As I suspect this post will go OT quite quick anyone got any tips for fixing/improving existing trails?

I’m not taking about “strava lines” just making the ride fun & consistent, not wacking unexpected jumps/features in existing locations but fixing issues, in this case with a natural occurrence like a fallen tree.

In my case I have a particular place in mind.

There are at least two single tracks intertwined, weaving down a mile long “wild” trail. There is a fallen tree, the tree is across the ‘straight’ route down.

Assume tree can’t be moved.

The now correct route is to take a left slightly uphill (not up-a-hill) to a higher line say 25 m before you realise you’ve hit a dead end.

how do you help to make the correct route the only route for the future? as it is now the only viable one?

lots of people other than me must be making this mistake as there’s obvious disturbance from people lugging themselves & bikes up to the higher track at that point

What I’d ideally like to do make the higher line the obvious way by ‘masking’ the straight ahead route. i don’t want to to something like blocking it, just make it obvious where you should ride

Since everyone likes pictures here’s entering the top of said trail from last weekend..

All videos I can find of this trail have neither this fallen tree or an earlier one in them.

I would write them down, but then…

over the tree

full size tree, branches an all, a good 8 ft high.. otherwise i wouldnt have posted.

Looks like the ‘tocks.

it is. thats me going into top of bincombe/five lords from sunday

how do you help to make the correct route the only route for the future?

put up a sign 😉

Oh. I know the tree you mean now!

If it’s too big to make a feature of, i’d chop in a new line around it.

It would be pretty apparent it’s fine to go with 🙂

no need for a new line, one exists.. the problem is making that the right one the dominant one when you’re at trail speed, without it looking/feeling too unnatural. bascially the problem is that its being bypassed as going straight on looks OK from that point

Oh. I know the tree you mean now!

the second one, not the first one?

put up a sign

haha.. i was hoping for it to be more natural flow 😉

maybe scuff the ground for the left turn, and blend the straight ahead route in more. maybe once the leaves are off the trees cover it over and the winter usage will sort the new line out

trim the branches off the tree so it lays flat, then go over it?

I’ll have to have a better look. IIRC its not currently at the right angle. that’s why my initial thinking has been to ease in the diversion. it’d probably go that way over time on its own as people learn. its a funny trail though, even old posts on here show its hard for locals and non-locals alike to find at first. (took me at least 3 goes, i’ve even had people following me go the wrong way if they aren’t close enough behind)

I do carry a folding saw. If it could be dropped low could build a mud ramp /bump with the cutoff branches as I read in one of sharki’s old posts happened elsewhere on the same trail before. problem is.. there’d be no b-line. I’d need a spade too..

Next time i’m there I’ll ride the trail slow and take stock from there, then loop and ride it again 😀

Other thing is. without the downed tree the left/high route is more fun anyway

This is STW: chop tree up, build holz haus.

See-saw?

Could you build a catch that helps you get up onto the high line at the point where people see the tree but still have speed? It’d probably just have to be enough to get you up onto the high line as I don’t imagine people will make the same mistake twice.

Dig under it?

^ hmm use the saw to make a tunnel through? 😀

Could you build a catch that helps you get up onto the high line at the point where people see the tree but still have speed? It’d probably just have to be enough to get you up onto the high line as I don’t imagine people will make the same mistake twice.

how do you mean catch? like a low bermed edge?

i’ve made the mistake at least twice (i ride it maybe once every three weeks) and there’s a nice muddy section where other people have been clambering from the low line to the higher line after messing up.

if there’s a group the lead pair or more will get caught in the dead-end section, and the rest will take the high line to avoid rear ending. thats what’s happened the last 2 times. me in front, someone behind.. the one at the back picks the detour

this a year old video i found in which makes the place look entirely different and with more space out.. right now its plush and green

the tree in question is somewhere around the 2:20 to 2:40 mark.. really hard to tell. seems to be a lot of deadfall in this video. guy here appears to take the high line down

(there is also another tree down around the 1 min mark which is also a real PITA..)

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8Ao4DkajfI[/video]

Scrape the trail prior to the entry to the higher line and past the split for the other line. Use dry grass, small sticks or whatever on the other line. If the trees root bulb has come out there will be great loose dirt exposed with easy access.

Either go over the tree, if that’s right out, then scrape the desired line, mask the old one with forest detritus.

If you built the trail from scratch, do what you like.

