I had been figuring on attending this year's Conference no matter where in Washington it was held. Upon learning that it was to be in the Tahuya State Forest, my mind immediately kicked into overdrive and I hit upon the excellent idea to ride my bike from my hometown of Kennewick to the Conference site. Only 250 miles or so and I'd get to ride the Iron Horse Rail Trail and the Snoqualmie Tunnel as well as experience firsthand a part of Washington that, while I've driven through it many times, have never stopped and gotten out of the car.

After spending three days on the backroads and trails of Washington, Thursday morning found me camped out east of North Bend along the rail trail. Despite getting semi-lost around Issaquah, and beginning to wonder if this really was a good idea in the first place, I made it to the Seattle ferry terminals by 4:45pm and waited for the next sailing of the passenger ferry to Bremerton. I was totally wasted and knew that I still had hills and about 15+ miles to go before I reaching the Conference site. I had planned on riding from the ferry terminals with an email friend (Nate Morse) who lives in Bremerton but seeing how late it was, Nate very graciously offered to drive me the rest of the way. We made it into camp about 7:00pm and I immediately sat down and started to inhale pizza in an effort to delay 'the bonk', which had been sitting on my shoulder all day long. Later that night, local trail guide author John Zilly gave a slide presentation on some of the trails he rode while "researching" his two new trail guide books (tough job!).

Friday morning was the "official" start to the Conference. After breakfast, we sat down and listened to Department of Natural Resources Forester Phil Wolff talk about "Trail Maintenance and Monitoring". He went over what volunteers are typically asked to do, maintenance basics, structures & tools, and designing a trail for low maintenance. In the Tahuya State Forest, trails can see heavy recreational usage (on one section of trail, more than 15,000 motorcycles, mountain bikes, equestrians, hikers, and ATV's were counted) so trail design needs to be "bulletproof" as Phil Wolff likes to say. We went outside to view some of the materials and equipment used for trail construction in the Tahuya then saddled up to ride those trails and get a firsthand view what Phil had been talking about. Members of the STM (Single Track Mind) cycling club led two groups (relaxed & medium paced) while a van took those that chose not to ride. We would stop every so often to view various trail sections and our excellent guide (STM president Doug Miller in the medium group) would tell us not only what we were looking at but also why that particular section of the trail had been reworked. After stopping at several areas, we headed back to the Conference site for some lunch.

The afternoon session was the real "meat" of the Conference: A user groups panel discussion that included representatives from motorcyclists, ATVers, hunters, equestrians, fishermen, National Forest rangers, State Forest rangers, IMBA, loggers, the Sierra Club, and brush pickers. Pretty much every group (both commercial and recreational) that uses the Tahuya State Forest land. It was real interesting and encouraging to hear how the different groups had been enlisted. The "focus group" approach was not without some risk, to both the user groups and the DNR, but by working together they were able to accomplish a dual goal of significantly reducing the siltation of the salmon streams and preserving recreational access.

Saturday morning brought another discussion, "Soil Science", followed by a ride. A soils engineer for the DNR talked about the rain runoff from different trail types, how that runoff affects the surrounding watershed, and state-of-the-art soils science studies. Some of the soils discussion went a little bit above peoples heads but with my background as a civil engineer I was able to understand what the speaker was saying. We then ventured out to ride over some approach hardened bridge crossings (stopping to throw some worms to the salmon fingerlings in the steam). We also viewed silt monitoring stations that were built to gauge how effective certain trail hardening techniques were. The data from the silt stations is being collected and compiled by a local grade school class. The rest of the ride was finished on some tasty user-built trails. It was great fun riding the roots & rocks! On the way back, I managed to be the only one - in the middle of the group mind you - to get "up close and personal" with the local yellowjacket population. After returning to the Conference site, we stuffed our faces with more good food and washed it down with a seemingly neverending supply of New Belgium brew. We then settled in for the afternoon sessions which included quick talks on advocacy, alternative trail types, county parks, writing grants, becoming non-profit and event organization.

The advocacy part of the Conference was over but there was still fun stuff for the evening including a salmon bake, more good beer, a rockin' band, and a midnight bonfire (which I didn't attend because I was just plain tired). The highlight of the evening for me had to be Phil "The Lizard King" Wolff singing his favorite Doors tune with the band!

Sunday morning brought the Poker Run to finish off my time in the Tahuya. I took it pretty easy and managed to not get lost. I had more fun trying to clear as much of the trail as I could. I was always looking forward to the next section of user-built trail along the long route. I ended up with a terrible poker hand but did manage to win a set of tires for being the person who came the longest distance to the Poker Run.

Thankx to all the STM and BBTC (Backcountry Bicycle Trails Council) members who worked so hard to put this Conference on. Special GIGANTIC thankx to the Mud-N-Blood crew for giving me a lift back to Ellensburg after the Poker Run. I look forward to the next time I'm able to ride the trails with all of you!

RIDERS ON THE WORM
by: Dr. Gonzo

Riders on the Worm
Riders on the Worm
On a mountain bike we're born
In a forest we are thrown
Like a dog without a home,
Through the woodland we do roam
Riders on the Worm

There's a alien making a road
Its blades are squirmin' like a toad
Take a long holiday
The Worm gets mowed away
When the alien arrive
Sweet singletrack will die
Alien making a road, yeah

Girl ya gotta love your man
Girl ya gotta love your man
Put a shovel in his hand
Make him understand
The trails on you depend
Our work will never end
Gotta love your man, yeah

For the uninitiated, it's called the Worm because it wriggles like a worm back and forth many, many times. The ride is slow, which favors balance oriented riders, but most of you know how to ride your bike slow, right?

