2 bikes in a truck

[seenvic]

Saw two bikes in a truck last night at Vinny's Pizza while stopping in to pick up a pie.

Said hello to the riders, and asked if they had ridden FATS.

They quite happily said "of course, where else is there to ride".

I asked if it was muddy out there.

With great enthusiasm one replied, "yeah, it was a mud bath. but that's what makes it so much fun."

Damn, we got some educating still to do.

[ted]

Hopefully you learned them a thing or two?

[seenvic]

They have a better understanding of what the cycling community accomplished to have the FATS.

They just thought the USFS built those trails for us out of the goodness of their own hearts.

Some equestrians hanging out nearby got into the conversation as well and voiced a loud complaint that they are excluded from the FATS. They also thought the trails we just "given" to mountain bikers and couldn't understand why they can't ride a horse there.

I told the two mountain bikers that if "all riders" rode the FATS when wet, the USFS would really have no reason to keep the horses off the trails.

At the end of the conversation, the equestrians were enlightened about how/why the trails were built, as were the two riders.

[ted]

Thanks BV, you have been exalted.

[Virginia Bill (fka Jax Bill)]

AMEN!

Just everyone remember that in Florida, ie Sand Central, when it rains, trail conditions are greatly improved; when it does not rain, trails convert to treacherous sugar sand as I found out 2 weeks ago when I violently crashed my brand new Rush Carbon frame bike at Hanna Park Jacksonville (can you say look at those stars circling around my head) in an event that included a tree and ended up with me on my back, separated from the bike, after violently striking the back of my head on the ground. Fortunately, bike was fine and, after a visit to the chiropractor, so was I.

So many folks may not understand why a trail is in worse condition after a rain.......

[seenvic]

Nov 12, 2008 12:42:18 GMT -5 Virginia Bill (fka Jax Bill) said:

AMEN!


So many folks may not understand why a trail is in worse condition after a rain.......

That is the point of this thread.

Letting them know (in as nice a way as possible) we got some more educating to do.

[Mark Y]

I goofed on Sunday and rode when it was too wet. We had been in Fla for a couple of days, and when I got back the Sat night weather report said only a trace of rain on Sat, so I figured by Sunday afternoon it would be dry enough; considering how dry the ground had been. After lunch I loaded up, went to FATS and saw a number of vehicles, so thought conditions must be OK. The trail started dry enough but I hit a dozen or more spots on the Great Wall with standing water/mud.
Where did I go wrong; i.e., what should have been the rule of thumb that would have told me to stay home?

[brianW]

I always heard to stay off the trails for 24hrs after a heavy rain. I could be wrong.

[seenvic]

Nov 18, 2008 7:04:37 GMT -5 brianW said:

I always heard to stay off the trails for 24hrs after a heavy rain. I could be wrong.

This isn't a good rule of thumb for trails that are 4 months (Tower and Big Rock) to 3 years old (the others) that got 3+ inches of rain.

The bottom line is FATS isn't the only place to ride in the woods.

[seenvic]

Nov 17, 2008 22:52:42 GMT -5 Mark Y said:

I goofed on Sunday and rode when it was too wet. We had been in Fla for a couple of days, and when I got back the Sat night weather report said only a trace of rain on Sat, so I figured by Sunday afternoon it would be dry enough; considering how dry the ground had been. After lunch I loaded up, went to FATS and saw a number of vehicles, so thought conditions must be OK. The trail started dry enough but I hit a dozen or more spots on the Great Wall with standing water/mud.
Where did I go wrong; i.e., what should have been the rule of thumb that would have told me to stay home?

The homepage on this website said Please don't ride FATS this weekend. Perhaps that would be a good place to get this info.

[Mark Y]

Got a link to that? I only have a bookmark for the forum and I don't see any website links here.

<edit> nevermind-got it.