If you didn’t make it…. leave it alone.

Build another elsewhere.

My rules are

Never makes things easier just because you can’t ride them.

Never change somebody else work unless it clearly no longer ridden.

I spend hours every year building/clearing and sculpting things. I rarely build an actual jump, instead a look for natural features and shapes I can reroute over.

I never build on an actual FP.

If I cut greenery back I do it properly so I don’t have to do it next year.

Always cover your tracks. Cover any fresh features and leave them unridden till they’ve had chance to settle in then nobody will notice.

Never waste time on anything unless you have an entrance and an exit and build these last.

I try and build things that are at the edge of my ability so I have to improve.

Be discreet.

I work mainly in my local woods which are all old quarries so lots of natural materials to work with.

As for your problem, I’d say you need to redirect people’s eye by making the new route more obvious than the old one. You could go big and obvious with logs and risk others crashing or just gather lots of greenery to cover the dirt.

If you built the trail from scratch, do what you like.

If you didn’t make it…. leave it alone.

Build another elsewhere.

yup i agree. in this case its a wild trail running by a long boundary drainage/ditch.. so really, no one built it and i’m only talking about helping stop people run into a dead end caused by the fallen tree.

As for your problem, I’d say you need to redirect people’s eye by making the new route more obvious than the old one.

yup thats what i’m thinking.. hence the autumn leaves thing..

its less of a ‘change’ for the sake of it, just a necessary improvement really.. if nature has decided to dump a tree there, then the new route will become more used over time anyways. judging by the video, it might be easier to deal with the situation once the leaves are off the trees.

we’re on a road trip elsewhere this weekend, however if i’m with someone up for it i’m thinkin of doing a slow pass down, having a proper looksee – with an extra pair of hands or two i might even be able to move the tree.

And if the entrance to the new line doesn’t flow move it back up the trail till it does if possible.

yeah thats not a problem the alternate higher track already exists. its a parallel alternate running about 20ft higher up hill than the now blocked lower route. the entrance is fine and already exists and flows in character with the rest.. its just finding a way make it the dominant route and stopping people running into a dead end. at the moment its a “straight on or up to the left (if you notice it)” decision.. it needs to be a “always go left”..

its just that thing about guiding peoples eyes/riding up to the left without making the straight-on route treacherous by doing something silly like putting branches across

looks like a combination of lightly clearing the track in the desired direction, and putting low level foliage (ferns, fall leaves ) etc at the junction to fuzz it out will sort it out over time

i’m going to ‘adopt’ the trail over the winter and try to keep it flowing

improvised trail tool – carry small bit of rope/twine, find a branch and some smaller branches… use my folding saw – make a makeshift broom 🙂

If your adopting it just stash a cheap rake nearby.

true.. in fact.. if feel the need i can even park up fairly close as the trail is in a valley parallel to a road.. there are various parking spots so could even take a spade etc. i don’t think its necessary to go that hard at it and really won’t be making sweeping (pun intended) character altering changes.. just make sure it ain’t broken and runs well as it’s one of those trails that isn’t ridden much, because its not been blown up by some magazine route guide or used in races/sportives but that everyone enjoys (this years Quantock Quake ruined Willoughby Cleeve as the amount of traffic flattened it out, taking with it any character!)

strava link which will give a map : https://www.strava.com/segments/4904527

Hire a chainsaw and cut the fallen tree across the blockage?

I’ll often clear trees that have fallen across my local trails with the folding saw I carry. Can usually deal with stuff up to 1′ dia. on my own fairly quickly.

hmm, food for thought. dad has one i borrowed to chop down a tree that died in my front garden. i suppose even if i picked away with my folding saw over multiple visits, or had a helper it’d get sorted in the end

depending who i’m riding with my next visit there may be sunday after next (16th). i lose regular riding companions in the winter, so the worse the weather the better my chances at putting some pixie work in!

so.. after thinking I wouldn’t get there til this weekend coming, as a 2 people dropped out of our planned day out remaining pair of us went there.. and it had not only been fixed, but the route through had even been nicely raked!

thank you magical trail pixie!

I’ve just started riding Bin in the last few weeks and it’s tremendous. Climbing up Holford, grabbing a gulp or three of air and then banging down and over the road into that swooping, flowy singletrack is awesome.

What are the unwritten rules of Trail Pixieing?

Ride it like you stole it. 8)