Join CORBA, SMMTC, COSCA and other volunteer groups to work on the Conejo Open Space trails in Thousand Oaks. There will be a thank you lunch and prize drawings after the work. This is a great event with many volunteers. This year we will be revitalizing a trail in Sunset Hills that had become completely overgrown. If you hike or ride the trails in Thousand Oaks, come out and help maintain these trails! No prior experience is necessary.
This annual Conejo Valley event draws a large crowd and as always helps to put some very sweet trails back into good shape. Be sure to stay afterwards for the free lunch and raffle. Meet at the Conejo Community Center in Thousand Oaks (Botanical Garden Entrance off Gainsborough Road). Registration and board busses: 7:00-8:00 a.m. Things to bring:
• work gloves
• long pants and long sleeved shirt
• water, snack
• sunglasses and sunblock
Tools and instructions on how to use them safely will be provided. There will be a free thank-you lunch and free raffle afterwards from noon until 2:00 pm.
Directions: Meet at Conejo Community Center Park in Thousand Oaks. Exit 101 Freeway on Lynn Rd. north, right on Gainsborough Rd., right at the Conejo Valley Botanic Garden sign (just past the 7th Day Adventist Church). Breakfast snack is also provided.
Check the COSCA Trailwork Volunteers web page for more information.
Most trails in our local riding area don’t respond well to rain. They have a high content of clay that turns into sticky, slippery muck that binds to everything it touches. It builds up on the tires, like a snowball rolling downhill, until it jams on the frame and the wheels won’t budge. Some models of clipless pedals refuse to yield when full of this mud, resulting in the bike and the attached rider lying sideways in a puddle.
On wet trails, bikes make grooves down the middle. These grooves collect water when it rains again, turning first into little channels to move the water downhill, then into little ruts, then large ruts that destroy the trail. You’ve heard about the beat of a butterfly wing that causes a hurricane? Then remember the tire track that turns a tail into one large rut!
And the mud is particularly hard to remove. It sticks to the bike and shoes, no matter the efforts to remove it, rubbing off on the bike rack, car carpet and floor pedals. Once home, it takes the careful use of a garden hose to remove the mud but not force water into the sensitive parts of the bike.
But if the trails are soaking, all is not lost if you need to ride! There are a few trails that hold up well when wet because they have more sand and rock that doesn’t hold the water. Here are a few you should know about:
