Success at blocking "go arounds"?

[Jisch]

There's a thread over at BR about stopping trail braiding at a few popular spots. It really is amazing how quickly trail braids appear at some of the more heavily ridden spots - EVEN WHEN THERE IS ALREADY A "GO AROUND"! I've done and seen the branches and logs across the braid to block it out, but those seem only marginally successful at stopping it from happening.

What are some good strategies for preventing trail braiding? I've seen the pics from Vietnam with the rocks on the sides of the trail, I'd be interested to see if that's successful, but even if it is, that's a lot of effort.

There was talk about erecting signs at strategic places reminding people to stay on the trail. That sounds like a good idea, but I wonder how long the signs would be around.

Any ideas?
John

[hogboy]

pile up blowdowns. make it obvious

spend 1/2 hour piling them up. should work

[steve_b]

What are some good strategies for preventing trail braiding? I've seen the pics from Vietnam with the rocks on the sides of the trail, I'd be interested to see if that's successful, but even if it is, that's a lot of effort.We are using a insane amount of TM time building walls at 'Nam..........We could have finished DLS (trail #1) long ago and probably finished most of TNT (trail #2) as well if we didn't have to deal with the braiding problems.

Deadfall and leaves generally do not work well unless you use really big trees - big enough that people can't ride over them or move them out of the way. Deadfall and downed trees also look terrible on closed off braids, IMO. There were several unsuccessfull efforts at 'Nam where riders just moved the trees back out of the way, or created a braid around a braid before we decided to use granite.

Besides re-routing a trail or using rock, a fenced-off and signed (IE: stay the hell out) reforestation area and/or transplanting trees (in the fenced off or braided area), would be about the only other thing that might work.

[storkula]

I do like the sign reminder idea.

Sunday morning I spent a good amount of time blocking a spot on the new trails we've been building. Someone just blew straight down a hill instead of following the trail. I think it may have been a case of not staying in control on the downhill and missing the turn, but it gave me enough reason to block, so future riders wouldn't do the same and will think twice about their speed. I don't understand the thinking of riders that do this purposely though. I guess they either don't know what they're causing or they just don't give a hoot.

This summer I actually rode with someone who kept short cutting. I told him what he was doing was probably the worst thing a rider can do. He said "Well... I'm just trying to keep up". I said don't worry about keeping up. A while later he did it again, so I told him; You're doing it again! He said "Jeeez you take this seriously!" I said yeah me and many many others. You need to understand what you are doing...IS NOT COOL! We'd much rather wait for you than watch you create short cuts and ruin our trails we just built. He understood and didn't do it again.

It's a shame that some places (like Nam) have no other choice than to dummy proof.

Stay on the friggin trail...derrrrr!!

[MissJean]

Make sure that the go round is very obvious. Then step back and look carefully at the trail, the go round and the over-all approach, and try to think like a lazy rider.
Any spots that might be an alternative line, try to make them as uninviting as you can.
Put down lots of duff (lazy riders don't like the extra effort of go through soft stuff) and then as naturalistically as possible, put down logs, rocks and branches with their ends pointing towards the trail.
Then you just have to be diligent about closing off any trail braids that start. I’ve closed go rounds over & over until who ever was going round gave up.
I did put up sign once that helped end someone moving a log.

[Tim]

My local trails have quite a few braids, which seem to happen purely due to laziness, as the trails are not all that difficult. Unfortunately, they have the effect of straightening out the trail and making it less fun. I usually just pile up 3 or 4 blowdowns in a crisscross pattern across the braid. Blowdowns with lots of branches are perfect. It's ugly, but it gets the job done most of the time.

I have had a number of cases where someone has cleared out my blocks several times before I ended up winning the battle - they never think to move the blowdowns very far away, so you can just pile them back up.

I can't figure out why people would get off the bike to move a bunch of dead wood instead of just riding the trail they're supposed to ride in the first place.

Tim

[DVRider]

The braid needs to look like no one has ever ridden over that spot when you're done. Vertical deadfall coupled with camoflage is the only solution I've seen work for a sustained period of time. One of the problems with this technique is sometimes(like at nam) you can't plant anything because the ledge is just below the organic material. Also the deadfall needs to be tall enough to be well over eye level and block the visual corridor.

[Mongoose]

Do what they do in Wompatuck. Put minefields and unexploded ordinance in the woods.

[storkula]

I can't figure out why people would get off the bike to move a bunch of dead wood instead of just riding the trail they're supposed to ride in the first place.

Tim

Yeah really it doesn't make much sense...I would love to hear their way of thinking.

[Tim]

Yeah really it doesn't make much sense...I would love to hear their way of thinking.

I can see using a go-around if the trail's too tough for you (these ones aren't too tough for anybody). Or I can see using a go-round just as a short cut if you're sucking wind, trying to catch somebody, or just plain lazy - you'll get there faster / easier. But stopping to move brush isn't faster or easier. Don't get it.

Tim