Black & Decker Trail, Brockville Area - Needs a break

[Vryce]

Hey guys, myself and a couple of others hit the Black & Decker on Saturday. We had some fun in there, but it was obvious that someone had been in there recently with some serious rigs and left some serious ruts behind. Some of the water sections in the ruts were over 2 feet deep. We just wanted to pass the information along that this trail needs a little break. When the By-pass of a By-pass has serious ruts, something's wrong.

Thanks guys, hope to see you on the trail sometime.

 

[bradleyfitz]

Thank you for the info, hopefully anyone who runs this trail will take note. As a club, we do not run this trail. I would suggest posting the same warning / suggestion on any Brockville based forums.

 

[mucovich]

isn't it usually the guys with the smaller tires and mild built rigs that usually rut up the trails?

 

[Big Mike]

Some of the water sections of that trail have been well over three feet deep for quite some time. Three years ago I was swamped in a hole that was four feet deep in the late fall....I was down there late June and things didn't seem all that bad. But a little rain and a few trucks can dig it up real quick. Thanks for the info.

 

[DoctorPhate]

Most of the damage caused in wet mud holes are from people who don't stick to the three tries your out rule. Small tires don't dig 36" ruts.

Thats what the issue is.

I was part of the group who ran this and it was really bad. The bypasses were ridiculous. I went through a bypass of a bypass in hopes of getting around easier since I know the main section has swallowed guys on 36s and I got stuck in there. Had to get winched out.

Its worse in there right now than I've ever seen it and I used to run that trail 4 or 5 times a year being it was so close to my house. Never been this bad.

 

[Dirk]

Getting the winch out before being stuck or having chewed up the trail is a bad idea either. Especially when it's real wet. Unfortunately most people's egos won't allow for this.

 

[DoctorPhate]

Getting the winch out before being stuck or having chewed up the trail is a bad idea either. Especially when it's real wet. Unfortunately most people's egos won't allow for this.

Indeed, We had the winch going pretty quick after seeing how bad it was. lol

 

[Redneck]

Running a small rig , 4 cyl jeep 3 1/2 inches lift 31 inch mickey t's . I found on carp trail i could cawl with less spin and tear up than even slightly bigger rigs . Including fellow tjs with more lift , engine and tires less weight makes less damage .

 

[DoctorPhate]

Less weight doesnt ALWAYS mean less damage. The biggest factor is people just spin their tires instead of being patient. Anything you get out of by just ramming on the gas probably could have been done without spinning tires.

 

[1badsuki]

hey, are you the guys i seen like two weeks ago in a group of jeeps? probably about 10 of ya's? i followed you into b-ville in my ranger. Those trails have been bad for years. I can't do them in my truck and i hear about people in there getting towed out all the time cause they have stock trucks and end up having 4 or 5 stuck at a time.:finger:

 

[1badsuki]

oh right on. i have never heard of this group. looks like you guys had fun. maybe once my little one arrives i will be able to get back into the offroading and finish one of my rigs.lol

 

[JamesQ]

Hi guys. I'm doing a story about this very topic. The city is considering taking over this trail, and some mountain bikers in the area have been complaining that offroad vehicles have been tearing up this trail making it unusable for them.

If anyone has rode this trail and would care to comment, send an email to recordernews1@gmail.com with your phone number (or post it here if your comfortable with that) and I will give you a call.

I notice you are from Brockville 1badsuki, have you rode this trail before?

p.s. What does 'three tires and your out' mean?

I should also add that I have already spoken to John Farley, and he was very helpful in explaining most stuff, and that this club and most others set guidelines and try to minimize the damage they do, and that it tends to be non-club members and solo riders who do most damage; a fact that Brockville's cycling advisor Alan Medcalf, also acknowledged.

 

[DoctorPhate]

I have spent the past YEAR trying to convince the brockville city counsel to allow EOTB, OVO or a similar group to SPONSOR the trail so we can do a clean up. They insist its not legal to wheel there. I've been trying to meet with the city counsel about this and havent had much success. I've just been going in and cleaning it up myself and trying to convince people in the area that run it to go easy and skip it if possible.

Unfortunately the politician there wont touch the issue.

 

[2Greys]

Maybe find one of the local environmental groups and let them know what you are trying to get a group to sponsor it and that the city has no interest. If you phrase it right and point them to the Tread Lightly website you might get them on your side. Of course if they are hard core greenies then it might backfire. Key thing is to press the fact that offroading (legal or illegal) is not going to go away and it is better to promote ideals like Tread Lightly than to try to ban it outright. At least with the former you may find attitudes change and people are more careful when they do go out.

