Accotink/Wakefield ***FROZEN***

[MyOtherBrotherL]

I did an everything Accotink/Wakefield ride today and here is a quick assessment.

IT BE FROZEN!!

Everything at Accotink was worth riding. The 2 NEW trails were just very crunchy. I did run into a small amount of mud at Wakefield on the Power Line trail. Evidently a 4 wheel vehicle or truck had come through and raked up the sun exposed double track. I even rode the seldom use trails that parallel the cinder along side the creek. Watch out for ice covered puddles. Thin ice, tire grabbing puddles underneath.

One thing to note for all of you trail builders out there. The large surge of rain that we got on Thursday, combined with the cold blast of air, left an interesting/tell tail accounting of the quality of our trail system. If you get a chance take a ride before the warm-up. The rain washed the leaves down certain sections of trail and then the leaves kind of froze there. It's painfully obvious which trails are controlling or are shielded from water and which are directing water straight down the single track. I wish I had the time to document this because we would know exactly where to concentrate TM next season.

I'm not to sure about this 50 degree stuff coming in for Thursday. Hopefully we can ride.

L

[MyOtherBrotherL]

I rescind my previous POST. After Yesterday's warm-up a good portion of the trail system is a mess. I'm thinking the MORE Thursday Night URBAN ride is going to be scheduled "REAL" soon. ((I HEAR DF is a nice neighborhood to ride at night))

[MyOtherBrotherL]

All,

Myself and 2 EX-MORE presidents took an exploratory ride through Accotink and Wakefield this afternoon. Here's a quick review.

Accotink: All of the high side trails are in GREAT shape. The 2 new trails are still IFFY, but passable in the downhill direction. The Gas line Powerline trail had some muddy spots and on the other side of the Gas Plant, the trail leading to the real short rock garden had a huge BOG. I'd avoid it (Stay along the fence line) and definitely avoid Engine Block.

Wakefield. The Bowl was in decent shape (A little bit of mud at the bottom of the new trail), the stream valley trails were both in good shape, but the non race course corner by the CCT was a mess. I'd recommend doing an up and back on the stream valley. All of the Wakefield HILL trails were decent and so were the fence line trails. The Powerline trails were hit and miss. Water is starting to run down the inside track and people are starting to form a second trail through the grass next to the original. No big deal, its dry, but in another 6 months we're gonna have double track.

Side note: Other than the Stream Valley trails, everything is still kind of spongy. Eat your Wheaties before you ride. The ground definitely steals your momentum

[Dirt]

Hey Folks.

We rode last night and the trails were in okay shape when we started. We started heading back when it started raining steadily (it was misting on and off for the first part of the ride). The trails were all getting pretty sloppy. The race course section was okay and might be okay for Thursday night, but the bowl area is getting pretty slick and muddy. That is particularly true of the new section of trail that zigg zaggs down the hill. The flat areas of the power lines are just soup. If you're careful picking your line, the upper part of the power line trail closest to the beltway was okay. If you drop into a rut, you're 6" deep in mud. I'm going to see how much rain we get today and try and make a decision on riding tomorrow morning.

Take care,

Peter

[gaz]

Wanted to know if tonight' ride for fat, out of shape newbies was still going ahead tonight!

[Dirt]

Hey Gaz.

Sorry I missed your post. I was on-site today at a customer's office and couldn't access the MORE web site. The ride went off, though in a rather limited way. We finally called it quits around 8:40 or so when the rain started up. The trails are now thoroughly muddy. They were fine when we started. Tonight's rain will have soaked them. It will take a week for them to dry out. Maybe the mud will freeeze again if we ever get any real winter weather.

Best wishes,

Peter

[Dirt]

It should be no news to you that Wakefield is completely frozen. What is interesting is the condition of the creek trail. After last Thursday's rain storm, the area flooded badly. There's a lot of down trees and timber that has moved across the trail. There has also been alot of erosion as a result of being under water. The trail is fine right now, but it is going to require a lot of work when the area thaws.

Just something to keep in mind.

If you head out this week, be careful with the creek crossings. They're all icy, but some won't support your weight.... or at least they won't support my weight. They were fun none the less. Just remember, your brakes will ice up. Even disc brakes have trouble with this.

Have fun.

Peter

[TrailVictim]

Will wakefield be decent enough to ride tonight?

[Dirt]

I think so. I'm not going to cancel the ride. It may be that we only ride parts of Wakefield, but I think it'll still be worth the trip.

It froze pretty hard last night and it probably won't get much over freezing today, or so the weatherman says.

Peter

[TrailVictim]

Are you bringing the SS? I'm wondering if the thaw and freeze will make for a pain in the you know.

