headed back to the parking lot.

Last task was to cut open the new entrance of the trail. After that, the crew relaxed over "adult refreshments" and smoked meat.

Now, both of the trail entrance and exit are near the gate to the Monument. Entrance (downhill) is on the left -- Exit (uphill) is on the right.

today's manawa trailwork cancelled

Manawa work day tonight, May 12, 2010 Cancelled due to weather and muddy trails.

A BIG thank you to the two adults and a little boy that helped mow and remove the few branches across the trail.

Please make your plans to attend Adams Park trailday this weekend, 10:00-noon.

Steve D.

L&C trailwork fri may 21, sat may 22

I will be taking 25 or so teens from Teen Serve to work on Lewis & Clark Monument mtb trail additions on neverrest, from 09:00-11:30 Friday, May 21.

Will hopefully have separate entrance and exit routes functioning after Saturday's trailwork, from 09:00 - 12:00. If you ride L&C, please put in a couple hours of trailwork on Friday or Saturday to get this old girl's loop up and ridable again.

Lake Manawa Clean-up Day

THOR members were among the over 400 folks that spend a couple hours of their Sunday to clean up Lake Manawa State Park. The THOR crew spend the time cleaning trash around the mountain bike trails.

Forgive me if I missed someone, but we did have our Trail leader Steve, former President Mike, member Mike, Webmaster Tom, and the Matheson family in attendance.

In the lower photo, THOR members take a look at the trash picked up in the mountain bike area.

Following transferring the trash to a dumpster, some lucky participants brought home prizes from the raffle. Weather turned raining just as the festivities were wrapping up. The rain and colder temperature dampened desires to ride a lap at Manawa.

6th Annual Lake Manawa Clean up Day

Are you tired of riding by the same piece of garbage on the bike trail? Now is your chance to pick it up along with any other trash along the trail and river.

When: Sunday, May 2, 2010, 1 p.m. till 3 p.m.
Meet: At shelter 6, will we be introduced to other by DNR staff (wear your thor shirts)
What to bring: gloves, and work clothes.

May want to bring your bike to ride the cleaned trails when we are finished. This event is a lake wide clean up with us focusing on the bike area. Lets see how many mountain bikers we can get to help out with this project. If you come late just meet at the river ramp and start filling the black trailor with trash, bags will be inside it. Help celebrate earth day by picking up trash on the bike trails at Lake Manawa. Hope to see your face Sunday.

Steve D.

adams park beginner loop flagged

I flagged the rest of the beginner loop at Adams Park this afternoon. Mowed to make sod cutting easier and to see layout if flags are removed. 3hrs onsite.

Standing near end of trail completed with IMBA.
Didn't take pic of open area beyond this leading into the turn around in trees.

Just past turn around. Returning to start along ridge line. You can also see lower trail to left.

Hope it goes well for those busting sod and benching this weekend.

L&C trailwork report from 4.17,18

Had 22 kids and 4 adults from Teen Serve out Friday morning - about 60hrs of work. They worked hard and were great to work with. Cleared trail corridor of brush, roots, and leaves - guessing about 400' of new trail corridor cut.

Below, this is on neverrest where the new downhill crosses.

This is new down trail at bottom of neverrest just before it connects with the current ridge trail that goes south to the 4 corners.

This is the new up trail from the four corners paralleling the ridge trail and dumping onto the ridge trail just before the left turn downhill and right turn onto neverrest.

On Saturday, another 35 hrs were put in.

Martin, Butch?, and Todd took the saws and 9 hrs of work to cleared out some difficult trees blocking the trail.

Paul, Vince, Dave, Brian, Todd, Corey, and myself benched the trails cleared by the Teen Serve group on Friday. Probably half the downhill trail is done.

Because there is so much trailwork to do on the THOR trails and not enough manpower, we will use the lower part of neverrest and cut in just the top two of five switchbacks for the uphill trail, saving the rest till later this Fall, hopefully.

The current neverrest trail is still 2 way traffic so be careful.

calvin crest trailwork today

Though I told the L&C crew yesterday I would return there this afternoon, I had already committed to Calvin Crest this afternoon.

Sorry for the miscommunication. Those who worked yesterday at L&C, clearing the remainder of the new down trail of brush, including the roots would be a great task if you find yourself there.

Tool of choice: pulaski or pickaxe.

At CC, we have some signage to install and checkover the trail for trees to clear. I plan to be at CC around 13:00.

For the rest of you reading this several days later, never mind. 8-)

party or work at manawa tues apr 13

Party, or work, down at Manawa this Tues. 4p.M till dark.

I have homemade goodies from the scouts at church to eat while you work.

Bring your shovels, and bikes and your own drinks if you prefer something other than gatorade. Just come and have fun, the river is waiting for you!

Steve D.

last dirt moved for 09 at tp

Saw the sustained cold temps forecasted and remembered to get out late Tuesday for about 3 hrs to clean-out and build-up some grade reversals (dirtwaterbars) on Tranquility's Inner Climb before the dirt freezes. It's amazing the flow of water created by Spring snow melts.

Pulled the dirt from the drain onto the dirtwaterbar. As the bars get bigger, the drains can fill up with more sediment before water overuns the bars. Hope we're down to a Spring and pre-Winter cleaning now. 8-)

work, play - mostly play

Thanks, Mike, for working, riding, and taking some pics.

