It's Monday and the John Deer groomer sits idle while many trails have not been groomed since last week. The rail line, B105C into Coldwater, looks like it was done last night, but the main B trail from B105C West thru Jarrat and beyound has a weekends worth of wear and tear on it and has not been touched. I realise the rail bed is nice and easy to groom and it gets alot of traffic and it sure is a fast efficient way to quickly get to Coldwater, but after that 15 minutes is up where do you go from there? Turn around and repeatedly go back and forth?

What I can't understand is why the rail bed gets so much attention and it isn't even a main trunk trail? The B trail is the one that should be looked after first as outlined by OFSC guidelines. It is the MAIN TRAIL thru the ODSC area. Anyone on a tour and not familiar with the trails would naturally stick to the MAIN B Trail. What a disappointment that must be!

It is bad enough that all the trails are not groomed Saturday night so that you can have a decent ride on Sunday, but for the groomer to be parked on Monday morning when there are trails that have not been groomed since last week, is very frustrating. It sure would be nice to be able to make a loop on Monday without 80% of it being a torture test on trails beat up from the weekend!

Charles

the john deere is out every night grooming as long as there is something to work with on the trails. on friday and saturday night it does B trail from 105c to trail 203 along with 105c through coldwater to moonstone. throughout the week it alternates b and 105c at night. B through jarrett gets done every other night by the ford as long as there is snow. the trails have been quite good from what i've seen this year. weekend traffic is insane in orillia so its hard to make everything perfect in one night. also with low snow this year the operators are doing the best they can.

That is an excellant shedule in theory, but in practice, from what I've seen, there is no way the grooming comes even close to that. However, I don't sleep on the trail, so who am I to call you on it.

I will admit that given the lack of fresh snow, the trails are in better shape than some years. I guess it is a frustrating sport no matter how you look at it.

If that shedule was actually kept, I wouldn't have anything to complain about.

Charles

would you add a couple of shifts for # 204

Few things to take into consideration,,,
1. snow...just like your sled, marginal snow conditions beat the crap out of our groomers.
2. temperature...if it is not cold enough for the snow to set up, the groomer actually does more harm than good...that is one of the main reasons we run during the night...even then, if the snow does not get 4 hours to set up...a couple of sleds can destroy it.
3. trail route distance...the John Deere has a large area to cover....at a max speed of 8 km/hr, it takes a lot of hours to do a double pass. We run the groomers as efficiently and as frequently as we can.
4. break downs...our equipment is getting older, and the John Deere has had its share of problems (a broken ram was the issue on the night you mentioned). Break downs are a challenge, parts have to be ordered, and volunteers have to arrange their schedules (home and work) to make the repairs...usually in the field. Picture a blown hydraulic line, a thrown track, etc... all tools and parts have to be dragged to site.

Our goal is to give every rider the best possible experience (we also like to ride nice trails). That said, we want you to buy our permit and you deserve the best we can deliver. Bear with us.

Fraser: I know it is not an easy job and there are many factors that come into play. It is way too easy for someone like myself to whine and bitch, but a busy trail that has not been groomed since the end of the week and is still left untouched Monday morning, is frustrating. I realise the lack of snow has been a nightmare and there is not much to work with.

Something that might help us understand the situation better would be an update on this site. I know it is yet another task for volunteers, but if you could let us know when the groomer is broke down, it would give us a heads up as to why the trail is the way it is. Any type of trail update would be a very useful purpose for this already awsome site.

I understand the reason for grooming only at night, but many clubs groom thru the day if necessary. I was up in Kearny a couple of weeks ago and they were grooming right in the middle of a Saturday afternoon. At 3:00 pm on Saturday, their trails were excellant. If the groomer was down and behind shedule, I see no reason for it to be idle until it gets caught up. Last Monday was plenty cold for the snow to set up and a couple of YAHOO's can destroy a perfect trail no matter how set up it is. In fact, alot of the wannabe racers ride well into the night anyway, so if you are worried about a groomed trail getting the crap tore out of it, you would never groom.

There are alot of things we as riders could do to help keep the trail smooth. If you ride sensibly on a freshly groomed trail, little harm is done. If we all would ride sensibly all the time, the trails would hold up alot better, but more on that frustration in another post.

I appreciate the work that is done and ODSC has been doing an admorable job this winter, given the conditions. I also appreciate this site and hope that others will use it as well.

Thanks again, Charles

hey charles why don't you help us out and run a couple shifts on the john deere? i have a full time job through the week and put 18-20 hours in the groomer every other weekend an extra guy would help for sure and then maybe it would be done as you like. happy trails

High Octane: You make a valid point. Pretty much always comes down to this doesn't it? If you don't like the way something is being done, why don't you do it yourself? Especially in a volunteer organization. I can't argue with you. From your perspective I would feel the same. I guess alot of things go unchanged because it usually comes down to "put up or shut up".

The thought has crossed my mind to offer to help with the grooming, but I was under the impression you were interested in experienced heavy equipment operators only, to reduce equipment damage as much as possible. However, if you are that short of help I could give it a try. It would take a bit of training, but if someone is willing to show me the ropes, I am willing to help out. Where do I sign up?

Charles

Anyone know if we are getting any snow soon that would solve alot of problems

Charles, come out to the monthly meetings. Need volunteers

do you take all people?

Absolutely