Welcome to the new season of EarthRiding. New bike? New Year's
resolution? New-found interest in the greatest sport ever invented?
There are 100 miles of singletrack biking/hiking trails in the Kansas
City area (see "Trails" at right) - and unfortunately, right now, NONE
of them are rideable.

See, this is the worst season of the year for mountain biking, in a
particularly bad year. The extremely wet late winter we have had put a
lot of water on the ground. The ground freezes and holds it there. The
next day, even if it thaws, it probably rains and stays a muddy, yucky
bog, which refreezes the next night. The thing is, riding or walking on
wet trails (if you're leaving a print, it's wet) does REAL DAMAGE to the
trail: the ruts hold water and greatly prolong drying. The displaced mud
creates berms that both hold water and encourage erosion. "Ride-arounds"
in muddy areas widen the trail from singletrack to quadrupletrack. And
all of these problems require human hands and tools to fix - sapping
valuable volunteer hours that could have been used to build new and even
better trails. Besides all that, riding in mud is NOT FUN. Come to my
house; I've got a spot I'll let you ride and prove it. You're using your
own bike, though, because the mud and grit will ruin your drivetrain in
no time.

So, I know you desperately want to put your bike on dirt. I do, too!
There are a few options for you right now:
1) Ride late at night or early in the morning. If the ground is
THOROUGHLY frozen, it doesn't do any damage. Be careful, though:
half-frozen or intermittently frozen is not frozen!
2) Join the freeride and trials folks for urban/skatepark action. It's
an awesome workout and skill builder.
3) Join the Friz folks on Monday nights for "Ultimate Frisbee" on bikes.
Also an awesome workout and skill builder.
4) Take a day trip to SW Missouri or NW Arkansas, where the terrain is
more forgiving of wetness.
5) Ride the paved trails that skirt Shawnee Mission Park, Kill Creek
Park, and Smithville Lake. If you do, do me a favor and drop by the
forums and let us know how things look.

More info on all of the above can be had on the forums or by contacting
me at mgier@earthriders.com. Soon - hopefully very soon - we'll be back
on Kansas City dirt. Until then, please avoid the dirt and ask anyone
you run into to do the same. As soon as the Earth dries out, the forums
will be buzzing about it. Keep an eye there.

In a while -- let's go ride.

Thanks,

Michael Gier
EarthRiders president