Brian, Mike, Todd, Tim, Marie, and myself worked and played, well mostly played. About 1.5 hrs (9 total hrs) work and 3 hrs play. Two laps clockwise and one counter-clockwise. Counter has much more difficult climbing.

Climbed up the Tower bluff, running out of energy and air at the last switchback. Even after catching my breath, legs wouldn't make the last switchback but Todd did. Feel good that the layout is rideable both directions.

With loose dirt and some benching needed, the trail is the most difficult it will be to ride. The loose dirt requires finesse that will disappear with age and compaction.

Most of the trail is less than 5% grade except for the short, steep ups or downs. Similar to Jewell with little undergrowth, just hardwoods. Therefore very little maintenance. Climbing along bluffs like Platte, L&C, and Jewell, but not as steep except for the Tower bluff, terminal velocity in the tight trees like Manawa. Some ttfs require finesse and power, but connected with contour trails for recover time.

The uniqueness from other THOR trails are: the amount of cedar trees; the short, steep Tower bluff; the long, gradual chapel bluff; a swinging bridge; riding along the Platter River; and private property.

Topography, flora, fauna, and land manager rules give each trail a unique personality. We are blessed by our natural resources, and given the limited trailwork volunteers, we should not take for granted the trails we have.

Want to ride Calvin Crest? Sun, Nov 22

Discussed with Craig and Calvin Crest mtb trail will not be open to the public till next year. We want the first time, self guided ride to be a great experience. Hence, the mtb webpage, signage, and kiosk must be in place before the public opening.

But we will have a ride or two by appointment before then. This Sunday, Nov 22, is one such appointment. This also happens to be coupled with trailwork. Bring your McLeod or we'll have one for you to use. Ride after we work.

Seems most (99.5% according to IMBA) prefer to ride on these beautiful Fall days rather than do trailwork. I would rather just ride too, but then there would be less trail coming online. We can only ride when the ground is frozen. Let's do trailwork in these cooler temps AND ride.

We start work at noon and ride after that.

Questions? ask here or send me an email: tpmbt at cox dot net.

Will have a carpool leaving Bike Masters at 11.

To wet your appetite, I took some pics while touching up a couple spots last Sunday. This sequence is of the Tower Bluff descent we built a couple weeks ago. About 70' of drop with 5 switchbacks. Very fortunate to find these plateaus because much of the bluff is 35%+ grade straight down to the river bottom.

This is at the edge of the bluff. Need some benching but it is rideable. Maybe lack of benching is a ttf? 8-)

Benched a deer trail to drop down on a plateau. A boy scout fall line trail is to the right of the orange coffee can bottom.

First switchback. Able to incorporate natural grade for a wall ride. Chris saw this line.

Skipped to third switchback. After first ride, reworked to direct riders wide left to more easily make the sharp descending right turn.

Fourth switchback is a nice lefthand sweeper.

Here is another view of the fourth and fifth switchbacks from up the hill.

Same view from still higher up the hill.

Fifth switchback. Built in stall before right turn for grade reversal to shed water off the trail.

This follows part of a deer trail and finally exits on the river bottom.

On the river bottom is the Meadow Trail. Reminds me of an abandoned roadway that is slowly returning to nature.

If you want to experience this before the public opening next year, come work and ride with us this Sunday.

Calvin Crest update

First let me state that Calvin Crest is currently CLOSED to the public. It was reported some bikers were out poaching the trails. Please respect their property and don't ride there when it's closed.

When Calvin Crest is opened to the public, it will be announced on the THOR blog.

Friday, Paul and I went out and cleared two fallen trees, added more orange marking tape and raked sections of trail in order to see it better.


Saturday, I spent several hours tweeking the phase 2 layout and raking more trail.

Sunday, Brian, Chris, Dave, and myself spent a couple hours building six switchbacks to get down a 70' bluff. Then Todd, his wife and daughter, found us as we blazed the trail back to the entrance of phase 2 loop. At the bottom of the bluff, we hooked into the Meadow Trail that finishes the loop. Phase 2 added another mile, so about 4.25 total. Approximately 30 hrs over the three days.

Because of the small number of volunteers, we were exhausted and blistered from the pace and actually surprised to finish phase 2. (After riding it, it still needs a couple tweeks.) We then went out for a well deserved buffet.

We came back to ride a lap before hunters go out - to taste the fruit of our labors. As Chris attempted the rooted climb, he fell and twisted his ankle badly. He would find out later that night he actually broke his ankle in two places. The first casualty and the trail isn't even open to the public yet.

excellent day at calvin crest

GPS photo from Tim: 3 miles (3.25 via computer) and 500' climbing. That number feels high.

Chris, Paul, Bryan, Dave, Tim, Craig, myself, and Ginger went to work finishing up the last few ttfs so that the entire lap would be rideable. Amazingly, we finished as planned at 3. Craig fed us excellent lasagna, green beans, garlic toast, and iced chocolate cake for dessert. We then strapped on the helmets and rode! Sweet! Non compacted dirt and difficulty made a couple ttfs so difficult no one cleared everything the first time, but Tim cleared his second lap. Several then did a counterclockwise lap which is more aerobically and technically challenging because of short, steep climbs. No one cleared the entire lap. A fun-paced-lap takes about 30 minutes.

With no tread worn in and intermitent markings, every one took their turn leading and getting off trail. 8-) Need some more marking, a little raking, and she will be ready for prime time! Details for the public grand opening to be announced.

Paul took some nice pics here.