Freeride Project @ Vortex

To help make EMS response more efficient and quicker OGT has obtained EMS addresses for the Vortex Pit and John Brown Pit as well as for all trailheads. The Vortex Pit is 9150 SE 25th Ave. and the John Brown Pit is 8725 SE 25th Ave. but you don't have to memorize these; the EMS address is posted on kiosks and at several locations around the Vortex freeride area. Please have this information ready when communicating with EMS, it will expedite the process!

OMBA Thanks these MAJOR Contributors:

Bent's Schwinn
  Brooksville Cycle  
March 4th Workday Results
Dennis McGuire, Brian Schuman, Doug Breslin, Larry Maier and Matt Crossman went through all the wooden features in the Vortex area Saturday and filled out the maintenance log. We were surprised at the number of problems we found already! Most were not critical, but we really should have used stainless steel hardware instead of galvanized: a few of the bolts have already sheered off. Volunteers will be replacing hardware where necessary in the next few months. The wall ride, in particular, had lots of problems and will take a lot of work to fix. Also, the variable drop by the entrance to the Vortex trail had eroded badly on the approach. It was closed off temporarily until it could be fixed with landscape cloth, limerock, and dirt / clay that afternoon. Now that everyone has had a chance to go over the maint log together the plan is to split up the features and give everyone a few to evaluate each month. Keeping the maintenance log current and the structures in good shape is a key part of the freeride project; huge thanks to these folks for stepping up and taking the responsibility for this!
While the maintenance log crew was doing their thing Sandy Schuman and James Eldridge (Paw Paw) were working on the backdoor entrance, packing in the berm behind the wall ride and making the filter at the Dogbone end a little more rideable. Harris O'Connell and Matt Ross were working on tweaking the intermediate jump line with help from Donny Ross, Jesse Walsh and Mike Gruhler.

John Brigan, Gary Hoel and Jim Nash worked on the Santos side of the street: From John:
<<We worked on the south end of Rattle Snake Ridge... I guess Rob has a re-route in mind for the north end. We trimmed back brush, closed a couple short cuts near Magic Mtn, and opened up the section that led to the top of MM, that had been closed since just after the hurricanes. Nice section of trail!

Thanks to all the volunteers for coming out. We're planning another workday to work on structures next Sunday, tentatively meet at 9am by the OMBA shed (Santos campground), check back for updates.
Skills Park Results
I stopped by the new skills development area at the Santos Trailhead and took some pictures yesterday. IMBA Trail Solutions did a great job with this. They also had help from volunteers, including a bunch of Boy Scouts from Hobe Sound as well as OMBA volunteers - Renee Blaney for one. Thanks y'all!

The skills park is a benefit to all our riders - it's a great place for newbies and riders less comfortable on the technical trails to learn skills, and it's also a fun place for more advanced riders to play before riding the trails or while waiting on late riding buddies. From what I saw Saturday it is also especially kid friendly. Lots of smiles!

I've already been contacted by one of the Boy Scout leaders about getting help building a skills park at Jonathan Dickinson State Park. JD's MTB trails were just devastated by fire, this could be just the kind of project to get enthusiasm and riding back up quickly.

Thanks,
---Valerie.
Freeride Fun:  Sunday, January 22, 2006
Final Freeride Workday Results:  Saturday, January 21, 2006
Woooohooo!

Did anyone have any idea that this project would turn out so incredibly amazing?!?
In just a few short weeks the Vortex mtb area of the Cross Florida Greenway has been transformed into advanced mtb heaven! IMBA Trail Solutions worked with local OMBA volunteers as well as volunteers from as far away as South Florida, Delaware, and New Jersey to create what is now the most comprehensive freeride area on public land in North America. This includes:
  1. A 2 mile loop of advanced XC trail with bench cuts, bridges, rock gardens, skinnys and lots of optional features
  2. Beginner, intermediate and advanced dirt jump lines with a wall ride and chip jump,
  3. 8 drops ranging from a variable beginner drop up to a 23' competition only drop,
  4. A playground area with beginner, intermediate and advanced rollovers,
  5. An advanced skills development area including a quarter pipe to curb, a log ride and a bowl,