 

[DoctorPhate]

Maybe find one of the local environmental groups and let them know what you are trying to get a group to sponsor it and that the city has no interest. If you phrase it right and point them to the Tread Lightly website you might get them on your side. Of course if they are hard core greenies then it might backfire. Key thing is to press the fact that offroading (legal or illegal) is not going to go away and it is better to promote ideals like Tread Lightly than to try to ban it outright. At least with the former you may find attitudes change and people are more careful when they do go out.

My point exactly. I spoke to a counsellor and explained youd have to post cops at the enterence at both ends to stop people going in there, making it illegal keeps out the LEGAL wheelers who are the ones who clean and maintain the trails. So wouldnt it make sense economicaly to embrace it and make some money on it? Keeps everyone happy. But never heard from them again, emails and calls unanswered.

 

[1badsuki]

mud lite has made a very good post here and so have others. What we do is no different then any other hobbie out there. People try to ban us off all kinds of property even if it is private land. Look at wheels a churnin, that is privately owned and operated and people always bash it and cause trouble there. it is privately owned land and everything goes to charity but it's still trying to be closed down. Why is this? because of non responsible people. If people can't use a park like this then they are going to go out and ruin the trails that are around the area. Not everyone is out to ruin this sport. The ones that are ruin it for everyone, the ones that actually take this serious are most likely willing to help out with cleaning up trails and fixing them if we are able to use them. It wouldn't take much to help fix up some of the trails around the area. i know in mallorytown they have been fixing them up. these trails used to be really bad and now they are a nice stock friendly liesure trail. it don't take much to get people involved to help if the will and the want are there. But it's not, the city would rather just shut everything down and eventually build on the land within time. i hope this makes sence. I have so much to say about this that it's all kinda coming out at once and i'm trying to put it down so it makes sence.

 

[DoctorPhate]

mud lite has made a very good post here and so have others. What we do is no different then any other hobbie out there. People try to ban us off all kinds of property even if it is private land. Look at wheels a churnin, that is privately owned and operated and people always bash it and cause trouble there. it is privately owned land and everything goes to charity but it's still trying to be closed down. Why is this? because of non responsible people. If people can't use a park like this then they are going to go out and ruin the trails that are around the area. Not everyone is out to ruin this sport. The ones that are ruin it for everyone, the ones that actually take this serious are most likely willing to help out with cleaning up trails and fixing them if we are able to use them. It wouldn't take much to help fix up some of the trails around the area. i know in mallorytown they have been fixing them up. these trails used to be really bad and now they are a nice stock friendly liesure trail. it don't take much to get people involved to help if the will and the want are there. But it's not, the city would rather just shut everything down and eventually build on the land within time. i hope this makes sence. I have so much to say about this that it's all kinda coming out at once and i'm trying to put it down so it makes sence.

I know what you mean but I've noticed the brockville City counsel doesnt really understand basic economics so I doubt they even understood the numbers behind my proposal. Look at the way they kill the industry there. Its a sad sight. I hope this reporter can shed some light on our sport in the proper manner instead of just bashing us like every other article I've seen. We try so hard to keep the trails clean and then after we clean them up for everyone they just turn around and shut it down for us. Then the only people in there are the idiots that tear stuff up and couldnt care less about tread lightly. grr. end rant. lol

 

[Richard]

Now that I see the location I remember going on that trail back in '95 before I joined OVO and when my Jeep was stock. Of course back then there were very few ruts as there were fewer users. I wouldn't mind seeing it again, so hopefully it'll stay open. Thanks for the article James and thanks to the people that are working to keep the trail open.

 

[DoctorPhate]

The trail is a lot of fun but needs some work.

If the city decides to allow clubs to go in we(OJC) will be looking to help repair some of these sections. A couple of us have offroad trailers that we can load up with sand/gravel to fill in the heavily damaged areas. I would hope OVO could join us even though you guys dont wheel it very often. I'm going to try and get a hold of EOTB and see if they can join. Hopefully we can do a weekend of repairs and post some signage asking people to stay on the trail, turn right, turn left, etc so that we keep people on course.

 

[Richard]

I'd go as a passenger/garbage picker. I just don't think it's worth driving my Jeep that far.