LIKE us on Facebook 
Post by Angela on Dec 23, 2011 8:59:29 GMT -5
This is posted above in the documentation section but since it looks like we are going to have several wet days and we are now into the season when the water is not absorbed as quickly I think it bears posting. We have a lot of new riders to our trails and want to make sure everyone understands the importance of keeping our singletrack single! (Photos will be posted later!)
When are the Trails too Wet to Ride?
This will remain a highly debated topic for years to come – there is no 100% correct answer – if you ask 10 people you could receive 10 different answers. This document has been reviewed by the 2011 SORBA-CSRA officers, the past three presidents and the trail coordinator to reach as close to consensus as is possible:
In doing some research it looks as if most clubs, associations post on their websites not to ride 48 hours after a rain. Unfortunately this is a rule of thumb that is not actually good enough. Many factors play into it:
How much rain was there? (¼ inch, 4 inches?)
When was the previous rainfall? (a day, a month?)
What time of year is it? (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter?)
What kind of trail is it? (rocky base with intermittent areas of soil, red clay base, sandy base, low near a stream, high on a ridge)
How much use does it get? (year around, seasonal?)
How many riders in a normal month? (infrequent, few, many?)
All the factors above can contribute significantly to when a trail can be ridden after it rains!
If it is summertime and the rain was very light and in the morning the trails will probably be good to ride that afternoon. In the wintertime when the trees are more dormant and not using water as much, that light rain might keep the trail wet for a couple of days.
What further complicates things is we might have had no rain in Evans, GA or Aiken, SC but the area around FATS had a deluge and vice versa.
Below are some things to consider.
What is too wet?
1. You should not be riding a trail if your bike is leaving ruts in the trail (consistently not in just a few places along the trail). Longitudinal ruts slow or stop water from running across the trail. This can lead to erosion if the water starts running down the trail. Water, not trail users, cause the majority of trail erosion and responsible riding can help prevent those ruts and soil displacement that add to the water based erosion that can follow. Things to observe? Are you leaving a heavy tread pattern as you are riding across large portions of the trail? Are there quite a few puddles of water you are traveling through as you move down the trail?
Are there frequent pits of muddy areas?
2. On a trail that is 98 to 99% dry there still might be puddles or slightly muddy areas that might need to be worked on during trail maintenance (remember a mile of trail (5,280 feet) that is 98 to 99% dry might still have 50 to 100 feet of spots, dips, etc that are muddy or wet).
Using some basic rules to ride those sections is critical to not adding to trail damage until those sections are repaired/armored/etc or dry naturally.
Don't ride around the puddles or mud, ride straight through them slowly. Generally the center of the puddle has the most compacted base. That is why the puddle is not being absorbed by the trail. By riding around the circumference, you are actually compressing the softer, more fragile edge of the puddle, which will either compact, allowing the puddle to grow and the trail to widen or it will contribute to the overall trail erosion.
Avoid hard braking and locking up your wheels on damp sections of the trail.
Commit to turning back if you encounter excessively muddy or wet conditions!
Unfortunately we have discovered that if the wet area is caused by ground seepage, that ground seepage can change from year to year and once we “correct” or armor that area it may never be wet again and the seepage might have moved 50 yards down the trail – trail maintenance isn't a perfect science either!
We can, and do, make our trails more durable by bridging wet areas with short boardwalks or utilizing rocks/bricks to make a solid surface to ride through areas prone to staying wet. We however don't want to “pave” our mountain bike trails simply because people insist on riding them wet.
Before you head out to ride -
1. Wet trails are much more tempting to ride when you've already invested time and energy getting to the trailhead. To avoid temptation, try to gather information about trail conditions BEFORE heading out to ride!
2. Even if you find your favorite trails are too wet to ride, that doesn't mean you can't get in the saddle. Consider alternate riding locations with better drainage or head onto forest service roads or even paved routes (Evans to Lock paved bike path, the North Augusta Greeneway, a road ride – Range Road on Fort Gordon is a great training ride with very, very minimal traffic, about 20 miles of great hills, etc).
What can be the consequences of riding wet trails? -
1. In other parts of the country land managers have decided to institute seasonal closures because of the actions of a few careless riders.
2. The aftermath of mountain bikers ignoring trail conditions and riding the trails when they are too wet can be, but not limited to: premature trail erosion unnatural widening of singletrack trails creating the potential for trail closures bad impression of mountain bikers from other trail users additional headaches for the people maintaining the trails - US additional time and money spent to correct the damage.
3. Hundreds of volunteer hours and often hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent creating and maintaining these trail networks for the mountain bike/hiking community – help protect this valuable resource by riding responsibly.
4. When you ride in the mud you can significantly contribute to future trail erosion, and you can seriously affect the quality of the trail when it dries out.
Summary -
1. Whether we all agree or disagree with all the statements above, the fact remains that soft, wet, muddy trails are sensitive. We, as a mountain biking community, need to educate ourselves and others so we can protect this great resource.
