Mtn Bike Trail Clearing Work

This afternoon our SMST2 team headed down to Dorset to help work on  mountain bike trail construction. Joe Miles is heading up a crew of local mountain bike enthusiasts who are building some great single track trails on the hillside in Dorset.

RK Miles is one of our team sponsors so we were happy to give back with a little sweat equity.

Above is what it looked like before we started work.

Here, Joe explains the process of building a “bench” along the side hill. First step is to clear the large debris and invasive bushes. Second step is to rake the loose dirt and leaves up the slope. Third step is to  dig down to create an 18″ wide bench with a 5% grade towards the downslope to keep water from pooling. Last step is to smooth and tamp.

The girls look over the tool stash and pick their weapons. Most of us were on the rough clearing and building a bench detail. We left the final smoothing to the pros.