Advocacy

Published July 23, 2013 by Griff Wigley

Photo album: 2013 Rhino Rally. Because cancer sucks.

The Rhinos Foundation held their annual Rhino Rally (Facebook event page) on Saturday at Murphy-Hanrehan. I didn’t ride, just took photos in the morning. ‘Twas cool to have the event launched with a singing of the Star-Spangled Banner and drumming.

What’s the Rhino Rally about? From their website:

The Rhino Rally is an endurance mountain bike event, raising cancer awareness and financial support for Rhinos Foundation. Riders may participate as individuals or as a team for this five hour challenge. The Rhinos Foundation was established in 1991 to support the fight against cancer and those affected by the disease. Over the years, Rhinos has been supporting families in Western Wisconsin and Eastern Minnesota; touching those touched by cancer.

Among the familiar faces:

Left: Steve Tigner. Center: Mike Pierson (a MORC Murphy-Hanrehan Dirt Boss) and Susannah King (MORC Secretary). Right: Larry Sauber, among the leaders right from the start.

Larry published a blog post about the event titled Hot Buck, Murphy Rhino Race/ Cancer Awareness and posted this comment in the MORC forum:

"Thanks" to all those that either put on the event, volunteered, and of course the behind the scene trail workers that kept the jungle from taking over the trail (hardly any face slappers on the rain lap)… Like I’ve typed elsewhere, nothing better than riding/ racing your bike for something greater than riding/ racing your bike. Thanks Rhino people… Cancer sucks.

See my album of 35 photos (large slideshow, recommended) or SLOW CLICK this small slideshow:

Advocacy Events Photo album

Mike Pierson Murphy-Hanrehan Rhino Rally Rhinos Foundation Steve Tigner Susannah King

Published July 18, 2013 by Griff Wigley

If Northfield builds a bike park, it could save the city $280,000. Huh?

My home town of Northfield has acquired the Fargaze Meadows subdivision for a future park but it comes with an eyesore: a huge mound of dirt. In the May 28 Faribault Daily News: Northfield gains 40 acres from Rice County for parks and trails:

But converting the land will neither easy nor cheap. A giant mound of dirt lies on the north part of the land, which not only makes for a poor view, but also causes a lot of problems for the homes in the neighborhood. County engineer Dennis Luebbe estimated it could cost up to $280,000 just to move the dirt.

Back in May after a downtown parking management meeting, I was chatting with Ward 2 Councilor David DeLong about my mountain biking adventures and mentioned to him that many municipalities are building bike parks (pump and jump parks) as an amenity for their citizens of all ages. As I’ve noted here on my blog, Eagan has one that I regularly use (left photo), Maple Plain has one, and Cottage Grove starting building a big one this week. Others are in the works for Duluth, Maple Grove, and Cuyuna and probably many more. When Dave learned about the cost of removing the big dirt mound at Fargaze, he emailed me, wondering whether some of that dirt could be used for a bike park. I replied:

The type of dirt used to build the features for these parks matters, as the jumps, berms and rollers deteriorate quickly if it’s not hard-pack dirt. I’m guessing that mound of dirt at Fargaze is black dirt.

He replied:

Griff, I don’t know what the dirt is but I think there must be more than black dirt. If it was most likely there would have been greater erosion. Amateur opinion. The quietness and growing popularity [of bike parks] along with the age range of participation does intrigue me. Thanks for the links and following up.

Last night while riding my around-town bike in the area, I decided to take a closer look. I was shocked to not see black dirt. So today I went back, took photos, and dug (heh) a little deeper. It appears that Councilor DeLong’s amateur opinion was correct.

First, some perspective:

The mound of dirt looking west, south, and north. Far right: looking north from atop the mound.

Left: My markup of the Google Earth view of the Fargaze parcel. Right: satellite view of the neighborhood with the pond and the mound.

Left and center: two of several dirt cuts/washout areas that indicate that the mound is not made of black dirt. Right: the dirt cuts/washout areas viewable from Google Earth’s satellite.

Primary access to the dirt mound is at the corner of Ford St E and Brogan Dr. (left). Once on top, it appears that the mound is big enough to locate a significant portion of a bike park on top of it. The dirt could easily be moved to build the bike park adjacent to / south of where the mound is. Or both.

As for the type of dirt needed for a bike park, I contacted Chance Glasford who’s working on the bike park in Cottage Grove and he wrote to me:

You want to be able to make a dirt ball, like a snow ball out of it. If it holds together, maybe bounce it a little to see how it holds up. If it does, that’s good. Also look for that reddish brown color. That is mineral soil.

I scraped some some dirt from the side of the dirt cut, brought it home, mixed it with some water and made a ball. It split apart when I dropped it from a height of about a foot so it may not be perfect. I put it in the sun and it was baked into a hard rock by day’s end. So it’s definitely promising and probably worth the money to have a company drill soil samples of the dirt mound.

I’ve begun having conversations about all this with Nathan Knutson, Chair of the Norrthfield Park & Recreation Advisory Board, Northfield City Administrator Tim Madigan, and Joe Stapf and Jaspar Kruggel from the Northfield Public Works Department.

The photos above are from a profile of a bike park in the city of Eagle, Idaho that was built by a company called Alpine Bike Parks. It has some similarities to the location and height of the Fargaze dirt mound here in Northfield:

Once the community was ready to develop the park, they reached out to Alpine Bike Parks to develop the full-service public bike park facility. Mechanized construction included slopestyle downhill trails, skills development areas, and competitive mountain cross and dual slalom courses. These trails raised the public profile of the project and assisted in developing capital for future project phases, including additional skills areas, and competitive BMX and mountain bike race courses.

