Buena Vista Ride Saturday Morning, Sunday Trail Work

Saturday Ride 7/25: Well, it has been a few weeks since we've played on the home field, so this week we finally return to the Buena Vista trails on Saturday morning. Yes, the area is supposed to dry out starting on Thursday, and that gives the trails 48 hours to bake before we ride. With any luck, we'll have some hero dirt out there this coming weekend! I can't wait to hit it, can you?

The last few weeks have made it hard to advance much work in the Buena given the Stage II fire restrictions and then the rains. But progress is still being made! Check out these two newly built bermed corners on Petrified!

So yeah, the rain has some advantages, and one of those is that the soil has become much easier to work with and is allowing us to do fun things like these! Bermed corners are labor intensive, but will be a load of fun to ride when they get fully packed in and set up. Just be cautious riding them for awhile. Hint . . . stay off the high part of the berms for a bit.

Anyway . . . this Saturday, meet at the Buena Vista trailhead, about two miles south of Show Low off highway 60 at 7:00 a.m. We'll be doing a 12-15 mile MTB ride. Intermediate MTB skills are recommended on this ride, but as always we'll stop frequently to keep our group together and won't leave anyone alone in the forest. We should be back at the trailhead a little after 9:00 a.m., so you still have the rest of the way to get your chores done.

Sunday Trail Work, 7/26: So here's the plea . . . want to help make some bermed corners and bench cuts like those you see above? Well, we've got about three more bermed corners to build on Petrified along with some more benching to do.. We need about four of five volunteers to come help out. If you can meet at the Wagon Wheel BV trailhead at 7:00 a.m., we'll ride our bikes down there and get to work. I have two McLeods, a Rogue Hoe, a Trail Boss tool, two rakes and two picks stashed on Petrified and ready to go. I just need people to operate them! But obviously, you can bring your own tools in if you like your own and can carry them down to the worksite.

You won't just be a trail builder this Sunday . . . you'll be a trail artist. That's kinda like a "sandwich artist" at Subway. Except unlike sandwich artists, we don't do mediocre work! Because we are building proud and pretty berms and bench cuts, and aiming to build true showpiece.