# clearing trails of leave/ pine needles



## mack_turtle (Jan 6, 2009)

some of my favorite trails are mostly covered in 2 inches of slippery, often damp, pine needles. it slows me down a lot because there is no way to corner in this stuff. it's like riding on discarded banana peels. what might be the consequences of clearing some of this stuff off the trail? i don't intend to constantly rake the trail down to bare dirt, but clearing up the accumulated mounts of slippery stuff would be nice.


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## bsieb (Aug 23, 2003)

Works great, if you rake to the outside you will help bank the turn quicker. More traffic accomplishes the same thing if you prefer to ride.


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## Ridnparadise (Dec 14, 2007)

That stuff is not only hard to ride, but if it is mainly pine needles it also prevents trail-edge grassess and things helping to stabilisise the tread border, plus organic matter often accululates in shallow drainages and causes mud to build up on the tread. It is going to be a fairly arduous and ongoing task, but scratch those suckers away.


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## Dave_schuldt (May 10, 2004)

Somewhere I saw a video of a guy riding with a leaf blower with an extended hose.


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## jmitchell13 (Nov 20, 2005)

Here ya go...
Mountain Bike Leaf Blowing - YouTube


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## 475856 (Feb 6, 2010)

jmitchell13 said:


> Here ya go...
> Mountain Bike Leaf Blowing - YouTube


That is pretty awesome!! Way to clean those leaves off, before they turn to snot....:thumbsup:


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## mtbikernc69 (Mar 23, 2004)

I blow, personally.


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## Ridnparadise (Dec 14, 2007)

You'd think that blower would make him ride faster?


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## Skookum (Jan 17, 2005)

If you got a couple inches of needles, that's probably enough to justify using a pitchfork. Depending on if it's wet out and the size of the needles. Smaller needles perhaps a garden rake will work better, on down to a sturdy leaf rake. It'll be a heck of a work out by hand.

A gas powered blower is going to do the best and be the fastest route. 

It sounds like an annual cleaning of your trail wouldn't be a bad idea. 

Simple tips is to broadcast the organic over a wide swath, off the trail. Also be mindful of drainage, you don't want to sweep, rake, blow the crud anywhere near critical drainage areas. In fact it's best to take time and clean that out as well as the tread surface.


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## CMihalcheon (Aug 6, 2010)

If you have a long handled rake you can rake as you walk the trail, makes short work of it. By the sounds of it, your trail has not been raked for a while. Take the time to rake the trail and earn the trail karma. It's worth it.


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## mack_turtle (Jan 6, 2009)

i took a garden rake out there and cleaned up one section of trail. it took me eight hours and my back was sore for days! next time, I am going to borrow or rent a blower!


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## fishbum (Aug 8, 2007)

You might find that the first time you need to rake it. Years 2 onward a leaf blower may take care of it.


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## CMihalcheon (Aug 6, 2010)

Dang, sounds like no one has raked in quite a while. Next ride down the trail is going to feel like heaven, then you will see it was well worth it! And when you get back to the parking lot, and other people are stoked on how nice the trail looks, you can look at em and say, yeah, I did that.


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## pascale27 (Aug 26, 2011)

we mostly rake our trails, although at one of the bigger parks we do use backpack leaf blowers


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