Duration of Construction: Two months

Scope: Master planning, trail design, trail construction, community outreach.

Methods: Excavators, tracked loaders and skid steers, hand shaping

Budget: $130,000

Client: City of Eagle, Idaho

I’ll update this story as it develops by attaching comments to this blog post.

Advocacy Parks

Chance Glasford Cottage Grove Eagan pump & jump park Meadows Park Northfield

Published July 13, 2013 by Griff Wigley

An unofficial strategy meeting on the proposed trail through the MN River Bottoms which, conveniently enough, just flooded

Fellow MORC members Dennis Porter, Don Youngdahl and I met with QBP Advocacy Director Gary Sjoquist yesterday at QBP’s HQ in Bloomington to discuss the current situation with the mountain bike trails in the Minnesota River Bottoms that I blogged about last week.

The MORC Board has not taken a formal position on the proposed paved or ‘finished surface’ trail through the Cedar-to-169 segment (Bloomington refuge corridor), nor have they officially appointed any of us to speak for them. But given the long history that Don, Dennis and Gary have with this issue, I think it’s probably fair to say that the Board is happy to have us working on it. I volunteered to be an informal liaison to the Board.

Our strategy for the next two months is simple: meet with the leaders we know at the various government agencies and other key organizations to get a better understanding of what they know and their concerns. The new manager of the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge has been hired and evidently will be starting in August. In the meantime, we’ll be contacting people at the Parks and Trails Division of the DNR, the Parks and Trails Council of MN, the City of Bloomington, and the MN Division of the Izaac Walton League.

I edited my blog post to make it clearer that website for The Friends of the Minnesota Valley’s Trail Advocacy Group is a separate website from the Friends of the Minnesota Valley website. While Ed Crozier is listed as Director Emeritus of the Friends of the Minnesota Valley, it would appear that his advocacy on this issue has not been embraced by their Board. If true, we need to understand why.

One of the arguments against constructing a paved or ‘finished surface’ trail along the bottom lands of the Minnesota River is that it’s likely to be very expensive to maintain it since the river regularly floods. After the meeting, Don Youndahl and I did a reconnaissance ride from the Bloomington Ferry Bridge trailhead to see the condition of the trail since the flooding that had occurred a week ago.

Don wrote last night in the MORC forum:

Tried a reconnaissance ride from Bloomington Ferry late this morning. Almost no standing water, but still too wet in the low spots. The good news is the flooding has knocked down a lot of the itch-weed. Wait for a few more good drying days, & bring a hand saw. The flood has done it’s usual job on the trail.

As you can see, the flooding deposited huge amounts of muck everywhere, including on top of the bridges that cross the smaller streams (bridges that Don, Dennis and other MORC members have constructed and reconstructed many times over the years). If there was a paved or ‘finished surface’ trail through there, the cleanup costs would be significant. It’s not clear which government agency would budget for this regular occurrence.

I took the selfie on the left when Don and I returned to the parking lot. We toasted ourselves afterwards at Zeke’s Place.

Advocacy

Dennis Porter Don Youngdahl Gary Sjoquist Minnesota River Bottoms MN River Bottoms advocacy MORC

Published July 9, 2013 by Griff Wigley

How much are we at risk of losing the natural surface mountain bike trails in the Minnesota River Bottoms?

I’ve been riding my mountain bike on the trails in the MN River Bottoms since December 2011, just a few months after I started mountain biking. I’ve published many posts here on my blog about my experiences there.

In short, I love these trails because A) they’re only 35 minutes away from my house; B) they’re generally open when all other trails in the area are closed, especially in winter; C) there are many optional technical obstacles to ride there which I love; D) they’re not as well-maintained as the other singletrack trails in the area (vive la différence!); and E) riding in the wilderness setting along the river is a treat.

So I was distressed to learn that this trail system might be at risk because of plans under consideration to put either a paved or an ‘improved surface’ trail there. Some members of MORC who have been paying attention and working on this issue for years have asked others to get involved.

Back in May, one of these members, Don Youngdahl, started a discussion thread in the MORC forum as a way of helping others to get more informed and hopefully engaged. Right photo: I briefly met Don (red hat) last October during the opening of the west trail head at Lebanon Hills.

Don and I are meeting on Friday this week with a couple of other MORC members who have a long history with this issue, Dennis Porter and Gary Sjoquist. My purpose in composing this blog post now is primarily self-serving: writing about an issue is a way for me to better understand it. Of course, I’m hoping others will benefit from it.

The issue is complicated in part because of the number of land managers, including:

Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
Minnesota Valley State Recreation Area (MN Dept. of Natural Resources)
City of Bloomington
Izaak Walton League, MN Division

Don’s summary:

The Minnesota Valley Recreational Trail was authorized by the Minnesota legislature in 1971, to run from Fort Snelling to Le Sueur, and later was incorporated into the newly established Minnesota Valley State Recreation Area in 1976, to be administered by the Minnesota DNR. The Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1976, and much of the land between Fort Snelling to Bloomington Ferry is part of both the National Wildlife Refuge and and the Minnesota Valley Recreation Area.

For mountain bikers, the issue is focused on the bottom-land portion of the trail system between Cedar Avenue and the Bloomington Ferry Bridge.

(See Phil Westover’s Google Map of MN River Bottoms MTB trails.)

