Augusta Canal Reroutes?

[kconner]

Went for a short ride yesterday 12/7/10 and the trail was soft in just a couple spots (mainly in turns) but otherwise seemed to be in good shape. This was my first time riding in cold weather, it was interesting to see how different it looks after all the leaves fall. Anyways, after reading about the FATS reroutes, what exactly is the "correct" route on the Canal Singletrack? I saw several areas where the trail forks or shoots off, however, the only places I thought it was supposed to fork were for the technical section by the river (The Razor's Edge I believe) and for the Back or Southern Entrance. The newest fork that I havn't seen before is through the gulley/overflow by the back end of the borrow pits. I also took the right fork at the tree marked with a pink "X" going CW....I thought this was the less technical section by the river, but seemed to take me to a portion of the trail where I was travelling the wrong way....but I ended up continuing CW if that makes sense.

Anyways, just wondering what the "correct" route is, or if there are supposed to be options for a rider to take while riding.

[dgaddis1]

The main trail is a figure 8, sort of. Really it's two loops with a stick in the middle, and the stick is 2-way traffic. Razor's Edge (the section down by the river) bypasses the 2-way section.

Here's a map (thanks to dsquared) of the trail, but the map does not include Razor's Edge

maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=113656823940890911802.00048f83fa8096660adfd&t=h&ll=33.505224,-81.998584&spn=0.009232,0.013862&z=16

There are a few other off-shoots that aren't part of the main trail. There will be signs out there before too long hopefully.

The upcoming time trials will not include Razor's Edge. And we limit the number of racers out on the course at one time so we avoid having head-on traffic on the 2-way section.

[kconner]

That was pretty much the conclusion I came to after riding yesterday.

I typically include the Razor's Edge (although I usually walk it most of the way since it's somewhat above my level, but it's got some good views of the river) but yesterday I decided to explore a bit out of curiosity. I just wanted to check and make sure I wasn't getting turned around

Just out of curiosity, does anybody know anything about the history of the trail? Just wondering how long the trail has been there and what was there before the trail....I understand that some of the land on the other side of Rae's Creek was once part of a dump for the old City of Augusta and that squatters used to have houses throughout the area. It seems like I remember seeing old junk/trash throughout the trail when I first rode the trail in high school, glad that seems to have been cleaned up....

[justjoe]

I can't tell you much about the history of the trail but you are correct about the old dump...we now call it a land fill. When I was a kid, bout 10 years old maybe, the stretch from Standard Textile or what was then King Mill to Raes creek was the old city dump all the way to the river even under what is now River Watch Pky. There was even an old stockade down there. There were fish camps all along the river and even on some of the islands, they were squatters on city land and had been there long enough that the city couldn't evict them. You can still see the foundations up and down the banks. Once upon a time we had a mayor in Augusta who was in the midst of doing some shady land deals with city land but the FBI caught up with him before he finished the deals. Mysterously almost all the fish camps seemed to catch fire and completely burn down during his time in office, even the ones on the islands. There is only one still standing, it is close to Savannah Rapids Pavilion. Not all of this is 100% correct,wouldn't stand up in court, just random memories from an old mountain biker.

[mudonthetires]

Ok DG, after reading your comment above, did the times from last time trial and the "11 min average for a good rider" include the razors edge or not?

[dgaddis1]

Dec 8, 2010 18:42:34 GMT -5 mudonthetires said:

Ok DG, after reading your comment above, did the times from last time trial and the "11 min average for a good rider" include the razors edge or not?

The 2009 Canal Crown and 2010 Moonlight TT did not include Razor's Edge. In 2010, the Expert class did include Razor's Edge, but only the expert racers used it.

The course was like this. On CCW races the start line was next to the base of the stairs. When we said "GO!" you sprinted up the hill on the trail parallel to the stairs, took a hard left at the top, bomb down the stairs, and hang a right into the woods. The finish line was where the trail dumped back out at the base of the stairs, right across from the railroad ties/fire pit. On CW days the course was the exact opposite, start near the fire pit, and finished by climbing the stairs, hard right, back down the hill to the finish line. We make you go up the stairs, not up the smooth shoulder next to them, but straight up the middle. The fastest way was to dismount and run up the stairs, but there were always people who rode them, some made it, some didn't. Either way it was fun to watch!

As far as what's a good time, really, anything under 15mins is respectable. 13's is decent, 12's is fast, 11's is really fast, and so far only one person (Dan Patterson) has dipped into the 10's - and that included Razor's Edge which seems to add about 30-45 seconds. That is really, really fast. When he came down the stairs and around that right turn into the woods, it was obvious he was on a mission - he carried way more speed in that corner than anyone else.

My best time so far, not including Razor's Edge, is 12:39, which was a great lap for me, and I seriously felt like I was going to die when I finished. The next week I was nearly a minute slower.

The great thing about racing at the canal is it's short enough for anyone to try, and anyone can ride really hard, because it's over before long, even for the slower people. But it's not at all easy, you'll feel like throwing up by the end of a lap. Ethan actually did throw up this summer LOL.

The other fun part is the start/finish/hang out area gives everyone a good view of everyone starting and finishing, and going up and down the stairs. It's a good time all around.

All of the Canal Crown results are here: andyjordans.com/articles/the-canal-crown-pg257.htm

[mudonthetires]

Cool, thanks for clarifying. I'm looking forward to the 2011 night trials.