2. In terms of trail advocacy (which is a major component of our mission), riding wet trails is bad mojo! When other trail users see you pulling your bike out of your vehicle to ride a trail after it rains, there's a chance they will complain to the land manager. That information is filed away and can be used as ammunition for the next time a trail manager reconsiders whether a certain user group should be excluded from using the trail. However even if the person never complains, the actions of a few irresponsible riders can ruin the image of mountain bikers in general.
3. A mountain biker should always make a conscious effort to preserve the environment they are riding in. This includes an honest evaluation of the trail condition and an effort to minimize damage to it.
4. If you have ridden on a local trail that is too wet (sometimes it seems as if enough time has passed and the trail should be dry but you encounter bad areas a couple of miles into your ride) and want to report it so others will be aware of the trail conditions, please contact one of the SORBA-CSRA officers or the trail coordinator and they will get the word out.
5. Some things that can contribute to trail erosion after a rain – composition of the soil, number of riders, availability to ride year round, and sometimes the age of the trail. These factors make the FATS trail system particularly vulnerable after a rain. It is ridden year round, it gets the majority in terms of number of riders, the soil composition is not rocky, and it is comparably a new trail system!
6. The trails in our area that are most susceptible to trail damage after a rain include – all of FATS (particularly Skinny and Great Wall) and the new Bartram addition (Bartram West). Please opt for a ride on one of our many older trails that are generally not ridden as often so can withstand the wheels more quickly after a rain. And if no trail is rideable, please stick to gravel roads, paved paths, or the road until the trails are suitably dry.
7. Trails that are closed by the USFS are done so to protect the trail. Long Cane Horse Trail used to be closed periodically because it was receiving heavy usage by horses after rain and a lot of damage was occurring. FATS is currently managed by the USFS and periodically closed because it gets the highest number of riders/usage of all the trails in our system. It also receives the highest number of riders coming in from out of town. Riders will tend to ride the trails if they are open, regardless of condition, once they have traveled to get here. By closing the trail it greatly minimizes the damage potential since the majority of riders/users will respect the closure. No other trails in our system are currently being managed by the land managers to that extent but if need be, that can change if the trails are not being used responsibly.
8. When the Forest Service officially closes a trail, typically with a sign and orange tape at the trailhead, you can be ticketed if you ignore the trail closure and ride the trail anyway! However, even if the Forest Service has not closed the trail (it isn't an exact science when they decide to temporarily close the trail) and you become aware the trail is too wet to ride, please do not ride the trail. Communication between the Forest Service and the people who keep up our website isn't instantaneous and often several hours lapse in the communication chain. The Forest Service is not on a bike and cannot see conditions deep within the trails like we can!
9. If your bike ever looks like this when you are finished riding a trail – the trail was probably too wet to ride!
Report to Mod - Link to Post - Back to Top 69.254.6.195
Read more: sorbacsra.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=2927#ixzz1hMlIgCji
When are the Trails too Wet to Ride?
This will remain a highly debated topic for years to come – there is no 100% correct answer – if you ask 10 people you could receive 10 different answers. This document has been reviewed by the 2011 SORBA-CSRA officers, the past three presidents and the trail coordinator to reach as close to consensus as is possible:
In doing some research it looks as if most clubs, associations post on their websites not to ride 48 hours after a rain. Unfortunately this is a rule of thumb that is not actually good enough. Many factors play into it:
How much rain was there? (¼ inch, 4 inches?)
When was the previous rainfall? (a day, a month?)
What time of year is it? (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter?)
What kind of trail is it? (rocky base with intermittent areas of soil, red clay base, sandy base, low near a stream, high on a ridge)
How much use does it get? (year around, seasonal?)
How many riders in a normal month? (infrequent, few, many?)
All the factors above can contribute significantly to when a trail can be ridden after it rains!
If it is summertime and the rain was very light and in the morning the trails will probably be good to ride that afternoon. In the wintertime when the trees are more dormant and not using water as much, that light rain might keep the trail wet for a couple of days.
What further complicates things is we might have had no rain in Evans, GA or Aiken, SC but the area around FATS had a deluge and vice versa.
Below are some things to consider.
What is too wet?
1. You should not be riding a trail if your bike is leaving ruts in the trail (consistently not in just a few places along the trail). Longitudinal ruts slow or stop water from running across the trail. This can lead to erosion if the water starts running down the trail. Water, not trail users, cause the majority of trail erosion and responsible riding can help prevent those ruts and soil displacement that add to the water based erosion that can follow. Things to observe? Are you leaving a heavy tread pattern as you are riding across large portions of the trail? Are there quite a few puddles of water you are traveling through as you move down the trail?
Are there frequent pits of muddy areas?
2. On a trail that is 98 to 99% dry there still might be puddles or slightly muddy areas that might need to be worked on during trail maintenance (remember a mile of trail (5,280 feet) that is 98 to 99% dry might still have 50 to 100 feet of spots, dips, etc that are muddy or wet).
Using some basic rules to ride those sections is critical to not adding to trail damage until those sections are repaired/armored/etc or dry naturally.
Don't ride around the puddles or mud, ride straight through them slowly. Generally the center of the puddle has the most compacted base. That is why the puddle is not being absorbed by the trail. By riding around the circumference, you are actually compressing the softer, more fragile edge of the puddle, which will either compact, allowing the puddle to grow and the trail to widen or it will contribute to the overall trail erosion.