In 2006, the DNR produced a Minnesota Valley State Recreation Area Management Plan (PDF). Some excerpts related to mountain biking:

The 2002-2003 MVSRA User Survey, page 39 (page 51 of the PDF):

Multiuse: The trail should be a multiuse trail system with differing uses in different segments of the trail (not all segments of the trail need to accommodate all uses).

Trail Surface: When asked about whether they prefer a different trail surface, most people seem to be satisfied with the surface they are using. Those using the paved surface in Fort Snelling State Park prefer to stay on paved trails and those using the natural surface in the Bloomington area, for example, prefer that type of surface. When asked what they think about more paved trails, users either strongly oppose or mildly oppose more paved trails.

Recommendations per trail segment including units Cedar Avenue to Bloomington Ferry page 51 (page 63 of the PDF):

In lieu of official trail development, local biking groups such as MORC (Minnesota Off-Road Cyclists) have aligned and maintained an informal trail with volunteers. A significant amount of erosion is occurring on the bluffsides, and in the ravines in this area due to a variety of factors (topography, soils, run-off from the streets and developments along the bluff, and a proliferation 52 of trails due to difficult stream crossings). Because of this, the City of Bloomington is working with MORC to develop more sustainable mountain-biking trails in this area.

On page 52 (page 64 of the PDF):

It should be noted that throughout the planning process, little-to-no support was expressed from the public for a traditional paved multiuse trail through this area. (The public is defined as those who attended meetings, sent in written comments, or who participated in the Household and User Surveys.)

The Spring 2013 issue of Minnesota Trails magazine, published by the Parks and Trails Council of Minnesota, has an article about the group that’s lobbying for either a paved or ‘improved surface’ trail in the River Bottoms. The group calls themselves The Friends of the Minnesota Valley’s Trail Advocacy Group and the Bloomington Geezer Squad and its leader is Ed Crozier (see his LinkedIn page here). While he’s listed as Director Emeritus on the Friends of the Minnesota Valley website, the two sites are completely separate.

The magazine isn’t available online so here’s a photo of the article and the text:

A trail section that has sat for decades as a good idea may soon become a place where people get outdoors and connect with nature—thanks to a newly formed citizen group.

They call themselves the Friends of the Minnesota Valley’s Trail Advocacy Group. Although they are small in number, their dedication and know-how are making big strides in completing the Minnesota Valley State Trail. The founder and retired manager of the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, Ed Crozier, leads the group.

“Me and my retired friend, Dick Duerre, decided we needed to contribute to something again in our retirement,” explained Crozier. Since then others have joined the cause, and with Crozier’s track record of success in creating the wildlife refuge, there are high hopes for this effort.

The Legislature authorized the Minnesota Valley State Trail in 1967. The trail was intended to extend about 60 miles from Fort Snelling State Park, through the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge and the Minnesota Valley State Recreation Area (MVSRA), with its southern border in Belle Plaine. Currently about six miles of the trail are paved and another 40 miles, within in the MVSRA, are unpaved.

The trail advocacy group is working on the nearly 20 miles of unfinished trail. Usually the biggest impediment to developing a trail is gaining access through privately owned land. That is what makes this project unique; nearly all the land is publicly owned. Such an opportunity should not be passed up, according to Crozier.

Thousands of people would have easy access to the trail, with trailheads near several light rail stations. Metro-area residents may be surprised to find this oasis of nature along the Minnesota River, within steps of their homes. “The trail would help people appreciate the Minnesota River and the National Wildlife Refuge, and in turn, hopefully help to protect it,” said Crozier.

The bulk of the trail section runs through the city of Bloomington, and citizen involvement has been most active here. A Bloomington group called the Geezer Squad has become particularly involved in restoring the historic Cedar Avenue Bridge connection to the trail. The bridge was built in 1920 and operated as a pedestrian bridge for years until its deteriorating condition led to its closing in 2002. The bridge crosses over Long Meadow Lake and overlooks marshland with abundant wildlife.

Now that the trail is mapped out, money is needed to develop it. “The Parks & Trails Council arranged for us to meet with the Department of Natural Resources folks, which kicked off the efforts to calculate cost estimates [for 13 miles of the trail],” said Crozier. Now the group is talking with legislators to appropriate bonding dollars.

As soon as 2014, a bonding bill may be passed to start the work. The group is dedicated to press on until the trail is finished. “Most of us are past retirement age; this is our last hoorah,” said Crozier.

On their petition page they support having two trails. And they avoid using the word ‘paved’ for their trail:

The ten-foot wide trail will have a surface suitable for hiking and narrow-tire biking. A separate mountain bike trail will also be maintained, usually out of sight of the hike/bike trail. The two trails will share bridges and other structures at stream crossings and other barriers. ATVs, snowmobiles and horses will not be allowed.

Some of my random thoughts:

Are trail descriptions like “improved surface” and “finished” are really euphemisms for ‘paved?’

Some government agencies support having two trails; others oppose it. And some support having a paved trail while others oppose it. Thus far, I’ve not found any online documents to verify these positions, nor have I talked to anyone from these agencies.

Would I support a new paved or “improved surface” trail in the River Bottoms as long as the existing MTB trail was maintained as a separate trail? It’s hard to justify the cost, estimated to be $2.5 million. The pool of money for 21 trail-related projects initially considered by the 2013 MN Legislature was ultimately removed from the HF 1183-4 bill. It’ll likely come up for 2014 of course, and I can think of many mountain bike-related trails that could greatly benefit from that money instead.