Modified "toe bootie"
(made out of wool socks and duct tape and slips over regular ATB shoes)

First, I took an old wool sock, which fit a little large, and pulled it over my shoe. I pulled the sock just a little more than half way up my foot, before it reached my ankle, then folded it back towards my toes. Make sure the sock comes about an inch past your cleat. At this point, you have a double layer of wool covering half your foot. The sock is inside out and the open end is flopping around past your toes.

Leaving about half an inch past your toes, trim the excess sock off with scissors. I loosely stitched the open end closed with thread, but I don't know if this is necessary.

Now take a roll of duct tape and wrap the whole thing from end to end. This is were you want to be wearing the shoe so it doesn't end up too tight. Use an X-acto knife to cut out a hole for the cleat. You now have a warm, wind proof toe bootie. They stay on your feet on their own, but will start to slip down when walking on them. You can remove them or leave them on your shoes all the time.

I used my pair for months, including walking on them, and just added more duct tape as necessary. I should mention that where I live, winter comes and stays until spring, meaning I have dry, cold snow all the time. As spring approached and it got wet out, the toe booties started to disintegrate quickly.

UK One Speed Champs
Date: Sunday, October 04, 1998 4:16 PM

Just a short note to let you know that things are still weird 'n' wonderful on the right hand side of the Atlantic...

The 4th Annual UK Single Speed Champs took place once again just down the road from the fabulous Cheddar Gorge in Somerset, UK, nicely tucked into the 10th annual Cheddar Challenge race this weekend, October 3rd/4th 1998.

Once again, the infamous 'beer rule' was well enforced, stating that riders had to have drunk five pints of beer, stout or cider in the sumptuous bar on the Saturday night or face a two minute penalty at the start line per drink missed.

There was a quite amazing, and hungover turnout of 37 for the race - on all manner of machines. They ranged from two guys on BMXs (who fairly hauled ass) and a bloke on an electric blue Raleigh Bomber, through home-chop jobs and bodges up to state of the art (and should it be allowed?) machines like Seb Roger's fully tarted up, new Independent, complete with Syncros everything and Pace rigid forks. For the semi techno approach, Guy Kesteven chose to chase down his teetotaler's ten minute penalty on his rigid Pace, equipped with front and rear Hope hydraulic discs and a Brooks saddle. There were even a few full suspension models being hauled up the mile long, epic, snot slick, rocky climb, just for the pleasure of the mile long, snot slick, rocky and rooty descent under the cheering and disbelieving hundreds of supporters.

Oh, and let's not forget the guy (on his honeymoon...) who raced in a grey polyester suit with the previous evening's empty beer cans zip-tied to his helmet and especially the Mud Dock Cycles guys who took to the start line in Speedos and little black capes (complete with sponsor's logos stuck to chest hair) - Bob Seals would've been proud.

The start line marshals 'found' a case of beer before the start, so things could carry on as... as usual really. There was a whole bottle of Tequila drunk in the staging area alone...

The race was hard. If you don't know the course, it goes along a bit, up a lot, along another bit, down another lot and then back to the start. To be honest, it's a terrible course to race a one-speed on, but we chose the race because of it's end of season timing, and full bar and campsite facilities. Hey, simple pleasures... And we are simple speeders.

There was a lot of racing, quite a few stacks, notably the race virgin guy from the Kona importer's office who took the quarry step a bit too literally and fell ten foot onto his face. It doesn't seem to have put him off for next year though. And the beer helped numb the pain...

Eventual winner was Dave Hemming, a regular top ten Elite downhiller who proved that some downhillers are actually quite fit - and can drink beer. He started with his full quota of beer vouchers too. Second was Ben, er thingy, and third was the sheepy cartoonist himself Jo Burt...

The women's race doubled in entries this year to two and the genteel battle between Maria Bowers and Ash Mainland was won by Maria, stopping Ash's chance at a Nationals hat trick.

The prize ceremony was suitable loud and raucous, with much beer still in evidence and even some Spanish sparkling stuff for racers to soak each other with as the cameramen ducked.

Prizes for this year's event were mainly donated by the brilliant Spot Brand, who Fed Exed over from Canada just about one of every accessory they do, despite only just having an importer in the UK. Top blokes... Other prizes on offer was a rather splendid six pack of Manitou beer all the way from the States and a spangly Schwinn CD case from Chipps' personal collection...

A fine weekend. It'll probably happen next year too, so come and join us.

Cheers
Chipps Chippendale
Freelance Words, Pictures and schmoozing
(I charge by the hour for schmoozing...)

"Dear Swami - in light of the recent Utah incident, where three cyclists were injured when some Porta-Pottys flew off a passing truck and hit them, I've become concerned about how to protect myself if I ever find myself in that particular situation. Can you offer any insights and tips?"

Dear HoneyPot(ed):
Its strictly a marketing campaign by REAM (Recumbent Enthusiast And Manufactures). This is actually a re-enactment of a similar incident that brought about the development of the recumbent. Around 1975, an Air Force serviceman stationed in Spokane, WA experienced the same Porta-Potty phenomenon. While on a relaxing ride around the base, a storm of Porta-Pottys christened him. He was forced to pull to the side of the road and clean his glasses (among other things). While doing so he was amazed to find that only his jersey and top tube were covered with "honey". A few days later, the incident was repeated, and again there was only "honey" on his jersey and top tube. Realizing that the key was to stay below the level of a normal top tube, he went to work and built the first recumbent.

This re-enactment is to remind us that sometimes bikes aren't worth the honey.

Sincerely,
Swami