About

I took up the sport of mountain biking in June of 2011 after attending the Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Festival Grand Opening. I bought a Gary Fisher X Caliber upon my return and I’m now hooked.

This blog site is not only about my mountain bike adventures (primarily singletrack and increasingly downhill and freeride), but also about the sport of mountain biking, especially here in Minnesota: issues, organizations, people, legislation, funding, etc. And since I also use a bike for around-town errands, paved trail riding with family and friends, and the occasional commute, I may occasionally blog about non-mountain bike bicycling.

My wife Robbie and I live in Northfield, MN where we raised our four now-grown-and-gone kids. My Griff Wigley Google Profile has more about me than you want to know.

The transformation of the Eagan Bike Park: build day, spring 2013 (1)
- Griff Wigley: Great video of the build day by Jon Theis at Entice Media Works: httpv://youtu.be/DEmmxfSqXEg
How a last-minute get-out-the-vote idea that died got revived by one determined mountain biker (2)
- Griff Wigley: Hah! I love those types of compliments.
- sue seeger: Thanks to all who helped pull this together and participated. Big thanks! Way to not be lame Rhett!
April 12 deadline: vote Midwest in the Bell Built mountain bike trail building grants competition (1)
- Griff Wigley: I posted this to the MORC forum and to several pages on Facebook this morning: Why come to the Bell...
Parks and Trails Council’s ‘Day on the Hill’ includes some good news: veteran lobbyist Judy Erickson takes on Cuyuna as a client (1)
- John Schaubach: Griff, Thank you so much for helping get the story out about the Cuyuna Lakes community’s work...
Distributing a little dirt in Cuyuna’s Yawkey unit (3)
- Tom Osborne: Thanks! It was fun visiting that day. The boot kept me on the trail until my surgery date yesterday....
- Griff Wigley: Hey Tom, thanks for chiming in with details on the anything-to-keep-riding foot gear. Classy!...
- Tom Osborne: Yep, that’s me Tom Osborne. It was fun meeting you. Cool site, your viewers might wonder about my...
Cuyuna Lakes Whiteout 2013, here I come (2)
- Griff Wigley: Likewise, Martha! Nice to see your photo on the WCCO-TV piece tonight: http://minnesota.cbslocal.c...
- Martha: James and I will be there; I can’t wait! Look forward to seeing you up there.
Learning to manual: a wheelie with no pedaling (2)
- Griff Wigley: I’m intrigued by this comment attached to that video by KTownRoyster (Oct 4, 2012 at 8:59): its...
- Griff Wigley: I thought I’d dust off this blog post and try to get better at manuals this spring. I got to the...
John Burke’s BHAG: 5% of trips by bike by 2025. What about mountain biking? (1)
- Griff Wigley: I typed up my notes on Burke’s presentation a while ago but lost track of them. Duh. Found...
Variations in how to ride the hamster wheel at Ray’s Indoor Bike Park in Milwaukee (2)
- Griff Wigley: Jed, ahhhh, that makes sense… different gear ratio. Never occurred to me. No, I never saw anyone...
- Jed: Griff, I whole-heartedly agree with you on the “how not to ride the hamster wheel” video. The video...
Technical sections at Ray’s Indoor Bike Park: ingeniously challenging (3)
- Frank: I’m not sure if you were around when Wade and I were playing in the expert skills area, but I’m...
- Griff Wigley: Hey Tom, that’s good to know! I’ve edited the blog post above to include your last names...
- Tom Davis: FYI I’m his dad, Thanks Griff
Photo album: Hansi Johnson’s IMBA weekend at Ray’s Indoor Bike Park in Milwaukee (6)
- Griff Wigley: Jeff, I don’t officially represent IMBA; I’m just a happy member. But I’ll make sure...
- Ray's MTB: WOW! This is an amazing array of photos, a map of the entire Milwaukee park! Glad we could host your...
- Griff Wigley: Hansi Johnson has a post on his blog about the weekend, complete with his usual stunning photography:...
- Griff Wigley: I just added an album of 140 photos of all areas of the park. I took them early on Saturday morning...
- Griff Wigley: Hey Frank, that was one fun weekend. Glad you & your buddies, Mitch and Mike Mohs, were able to be...
- Frank: Good seeing you again this weekend Griff, and thanks for taking all the pictures! Looking forward to learning...
30 seconds of coaching from Jed Olson and I learn to jump a table top (2)
- Griff Wigley: Frank, I probably stayed too long, as I got some nasty leg cramps on the long ride home. But now...
- Frank: Dang, now I wish I had the chance to talk with Jed too. Maybe he could have given me some good pointers on...
Mammoth Trail technical obstacles: small victories, one large defeat (6)
- Griff Wigley: That’s a rationale I’ve not heard about/considered, syklystt. Makes complete sense....
- syklystt: I do the brakes sometimes to when doing skinneys..I also found that using a harder gear does alot for...
- Griff Wigley: Clay/Frank, I’ll gladly keep you guys in mind, especially if you’re willing to chronicle my...
- Frank: If you head out there again this year I’d be interested as well Griff. I have class Tuesday and...
- Clay Haglund: actually, I’m trying to talk a friend into going tomorrow morning.
- Clay Haglund: If you sneak over again this fall, I’d appreciate it if I could tag along.
Riding the skinnies at Dan Funke’s back yard MTB playground (2)
- Griff Wigley: Hey syklystt, thanks for the tip. Makes a lot of sense to stay behind the seat. This just got easier...
- syklystt: very cool….Im an avid rider of skinnys…adn like you said..you need to learn how to get off...
Photo album: MN High School mountain bike race at Buck Hill (2)
- Griff Wigley: Good to see you, too, Martha. And according to Gary Sjoquist, you deserve special props for all the...
- Martha Flynn: So great to see you today Griff. And WONDERFUL photos!!
Learning to pump and hop so you can learn to jump (2)
- Griff Wigley: Clay, yep, the book is really good. And the writing is pretty entertaining, too. I find that the...
- Clay: Thanks for sharing Griff. When I was younger and racing BMX, I never really had instruction, but being a...
Photo album: Lebanon Hills West Trailhead grand opening (2)
- Griff Wigley: You’re welcome, Clay. I assume you didn’t make it up?
- Clay: Thanks for taking so many great pics Griff.
Another memorable trip to Cuyuna: good for the body and spirit (4)
- Griff Wigley: Just wait till I get a little older, Scott.
- Scott Christensen: It was an epic day at Cuyuna indeed. Your shoulder sure didn’t stop you from ripping it up out...
- Griff Wigley: Hey Tim, likewise. I heard you even got to have dinner with John on Friday night. More Cuyuna scheming?
- tim wegner: Sorry I missed you up there griff. I was busy with spending time riding with my wife and also doing some...
How not to crash on your shoulder (2)
- Griff Wigley: Tim, I know the meaning behind your delightfully snide helmet comment. If others want to know, see my...
- Tim Madigan: Thank God you were wearing a helmet! Good video.
When I learned about rotational violence to the brain, I bought a full-face MIPS helmet (2)
- Griff Wigley: You’re welcome, Clay. It may be spring before I get to Copper Harbor, too.
- Clay Haglund: Thanks for this information Griff. I had not heard about this MIPS technology yet; but I am in the...
Salsa Cycles demo gets me thinking about my next three bikes (4)
- Griff Wigley: Clay, I think the reason I’ve not been drawn to a full suspension bike thus far is because of my...
- Clay Haglund: If you like going fast, I think you’ll love going full suspension. With my F.S. bike recently...

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