But it’s also important to consider our relationship with our institutional ‘friends’ of mountain biking. The Parks & Trails Council of Minnesota was instrumental in securing key funding for the Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Trail System. They are an important ally for the future of mountain bike trail funding/land access in MN.

The DNR should be considered a friend of mountain biking because they control Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Trail System and many other areas around the state that would be conducive to future mountain bike trails. And without even being asked, they just kicked another $100,000 this year into Cuyuna.

So mountain bikers’ position needs to be very carefully nuanced, with a eye towards maintaining and even strengthening our relationships with the DNR and the Parks and Trails Council. We don’t want to win this battle in a way that contributes to losing the war. But the MTB trail system in the MN River Bottoms is a gem that we need to protect.

Advocacy Photo album Trails

City of Bloomington Don Youngdahl Ed Crozier Izaak Walton League Minnesota River Bottoms Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge Minnesota Valley State Recreation Area Minnesota Valley’s Trail Advocacy Group MN DNR MN River Bottoms advocacy Parks and Trails Council of Minnesota

Published June 19, 2013 by Griff Wigley

IMBA Upper Midwest Regional Summit 2013 in Cable, WI: good meeting, great riding

Last June I attended my first regional IMBA Summit, held in Crosby, MN near the Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Trail System. It was titled the 2nd Annual Great Lakes Summit.

This year, it was titled the IMBA Upper Midwest Regional Summit and it was hosted in Cable, WI, in the middle of the Chequamegon Area Mountain Bike Association (CAMBA)’s off-road bike trail system.

After the IMBA Upper Midwest Regional Leadership Advisory Council meeting on Friday afternoon (I didn’t attend), a group of us got in a 10-mile ride on CAMBA’s Seeley Pass Trail from the HWY 00 Trail Head. I was indeed “superb rolling, flowy singletrack.” We then made our way to the Sawmill Saloon in Seeley for refreshments and dinner and where I got a chance to chat with a couple of fellow geezers that I’d met briefly on the ride, CAMBA’s Executive Director Ron Bergin and longtime CAMBA trail coordinator/volunteer Steve Morales.

IMBA’s Midwest Regional Director Hansi Johnson opened the Summit on Saturday morning at the Cable Community Centre, thanking the 35+ attendees for coming and citing examples of regional cooperation in the past year (e.g., teaming up on get-out-the-vote efforts for the Bell-Built Grant competition).

Representatives of the Upper Midwest IMBA chapters at the Summit (there are over 20) then each gave short summaries of their chapter’s activities and accomplishments in the past year, as well as their plans for the upcoming year. In a follow-up email, MORC Board Secretary Susannah King captured my sentiments:

It was helpful to see so many other clubs working toward a common goal, dealing with similar (and different) successes and challenges that we do.

IMBA Director of Public Affairs Jeremy Fancher (with support from colleague Aaron M. Smith) presented on the legal ins and outs of IMBA Chapters having MOU’s, partnership agreements, contracts, etc. with land managers/owners. Several Chapter board members I talked to afterwards seemed grateful, worried, and motivated to roll up their sleeves upon returning home to delve deeper into their land manager agreements and do what needs to be done to make them better.

John Gaddo from QBP gave an overview of the rapidly growing fat bike market (expected to double in the next two years). In the Western US, there’s a push with land managers to allow fat bikes to share the use of cross country ski and snowmobile trails for touring-type riding in the winter. But here in the Midwest, he felt it’s far better for Chapters to focusing on grooming some of their singletrack for both fat bikes and regular mountain bikes; hence, a good chunk of his presentation was about the variety of snow grooming techniques and equipment being used in the area. Reed Smidt, president of MORC, gave details on their grooming experiences in the past few years.

The session on fundraising featured Adam Sundberg and Kit Grayson from COGGS and Lori Hauswirth and Aaron Rogers from the Copper Harbor Trails Club.

COGGS has learned 1) how to leverage small grants into a series of ever-larger grants; and 2) that face-to-face, ongoing contact with the grantee organization is critically important, ie, it’s not enough to just submit the application. They’ve also learned that 1) its annual Gala allows them to reach out to a segment of the Duluth population that doesn’t mountain bike but who believes in its importance to the area. Attendees include community leaders and the more financially well-off; 2) it’s best to have auction items have wide appeal rather than being mtb-related (eg, vacation packages, restaurant deals, etc); and 3) the committee in charge of the Gala works on it for the entire year.

Copper Harbor has learned 1) how to scale the value of its sponsorships from local business owners; and 2) how to conduct a raffle with large ticket items (2013 raffle: $6,000 camping trailer, $4,400 Trek, etc).

IMBA Mapping Specialist Leslie Kehmeier presented on their new partnership with MTB Project which this IMBA page describes as

a next-generation mountain bike guide and trail map web site. This robust platform for online mapping displays the known trails in any given area, complete with elevation profiles, full GPS routes, photos, detailed ride info and more.

They’ve just added a feature that I think will create an incentive for Chapters to participate/contribute: once a trail has been mapped, embed code for it can be put on a Chapter’s own website. The quality of the mapping is not something that a Chapter could easily do on its own, so this a pretty big deal IMHO.

Leslie blogs about the project at IMBA.com. See all the IMBA blog posts in the Mapping Category, including her recent blog post, Understanding “rides and trails” on MTBproject.com:

If you’ve visited the MTB Project website you may have noticed two categories: “rides” and “trails.” Some have wondered what the difference might be — one doesn’t exist without the other, right?

