Diary #7
May 5, driving to Tyler.
Sorry about the long delay in journal entries-we'll try to be more
punctual the next time around, it's just been rather busy lately.  April
1st we pointed the Subaru north and went to work on trails in the Belton
Lake Recreation Area, which is on the grounds of Fort Hood military
base.  While there we had the good fortune to stay with the president of
the Ft. Hood Trailblazers John Bolin and his wife Julie.  John took us
on a tour of the trail system at Ft. Hood and asked a lot of good
questions about how to control erosion in specific areas of the trail.
Most of the trail is in pretty decent shape, but a few sections are
entirely too steep to be sustainable.  Therefore we worked with John on
using the clinometer to lay out possible new trail grades that would
keep water from running directly down the trail, and we did some
de-berming to control water pooling in a few low spots.  We also had an
encounter with a copperhead snake that was coiled around a log; it was
beautiful to look at, but a little too close for comfort!
Later that week we met with John Gillette who leads the Central Texas
Trails Network (CTTN) and Mike Carter who is the Mayor of Nolanville.
CTTN is in the process of creating a 123 mile multi-use trail system to
link several communities in the Belton/Killeen/Temple area, and they've
asked us to help in the design and eventual construction of the trails.
We were also invited to give an economic development presentation the
following week to the Nolanville city council to describe how cycling
can help bring revenue into a town that wants to be recognized as a
"green community".  In addition we were offered the chance to be
photographed on our bikes for the brochure that is in development to
raise interest in the trail system. Ryan and I along with John and Julie
went to Dana Peak Park near Nolanville to meet with the photographer and
get some "action shots" of people enjoying a natural-surface trail
system. The shots came out pretty well and we look forward to seeing the
finished product. We had another snake encounter that day, this time
with a rattlesnake that didn't enjoy us riding by his sunning place. 
That one was definitely too close, so we'll be a little more vigilant in
the future.
That weekend we went further north up to the Waco area and led a
Paydirt work party at Broken Oak Ranch in Valley Mills, which is where
the final race of the Spring Series will be held. The course is pretty
new, but the Waco Bicycle Club and other folks have done a pretty good
job of getting a nice trail system built in a relatively short amount of
time.  One area called the Gravity Cavity has several fun swoops and
dips in a deep basin, but also has low sections that get wet and muddy
rather easily.  One section there had been armored by building a
sidewalk-looking slab with small culvert pipes underneath it, and
another similar slab was in the works. Susan acknowledged the need for
armoring, and suggested that a different method could yield the same
results and look a little more natural in the process. Broken Oak has a
lot of rock to work with, so we excavated the low area and brought in
rock to build a jig-saw puzzle that would provide a stable surface to
ride on that was flush with the rest of the trail tread. It took several
hours and we had to use a truck to haul down one huge rock slab, but the
end result was just beautiful. Everyone agreed that the natural rock
looked much more inviting than a section of sidewalk out in the woods,
so we called it a day and went to ride the rest of the trail.
The second week of April we went back to Waco and worked with Matt Kiel
who is the one park ranger that oversees all the trail construction and
maintenance in Cameron Park, which is a huge task for one person.  Matt
has done a lot of reading on trail construction and knows that several
of the trails in Cameron Park that were built before he was hired are
too steep to ride safely. They have also eroded badly, which is no
surprise since they go straight down the fall line and reach grades as
high as 35-40 percent!  Matt has been working to re-route those sections
and asked for our input on other areas that hold water or contribute to
safety concerns in the park. Matt was great to work with, and it's nice
to see a city employee who is so passionate about the park he helps to
manage and who works very hard to conserve the natural resources there.
The race was that weekend, and we had some nice new Texas Bicycle
Coalition banners to hang on the Subaru in the exposition area. Exposure
is a good thing!
The next week we went to Atlanta State Park up in the northeast corner
of the state near Texarkana. The park currently doesn't allow off-road
cycling, but the park manager is interested in opening the hiking and
nature trails to bikes, which we of course support fully!  One of the
trails is little more than a flat glorified logging road, but the nature
trail we hiked was onc of the most well-built and interesting trails we
have seen since we started the job. We were sure it was built by either
the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) or somebody who had trained with
them because it was properly bench-cut with good flow, grade reversals,
and sustainable grades through a beautiful pine forest. Turns out the
park has only been around since the late 1950's or early 1960's, but the
person at the visitor center said the trail has been around since then,
and it almost never receives any maintenance. A forty year old trail
that still looks good with minimal maintenance and no re-routing proves
that it was done right at the start. Hopefully we can get some more
mileage built out there soon, as opening the park to mountain biking
would undoubtedly increase their shrinking visitor numbers.
From Atlanta State Park the intrepid Subaru BikeTexas Trail Doctors
took a brief vacation over Easter weekend to-go ride our bikes in the
woods. This time we went to Arkansas though, to ride the legendary
Womble Trail that was built as a hiking trail by the CCC back in the
early 1930's.  Along with a group of friends from Houston we stayed in
swanky cabins with hot tubs overlooking the Ouchita river, and did an
epic 37-mile point-to-point ride over the span of about 6 hours. The
Womble is an outstanding trail, and we highly recommend it to any of our
friends who want to take a vacation and ride some of the sweetest,
best-designed, most fun single track in the country.  And that's only
one of the many trail systems in the area!
Wednesday April 23 we got back to work and returned to Belton at John
Gillette's request to do a presentation to the other CTTN members
describing our program and how we can help with the creation of the new
multi-use trail system. We had a great response, and we're very excited
to be involved with a project of this magnitude at such an early stage. 
Later in the week we met with Matt Kiel again at Waco and prepared for a
Paydirt work party at Cameron Park. Unfortunately no one showed up that
Friday (even though people were begging more work opportunities before
the deadline).  However we still got a good day of work in by fixing the
approach to a bridge that was too sharp and building a railing to
increase its safety.
That weekend was the race at Flat Creek Ranch west of Austin, and
thanks to Debbie Main we got a nice visible spot to park the Subaru and
set up our display. Preston Tyree from the TBC office in Austin came out
to visit and help with the Kids Cup race, and the weekend went pretty
well with good weather and lots of exciting racing. However Susan got
the sad news on Saturday that her grandmother had passed away, so the
following week she went up to Ohio to be with family for the memorial
service. Gladys Massey Stormer was 100 years old and lived a good long
life-may she rest in peace.  Ryan held down the fort while Susan was
gone, so the last part of April was spent calling people to set up
visits on our new schedule for the next several months. He also went to
Reimers ranch near Pedernales Falls and rode a new trail system that is
under development. Next up on our schedule is a visit to Tyler State
Park to meet with park staff as well as regional natural resource
experts and Andy Goldbloom from Texas Parks and Wildlife, so we can
provide him with a first-quarter report of our activities.