A skills development area including low penalty bridges, bermed turns, short steep climbs, whoops, rock and root gardens, logovers, ledge ups and drops...
IMBA Trail Solutions delivered in a huge way, providing guidance on risk management, signage, traffic flow, and how to better interact with our users in addition to their trail and feature building expertise. These folks worked long hard hours and delivered way above and beyond what was promised. We're looking forward to working with them on phase 3 in a few years!
The volunteer force also came out in big numbers despite frequent cold, wet weather. Bikers reported over 800 hours in December alone. We had volunteers who put in 10+ hour days in 50 degree rain, volunteers who brought the while family out to work faithfully every Sunday, volunteers who traveled from hundreds of miles away, volunteers who took their week's vacation from work to help...Thank you thank you thank you!
There is, of course, always more to be done. There will always be maintenance on the dirt jumps, drop landers, and structures. There are several areas of the red trail that IMBA TS flagged but did not have time to build. There are a few places that need immediate attention, like the backdoor access directly behind the wall ride. Come spring there will be the normal trail maintenance on the whole mtb system. OMBA has regularly scheduled workdays the first Saturday of the month. Check the website www.omba.org or contact me for details of where and when maintenance will take place. Please don't let the momentum from this project die out - the trails need you.
In the mean time - ride and enjoy the fruits of your labor!

Thanks,
---Valerie.

Valerie Naylor
Trail Coordinator
Office of Greenways and Trails
Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection
(352)-236-7143 (office,) (352)-427-4483 (cell)
Freeride Workday Results:  Sunday, December 18th, 2005
Once again we had over 30 people at the 12/18 workday, despite miserable cold wet weather. You guys rock! I'm sending along a few pictures of the workday but most of the pics are of folks enjoying the trail and features in the following days.

The IMBA folks did an awesome job on this project, working long long hours and getting an amazing amount accomplished. Unfortunately lots of wet weather (it's not supposed to rain in December in FL!) combined with an extremely ambitious schedule meant everything did not get completed. They will be back in January, tentatively from 1/9 - 1/22 (still working on finalizing scheduling), they will be looking for any help they can get especially on weekends, we will probably do organized Sunday workdays 1/15 & 1/22. This stuff is not just for freeriders either - the red trail is a rock'n' advanced XC trail! We need the XC riders to come out and help too: No races, no excuses.

A skills development area needs to be built by Santos Trailhead.

The slopestyle needs to be finished - beginner line is open but start platform, intermediate & expert lines are not yet.

 The red is a complete loop (it rocks - Rich & I finally got a chance to ride it last Thurs) but some sections were left out or unfinished especially the jungle & the spoils piles south of Vortex - they are flagged if anyone has time for trailwork in the meantime. Hopefully some more features, both wood (some cool cambered stuff & some truly "skinny" options are planned) and rock will be added if they have time. There are 2 existing bailouts from the red trail to the bottom of the quarry that need to be marked. We need to build a gated, filtered and signed access from the north side of the quarry similar to what's at the yellow pipe gate - this will probably need heavy equipment.

Lots of closures to be done too.

About the closures: please help spread the word that riders need to respect these. We realize that change is hard to accept, and taking away options does not please those who know the system well and have no trouble navigating it. The reason for the closures is to improve sustainability, navigability and risk management. Most of the closures in this area were done to better manage risk. The easier trails MUST be separate from the advanced area, and to enter the advanced area riders must negotiate a trail filter and past a risk management sign. That is the ONLY way that we can have the advanced stuff that's being built. The eastern part of Brass Ring was a yellow trail that dead ends directly into the pump track and the middle of the freeride area; that's a no-no! Please, please, please, help us make this work!

Thanks,
---Valerie.

Valerie Naylor
Trails Coordinator
Office of Greenways and Trails
Fl Dept of Environmental Protection
(352)-236-7143 (office) (352)-427-4483 (cell)
valerie.naylorREMOVE_THIS@us
 

Freeride Workday Results:  Sunday, December 11th, 2005
We had a great work day yesterday, with a very large group of volunteers participating, despite the rain!

