Cedarville St. Forest - 4/10/05

[bikerRob]

4/10/05 >> I took a ride out at Cedarville yesterday so I thought I'd give ya'll some feedback. It turned out to be a pretty good day for a ride. Most of the trails were dry but there were quite a few wet spots and more than a few mud holes. The hard part was trying to tell the mud spots from the spots that just had water on the trail. Many of these spots you could just ride right thru because the ground beneath was very firm. Every once in while you would hit one that did have some mud but in all it wasn't too bad as long as you weren't using rim brakes. As long as you didn't ride too fast thru the water/mud sections, the splash up wasn't too bad.

** It's been a while since I've ridden at Cedarville and I was quite surprised at all the recent improvements in the trails. Particularly of note was the re-route of the blue trail which was just great! No more mud bogging after the bridge! I also got a chance to view the clear cutting that took place. Going thru the clear cut there were a couple bad mud spots but nothing you couldn't get thru. With all the spare wood around I'm surprised somebody hasn't thought to build some log pryamids. Just past the Archery range there was a dead fall that needed to be cleared. Hopefully someone will get that soon. It seems that all the stream/soft sections along the northern part of the blue trail all have bridges now...that really helps out a lot.

Perhaps the worst trail ( mud wise ) was the trail that left the parking lot as it snakes it way around toward the fish hatchery. Lots of mud holes along there but nothing you couldn't get thru. Through out the whole ride my tires never loaded up once. I have to admit I was a little surprised...it might be the new tires (WTB Moto-Raptors 2.4's) If you go ride, you might want to bring something to wipe your legs off afterward. Unless of course you like the schepeckling of mud your legs are going to get.
Rob

[liltommy]

This was my first time back to the blue trail in quite a while.

Man the work they did out there is sweet. They re routed around a lot of the nasty sections that get and stay muddy, and the loose steep hill is no longer part of the trail. I was too tired to pay alot of attention to how they did it.

There are some trees that had fallen across the trail and instead of getting rid of them , someone, I'm not sure if it was a santioned trail work, ramped them with dirt. If I wasn't so tired I would have turned around and came down them again.

I was avoiding the blue alot, but now I think its one of my favorites.

Tommy

[liltommy]

If your going to Cedarville, take some OFF or other bug spray with ya or don't plan on any rest stops. Or for that matter, don't go slower than 8 MPH.

The little pesky boogers are out in full force.

The trails are still sweet though.

Tommy

[liltommy]

They installed a gated fence on the road going down to the maintainence area just past the playground area. I would sometimes use this road as it crossed the yellow trail. I didn't look at it too hard but it doesn't look like something they want bikers to easily ride around.

Tommy

[billbowers]

Is there a Yellow Trail? If so, I guess i have been missing some of Cedarville.

Bill

[liltommy]

Is there a Yellow Trail? If so, I guess i have been missing some of Cedarville.

Bill

You've never been on the yellow?
Damn fine riding. Its where they put the starbucks.
I guess nobody ever told you about it. :D

Seeya

[liltommy]

I did a loop of all the trails out there Saturday. 10/17/05
The rain actually helped compact some of the loose sandy spots down and added very few muddy spots. Very nice riding.

seeya

[gaz]

I did a loop of all the trails out there Saturday. 10/17/05
The rain actually helped compact some of the loose sandy spots down and added very few muddy spots. Very nice riding.

seeya

Nice one! Was hoping that the deluges didn't fart the trails up too much. Still up for Saturday?

[liltommy]

I rode out there 1/7 and 1/8, yeah I know , I need to broaden my horizons.

rode all the trails and the worst spots are
-clear cut area on the blue trail
-yellow (orange?) trail 1/2 in (clockwise direction) at bee oak rd intersection.
-a few sections of the brown.

Basically, its 98% rideable.
Your not going to get any technical riding but if your looking for milage with a varied scenary, this place will work.

Also to note. On the last trail work day we "armored" a section of the blue. I was told at the time that it had a problem with standing water although I'd never experenced it. Saturday the whole area was covered with 2-4" of water. With the armoring we had done I was able to put here in granny and just ease through without evan getting wet. Sunday the area was completely dry. :confused: Go figure?

Last note. There are a lot of hunters on Saturdays so its best to keep off the blue and green trail. Its kinda funny. I see most deer on the while trail where the hunters aren't allowed.

tommy

[bikerRob]

1/15/06 >> Temp. 36'F.,windy >> Even though it was a little windy today the ride at Cedarville was not bad. To tell the truth I really didn't notice the wind too much even though I could hear some trees creak from time to time..(or was that my back)..anyway. Trail surfaces were very firm with very little mud or soft/wet spots. I could of probably counted the soft/wets spots on one hand if I had half a mind...( sorry, I meant to say, "If I had a mind to"..)..anyway...got a great two hour ride in. I'm real glad I chose not to go to the shed' today. As out of shape as I am right now the shed' would of killed me.

Tell whoever is the Cedarville liaison to put me in for a half hours trail work. I think I cleared about 5 minor deadfalls and one really big one...(all by me self).. :p ...Ya know, today it finally occured to me that I've been over paying the parking box. The fee is $3.00 a day...if you divide that by 24 (hrs) that comes to about 13 cents an hour (rounded off) Wow! next time if I plan on riding two hrs. I'll just put 30 cents in the till and say,"keep the change"!..(aren't I a nice guy).
:cool: ...now if I can just get my tougue out of my cheek.. ;)

[liltommy]

1/15/06 >>
Tell whoever is the Cedarville liaison to put me in for a half hours trail work. I think I cleared about 5 minor deadfalls and one really big one...(all by me self).. :p

Everytime something falls out there and adds a little spice to the trail , someone (looking at bikerRob accusingly) gets rid of it within a day.

I thought it was elves or gnomes at first.
Now I know.

Tommy

[bikerRob]

Everytime something falls out there and adds a little spice to the trail , someone (looking at bikerRob accusingly) gets rid of it within a day.

I thought it was elves or gnomes at first.
Now I know.

Tommy

1/20/06 >> Naaaa, most of the stuff I cleared was not the spicy variety, mostly smaller suspended dead-fall that couldn't be ridden around ( think 3-4" dia. dead pine hanging 3-4' off the ground) If these are high enough (and most were), the horse people come along and go around it.
There was one larger 18" dia log that had fallen and was laying off-camber down off of the blue trail ( east of the lake road ). Normally I would of just let it go, as you say, to create a challenge but this one looked dangerous. It had a bunch of spiky broken branches sticking out of it that was just begging to impale someone. I tried to break off the spikes at first but some of them wouldn't break. Seeing that the log was already cracked (in half) I moved one half to allow people to pass. Believe me, if I hadn't of moved it the rangers would of gotten to that one sooner or later. (* if I'd of had my compact saw with me I'd of just cropped the branches.)

[liltommy]

2/25/06
There are ALOT of downed trees out there and none of the mystical elves have evan attemped to clean them up a little bit.

No exaggeration, I had to get off the bike atleast 20 times to walk around downed trees. Most of them you have to walk around, not over, because they still have all their limbs.

The orange trail was the worst, the blue was the best although there are down trees on all of the trails and on the gravel roads. (I went everywhere, working on the base). It looks like a hurrican blew right through the park.

Seeya
Tommy