John Lundell announced in the MORC forum on Wed. morning that Lebanon Hills was open for mountain biking. I got there around 5:30 and the parking lot was full.
The intermediate and expert trails were in spectacular shape. No ruts at all that I saw. And here’s John’s explanation for why it worked so well:
For those that got out and rode today, hopefully you noticed that the trail was opened well before it was bone dry. As we hiked around yesterday and this evening you can see a lot of dampness in the trail… it could maybe have stayed closed a while longer, but early in the year we like to open it up a little early to get a nice pack-down before the rains hit.
I say this as I know some think we enjoy closing or keeping the trails closed.. not sure why people have that impression as we love to ride too and will always keep you out there enjoying the trails as much as possible.
The entire Leb trail crew thanks everyone for being patient during what was a crappy winter for riding, an extended closing, but an early season opening. Damage was kept to a minimum and that keeps us focusing on other trail repairs, new trail features etc. rather than rut fixing.
All the trails had been cleared of downed branches, as well some big trees (left and center photos above). I cleared small sticks and branches as I went along. I snipped a few buckthorn trees and branches in the rock garden just after Tedman’s Curve (right photo). There’s a tougher option to ride high on the left. I can sneak through to the left of the tree (red arrow) but I’m nowhere close yet to getting over the rock (yellow arrow) as the approach is very steep and there’s no room to get a run at it.
As I wrote in the forum, I can’t believe how lucky I am to have a place like this to ride that’s only 30 minutes from my house.