Avoid hard braking and locking up your wheels on damp sections of the trail.
Commit to turning back if you encounter excessively muddy or wet conditions!
Unfortunately we have discovered that if the wet area is caused by ground seepage, that ground seepage can change from year to year and once we “correct” or armor that area it may never be wet again and the seepage might have moved 50 yards down the trail – trail maintenance isn't a perfect science either!
We can, and do, make our trails more durable by bridging wet areas with short boardwalks or utilizing rocks/bricks to make a solid surface to ride through areas prone to staying wet. We however don't want to “pave” our mountain bike trails simply because people insist on riding them wet.
Before you head out to ride -
1. Wet trails are much more tempting to ride when you've already invested time and energy getting to the trailhead. To avoid temptation, try to gather information about trail conditions BEFORE heading out to ride!
2. Even if you find your favorite trails are too wet to ride, that doesn't mean you can't get in the saddle. Consider alternate riding locations with better drainage or head onto forest service roads or even paved routes (Evans to Lock paved bike path, the North Augusta Greeneway, a road ride – Range Road on Fort Gordon is a great training ride with very, very minimal traffic, about 20 miles of great hills, etc).
What can be the consequences of riding wet trails? -
1. In other parts of the country land managers have decided to institute seasonal closures because of the actions of a few careless riders.
2. The aftermath of mountain bikers ignoring trail conditions and riding the trails when they are too wet can be, but not limited to: premature trail erosion unnatural widening of singletrack trails creating the potential for trail closures bad impression of mountain bikers from other trail users additional headaches for the people maintaining the trails - US additional time and money spent to correct the damage.
3. Hundreds of volunteer hours and often hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent creating and maintaining these trail networks for the mountain bike/hiking community – help protect this valuable resource by riding responsibly.
4. When you ride in the mud you can significantly contribute to future trail erosion, and you can seriously affect the quality of the trail when it dries out.
Summary -
1. Whether we all agree or disagree with all the statements above, the fact remains that soft, wet, muddy trails are sensitive. We, as a mountain biking community, need to educate ourselves and others so we can protect this great resource.
2. In terms of trail advocacy (which is a major component of our mission), riding wet trails is bad mojo! When other trail users see you pulling your bike out of your vehicle to ride a trail after it rains, there's a chance they will complain to the land manager. That information is filed away and can be used as ammunition for the next time a trail manager reconsiders whether a certain user group should be excluded from using the trail. However even if the person never complains, the actions of a few irresponsible riders can ruin the image of mountain bikers in general.
3. A mountain biker should always make a conscious effort to preserve the environment they are riding in. This includes an honest evaluation of the trail condition and an effort to minimize damage to it.
4. If you have ridden on a local trail that is too wet (sometimes it seems as if enough time has passed and the trail should be dry but you encounter bad areas a couple of miles into your ride) and want to report it so others will be aware of the trail conditions, please contact one of the SORBA-CSRA officers or the trail coordinator and they will get the word out.
5. Some things that can contribute to trail erosion after a rain – composition of the soil, number of riders, availability to ride year round, and sometimes the age of the trail. These factors make the FATS trail system particularly vulnerable after a rain. It is ridden year round, it gets the majority in terms of number of riders, the soil composition is not rocky, and it is comparably a new trail system!
6. The trails in our area that are most susceptible to trail damage after a rain include – all of FATS (particularly Skinny and Great Wall) and the new Bartram addition (Bartram West). Please opt for a ride on one of our many older trails that are generally not ridden as often so can withstand the wheels more quickly after a rain. And if no trail is rideable, please stick to gravel roads, paved paths, or the road until the trails are suitably dry.
7. Trails that are closed by the USFS are done so to protect the trail. Long Cane Horse Trail used to be closed periodically because it was receiving heavy usage by horses after rain and a lot of damage was occurring. FATS is currently managed by the USFS and periodically closed because it gets the highest number of riders/usage of all the trails in our system. It also receives the highest number of riders coming in from out of town. Riders will tend to ride the trails if they are open, regardless of condition, once they have traveled to get here. By closing the trail it greatly minimizes the damage potential since the majority of riders/users will respect the closure. No other trails in our system are currently being managed by the land managers to that extent but if need be, that can change if the trails are not being used responsibly.
8. When the Forest Service officially closes a trail, typically with a sign and orange tape at the trailhead, you can be ticketed if you ignore the trail closure and ride the trail anyway! However, even if the Forest Service has not closed the trail (it isn't an exact science when they decide to temporarily close the trail) and you become aware the trail is too wet to ride, please do not ride the trail. Communication between the Forest Service and the people who keep up our website isn't instantaneous and often several hours lapse in the communication chain. The Forest Service is not on a bike and cannot see conditions deep within the trails like we can!
9. If your bike ever looks like this when you are finished riding a trail – the trail was probably too wet to ride!
Report to Mod - Link to Post - Back to Top 69.254.6.195
Read more: sorbacsra.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=2927#ixzz1hMlIgCji
] 