CAMBA Executive Director Ron Bergin led the group ride after the Summit was over. I took one photo as riders were getting ready to depart but the vicious mosquitoes created a strong incentive to keep it in my hydration pack thereafter. His description of the new (built last summer) cross country flow trail:

5 miles of fast riding, open & flowing with dozens of bermed turns plus two super-fun gravity features and a 180-foot log ride. Start from our newest trailhead on Camp 38 Rd. – so new there are hardly any signs yet.

I found some photos of this new trail in the CAMBA Trails Flickr group including the two above by Scott Anderson of that 180-foot log skinny (which can be ridden backwards) and the roller coaster Gravity Cavity section (which can be ridden repeatedly in a loop). These two photos are small thumbnail-sized screenshots that are linked to Scott’s originals. Be sure to click through to see them. After Saturday’s ride, we gathered for refreshments and stone oven pizza at the Rivers Eatery in Cable.

On Sunday, some did the 27-mile Rock Lake IMBA Epic ride and others, including me, just the 12-mile Rock Lake trail (click here to see the difference between a ‘ride’ and a ‘trail’). Most notable for me was 1) the steep rocky downhill section called Wall Street; and 2) the No Hands Bridge (I used both hands and road the angled cut board). The above right photo is from this blog post about the entire Rock Lake trail by someone named rlove2bike.

Here’s the information and live MTBProject.com map (using their embed code) for the Rock Lake Trail:

All in all, ’twas a memorable weekend of great weather, good information, tasty food, excellent microbrews, and exhilarating riding, all stitched together with friends new and old. Saaaaaweeeet.

Advocacy Organizations Trails

Aaron M. Smith Adam Sundberg Bonnie Finnerty CAMBA Chequamegon Area Mountain Bike Association IMBA IMBA Regional Summit Jeremy Fancher John Gaddo Katie Johnson Kit Grayson Leslie Kehmeier Lori Hauswirth MTB Project Rock Lake Trail Ron Bergin Steve Morales

Published May 22, 2013 by Griff Wigley

A Bikeable Community Workshop in Faribault indicates what Northfield should be doing

Northfield City Administrator and Faribault resident Tim Madigan alerted me to a Bikeable Community Workshop hosted by the Faribault Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism last week. I contacted Kymn Anderson, Chamber President, to see if there was room for any Northfielders and she graciously allowed me to attend. Northfield City Councilor Suzie Nakasian was there, too.

The Bikeable Community Workshop brochure (PDF) states:

A Bikeable Community Workshop trains local, county and regional staff, and advocates on how to plan and support more Bike Friendly Communities to encourage more people on bikes more often in Minnesota. Participants enjoy a short bike ride to assess their community’s bicycle facilities to base an action plan on. Target audiences include engineers, law enforcement, planners, public health practitioners, school administrators, elected officials, and advocates. The course includes a short bicycle ride auditing your community.

The workshop was presented by staff from the Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota, the Minnesota Department of Health, and the Minnesota Department of Transportation. These folks knew their stuff and presented it well.

After the morning session, we broke up into three groups for a bike audit ride around Faribault.

See the May 14 Faribault Daily News by reporter Rebecca Rodenborg (@FDNRebecca): Faribault leaders take on bikeability issue. Also see her earlier article on May 4: How bike-friendly is Faribault?

My take-away? We need to begin working immediately with the Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota to form a Northfield area bicycle advisory committee so we can begin tackling a myriad of bike-related issues. The City of Minneapolis’ Bicycle Advisory Committee page spells much of it out:

Advise the Mayor, City Council, and Park Board on bicycling related issues; help advance the state of bicycle infrastructure; encourage more people to bike; educate the public; work towards more compliance with traffic laws; help the City and Park Board make bicycle plans; work to increase equity between bicyclist and other modes of transportation; review and suggest legislative and policy changes; recommend priorities for the use of public funds on bicycle projects; help ensure Minneapolis keeps and improves its status as a bicycle friendly community; serve as a liaison between Mpls communities and the City and Park Board, coordinate between difference agencies that interact with bicyclists.

Props to Kymn Anderson at the Faribault Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism and the Faribault area bicycle advocates for hosting the session. It was inspiring.

Advocacy Organizations

Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota bicyle advisory committee BikeMN Faribault Chamber of Commerce Kymn Anderson Suzie Nakasian Tim Madigan

Published May 5, 2013 by Griff Wigley

Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota‘s annual meeting makes it clear: the time is right for Northfield to get its bike act together

In late Feb, I attended the Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota‘s (BikeMN) third annual Minnesota Bicycle Summit on Capitol Hill, noting that I was "trying to get smarter about the state of bike advocacy in Minnesota…" (Blog post here.)

A few weeks later, for the same reason, I attended the Parks and Trails Council of Minnesota’s Day on the Hill which led to having lunch here in Northfield with Executive Director Brett Feldman and Northfield’s First Ward Councilor Suzie Nakasian in which we explored the pros and cons of forming a Northfield area regional bicycle council. (Blog post here.) Brett encouraged us to get in touch with BikeMN’s Executive Director Dorian Grilley.

So with that in mind, I attended BikeMN’s annual meeting yesterday at Park Tool’s new headquarters in Oakdale.

During the meeting, my eyes widened as we heard details from BikeMN staff and board members about the myriad of bike-related activities, projects, collaborations that they’re involved in. (See the Education and Advocacy pages on their website for a glimpse.)

Dorian is well-connected and versed in national bicycle advocacy issues so I was pleased to hear some of the latest news, including the repercussions from Trek CEO John Burke’s speech last fall at Interbike (my blog post here).

