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August, 2004 - Other routes tended
Volunteers spent some time this month working to clear other abandoned roadbeds in the Wood Run area of tree debris. Details about the location of these rideable routes can not be published, but volunteers who participate in trail care can be shown the locations!
June 16, 2004 - Confidence Blazes Added to Wood Run Trails
A number of blue blazes have been added to the Wood Run Mountain Bike Trails in order to assure trail users that they are on the right trail. Most of these were installed near intersections.
May 16, 2004 - Are you wearing any UMBAwear?
The UMBA logo below has been digitized for embroidery purposes. A number of caps and tshirts are available for purchase now. Other items will be available later. Hats are $9 and tshirts are $8. If you are interested, please contact UMBA through the feedback page for size availability and ordering information.
May 15, 2004 - May Trail Care Day Results
A small but dedicated group of volunteers particpated in May's Trail Care Day, working to haul gravel to build a causeway over the rooty, often muddy area on Keyauwee just out of the Wood Run Camp clearing.
A load of gravel for this project was purchased with funds raised by Sandhills Cycling Club during the races held on the trails in March.
Several inches of gravel was laid over this area, which will allow riders to cross without causing severe impact to the trail tread (and themselves).
View pictures from the May trail care day.
April 18, 2004 - UMBA in the News
An article about cycling in the Uwharrie Lakes Region appeared in the Salisbury Post on 4/18/04. UMBA was mentioned regarding it's efforts to develop mountain bike trails and related facilities. Read more here.
April 17, 2004 - April Trail Care Day Results
A small but dedicated group of volunteers particpated in April's Trail Care Day, working on a number of problem areas on the Keyauwee Trail. Frank Pietras, with Tarheel Trailblazers, assisted the group by bringing his ATV and trailer to haul tools while the volunteers rode bikes between the spots that needed attention. Although ATV's are not allowed on these trails, an exception was made for this special maintenance activity.
The group worked on 15 areas on Keyauwee, moving counter-clockwise (CCW) from the upper end of Keyauwee. For the most part, they opened drains that were clogged with debris. In one area they moved the trail sideways to the high side of the olde road bed, a 40 meter section, to move riders out of an eroding, rocky gully. They also armored a small creek in a gully by lining the bottom with rock. A small spot that had been filled with sticks and small logs (the infamous corduory treatment) was opened and drained. Tommy reports that Keyauwee has good drainage going CCW all the way through the sidehill area .... almost to Moonshine Creek.
View some pictures from the April trail care day.
April 16, 2004 - UMBA Logo Embroidery
The UMBA logo below is being digitized for embroidery purposes. A number of caps and tshirts will be available for purchase as early as the May trail care day on 5/15/04. Other items will be available later. Costs will be posted shortly (don't worry, they will be a steal!)
You can also get the logo embroidered on an item you already own, such as a bag, pack, jersey, shorts, etc. The cost will be about $5 per item. Contact UMBA through the feedback page for more info.
March 28, 2004 - 2004 Cane Creek Cup race event
Several hundred mountain bike enthusiasts recently gathered in Montgomery County for a day of races on the Wood Run Mountain Bike Trails in the Uwharrie National Forest. Over 185 racers participated in the event on March 28th, the largest group yet in the four years that mountain bike races have been held on the Wood Run Trails.
Marcus Jones, of Southern Pines, was the primary race promoter for this event. He was assisted by volunteers from Sandhills Cycling Club, UMBA (Uwharrie Mountain Bike Association), the Uwharrie Wheelmen Cycling Club, the Yadkin Pee Dee Lakes Project and Pfeiffer University. The volunteers helped by setting up the start/finish area, marking the course, running the registration tables, recording racers’ times, and cleaning up afterwards.
This race event was the first in a ten event series known as the 2004 Cane Creek Cup, NC/SC State Championship Mountain Bike Race Series. This is the sixth year of the Cane Creek Cup Series. These races are held at various locations in North and South Carolina, including Sanford, Greensboro, Winston-Salem and Charlotte, as well as several locations in western NC. Racers earn prizes and points towards the series title. The top series racers will receive invitations to the national championship mountain bike races in Colorado.
Racers were divided into several age groups and male/female classes within the following categories: Juniors, Beginners, Sport and Pro/Expert. The youngest racer was a 9 year-old boy. Several of the racers had distinguished gray beards. The top three placers in each category received points towards the series title. The top three placers in the Pro/Expert categories also received cash prizes.
Michael Snyder, of Albemarle, won the Men’s Sport 30-39 division. Michael is a member of the Uwharrie Wheelmen and has volunteered time and effort with UMBA to help build and maintain these trails. A number of other semi-local riders who have volunteered time recently to maintain these and other trails also participated in the races, including Chris Green and Tim Welch from Moore County, Doug and Terry Satterwhite and their son from the Charlotte area, Rick and Will Hoffarth, a father and son duo also from the Charlotte area. Both of these families raced as part of the Just Fresh / Clif Bar race team.
