July 17, 2010

An eventful day...an early morning ride in the Don...it was so peaceful and wildlife galore...if it weren't for me an little black squirrel would have been carried away by a beautiful brown and white hawk...I came along just at the right moment nearly running over the squirrel, mind you,  but causing him to double back where he'd come from and then the hawk, whose claws were millimeters from his fur, soared off in the opposite direction. Phew, saved for another day. Timing is everything. Then the bunnies, OMG!...there really are tons of them,  I lost count actually...and a big fat gopher scurried across the trail down on the flats.....never mind the birds -  I noticed a golden finch, cardinal and a blue jay....no other riders though out that early in the morning as I wanted to get my ride in before the Trail Maintenance.

Six Wild Bettys came out this morning and met with Tim and Alastair from TORBA, Wendy from TRCA and Bill and Richard from Sustainabletrails.com, along with some other TORBA board members at the Redway Loblaw trailhead.

Richard and Bill from Sustainabletrails.com outfitted us all with hard hats, fluorescent vests and work gloves. Tim gave us the low down on the tools and the safety talk and then we set out....some of the Bettys went straight to the trouble spot on the advanced trail on the south side of Redway road where they used their Pulaski Mattock and Axes to rebuild a portion of a turn where a felled tree has been blocking the trail and water damage had lead to some erosion, while I went with Graham to trim some of the vegetation around the corners on the trails on the north side of Redway to improve visibility...and snack on some wild raspberries!

After that I worked with Tim and Emily all along one of the trails on the North side of Redway. We made swales where needed to help control water flow and filled in some low spots on the trail. I kinda hope it rains today to see if it works .

Then we all met for a rest and lunch, it was a 30 degree day,  before starting out again to work. Unfortunately despite following Tim's safety instructions regarding carrying the Pulaski axe-end down and on the downhill side her body, Emily nicked her bare ankle with the axe and that cut short our work as wound care was in order...4 stitches actually... she had been concerned that Isabelle and I were eating raspberries that might not be clean so wasn't watching the business end of the Pulaski in her 'death zone'!!  The raspberries were tart, and delightful btw. Sorry to the crew for having to leave a little early but it was clear that she was going to need stitches.

Anyway all sewn up now and reflecting on what nice people mountain bikers are and what a very pleasant day we had. Thanks to TORBA and the City of Toronto and their contractor Sustainabletrails.com  Helping to build/maintain the trails is a very rewarding experience..... I can't wait to ride the trails tomorrow...anybody wanna join me?

Ride On!

Melinda.