If you haven't been there yet to help out, or check out the work, you've got to commit to being there next weekend (or this week, if possible). the changes taking place are amazing. First, since they were able to construct the drop zones without encroaching very much onto the red trails, the red trails are remaining largely as they were, but very much improved. New connectors tying the trails together, probably a slight increase in red trail mileage, but lots of new stuff, including some awesome bench cuts that will shock you and test your skills!

The slopestyle course is coming along, the big drops are coming along, and the pump track is pretty much done.

There's lots to do, though, so please try to be there next weekend. The more hands, the better, because if they don't finish the red trail stuff, it'll be flagged and left for OMBA to construct in the future.
 
I am very excited about the work, because it's a huge improvement to the red trails on TOS!!!

Rob Ern

Freeride Workday Results:  Sunday, December 4th, 2005

Gary, Donny Ross, Matt Crossman and I finished up the yellow on the south side of Vortex Saturday. It's gonna be a nice, fast trail. Matt & Donny put in about 4 hours each, I think Gary put in more; Rob, he'll report his hours separately.

The Sunday workday: I don't have the signup sheet in front of me but we had at least 20 people. Yay! We pre-fabbed a bunch of bridges, skinnies and launches, I'm attaching pics. A very positive vibe. We will need as many as we can get next Sunday.

We harvested 12 of the 4x4 OMBA signposts from near Rattlesnake: apparently they have changed the formula for pt wood and the old formula is better for ground contact. So they will be bridge supports - they'll look pretty cool with the routed / painted "OMBA".

The IMBA folks asked to use OMBA's weedeater.

Looks like we are moving the slopestyle jump course again. It needs to be on a downhill slope so they are looking at putting it down the access rd, just north of the current jumps, the start point will still be Vortex hill. This will mean relocating the access rd to go through the humps south of Vortex and join up with the other access rd on the other side of Vortex hill. Confused yet?

---Valerie.

Freeride Meeting Results:  Saturday September 10, 2005
On September 10th 29 people attended a public meeting called by the Office of Greenways and Trails to discuss the proposed freeride trail, slope style jumps
course and skills development area on the Cross Florida Greenway near Santos. Also in attendance were Mickey Thomason, manager of the Cross Florida
Greenway, Valerie Naylor, trails coordinator for the Greenway, and Scott Linnenburger, IMBA Trail Solutions coordinator.

Development is scheduled to start December 1st, and lots of volunteers will be needed on Sundays December 4th, 11th, and 18th. Mark your calendars!
Check here for some useful info.

Contact Valerie Naylor

After a welcome and introductions from Mickey, Scott gave a PowerPoint presentation starting with phase 1 of the IMBA plan - the ongoing trail reroutes, signage and other navigability, sustainability, and risk management solutions. Then he moved on to talk about phase 2.
Phase 2 is IMBA's plan to address the unauthorized building of stunts, jumps and drops around the Vortex pit. Scott explained that the best way to stop these unauthorized developments was to provide the experience that the builders were looking for in a sustainable, risk managed way. He talked about warning signage and again emphasized that beginner trail must be rerouted away from the advanced areas. He talked about building with the correct materials and designing to proven standards, taking into account fall zones and filters and qualifiers. He made sure everyone understood that riders would be responsible for maintaining the additions and for keeping an up to date maintenance log. He showed examples of work that Trail Solutions had done in other areas, and showed plans specifically designed for the jumps course near Vortex.
After the presentation Scott fielded a bunch of questions on the specifics, then most of the attendees headed over to the Vortex to continue the discussion onsite. The day ended with many riders taking their bikes for a spin on the current jumps, drops, and trails and looking forward to future developments.
After Scott left there were some second thoughts, with cross country riders expressing concerns about "losing" trails to the freeriders and about plans to remove some of the steeper, sharper granny gear climbs in the current red trails. Emails were flying and polls were posted on local forums. After a lot of discussion, it was decided that most of the cross country riders who ride the current reds would still be able to ride the freeride trail, and that IMBA's freeride trail will be a welcome addition to the Santos system.