Tuesday, May 24, 2011

South Yuba Ridge Trail Progress

On Sunday, Art Clarke joined Joe Chavez of the Forest Service to continue surveying the South Yuba Ridge Trail route. Art has devoted many hours to this project and we are very appreciative of his tireless efforts. The USFS tells me that we need one or two more volunteer days to complete the field work.

Once this is done, BONC will complete a grant application to fund construction (likely an RTP grant). We are in need of volunteers to help prepare this application; please let us know if you are interested.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

BONC Ride - Friday 5/20

Join us for a BONC intermediate-advanced paced ride this Friday, May 20 @ 5:30PM. Meet at the USFS Rangers office off Coyote Street in Nevada City (map). Helmets and waiver signature required. We'll ride trails in the Highway 20 corridor or over to Round Mountain.

Perhaps beer afterwards? See you there!

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Pioneer Rock Garden SAVED!

The USFS is planning a re-route of the lava rock garden on Pioneer near Washington Overlook. The original Forest Service plan was to close the rocky section, which the USFS suspected was eroding. The rocky section is also difficult to ride for equestrians.

THE GOOD NEWS: I met with the USFS in the field this week to discuss this, as I was concerned that we might lose one of the few fun technical sections of this trail. We walked the existing alignment and the new one. After lengthy discussion, I am happy to report that the USFS will likely keep the rocky section in tact!

The new plan is to only reroute the steep 100'-long section on the east end of the rock garden, as it presents an erosion problem, but leave the rest of the rocky section alone. Volunteers will build a new alternative trail route just uphill from the rock garden so that there will be a challenging alignment (the existing rock garden) and a new tamer section for equestrians and others. NOTE - All of this is tentative and pending USFS approval.

Want to support trail advocacy and improvement efforts like these? Join BONC today!

Monday, May 09, 2011

Tribute Trail Gala Ride - 6/4

Join BONC and the Nevada County Land Trust as we celebrate National Trails Day and the new Deer Creek Tribute Trail! We will being our ride on Saturday, June 4th @ 8:30AM. Meet at Pioneer Park in Nevada City. Helmets and waiver signature required.

We'll break into groups based on ability and ride trails close to town, starting with this new trail. This is a No Drop ride, and BONC will provide refreshments and perhaps swag afterwards.

This new trail begins at Pioneer Park in Nevada City, winds its way through the city streets, and then out Champion Road and onto a system of service roads, trails and canal banks to the new trail and the Deer Creek bridge site. Thanks to the hard work of Bill Haire and the Land Trust, this trail is open to all non-motorized users, including mountain bikers.

Come join the fun!

May Gala Ride Recap

We had a terrific turnout for last Saturday's BONC Gala Ride from the Five Mile House. The Trail Raiders from Seven Hills School joined BONC regulars and some new faces as we enjoyed a social paced ride up Pioneer. This was a poker ride that ended with a raffle of some pretty sweet bike swag: free jerseys, helmets, pumps and more. Adults enjoyed free New Belgium beer.

Thank you to the Bicycle Recycle Project, which made a huge contribution to this event. Also kudos to Chris Rose for sweeping and making sure that no rider was left behind.