Right now Brakeless is in need of some minor stump clearing predominantly in the middle section before the sulphur springs xc trail crossing.  The lower section is riding really well, but the top needs to be worked in with bikes before it will flow well.  There is some minor clearing at the xc crossing needed, as it is difficult to see where the trail continues from there.  We're trying to finish off the optional section on TW at the end of the meadow before doing the finishing touches to get Brakeless buffed, so be patient.

last night we were out removing stumps from brakeless.  it's now stump free from the top to about 50-70 meters from the xc crossing.  Also, the xc crossing is cleared better.  We will have the rest of the stumps removed soon, but there's a lot of them, so be careful.

I also re-routed the portion on the steep hill.  There are two logs across the strait line section, so you now turn to the right on an off-camber corner, then turn left down the hill, another left towards the original line which then joins on just before the bottom of the steeps.  It is still fast/steep, but the extra turns should add interest and reduce water and bike erosion.

we talked about how nice it would be to run a dirt bike up there a few times with the throttle twisted, but I can't see it happening.  the flatter middle section will take a long time to break in for sure, but once it packs down and gets ridden, it should be very fast indeed.

I think it will be a couple of months for sure to get the middle section running faster unless someone illegally rides a dirt bike through there a few times…

anyway, the reroute/old line blockage was only a couple of small logs that people rolled over and probably thought was deadfall.  When we go in to finish the stump removal I can make a more permanent blockage.  I'm waiting until the main lines get dialled in before putting any berms in.  But I think that spot could use one, although I'm a fan of off camber turns once in a while.

MBrook said:

So if I am reading everything right here, the trails that are good to ride now are JG on the Rocks, Toothless, Billy Dog and Brakeless. What about SLF, Pneuma, TW, ROS and Hot Laps? Any ideas if they would be ready to ride this Saturday?

I know this thread is for brakeless, but I figured this is better than asking the same question in all the others. Thanks for any info you guys can provide. Thanks for all the work on the trails so far.

Of all the trails you mention, I think the only ones that will NOT be good by this weekend would be ROS and TW.  I'm not sure on the status of the different sections of Pneuma, both in terms of dryness and also completeness though.

Brakeless is getting faster all the time.  Way faster tonight then it was on Saturday.  It's going to break in faster than I thought.  You can carry good speed through most of it with minimal pedalling now.  And the pedalling that there is has become less soul-crushing as you actually maintain better speed.

Post edited 10:05 pm – May 28, 2009 by B
Post edited 2:35 am – May 29, 2009 by B

Brakeless was intended as a downhill direction trail.  It would be possible to ride up, and certainly now it's not seeing a lot of traffic.  However, it doesn't seem all that safe as some sections are quite high speed and it would be tough to get out of the way of a descending rider.  Due to the nature of the trail, I would say two of the sections are the fastest speeds obtainable on Moose as it is fairly straight (guessing 50/60km/h).  Jpnutter's suggestions sound like a better idea.