Afterwards, I did have a chance to talk with Dorian, as well as with Nick Mason, BikeMN’s Education & Technical Assistance Program Manager. Both offered their help to get things rolling in Northfield with a start-up of a local bicycle advocacy group and hopefully, one or more of their Bicycle Friendly Programs. (March blog post: Bemidji has earned ‘Bicycle Friendly Community’ status. Why not Northfield?)

And as I wrote back in March:

There are other [Northfield area] projects and developments that have a bicycle-component: the Northfield Depot; the East Cannon River Trail segment; the TIGER Trail (aka the Northfield Modal integration project); Safe Routes to School; the Gateway Corridor Improvement Plan; Northfield Roundtable’s Framework Plan; and the Cannon River Corridor recreational concept.

I also put on my mountain biking hat (helmet?) and with MORC Board members Reed Smidt and Mark Gavin, chatted with Dorian about how BikeMN and MORC could work more closely together. One idea: give communities with mountain bike trails and pump/jump/BMX parks extra credit when they apply for Bicycle Friendly Community status.

You can keep up with all-things BikeMN via their blog, Twitter feed, and Facebook page. And consider becoming a member. These guys rock.

Click and scroll through the photos either one at a time or via a slideshow. (Memo to self: use a flash when taking photos with my smartphone of people indoors.)

Advocacy

Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota BikeMN Dorian Grilley Mark Gavin MORC Nick Mason Reed Smidt

Published April 14, 2013 by Griff Wigley

How a last-minute get-out-the-vote idea that died got revived by one determined mountain biker

This is the story of what Minnesota Off-Road Cyclists (MORC)/IMBA member Rhett Williams did to rally the troops last week for the Bell Built mountain bike trail-building grants competition. (See my earlier blog post Vote Midwest in the Bell Built mountain bike trail building grants competition for more details on the contest.)

A couple weeks ago, it occurred to me that organizing get-out-the-vote parties might be another way to inspire Midwest mountain bikers to get their non-mountain biking friends and family to vote. The idea was to replicate what get-out-the-vote organizers do when D-Day approaches and the hard/tedious work of stuffing envelopes, making phone calls, and sending emails has to be done: 1) They get the volunteers together in one room and make it a fun and social event; and 2) They urge the volunteers to make one-to-one contact with potential voters.

I pitched the idea privately to some local mountain bike leaders and advocates and got encouragement to go for it. I put together this video/screencast that explained the idea and with the help of IMBA Midwest Regional Director Hansi Johnson, emailed a link to it to IMBA club/chapter leaders in the Midwest:

I got a small team of people to volunteer to help me but when everyone got so busy with their other duties, I had to concede that the idea was too much and too late. MORC board member Jay Thompson asked me to create a how-to-vote video (YouTube link here) but basically, I gave up.

But then last Monday I saw this comment by Rhett Williams in the MORC forum message thread about the Bell Built competition. Rhett wrote:

Copper Harbor Trails is hosting a voting party…. Griff they found out your idea

Sure enough, Lori Hauswirth and friends from the Copper Harbor Trails Club hosted a get-out-the-vote party in Houghton, MI on Wednesday night.

When I posted a couple of photos from the event in the MORC forum, Rhett wrote:

I recognize some of those people… people will come when you have half a barrel of beer lol Hopefully this helps the midwest!!! On facebook it said 40+ people were going.

The only places i can think of up here that would be good meeting places are, bike shops, the legion, bars in anoka or an ice arena meeting room… but the ice arena costs money

Although i work at the coon rapids ice arena and we have a few rooms we could use. I work tomorrow and can call today and ask if i could get a deal or just use the rooms if people will come.

MORC board member Chance Glasford chimed in:

well ask a bike shop or a coffee shop or the legion and make it happen Rhett! time is a ticking!

RHETT:

If i can, my arena has wifi and coffee, get a room, i need to know that people will come. I can have tables chairs wifi coffee. If MORC reserves the room (if i cant get it with a deal) will be either $25 or $40 if you want both party rooms. It would be ideal to have at least 5 people to show up, and i will stop by and help when im on my break. I need to know asap if we are going to use this venue. I dont know of a big enough place with wifi around here.

ME:

Rhett, probably the best thing to do is what Copper Harbor did: create a Facebook event on the Elm Creek Facebook page with the time/date/venue info and then start alerting everyone to that event so that they can indicate ‘going – maybe – no.’ (You have to be an admin of the page to do that.) Then the admins who run the MORC and other Twin Cities’ area MTB pages can promo the event on their FB walls. I think a coffeehouse or pub would be best because then there’s a stronger socializing element, whereas ‘come to the conference room at the arena’ isn’t quite as compelling. But at this late date, whatever works!

RHETT:

Im just trying to think of places where theres wifi and that are social… we dont have much up her like this… look at maple grove for somewhere to meet. If no one finds anywhere let me know. Should i make a facebook event and make you guys admins so we can change times and places…. mike loerzel said if we get a room he could bring subway to help make it a party

CHANCE:

do what you have to do! Griff can you help Rhett out at all with this?

RHETT:

Thanks chance, any help will help, im at school til 830 tonight. I will set things up online, if we dont have a place by 7-8 tonight i think i can still set up a room… we arent that busy tomorrow i think so we will have room and time to do all this

CHANCE:

see if they will donate the room since it is for a non-profit organization and if it is not being used it should be a big deal. definitely put it on blast whatever you are doing…. time place and all that f/b group would be good

RHETT:

Yea i think i can get the room and i can provide some drinks (non alcohol) and if people bring some food or snacks i also can do popcorn…. bring laptops and ill get it set up if we get a good amount of people… i know of 3 so far

CHANCE:

make the facebook page and get it out there i will put it up on all the pages I manage

RHETT:

Alright i will at 4 once my class is done, then post it on everything and make guys admins. I got a room no charge… i need times now

ME:

Rhett, I just spoke with Jay Thompson who’s the admin of the Elm Creek Facebook page. He’s going to make me an admin so I’ll create the event page for this. Can you phone/text me asap at 507-319-5541?

