The Sandy Ridge Trail system is the go-to riding destination for Portland, Oregon riders. It is also a major destination for road tripping mountain bikers from all over that travel to sample some of the pacific northwest flow. Saying it’s a popular spot is an understatement, and while the trail is built to last, the wear and tear from all the visiting riders means it needs more love than a typical trail.
Tom Slovak of the NWTA lays out the days agenda to over 70 volunteers that came out to brave the wet conditions and give back to their favorite trails.
In previous years the tread has been hardened with gravel and aggregate, which helps keep it capable of handling riders almost the whole year round. This weekend, the Portland based MTB advocacy group Northwest Trail Alliance hosted a trail maintenance day. With upwards of 70 riders in attendance, they worked in drizzling rain to help prepare the trail for winter.
Matt Weintraub, the new Pacific Northwest Associate Regional Director for IMBA.
Spliting up into teams, NWTA Trail Stewart Tom Slovak gathered crew leaders Lee Lemmon, Brent Sullivan, Shane Gould, Steve Swearingen, Dennis Veatch, Wes Nile and myself (Jason Van Horn) to dole out assignments.
Volunteers with the Northwest Trail Alliance remove leaves and decomposing pine needles from the trail tread.
Shuttling up and dispersing along various points on the access road, we led groups of riders that included over 26 new trail builders onto the trails to tackle various projects. Jason Wells, Shane Wilson and Matt Meintraub of IMBA and IMBA Trail Solutions set several crews in action on projects on Hide and Seek that included hardening trail surfaces and addressing a corner that didn’t fit in with the flow of the rest of the trail.
Barry O’Connor of the Fat Tire Farm uses a high powered leaf blower to leaves and other organic matter from the trail tread.
Drainages were cleared to allow water to run off the trail surface and a team of vigorous riders went to work removing all a season’s worth of organic matter off the trail.
Volunteers hard at work on the trail
Each work crew had a high powered leaf blower as the first wave; leaves were blown off, then followed by rogue hoes and rakes, pulling off a layer of decomposed pine needles and leaves. Removing the decomposing layer of organic matter exposed the packed and hardened tread, which should drain quickly after a rain.
Wes Nile of Hi-Five Bikes (right) is no stranger to building berms. He maintained the BTI Trail in Ashland, Oregon solo for years, logging hundreds of hours of his own time for free.
Other crews focused on rebuilding berms as well as rock armoring and hardening the trail surface.
Fresh dirt was carried in from other areas, brought in using buckets.
Volunteers armored the tread by excavating soil and placing rock into the holes.
A rock armored section of trail. This section was worked on years ago and can be ridden hard regardless of the weather.
After a day of trail work, volunteers enjoyed refreshments provided by Hopworks.
Post work day refreshments by Hopworks
While enjoying the refreshments, swag provided by the Fat Tire Farm was raffled off and dispersed among the volunteers. We took home a fresh pair of $80 Oakley goggles – thanks FTF!
It was great to see the riding community come out in force; we saw representatives from many of the best mountain bike shops in Portland including CyclePath, Evo, Fat Tire Farm/ 21st Ave Bicycles, Hi-Five Bikes and Western Bikeworks.
Trail work in the Portland area continues next Saturday, this time at Stub Stewart State Park. Visit NW-Trail.org for the details.
View more photos from the Trail Day here.
