have you ever asked yourself how berms miraculously appear in the bush (or woods in other parts of the world)? how wooden trail features that make trails safer and more fun get where they are? or how the trails always seem to run well, no matter how much traffic or rain they get?
every mountain biker knows it’s the trail fairies: they get out when nobody is around and …. just build stuff. trail fairies, as all mythical creatures, can be very hard to spot. that’s why i am particularly proud that i was able to take a few sneaky shots of one of these elusive creatures at work.
the camo pants don’t help with the visibility but the red work gloves are a bit of a giveaway.
the trails had a rough summer. first it was stinking hot and dry, which turns the dirt to dust and makes berms and other features crumble. then we had the fires which meant that the trails were actually closed; ourimbah was not directly hit but due to the danger and the fact that the firies want to be able to concentrate on fighting fires and not rescue lost mountain bikers the state forest (as the property owner) shut the bike park down.
and then we got 3 months worth of rain in 2 days, combined with strong winds. as a result there were many trees down across the trails and the trails and fire roads turned into rivers in a matter of minutes.
ourimbah’s main trail fairy, paul carlsson from ccmtb tours did most of the work and when we got there for the trail maintenance day most trails ran ok, but there was still a few hours work left.
trail fairy nat is a very fussy eater but for some reason she always enjoys the snags at ourimbah. this one was well earned after a long morning of walking and cleaning the trails.
the last part of the day: a few shuttle runs curtesy of paul and of course with his daughter kat.
thank you trail fairies!