A little bit of work, and a whole lot of learning

BKB berms
Originally uploaded by bent udder

Last Sunday, Ian Warby from CTC came down to show us a few trail building tricks - it's been almost four years since Ian was last down showing us how things are done, and lots has changed in that time.

With a small group, we learnt a whole lot of things about building and repairing trails. Ride down BKB/Golden Birdies/Reservoir Dogs and you should have a much better time of things - even if it's not immediately apparent what work has been done.

We also took a look at a new section of trail that's been in the works for a while. I won't say much here, because it's by no means completed yet, but the extra input will make for a far better trail once it's open.

Ian also showed us some pretty smart organisational chops, which should help us manage trail days and work with people who fancy a bit of building much more effectively. Some of it is blindingly obvious - once you've been told - but is fantastically helpful. One problem common to all volunteer trail building orgs is the issue of completely random numbers of people turning up on build days. It makes planning really difficult, from schedules of work through to baking enough cakes and making enough sandwiches for the builders. Ian showed us a trick that gets rid of this - something that's been one of our biggest headaches since the very beginning.