Wednesday, July 21, 2010

MOUNTAIN BIKE TRAILS:

JULY 19 2010:
MAITAIN INFRASTRUCTURE:

This week we were clearing and cleaning the bicycle trails. They will be used in the mountain biking weekend/competition this coming Saturday.
We had a lot of maintenance work to do on the trails. A lot of hard work was required to finish these trails in time, it also require some planning.

We had to make sure that:

  • That there are no branches hanging in the road.
  • There are no branches sticking out from the sides.
  • That the grass was cut around the corners.
  • Big trees were cut of, that was hanging in the road.
  • That the old stumps were removed
  • That all the Aardvark holes were closed up.
  • That the thick sand around the corners were removed.
  • That there are no thorns in the road.
  • That there are no roots sticking out of the ground.
  • That the big rocks are removed, that can cause injuries.
We also made a new road in between two Koppies for a more scenic route. A couple of things we had to do here, other these mentioned above:
  • We had to map out the new route. It stretched just above or just below the rocky ridge that runs between the koppies, more vegetation on the ridge.
  • We also did a log on the GP'S coordinates so that we can find the route again later.
  • Walk the new route to familiarize ourselves with it, and we marked some trees with danger tape. This was to remember were the route goes trough.
  • We were going along the route, clearing, chopping, brush cutting and cleaning as we go along.
Equiptment we are using:
  • Rakes - To remove thorns and leaves
  • Panga's - Top chop away the branches
  • Axes - To chop big branches, trees, as well as the stumps of previously chopped down trees
  • Shovels - To fill ruts and holes
  • Brush cutters - To cut grasses and shrubs.
  • Goggles - Protect our eyes
  • Gloves - to protect our hands, mostly from thorns
  • Long pants
  • and Safety boots.
What a long week of hard work. But I must say, it's nice to see your hard work pay of.. From my side, I had fun.. Thanks for the experience..

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