[and then an hour later:] Okay, after a flurry of text and Facebook messages with Rhett Williams and Jay Thompson, we’re set: Dunn Bros Provision Bakery Cafe in Anoka tomorrow night, 6-9 pm/ Let us know if you can come via the event page.

And on Friday night, we gathered. See the large slideshow of a dozen photos (recommended) or SLOW CLICK this small slideshow:

I’ve also uploaded these photos to an album on the Elm Creek Singletrack Facebook page where I’ve tagged faces and added some descriptive text.

Did the effort help? Earlier in the evening, we were behind Colorado’s Bear River Bike Park in the voting by 1%. By the end, we were tied at 39% each. We like to think we made a difference but of course, there’s no way to know.

Are there lessons to be learned? Maybe.

In this age of social media, photos of bike advocates in action do matter. The photos of the Copper Harbor crew’s party were definitely an inspiration.
Leadership doesn’t come only from leaders. 18-year old Rhett Williams saw a need and took charge.
Online networks can facilitate organizing in ways that are otherwise difficult to do. This would not have happened without the MORC forum and Facebook.
The hard work of advocacy can be both satisfying and fun. If Elm Creek Bike Park doesn’t win next week, we can still savor the week’s experience. And if it does win, I have a hunch that another party will be in the works.

Advocacy Photo album

Bell Built Bell Helmets Chance Glasford Elm Creek Park Lori Hauswirth Rhett Williams

Published April 9, 2013 by Griff Wigley

April 12 deadline: vote Midwest in the Bell Built mountain bike trail building grants competition

Last fall, Bell Helmets and IMBA announced the Bell Built Trail Building Grants and the 12 finalists were named earlier this year.

Bell Helmets is providing $100,000 to fund three, mountain bike trail projects, one each in the categories of bike park/pump track, flow trail and downhill/gravity trail. Out of the 12 selected as finalists, the public will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite project in each category on Bell’s Facebook page, beginning March 5.

Three Midwest parks are finalists in three separate categories:

Pump tracks/bike parks

Elm Creek Bike Park: Minnesota Off-Road Cyclists, Maple Grove, MN

Flow trails

Hobbs Hollow Flow Trail: Hoosier Mountain Biking Association, Brown County, IN

Downhill trails

Overflow Trail: Copper Harbor Trails Club, Copper Harbor, MI

The big push here in the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes regions has been to vote for all three Midwest parks (you can only vote once in each category). The deadline is this Friday, April 12.

Last weekend, Aaron Rogers and Lori Hauswirth from the Copper Harbor Trails Club had a booth at Wheel & Sprocket’s Bike Expo Sale in Milwaukee where they cajoled passersby into logging into their Facebook accounts to vote. Very cool.

I’ve been doing a little work behind the scenes on this because A) Elm Creek is in the Twin Cities, about an hour away my hometown of Northfield; B) I’m a member of MORC; C) my riding ability has improved immensely because of the Eagan pump track so having more bike parks around is great for the sport; and D) I expect to be making frequent trips to Copper Harbor to take advantage of their downhill trails.

Because the Bell Built Facebook voting process can be a little cumbersome, I created this 3-minute how-to video/screencast:

httpv://youtu.be/j5S-1y8g3z8

So don’t delay. Vote now for:

Elm Creek Bike Park/Maple Grove, MN in the Pump Track Category
Overflow Trail/Copper Harbor, MI in the Downhill Category
Hobbs Hollow/Brown County, IN in the Flow Trail category

We Midwest / Great Lakes mountain bikers would appreciate it.

And now that I’ve blogged about this, I’m going to nag, harass, and bother my non-mountain bike Facebook friends into voting. My message:

As you probably know, I’ve fallen in love with mountain biking the past two years. (You can read more than you’ll ever want to know on my blog, Mountain Bike Geezer.)

Right now, three Midwest mountain bike trails have a great opportunity to win a large grant from the Bell Helmet company. Most area mountain bikers on Facebook have already voted but because you can only vote once, it is critical to get our non-mountain biking Facebook friends to vote. Which is why I’m harassing you!

Step 1 (optional): See my short YouTube video on how to vote.

Step 2: Go to the Bell Built Facebook page and vote for:

* Elm Creek Bike Park/Maple Grove, MN in the Pump Track Category

* Overflow Trail/Copper Harbor, MI in the Downhill Category

* Hobbs Hollow/Brown County, IN in the Flow Trail category

If you vote, come on back here and ‘like’ this post and I’ll find a way to thank you.

Advocacy

Aaron Rogers Bell Helmets Brown County State Park Copper Harbor Trails Club Elm Creek Park Facebook IMBA Lori Hauswirth MORC

Published March 14, 2013 by Griff Wigley

Parks and Trails Council’s ‘Day on the Hill’ includes some good news: veteran lobbyist Judy Erickson takes on Cuyuna as a client

I was in St. Paul yesterday morning for the Parks and Trails Council of Minnesota’s Day on the Hill which their web site described as:

… a great opportunity to network with other park and trail supporters from around the state, learn about the issues, and hear from park leaders and legislators. Whether you come as a member of a Friends group, a concerned citizen or a student looking to learn about the process, you’ll leave informed and your involvement strengthens our efforts to preserve and enhance Minnesota’s special places! The morning will equip you with the necessary tools to meet with your legislators.

