Story From The Road: Hyde Park, NY

Franklin D. Roosevelt supposedly said, "If it happened, you can bet it was planned that way." The Subaru/IMBA Trailbuilding school happened according to plan with help from the Fats in Cats cycling club.
A new trail, built entirely with volunteer labor, will help this National Historic Site provide better trail experiences for all users.
National Park Service staff oversaw the planning and construction of the new trail, then called in to coordinates to Washington via this special laser antenna.
Trail Care Crew K-9 agent Moxy - the namesake for the new segment - shows off her new shirt.

In September, the Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site became the staging location for an exciting weekend of trail planning, construction and education. Anna Laxague and Jason Wells of the Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew worked with land managers from the National Park Service and trail advocates from The Fats in The Cats cycling club to assist the park with a management plan for 300 acres of land and many miles of trails.

The land on which the group would be working was acquired by the National Park Service in March of 2007. Historically the land had been used to connect FDR's home to Eleanor Roosevelt's estate. Over the years, the carriage roads were connected by braids of single- and double-track trails created by hikers, mountain bikers, motorcycles and ATVs. Now the National Park Service - along with the Rivers and Trails Program - is working to come up with a management plan that will include shared-use trails and non-motorized recreational use on the newly acquired land.

With so many interconnected trails and intersections the group decided that the best trail project would be to reclaim one of the double track ATV trails that ran through an environmentally sensitive area and reroute the trail onto the hillside. The result was a textbook example of a sustainable trail that will accommodate foot traffic and mountain bikers. Better yet, the new segment is a hoot to ride.

The Fats in the Cats know how to have a good time and love a challenge. The new trail was built on terrain littered with rocks. Finding dirt to fill in the gaps was one of the biggest struggles. At the end of the day the group had constructed about a third of a mile of fun, flowing bench-cut singletrack, which was added to the map as the "IMBA/Moxy Shared-Use Trail."