Sulphur Springs looking okay
This is more of a walk report, as I didn't have a bike with me. Most of the snow is in the parking lot area and along the very lowest areas of the trail in open areas. As soon as you head upslope a bit, it's pretty dry. If I had to guess, I'd say that most of SS is going to be dry right now. The wet parts will be the parts that are always wet.
I saw one set of horse tracks and one set of bike tracks. Lots of horse shit in the first 1 km. The mosquitoes are out, and are very hungry.
SS - May 31
Out with A and S to ride Sulphur Springs [CCW] and Pneuma [out and back].
Sulphur Springs is pretty dry, with only a couple of the usual wet spots by the creek. We rode the two new sections of trail that the CMBA has worked on recently. The first one avoids the mud pit that usually forms just west of the old 4-way intersection of SS with Elbow Valley trail. It's tight, with short ups and downs, plus several sharp off-camber turns. It dumps you out at the bottom of a short climb on the original SS trail. The start and finish of the trail haven't been cut in, so you have to keep your eyes open for it. Continuing along SS, the climbs are all in good shape, with the usual loose rock to keep things interesting.
The second new section occurs after you cross the cutline and ride the short descent with the left-hand berm at the bottom. The start and finish have been cut in for this section, but it needs to be smoothed out a bit, and the entrance made more obvious. There are several climbing turns, and the trail winds through the forest for about 500m until it connects to Pneuma, about 50m uphill from the old SS/Pneuma intersection. From there you can do the rest of the Sulphur Springs loop or head uphill on Pneuma.
The rest of Sulphur Springs is the same as it was last year. The downhill on the far side of the road has more flow than it used to, and is quite fast. The Ruts O' Doom are gone, but there are still braking bumps as you come into some of the corners. You can also see where a few folks have blown those corners and gone off trail. The remaining climb is still a grunt, made worse by my lack of fitness. The final downhill is wide open and very fast. Keep an eye/ear out for other users on the trail, as 40+ km/h doesn't leave a lot of time to stop. We encountered 4 horsemen/women, and they were very courteous to us, moving their rides off the trail and letting us go by.
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SS - June 3
I rode a short loop tonight of Sulphur Springs-Hot Laps-Lower Pnuema. A made a point of checking out the new singletrack on SS. I REALLY like the new section the connects to Pnuema. Job well done!
The dirt work that is done on Lower Pnuema is really good too. Be warned though that there is still about 800m of trail that needs a tread cut into the ground. Also, watch out for the Moose that is hanging out around there.