Washington Giffod Pinchot, What Happened?

[mud_and_rocks]

I rode Gifford Pinchot this weekend for the first time in a little over two years. What the hell happened? Every root was a 2

foot step up, every rut was waist deep. I have ridden there for years and have seen some challenging spots but it looks like a thousand poker runs have been through the place.

I have to admit that the place needs help and Tom S has a thread running asking for help. I will help out and hope that others

who love to ride there will also.

See you there,

Jeff

[Chuck.]

I had a similar experience climbing Bishop Ridge last year, all of the debris on the trail was like a creek bed. I admit I was on a different bike than my previous accent but it was eye opening.

[highmarker]

Mother nature mostly,  the way the snow, rain snow thaw freeze, thaw rain snow etc weather  "pattern" has been working the last years.  Riding it is smaller part of it (IMHO).  More damage occurs each year before the bikes even get up there. Compare last years trail condition late in season to this years first of season you'll see water did most the damage.  Climate change is the official cause they cite for the road damages, and reason to minimize their existence,

Edited July 28, 2014 by highmarker

[Slackkinhard]

learn to ride them anyway....makes you a better rider ?

[Cycle_Path]

I grew up riding in the nw and there has always been stuff like this. That said though it definately does seem like theres a hell lot more of the torn up extremely rutted shit anymore. I think its simply more riders are in the sport on the same trails. I can ride that stuff just fine but honestly when I see the trails like that Id rather be duel sporting or my street bike

[Slackkinhard]

I just think there are fewer trail miles open, so it concentrates all usage on the same miles.  Someone will get hurt and sue them, then they will close it to all of us, when all they ever had to do was let us use the trails we've always used.

 

Off with their heads

[highmarker]

I agree but I used to ride gifford way back before the volcano erupted and remember MORE bikes back then than I see now, campgrounds full of them. Trails were narrow pristine covered with needle and  huckleberry would about take your feet off the pegs they were into the trail that much.  Difference I see is back then we were all riding hodaka 100's , trail 90's with pizza plate rear sprockets, etc.  Low power bikes, not much suspension, speeds were slower, was an all day thing just to ride up the blue lake and mess around.  Today we fly powerful bikes and ride a 1/3 of the trails there in one day, pull rocks out of the trail from spinning, or grabbing them with a trials tire and spitting them out with 300cc.  Know we can't go backward but just saying how we use the trails is different now as well as how many are using them.

[ITLKSEZ]

...Today we fly powerful bikes and ride a 1/3 of the trails there in one day, pull rocks out of the trail from spinning, or grabbing them with a trials tire and spitting them out with 300cc....

I was just having this conversation with my wife on Friday when we were riding one of our favorite local trails that was recently torn to crap. It was pretty obvious that some asshat on a 450 mx bike chose power over finesse to make it to the top of what was once a beautiful moss-covered climb. Sad, really.

[campdirt]

I cant even imagine what a state of the art downswept expansion chamber would look like after a I day ride at any trail today. less trails and mother nature are the biggest enemys for trail condition imo.

[Chuck.]

I almost always do at least one hard skid plate thump per ride, my old Pursang with a low pipe would never survive.

 

On a trail repair a few years back we were hardening a hill section of trail and during the laying of the cinder blocks riders who were transporting materials needed to go back up the hill.  It is amazing how easily a knobby tire can move  a trail cinder block  unless it is well bedded into the trail and back filled, so I can visualize the damage many bikes can do to a grade.  

 

I use radial ply Trials tires for the traction but the lack of tire slip means much less damage to the trail.

[Burnrider]

When we flipped to the new 4 stroke generation (XR400 Honda to YZF 400's) the trails took a noticeable beating.

[Slackkinhard]

When we flipped to the new 4 stroke generation (XR400 Honda to YZF 400's) the trails took a noticeable beating.

 

so do my sprockets

[Burnrider]

so do my sprockets

 

Lots of reasons, but the bikes are way stronger today. All 4-strokes had was the constant velocity carbs. No bottom end. Bergs started life with a Del lorto carb. Didn't have the accelerator pump. Tough to get the front end light on heavy bikes without snap. FCR took care of that with the AP. A raw gas squirt takes it off the bottom, after that, multiple jetting phases kept the front end up. Blame it on fuel injection in a few years I guess.

 

If you need FCR tuning, I think DJH does a ton of bench tuning for KTM guys. Very reasonable too. That should take care of the trails.

Edited July 30, 2014 by Burnrider

[shrubitup]

Posting videos and pictures of trails while specifically naming the location or providing GPS tracks to strangers doesn't help trail conditions much. 

[dilyb]

Hopefully what all this "I remember when" thread talk will do is get us all to be more committed to trail maintenance, as well as advocacy.  Not all the advancements have been bad.  There are lots of chain saw carrying bikers around now and that's the good side of this technology.  The ability to carry saws that are now lighter and more powerful helps us open the trails faster every summer.  Now with threads like Tom's where he's helped organize work parties for specific bad spots in lovely trails, and we have these forums to even publicize those work parties, not all change has been bad.  Yes, we do need more trails, and yes, we do need more volunteers willing to work on bike issues like maintenance and advocacy ... but also yes, there are still some fantastic rides available to us, thankfully.

[pdxhillbilly]

You never used to see people carrying chainsaws.  Maybe opening trails earlier, during the early spring when there's heavy rainfall, contributes to the trail damage ?  Just saying.

[Slackkinhard]

I was up there this weekend. Not sure what all the issue is?  I hacked at a couple places on Table Mtn trail and Boundary, but really everywhere I went was in pretty good shape.  I covered about 24miles

[jmetteer]

I was up there this weekend. Not sure what all the issue is?  I hacked at a couple places on Table Mtn trail and Boundary, but really everywhere I went was in pretty good shape.  I covered about 24miles

 

 

Yeah you benefited from some volunteer hours from the Hood river crew. Other sections need help. 

 

We are getting to them as we can, need more people willing to pack tools and use them when they see a bad spot. 

 

Later,