Appetite For Destruction

Monday night / Tuesday morning we received five inches (5”) of rain in two (2) hours. The singletrack in Leaders Park did not escape unscathed.

Last night Atom and I walked through the park to assess the situation. We found the trail itself held up wonderfully. This is an indication of proper design and excellent workmanship. One (1) of the two (2) bridges did not hold up so well.

The drainage ditch that runs diagonally through the park is probably six feet (6’) deep from edge to bottom of flow line. It typically runs about one foot (1’) deep. Judging by the debris on the trusses, it was probably flowing two feet (2’) above full.

The high flow rate eroded some of the bank taking out trees, shifting sediment, and sloughing off bank. A section that sloughed off was directly under one (1) of our bridge abutments.

Now we are forced to dismantle this bridge. It is clearly unsafe to use and there’s no practical way to stabilize the bank. Saturday we’re going to tackle this task.

We’ve scouted alternate locations such that we might move the bridge. None have been found. We’ve decided to salvage the wood and the steel abutments and purchase steel trusses twenty feet (20’) longer than the existing. We’ll move one (1) abutment five feet (5’) farther from the edge and the abutment barely hanging on the edge back fifteen (15’) from the edge. We’ll reuse the abutments, reuse the wood and get a bit more, and keep the bridge in its location. It is a good one.

This has proved to be a formidable challenge. However, we’re up to the task. Lesser people might quit, take the easy road, or hide behind some lame excuses when it appears the end result would be tough to achieve. Not us. We are all over this and moving forward.

Ride On.