I first blogged about the Parks and Trails Council back in Nov. of 2011 when Tim Wegner’s contributions to mountain biking were profiled in their Minnesota Trails magazine.

That piece focused on Tim’s work on the Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Trails, which, as readers of this blog know, is the mountain bike park that changed my life.

So it was cool yesterday to see and hear from two of the people mentioned in that article, Executive Director Brett Feldman and DNR State Parks Director Courtland Nelson, because of the role they played in Cuyuna’s creation.

Better yet, my Cuyuna pals Jenny Smith and John Schaubach from the Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Trails were there and introduced me to two of their colleagues, Jim Mayne (Deerwood Technologies, Cuyuna Lakes Chamber of Commerce) and Judy Erickson, former Government Relations Director for the Parks and Trails Council, now a lobbyist on her own with a new client: Cuyuna! A little history on Judy is in order.

After I blogged about the article on Tim Wegner, I attached a comment to it about Judy’s departure from the Council, linking to the Nov. 2010 article titled High-Energy Judy Erickson Leaving Parks & Trails Council. Pertinent Cuyuna quote from the article:

Wegner recalled that once he and others were glumly discussing the fact that they didn’t have the necessary state money to match the potential federal money when Parks & Trails Government Relations Director Judy Erickson approached them and asked what was wrong. They explained and she took them to the sixth floor of the State Office Building, told the people there that she wanted a bill written and what she wanted it to say and then took it to DFL Rep. John Ward and Republican Sen. Paul Koering and told them to sponsor it. Eventually, the $150,000 was appropriated. “The state is getting a million dollar trail for $150,000,” Wegner said.

Tim chimed in with this comment:

Griff, I remember that conversation with Judy very well. It was amazing to me how much Judy was respected by everyone that she spoke with. Everyone from the people that wrote the bill to Rep Ward and Sen. Koering treated her with respect and obvious appreciation for all the work she did to lobby for state parks.

The energy that Judy exudes is infectious, she has such a positive attitude and full of attitude of we can get this done. She was also critical in holding my hand as I testified in front of the house committee in support of the bill. What a scary experience but, I knew that Judy was there and could always help me with a difficult question.

I asked Judy to send me a blurb about her role. She wrote:

A veteran lobbyist, sharing her strategic legislative and communications skills, and passion, to help communities secure state investments for economic development, tourism and infrastructure. For Cuyuna, helping them develop a community wide approach to state investments in the Cuyuna Lakes Trail and CSRA and turning the area into the place for active recreation year-round; and creating business opportunities along the way. "One ride on a mountain bike was all it took. The adrenaline and the scenic beauty of Cuyuna combine for an amazing memory." Unique signature, besides working really hard, is sharing apples and apple pies or two from our Pleasant Valley Orchard.

You can also contact Judy via her profile on LinkedIn and her firm, Conservation Strategies, Inc.

My photos of others who spoke during the morning session:

Brett Feldman, Parks and Trails Council Executive Director; Luke Skinner, Deputy Director of MnDNR Parks and Trails Division; Erika Rivers, Assistant Commissioner of MnDNR

Greg Mack, Director of Ramsey County Parks and Recreation; Tom Ryan, Superintendent of Olmsted County Parks; Rep. Alice Hausman, Chair of House Capital Investment Committee;

Rep. Leon Lillie, Assistant Majority Leader, Vice-Chair Legacy Committee; Rep. Jean Wagenius, Chair of House Environment, Natural Resources, and Agriculture Finance Committee; Sen. David Tomassoni, Chair of Senate Environment, Economic Development and Agriculture Division.

Sen. Dan Sparks, member, Environment, Economic Development and Agriculture Division; Rep. Phyllis Kahn, Chair of House Legacy Committee; Rep. Denny McNamara, member, Environment, Natural Resources, and Agriculture Finance Committee; Joe Bagnoli, Government Relations Consultant for Parks & Trails Council of Minnesota.

Advocacy People

Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Trails Jenny Smith Jim Mayne John Schaubach Judy Erickson Parks and Trails Council of Minnesota Tim Wegner

Published March 13, 2013 by Griff Wigley

Cottage Grove considers a bike park

I’ve blogged a bit about the Eagan pump & jump park where I learned to pump last year. If you follow that tag link, you’ll see the name of Chance Glasford, the guy behind the park’s creation.

He’s at it again, this time leading the development of a proposal for a bike park in his home town of Cottage Grove. Yesterday, the proposal went before the Cottage Grove Parks, Recreation & Natural Resources Commission and I went to lend some support. Reed Smidt, President of MORC, spoke, as did other members of the Cottage Grove bike park task force.

Yes, I wanted to return the favor to Chance for all he’s done that has benefited me. But I have my selfish reasons, too. Cottage Grove is only 35 minutes or so from Northfield and I expect to be a regular at the park if it’s built, as it’ll be considerably bigger with more features than the one in Eagan.

The parks commission unanimously approved the proposal and it now goes to the City Council for consideration in a couple of weeks.

Left: The video of Chance’s Feb. 11 presentation to the commission

Right: The video of Chance’s Mar. 11 presentation to the commission

Advocacy Parks People

Chance Glasford Cottage Grove Eagan pump & jump park MORC Reed Smidt

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Category: <span>Advocacy</span>