Alexander Park, NC Workday Information

Alexander promises to be great set of trails just 15 minutes north of Asheville, NC. Here are the SORBA days for Trail Days out at Alexander. 

1. Sunday, August 5th  10:30am
2. Wednesday, August 15th 8:30am
3. Sunday, August 19th 10:30am

We will work for about 4 hours.  If it’s actively raining we will not work, but if just wet we will.
Remember to dress appropriately, bring water and good gloves.  Dressing appropriately means long pants and sleeves if senistive to the poison ivy.

 Give it a shot.
-Mike Brown

MTB Advocacy Shorts

Pisgah District: June 2 2007 was National Trails Day and Pisgah Area SORBA celebrated with a total overhaul of Wolf Brach trail. Trail Dynamics (www.traildynamics.com) donated expertise, labor, and machinery to the project to ensure that all goals were met and work was done the highest possible standard. This trail had been a target for many BioWheels Racing trail work days in the past but was still requiring near constant maintenance and rehabilitation. Using a combination of machine and hand work, over 2 miles of trail was overhauled to, hopefully, be more sustainable and require less maintenance for the future. Anyone who has ridden this trail will have noticed two major changes: 1) The installation of new bridges across water crossings, and 2) The complete re-working of the upper section of the trail which tended to either stay wet and muddy or was becoming a terribly eroded sediment dumping trough into a nearby creek. People seeing this work and wondering why it was done the way it was should bear several things in mind. First, this was a Forest Service approved and monitored project. This meant that all work done had to meet a few standards. Wolf Branch trail is classified as “easy,” meaning a trail that is mostly flat, featuring relatively few roots and rocks and an average grade of less than 8%. Furthermore, on a FS project, all work focuses on ecological impact, particularly water quality and stream bank preserevation. Bridges and major trail work was done for a user group looking for an “easy” trail and to minimize environmental impact.

Over 40 volunteers came out to join the crew, making for a fantastic, productive day. It is impossible to state how much volunteer’s time is appreciated. Time was taken to teach and explain, hopefully educating those who came out so they look at trails in a new light. After a hard day’s labor, a cookout hosted by Mike and Claudia Nix at their rental house (thanks!) in Bent Creek was to folllowl. A mysterious source provided a wide array of adult beverages and everyone enjoyed the glow of knowing they had helped make a difference.

Pisgah Area SORBA hosts regular trail work days, fun group rides, and is your regional represenative with land managers. If you want to get involved, stay informed, or support our efforts, please visit www.pisgahareasorba.org for more information. BioWheels provides some of the strongest support of any local business for PAS’s efforts, another example of Matt and Eric fullfilling the BioWheels mission of environmental and communtiy activism. Thanks guys.

Shope Creek/Appalachian Ranger District: The Forest Service has responded to public comments on this project near the Riceville/Oteen area in Buncombe County. Responses basically said thanks for your feedback, we’ll take it into consideration, but we’ve got it all under control and are going to proceed with our plan- if you want specifics, the replies are available at http://www.cs.unca.edu/nfsnc/nepa/appalachian/shope_creek_response_to_comments.pdf.

Richmond Hill: On 7/9/07, I completed a walk through of the existing trail with the city landscape architect and stormwater engineer, reviewing proposed rehabilitation efforts to turn it into a sustainable trail. The city agreed that all proposals were reasonable and minimal in their impact. The next step will be for me to meet with the city later this month to create an informal plan for this work for submission to the NC Department of Environmental and Natural Resources. After this is reviewed and approved (which will hopefully go smoothly), Pisgah Area SORBA will begin work on a new trail system in Richmond Hill. This is a project that is near and dear to me and BioWheels ownership; by the time it is completed, there will be a new trail system within 10 minutes of downtown featuring several miles of high quality singletrack. In the long-term, the city master plan is to link this system into a greenway system making it possible to ride your bike from town to trail with only minimal traffic interaction at street crossings. If you want more information on this complicated, long-term project, please visit www.pisgahareasorba.org again and peruse the newsletter archives.
Old 70/ Kistuma property questions: It’s official- the Forest Service no longer has right of way on the upper portion of Old 70. The property owner does, evidently, have the legal right to revoke it. The ORAMM will use Mill Creek past the geyser twice now- actually adds up to more mileage and more dirt, so that’s a good thing in my mind for the race, but a VERY BAD thing for regular Kitsuma loops. This is all per the Forest Service. What individuals choose to do is none of my business, but know you are trespassing and generally giving a bad impression of MTB-er’s.
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Alexander Mountain Bike Park: Four workdays have occured in the past month and I am sure more will be announced as there are still volunteer hours needed for the grant. Todd Branham/Long Cane Trails are dong their best to build a cool trail system at Alexander and I encourage everyone to check www.pisgahareasorba.org for specific dates.

That’s it and that’s enough. Remember, the world is run by those who show up- get involved!

Mike Brown