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    New Trail and the Best Type of Volunteer Work


    May 17, 2023, 04:19 PM

    Middleton Bike Park has new trail! We have heard your cries regarding the bi-directional segments and we are working to fix that. Toward that end, we have cut a new trail through a large portion of the western prairie along Fairway. I will post a map soon. The gist is this:
    • The original corridor of Fairway from the rock garden to the western woods is now DEDICATED ONE WAY WESTBOUND
    • There is a new trail that starts from the exit of Chip Shot as it starts back toward the trailhead. This new trail is DEDICATED ONE WAY EASTBOUND

    The new trail will briefly head up to the top of the hill, before starting a downhill segment adjacent to the original westbound trail.  You'll then head through the woods at the bottom of the hill, before you start a climb back up to rejoin the two way trail back to the trail head. There is an old stone farm fence in there that the trail goes over several times which will make for some interesting riding challenges.

    Please understand, this trail is open, and in fact mandatory as part of the route through MBP, but it is not done. Particularly the down hill portion will have some nice berms in addition to maybe some jumps and wall rides (we're not sure yet). The old trail (now one way westbound) can also change to be more appropriate since it doesn't need to work in both directions. So its all a little vanilla right now, and the new stuff is very slow rolling / not packed in.

    FINALLY, WE NEED YOUR HELP BUT ITS IN A FUN WAY! Please ride the new stuff. It desperately needs tires to get the tread packed in and to keep the plant life from reclaiming things (it was a fairly shallow hand cut). The various segment entrances and intersections are all signed, and again, you'll have to ride it if you ride MBP. But please think about taking a few laps through the new stuff in particular. The more it gets packed in, the faster its going to roll and the more fun its going to be.

    More soon!

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    « Last Edit: May 17, 2023, 07:33 PM by augs »

    XXX
    consular_ship
    Trail Steward - Quarry Park
    Trail Steward

    May 19, 2023, 08:37 AM

    It’s nice not to have to worry about encountering riders on an other stretch of trail, however the old trail is much more fun eastbound. Is there a plan to make the new return trail more feature-rich?

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    XXX

    May 19, 2023, 09:34 AM

    It’s nice not to have to worry about encountering riders on an other stretch of trail, however the old trail is much more fun eastbound. Is there a plan to make the new return trail more feature-rich?

    Yes, 100%. The current return trail is simply the footprint of the path. We will certainly be putting in several nice berms and rollers, and most likely a few jumps, drops, or wallrides for the downhill section. There are no immediate plans for substantial changes to the woods or climb portions of the new trail, although I am certainly open to hearing ideas. As stated in the original post, we will also be planning to ultimately make the old (now westbound) trail more appropriate to one way traffic on both its downhill and uphill segments. So there are big changes coming, but the volunteer base at MBP is historically on the small side so it may take time (the reason we were able to get these roughed in so fast is thanks to an awesome crew from Trek who came out and put in a lot of hard work).

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    XXX

    May 29, 2023, 10:09 AM

     I am so happy to see the one way trail problems being addressed. Thanks to everyone involved.

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    XXX

    July 03, 2023, 12:40 PM

    I have been riding the new eastbound return section since it opened, and after riding it many times, I am wondering if the new eastbound section might be a better as a westbound section with the old (current westbound) section then becoming the eastbound?  Anyone else think this might be worth a try?

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    XXX
    augs
    Former President
    Board Member

    July 03, 2023, 04:13 PM

    Once it's
    I have been riding the new eastbound return section since it opened, and after riding it many times, I am wondering if the new eastbound section might be a better as a westbound section with the old (current westbound) section then becoming the eastbound?  Anyone else think this might be worth a try?
    We considered both options.  Once the new trail is complete and the old trails are rehabilitated, I think most riders will agree that the current arrangement is the way to go.  We're working on scheduling the machine work and another volunteer day to get that done, stay tuned.

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    XXX
    augs
    Former President
    Board Member

    July 08, 2023, 09:35 PM

    Workday to try to finish the new trails is scheduled for July 22.  More details on our events page.

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