Trail building Kowalski style

If you know anything about mountain biking in the ACT then you would have heard about the mysterious trail builders known as the Kowalski Brothers. They are synonymous in the single track circles for making wonderful trails of which all can enjoy. They were the original Mt Stromlo trail designers before the devastating fires of 2003 and have been building trails for decades......so they clearly know what they are doing! At the moment they happen to be the chief single track designers and builders out at Kowen Forest. A Forest that is home to more than 60kms of sweet flowing single track!!

I have been meaning to get out to a track day for a while now and as they are building a whole new section that will be unveiled at the Kowalski Classic in late September, they have been quite busy of late. So with shovels, rakes, saws and mattocks at the ready I set of with William and Jacob yesterday morning to get an insight and lend a hand in trail building for the first time. You may often be able to help maintain a trail but there cant be many opportunities that come up where you actually get to witness the birth of a new single track, one that will be eventually ridden on by hundreds, if not thousands of riders.

Apparently Alan who was in charge of marking out the route is going to call this section 'Effing' as it will be Effing high (more than 900 metres above sea level), Effing long and Effing fun! Sounds 'Effing' alright by me!

 Clearing the branches between trees (The boys were named honorary 'Branch Managers' by Alan)

 The trail starting to take shape

Cleared and ready to move on to the next bit

 A fresh trail ready and never been ridden on before!

 Sweet sweet single track. Kowalski Classic? sounds like a plan!!