Got the SnowDog tuned up and man was it awesome. I hit the many of the walking trails with two passes to smooth them out and did a full pass of all the SFT Fat Bike trails. They were in pretty good shape after a longer than normal period of inattention, due to me riding other trails, thank you Cadillac and Big M groomers! It’s currently 13 degrees so I’m guessing the trail set up fair, although the snow we got Tuesday was complete junk, granular, dry, awful stuff. BUT, we’ll take what we can get this season. The first few passes today and tonight will probably be a little soft, but after that we should be good to go. And hopefully we get some more snow this weekend to build up the base.
We hate to keep bringing this up… Why are regular MTBs (and runners) discouraged from using the groomed singletrack section of the SFT?
The trail base is very fragile. Fat tires (properly inflated between 3 and 5psi) “squat” upon the firmed up base created by grooming and “float” on that layer. Regular MTB tires, and shoes, break through that layer and ruin the trail for its intended purpose. The volunteers of the Shoreline Cycling Club groom ALL of the trails in the Ludington School Forest, and there are an equal number of ungroomed trails in Memorial Tree Park and Cartier Park where those activities will do no harm.
We are trying to create a regional, recreational resource to enhance winter opportunities and draw visitors to the area. We can’t do that if the trail is a mess from misuse. Apologies for the long rant, grooming is difficult, dangerous and takes us away from our families so we can try and create something. We’re just trying to educate the newer members of the community out there because of the limited indoor activities these days. We welcome you, we just ask that we all try and maintain the trails during this very short window of time that is the fat biking season. Thanks.