[halfinch]

Are you bringing the SS? I'm wondering if the thaw and freeze will make for a pain in the you know.

trail - i was out on monday and despite no really slop to spray up on my cables i still had a huge amount of ghost shitfing.. i should have ridding my single.
vbrakes worked fine, but they can ice on. discs brakes sound like a bunch of geese when they're cold, but appear to still work better..

my 02 :D

[Dirt]

Are you bringing the SS? I'm wondering if the thaw and freeze will make for a pain in the you know.

I'm almost always riding the SS these days. The folks I rode with recently on their gearies have had okay luck with them. Make sure your drivetrain is clean.

My rim brakes don't do so well when it is really icy like this. I just make due and have a small scraper that I use on them if they ice up too badly.

Hope that helps.

Peter

[Squirrel Girl]

The official MORE ride was cancelled last night. Did anyone go, even on their own? Earlier in the day? Does anyone know if it's possible for us to have a ride tonight? Craig said he was packing his bike today as a sign of optimism.

[Dirt]

It froze hard again last night. My guess is that there may be parts of the loops that we can't ride. But I'm also willing to bet my entire collection of last week's washington Posts that we'll have enough to ride a very good loop.

Hope to see y'all out there.

Pete

PS: Don't be put off by the fact that I don't have any Washington Posts from last week. I still think we'll ride. ;)

[bunky]

Anybody know what the Tink side looks like?

[dmofot]

Yea, 3 of us rode last night and I didn't see a single other person out there. While we didn't ride every inch of trail, we did hit all the sections and there was only a couple of melted spots. The worst section was probably on the trails past the power station closest to 495. The ground was still frozen, but there was running water on top of it. I don't think I got any mud on the bike though.

We hit the creek trail, the race track, the powerlines, the 495 trails, and the bowl, including the section over the creek in the bowl, which was super fun last night. Nothing quite like night time snow logs...

I would guess that the riding will be just as good tonight. Throw on some wider tires, because the wet snow tends to slip a little more than usual.

DT

[bunky]

Thanks, DT.

We're going to hit up Tink around 5 before it closes and then go get some Wakefield. I think I want to finish with the bowl because, as you noted, night snow logs will be fun fun fun!

FYI-we're leaving the recycling bins at 4:50, just in case you want in. It'll be me, Marcus and Mike Miller (and maybe Tom O'Sullivan).

I've got my new Trailtech/ batteryspace.com Do-It-Yerself HID light mounted on my bars and am STOKED to use it. Just keeping my fingers crossed regarding the crimp connectors. :eek:

Bunky

[dmofot]

FYI-we're leaving the recycling bins at 4:50, just in case you want in. It'll be me, Marcus and Mike Miller (and maybe Tom O'Sullivan).

I've got my new Trailtech/ batteryspace.com Do-It-Yerself HID light mounted on my bars and am STOKED to use it. Just keeping my fingers crossed regarding the crimp connectors. :eek:

Bunky

Good luck with the light, I'll be interested to hear how it works for you. Definitely a sweet build. I'd be all over your ride if it wasn't for this whole work thing. Well not the work thing as much as the 90 minute commute home. I might be making it out though a little later in the evening so maybe I'll catch you in the bowl.

DT

[bunky]

Right on. I think that's our plan to knock out the Tink side and then go meet up with the normal night ride.

Perhaps we'll see you there. Sorry about that commute. Sux!

B.

[gaz]

You kidding me? I'm finally sorted for my first ride with you lot...! It's better be on, heads will roll otherwise! (And I for one am parking across the street at Ravensworth!!)

[MyOtherBrotherL]

I ran at lunch today through Accotink - The Cinder was still snow covered and frozen. The few trails I ran were also snow covered but obviously well used. It looked like a lot of work to ride but probably a very good time. Don't expect to set any Land Speed records though. Every once in BLUE you would cross a spot this is really exposed to the sun and you would see dirt, but they were pretty rare.

L

[Dirt]

The conditions were amazing at Wakefield last night. As DT said, the creek trail was more fun than its been in months. It was hardpacked and tacky. The Bowl was a bit more work.

Hopefully conditions Thursday will hold. See you then.

Peter

[Dirt]

If you're thinking about riding tonight and wondering about the conditions, it should be GREAT. It hasn't risen much above freezing today and we've had over 1/2 inch of snow this afternoon.

Should be a great night! Come out and join us.

Peter

[Muddy1]

Are you wearing regular riding shoes!? Or boots? :)

[Dirt]

I wore my winter riding boots. I don't do the boots and toe clips thang in the winter unless it is really cold... like 20 below or something.

It was nice last night... A bit warmer than we've had in the past. That will be the last night ride we do there for a while. There were muddy spots already starting to form. Today I'm sure it is ugly as heck.

The tandem was fun. Trying to stop a 370+ pound bike on some of those downhills was a bit "interesting" in a "special" kind of way. We fell a few times doing stuff that was just silly in the ice and snow. They were all soft landings, and all but one were captured by Jason who was riding right behind us with the helmet cam.

Accotink and Wakefield will probably be unridable for a little while.

Peter