RickySilk

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36 years old. One wife and two kids. I like bikes and I like the woods. I like riding bikes in the woods.

Feb 5, 2008 2

Busy Weekend

I think everyone knows by now that the Cadillac trail has been turned into a loop. Looks like it will be fast and fun. The Boy and I went out Saturday morning to put in a couple hours lopping vines/roots and bench cutting. The Boy seemed to really enjoy it.

The Boy, with bamboo switch in hand, supervises Big Worm.
Supervisor on Duty

The Smith Posse watches Big Worm work.
The Boy and I Watch

It will be interesting to see how the armoring of the “hill of death” holds up. Having the (mis)fortune of living in 2 homes built on the sides of hills I know first hand the pain of Mother Natures tears. Once they get flowing they are so hard to control.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve crashed and thought, “I wish I had a picture/video of that”. Well thanks to the Tallahassee Democrat John Harvey is the winner of a 3 photo set.

I give it a 7 on the Digger Scale. If the feet had only gone above the head it would have been a 9 easy. Better luck next time John. I just hope the paparazi is there to catch it.
Digger

More photos at John Kalin’s site.

On Sunday I finally hooked up with the BP Crew and had a great ride. Dave D was there, we chatted about how sweet California life is gonna be. 50 miles from Lake Tahoe? Yeah, that’s sweet.

On our way over to Alford/Cadillac from Micco Greenway where Death Ray like stares of the trail workers burnt holes in our lycra.
BP


That afternoon we went to the Tallahassee Museum where we saw the ultimate show of cockblocking. The two males kept cutting in front of each other and sticking their tales in each others faces. All for a piece of that lady turkey.
Major Cockblocking

Then later Sunday I began digging the trench that will hold about 100 feet of corrugated pipe. That’s what I call blue collar weight training. I am sore.

Jan 16, 2008 4

Tallahassee SORBA

At the Tallahassee SORBA chapter re-org meeting last night I learned some things.

The Good

  • There was a lot of exciting things discussed. If you weren’t there you should come to the next one.
  • Twilight Zone trail is almost done. I still havn’t ridden it.
  • Cadillac trail is getting reworked by a trail building pro named Woody Keen. It should be awesome.
  • Tom Brown Park’s trails will be completely rejigged as part of the deal with the Red Cross and Joint Dispatch being built there. It is a very unique Florida race course because it has hills. I hope some elevation change can be kept.
  • Red Bug is also slated for a face lift. I admit that I have deep loving feelings for this trail. It was the first real trail I rode back in the 80’s when the original Fat of the Land had time trials there. Today it is my home trail and I affectionately care for it…. as much as I can with my hands and a small pair of pruning shears.
  • Trail on the Overstreet land has been flagged in the past but no one ever built it. Some was for bikes and some was for horses, but there’s no reason we can’t share. This is exciting. Apparently someone in the community is needed to spearhead this. Me?

    If I understand John Harvey correctly the yellow represents approximately where more trail could be. The pink roughly represents the existing multi-use trail. Click for bigger.
    overstreet

The Not As Good

  • It doesn’t look like there will ever be bike single track out at Phipps. That is hiker domain.
  • It doesn’t look like there will ever be single track out at Alford Greenway. The county doesn’t seem interested, which is a crying shame. They don’t mind fertilizing the grass though. Yes, I’ve seen them do it. Crazy eh? They’ve fertilized Miccosukee Greenway too.

An Event

One topic that interests me, given my love of racing, is some sort of event. XC or Enduro was mentioned. My vote would be a time trail series similar to the popular Snake Creek TT’s that NWGA SORBA does. Two classes, money and non-money. You compete against the clock and your previous best. Simple and painful. Munson/Twilight Zone combo would be a sweet TT course.

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