Race routes ranged in length from 5.2 miles for the youngest Juniors to 25.5 miles for the Pro/Expert men. The races were held on the Supertree and Keyauwee Trails. UMBA began working with the USDA Forest Service in 1996 to build mountain bike trails. These two trails are part of a larger trail system that is still being developed through volunteer efforts. The trails are a blend of graveled logging roads, old dirt tracks, and new trail built for hiking and mountain biking.
Being located in the Uwharrie Mountains makes the Wood Run trails unique in the Piedmont region of the Carolina’s. Without these trails, riders would have to travel to the western part of the state to find trails with this much elevation change and scenic quality.
Even if you have no desire to race mountain bikes, you can still visit the trails to walk or ride them at your own pace and see what these mountain bikers enjoy so much. The trailhead for the Wood Run Mountain Bike Trail System is located on NC 24-27, 10 miles west of the courthouse in Troy and 2 miles east of Lake Tillery. More information can be found on a bulletin board at the trailhead parking lot or at UMBA's website www.rideumba.com
View some pictures from the race.
Race results on Sandhill Cycling Club's website.
Lap mileages:
Supertree-only lap = 4.86 miles
Supertree-Keyauwee single lap = 8.52 miles
Supertree-Keyauwee double lap = 17.04 miles
Supertree-Keyauwee triple lap = 25.56 miles
- by Don Childrey
March 20, 2004 - UMBA Trail Care Day
UMBA's first Trail Care Day of 2004 was a fantastic success! Seventeen volunteers turned out to show their support for UMBA and the Wood Run Trail system. Special thanks are due to those members of the Tarheel Trailblazers who brought their trail building tools and extensive experience and freely shared both with everyone. We also had representatives of the Uwharrie Wheelmen cycling club, Sandhills Cycling Club, the Just Fresh/Clif Bar Cycling Team, the Yadkin River Trail Association, the Yadkin/Pee Dee Lakes Project and the Pfeiffer University Outdoor Program in attendance.
The group primarily worked on drainage issues on the section of Supertree Trail leading out of Wood Run Camp, beyond the powerline, to the sharp turn at the bottom of the rocky hill. There were numerous low spots in this section where water has been standing in the trail or running down the trail itself. The volunteers opened up drain ways to allow the water to run out of these low spots, which should eventually dry out and harden up. Several earth and rock waterbars were installed to turn water off of the trail, preventing additional ponding and erosion. Some minor limb trimming and other vegetation removal was also performed.
And of course, all that wanted were able to get in a ride before heading home!!
See more pictures from the Mar 20, 2004 UMBA Trail Care Day.
- by Don Childrey
March 19, 2004 - Route exploration with USFS
Ian Garner - USFS, and I spent most of the day walking the routes of the proposed Little Island Creek and Big Nugget trails. Along the way, we mapped the route with GPS readings. This documentation is one more step towards UMBA's goal of completing the Wood Run Trail system.
What will these routes be like? What can riders look forward to? You can expect more mileage on long-abandoned roadbeds, similar to the middle section of Supertree. There is one ridgetop section running through an area about to be thinned. The thinning should open up vistas with medium range views. There will be a section paralleling a scenic stream, something new for the Wood Run Trails. There will be more long climbs (or long downhills, depending on how you want to look at it). There is even one long downhill section that is so steep, we may consider making it a one-way trail. I don't see where anyone would want to push their bike that far uphill, and I'd be amazed if anyone was strong enough to ride it. Of course, for every downhill, there is an uphill somewhere, and this one will require a climb to get out, just not as steep as the big downhill.
There are only a few short sections where brand-new trail will be required to complete these two loops (a good thing when it comes to getting through the trail approval processes). But before you get too disappointed, these loops won't contain any graveled sections like the upper section of Supertree or the section of Keyauwee that follows Walker Mountain Road (the trick is that you'll need to ride 2 miles further out Wood Run Road to get to these loops). You will see more long-abandoned roadbed that in places is almost overgrown to the point that it resembles new location.
While we were out, we also mapped a new route that has not previously been considered part of the master plan for the Wood Run Trail System. It's about two miles long, will provide a convenient option for new loop routes, and only needs minor brushing out to be rideable. This route may be brushed out by early summer. Sounds great, you say. What's the catch? The catch is we can't publicly post any details about it. That includes posting ride reports on any of various mtb websites. (For those that don't know, the official "trail closure" of Skyrock Trail at this time is a direct result of over-enthusiastic riders posting ride reports online before the USFS was ready to declare it open. Please help us avoid deflating our own tires again by not posting any details you may learn aboutthis route!)
So how does one learn more about this new route? It's a benefit of coming out to help on an UMBA Trail Care Day. Come out to help maintain the trails, and we'll share this secret with you!!
- by Don Childrey
March 1, 2004 - Supertree walk-through with USFS
In preparation for the March 20th trail care day, UMBA rep's Tommy Taylor, Gifford Del Grande and I walked through Supertree Trail with Leigh Marston and Ian Garner, USFS rep's, to discuss how to address some of the maintenance situations. The melting snow helped us see exactly what the water was doing, and what needs to be done to improve the trails. You can see Tommy's pictures from that trip here.
- by Don Childrey
