Tzou

I went riding on Mt Tzouhalem on Saturday. I really enjoyed the ride. I haven't been up there for quite a while now (except a couple of times with Hilary before work on Wednesdays). It was just too uncomfortable to ride properly, as it's a very bumpy place. I rode really well today though. I cleared everything that I usually only clear sometimes. I took the singletrack up all the way (except the bottom hill), and definately prefer doing it that way. The climbing disappears when it's singletrack.
I was reading a blog the other day (can't remember which, or I'd link), that had a rant about people that remove obstacles from trails. This came to mind as I was riding Why Be A Roadie (in the upwards direction). There's a big (about 30 cm diameter) log in the trail. It's easily ridable in the upwards direction, but a challenge when going the other way. I always try it, and have made it over on several occasions, but not consistantly (and have ended up hugging the tree on the other side of it a couple of times). Somebody had taken a chainsaw to it. The rest of the trunk was still there on either side of the trail, and the meter-wide cutout had been shoved to the side of the trail. I was a bit angry. This mountain isn't one of them "trail centers" where "hazards" are clearly marked with big yellow signs (with foam padding around the signpost). I like riding up there because it's so challenging, and I ride something I hadn't ridden every time I'm up there. And so does Willy (Willy is the Dad of Mt. Tzouhalem. He lives up in The Properties and rides his Devinci Ollie up there several days a week to build new trails and "stunts" and maintain the trails. Willy takes the craziest lines and biggest drops. He's also the nicest guy, and will always offer to show new-comers the trails. He thinks I nees a fully suspended bike. I think he's right). The mountain (well... the whole island) is made of rock, so the trails aren't going to be smooth. There are a couple of floopy trails, but even they have logs and drops and rocks to act as natural "speed bumps". Although I really love the fast flowy stuff, the higher trails become more and more appealing with their rock gardens. The logs on the lower trails continue to disintergrate and disappear (and get easier to clear) with frequent riding, and new ones fall (the log pile on School's Out changes every week), but the rocks on Field of Dreams and Chicken Run never loose their hard jaggy edges, just get marked by bashguards. The trails at the top of the mountain also get less traffic, maybe because it's more challenging, or maybe because it's further to ride(/push) up, or maybe because people only ride for an hour or so, and never get very far up the mountain.
Anyway, the point is that I missed the log. Why did it get taken out? Who would have taken it out, anyway? Willy and a handful of his friends do most of the building/maintainance up there, and I'm sure it wasn't any of them. They'd need more than a chainsaw to get rid of the rocks, thankfully.


PS - I've made a nifty device out of an egg carton that goes over the button on my GPS receiver, as it works flawlessly, unless the button gets pressed, which tends to happen a lot when stuffed into my pack.