GPS route profile of new single track

Having downloaded the data from the GPS,time to have a look at it.

First stop Google Earth, very cool illustration and gives a good feel for the trackFor something a bit more informative though i exported the data to a *.GPX file and put the data into GPS Visualizer .

With a little fiddling you can set the program to colour code the slopes of your track, and from that you can trouble shoot the spots where the grade is too steep to be sustainable. Particularly keeping in mind IMBA's 10% average grade guideline. Most of the track looks good- though I may change the bottom of the track just a little bit.

Corridor flagging and planning

My first day of proper work out at the course. Got stuck into marking out 1km of corridor for the main new section of single track, I'll put up a GPS map once I have it finished.

I also started working on some re-alignments for a fence line track, as you can see in the photo below the track runs a little bit close to the fence for comfort. So the track will be moved to the left where the pink tape is. This should be pretty easy work as it doesn't require any benching


Also took a picture of the track along the lake, very little work to be done here- just a couple of passing lanes

And a final pic of a great construction tool, though it may be a bit wide for single track

Cumulative time working on track: 12hrs

It Begins

Ok here's the deal.
I've been given the go-ahead to start building a 24hr MTB course, and thought it would be good to share the experience so others can learn from my mistakes (and hopefully successes).

I have had quite a bit of experience building tracks with the Gap Creek Trails Alliance and some building on private property, but this will be my first 24hr course. Luckily for me, the property already has a lot of fantastic single track, and the event manager has put a lot of thought into the layout he wants. All I gotta do is get the existing tracks ready to handle 24hrs of punishment, design the new links and organise their building-simple huh.

The specifics of the build:

• ~17km long looping track
• about 75% single track
• low undulating country with some flowing horse made single track to use.
• about 1.5km of single track to be built.

The location is a private property in Queensland Australia, I'm not giving any more details as to its location because if we end up with people trespassing before the race, the owner will pull the race approval. I'm sure some of you will be smart enough to figure out where the course is, but I hope your also smart enough to not ruin it for us all.

Cumulative time working on track: 5hrs