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Interesting article: https://www.outsideonline.com/2407740/mountain-biker-behavior-trail-access?fbclid=IwAR0t1Zw3cQkaLgoFBo3qj0J4rRE2e9GilZZf3Xlyss-B-wI-pHjeGoUj0ug I guess the next time I feel like telling the horseback rider "wow, your horse has two assholes. one under its tail, and another on top of the saddle", I might just keep it to myself?

Born and raised in Ohio and have been traveling and mountain biking all over the country. There seems tobe some very misleading posts above so I want to give some earnest feedback should anyone ever be in the area. PENDING THE TRAIL . BE PREPARED TO CLIMB. prominent trail systems (alum creek & chesnut ridge) both of which with considerable elevation and neither of which would be suitable for beginner level riders. Chestnut ridge even has a full downhill section with doubles , rythems and tabletops. Outside of Columbus in just about any direction there are some serious, i.e. double black diamond trails. Ohio leads into the foothills of the Appalachian mountains and is also where the glasciers stopped. So yes there are some flat areas but also areas you can do bouldering and repelling. Stating Ohio is "pancake flat" is a bit misleading. Google search MTB trails. Throw a dart. Next to obvious places like Colorado Ohio has quite a bit of serious mountain biking and one of my favorite riding areas in the country.

I vote we let FR512 repurpose all that material into trail features. Of course, none of our votes count for squat unless the owner is on here. The days of burgers and beers at the saloon are long gone. Nature wins again. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

On my Devinci

FWIW, The Saloon was a viable business model with plenty of local and MTB patrons to keep the burgers and beer flowing, back when it was operating under experienced management working the plan. What led to the demise was a succession of untenable contracts based on blue sky schemes with lessees lacking adequate business acumen to maintain the existing momentum. The next one after Diane didn't even want the MTB part of the business as part of their plan to make it a dedicated music venue, which is why Boomer's Bicycles stepped in securing a separate contract just to keep the trails open for us. When their grandiose plans for an epic music destination did not bear fruit the axe finally fell and the burgers and beer stopped flowing. The following lessee had even less ambition, experience, or resources and did little more than collect the rider's money, live in a trailer beside the saloon, and talk big talk about all they were going to do, and never did. It wasn't so much that the Saloon failed, as it was that nobody after Diane left ever really embraced running the place with the whole recipe in play taking advantage of locals, riders, events, camping and all that goes with that as it had always worked. As for the future, the slab has/had(?) studs when it was poured. The kind in all the places that would support erecting a conventional metal building. Despite this, it was originally constructed from trees sourced on property. As far as I know it ought to be reasonably straight forward to do something with it once the cleanup is done. I'd suspect that at the very least the restrooms/showers and the pay station would be covered again. I very much miss that Saloon, and the diverse community that once thrived there. But, yeah, I would not expect the site ever becoming a commercial venue where folks could gather for refreshment and camaraderie after a ride, and as a destination for locals, motorcyclists, and all others who used to frequent the place unless there were someone with vision and amazing negotiating skills able to pull a rabbit out of a hat.

Thanks for posting it. I somehow never managed to visit Kingdom Trails when I lived closer to them than I now live to Big Bend, but I have a lot of NY based friends who spend a ton of time there. Back when the word got out that some landowners revoked MTB rights, but left the right for other users, it was a big mystery why it happened. So now that it is known why, perhaps Kingdom can work to mend things with the landowners. But Kingdom is going to have to work real hard to make sure bikers aren't assholes to folks on their own land. Given how much Texans ride on ranches, I think we're cognizant of the concept. But private land riding is quite rare in the northeast, so it'll take some work. Can you imagine what would happen if someone yelled at Jimmy to get out of way at FRR?

In its current state (before destruction) it actually saw a fair amount of traffic. RHR and FR512 riders use the bathrooms and showers, as well as the deck area to hang out. During events, it also gets a lot of traffic. A new saloon wouldn't make sense, but a pavilion with bathrooms would. That's also the main intake area for submitting waivers and day fees. A small fundraiser may prod rebuilding, but I'm pretty sure Grey has insurance to cover this if he wants to rebuild it.

Did the shuttle. It was great. Really behind in getting it on my site. Sadly, few pictures because we were all going too fast with no stopping.

Saw this on the FB somewhere last night. I'd be down for supporting a fundraiser and barn-raising effort to get it back up and running. that thing was ancient!

I just want to chime in here and say how awesome it is to see a thread only discussing trail work with 90% of the contributors being local trail builders. We have have a pretty good thing going here in Austin. I salute you all. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk