I was interviewed last week by Gene Arnold, founder of Regular Guy Mountain Biking and host of the weekly Bike Chat show on YouTube. He published the interview (23 minutes) today.
Among those I mentioned on the show: Ryan Leech & his Ryan Leech Connection; James Wilson & his MTB Strength Training Systems; and Lee McCormack & his Lee Likes Bikes.
He surprised me with the ending. Classy, Gene!
I have another guest blog post on Singletracks. com today:
The Jumping Dismount: 10 Drills to Make You Safer When Bailing Off High Skinnies
It’s my fifth guest post for them. The others:
I have a guest blog post on Singletracks. com today:
It’s my fourth guest post for them. The others:
I have a guest blog post on Singletracks. com today:
How To Prepare Your Eyes to Ignore Your Survival Instincts When Riding Skinnies
It’s my third guest post for them. The others:
It’s been terrific working with Editor-in-Chief Greg Heil.
I’m hoping the collaboration will continue.
I got to know Singletracks.com editor Greg Heil when we and several others collaborated on the development of an mtb-related product.
So I submitted a guest blog post based on my 3-part ‘Light Hands, Heavy Feet’ video series and he published it on Monday.
It’s titled Light Hands, Heavy Feet: 17 Drills to Help Make Your Riding More Stable no Matter What the Terrain. (You can comment on the blog post with either your Facebook or Singletracks account.)
Greg told me yesterday that article had generated thousands pageviews and hundreds of ‘shares’ and that he was planning to include it in this week’s Singletracks enewsletter. (The newsletter is free to anyone who signs up for one of the Singletracks memberships.)
Part 1 of my video series can be viewed at the end of the Singletracks article. Parts 2 and 3, plus a Powerpoint presentation and an audio version are available free here.
Back in June when I blogged the Anatomy of a MORC MTB trail work crew: reshaping corners at Carver Lake Park, I also took a few photos of MORC Dirt Boss Porter Million being interviewed by a film crew from SWC-TV who was working on a show for the City of Woodbury’s magazine-style program called Woodbury Citystyle.
The video of the show is now available online. Intro text:
Minnesota Off-Road Cyclists takes care of several off road bike trails in the Twin Cities area. Every Wednesday evening they meet at Carver Lake Park in Woodbury MN and take care of the Carver Lake Bike Trail.
Today’s StarTribune South Metro Section (and probably also in the North, West, and East Metro sections, too) has an article by Calvin Swanson titled: Biking for School: Minnesota plans to join five other states that offer high school-level mountain bike racing, starting with four races this fall.
The article is not yet available online that I could find so I’ve taken a photo of it. This larger version of the photo of the article makes the text somewhat readable.
See the Minnesota High School Cycling League website for more, as well as my blog post from last month about the kick-off event at QPB HQ.
I met St. Paul Pioneer Press outdoors reporter Dave Orrick on Friday night at the Ironton American Legion where registration for the Cuyuna Lakes Whiteout was being held.
He’s got an article in today’s PiPress titled New bike trails offer winter riding. (You can follow Dave on Twitter: @DaveOrrick and @OutdoorsNow.)
The real boast of Cuyuna Country in snow season is 10 miles of trails encircling Sagamore Mine Lake designed, cleared and, yes, groomed, specifically for winter mountain biking. On Saturday, 57 racers tested their skills against the course as part of Whiteout.
His video commentary:
Handlebar-cam of me riding the Haul Road on the way out of the Yawkey Unit of Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area near Crosby, Minn. Sorry for motion sickness, but this was my first time on a snow-covered trail. The Yawkey trails were open to winter riding this weekend — normally they’re summer only — as part of Whiteout, a celebration of the park opening 10 miles of fat tire winter mountain biking trails.
His video interview of Aaron Hautala:
Aaron Hautala, president of Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Crew, talks why he got hooked on fat tire mountain biking in Minnesota.
Update: Here’s a photo of the article:
IMBA Midwest Director Hansi Johnson published a post to his blog in late October titled December 2011 Mountain Bike Action Magazine feature on the IMBA Cuyuna Lakes Ride Center. He wrote:
Earlier this summer I did photo shoot for Mountain Bike Action at Cuyuna. Pro rider Eric Carter flew in from CA and along with some great local riders ( Peter Gustafson, Rori Stumvoll, Nick Statz, Peter L.) we rode and shot the full system of trails. The results are in a 7 page, 16 photo feature in this months MBA issue. So check it out!
As an advocate for off road cycling I find myself constantly telling stories. For me, using the visual medium of photography seems to be an effective method of telling those stories. This feature is a direct result of that. I would like to thank all of the folks that helped me on this shoot, especially Mike Van Abel and the folks at IMBA!
I subscribed to the digital version of the magazine (a great deal, only $15/yr to be up to date on all the cool gadgets). I patched together screenshots into this 4-page PDF (FYI, jpg screenshots converted to a PDF does not make for a crisp PDF. The document text is readable but gets increasingly blurry as you zoom out past 100%):
My wife and I became members of the Parks and Trails Council of Minnesota earlier this year when we decided to make bicycling a regular recreational activity… and were thrilled at the number and quality of paved bike trails around the state.
As members, we get a free subscription to the terrific quarterly print magazine, Minnesota Trails. It’s not available online, although the publishers do have a companion website, also called Minnesota Trails.
The Winter 2011 issue of Minnesota Trails has a profile of mountain biker and trail builder Tim Wegner. I’ve never met Tim but I’ve fallen in love with the sport mainly because of the spectacular mountain biking at two parks where he’s had a major influence: Lebanon Hills and the Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Trail System (DNR link).
I typed up the text of the article (below) so that more of my fellow Minnesota mountain bikers might A) know what Tim Wegner has done for our sport and thank him for it; and B) become members of the Parks and Trails Council of Minnesota, both in appreciation for what they did to help the Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Trail System become a reality (details in the article) as well as to support the organization and their work.
Trail Builder
Tim Wegner: Mountain biking as a way of life
by Linda Picone
For Tim Wegner, a hobby turned into a business. But mountain biking not only changed his life, it helped create a new outdoor resource in Minnesota, the Cuyuna Mountain Bike Trail System, a world-class 25-mile bike trail network with areas for riders at all levels.
Wegner, the former southern Minnesota representative of the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA), is credited by many as being the single most effective mover of the the mountain bike trails at the Cuyuna Lakes Recreation Area, which opened for use in June.
In the early 1980s, while Wegner lived Bismarck, ND, he did a lot of road biking and was a regular a local bike shop. “I walked in there one day and there was this funky looking bike,” he says. “The guys said, ‘You’ve got to ride it; it’s the best ride you’ll ever have.'”
They were right, and all of a sudden he was a mountain biker. When he moved to Minnesota about 10 years later, he assumed he was coming to a mountain bike mecca, but was disappointed with the number and quality of trails available. Appointed to a users’ group to represent cross-country skiers for Lebanon Hills Park in Dakota County, he ended up becoming friendly with the man representing mountain bikers and was encouraged to become the local representative of IMBA, becoming an advocate and activist for the sport.
Lebanon Hills turned out to be a good training ground for Wegner. “We learned that it really took a lot of time to build a trail by hand,” he says. Although there were machines that could make it go faster, they cost $25,000 to $40,000–more than Minnesota Off-Road Cyclists, which was doing the work, could afford. “That put the kibosh on plans to expand the trail at Lebanon Hills. You burn your volunteers out pretty fast when they work all weekend to finish 50 feet of trail.”
That frustration led to Wegner’s next move on the mountain bike trail: He and his buddy from the Lebanon Hills user group became partners in a new business venture, Trail Source. They bought one of those expensive machines and went into the business of building sustainable, natural surface trails in Minnesota and Wisconsin (he still has a day job, as a pharmaceutical representative).
A new trail opportunity
About five years ago, Wegner was in search of areas outside the Metro where mountain bike trails could be established. He met with Courtland Nelson, DNR state parks director, to see what might be accomplished. “I said, ‘Minnesota doesn’t have any true mountain bike trails in its state parks; I think you’re missing the mark,” he old Nelson. “He said, ‘You’re right, we don’t.'”
Nelson urged him to look at Cuyuna. “I thought, ‘Who wants to look at an old iron ore mine?'”
That was before he saw it. Wegner took a trip north to explore the Cuyuna Lakes area. “I looked at it and thought it was incredible. The potential was so awesome and the place was so beautiful.” Steve Weber, manager of the Cuyuna Lakes Recreation Area, was with Wegner as he visualized the possibility of 25 to 40 miles of trails through the area, but he didn’t see the same possibilities.
Wegner not only saw what could be built at Cuyuna Lakes, he set out to do what was needed to create it, from convincing then Congressman James Oberstar to get federal funding to getting a bill written at the Minnesota Legislature for matching funds.
“It was incredible the way it came together,” Wegner says. “It could have stumbled at any step.”
The Parks and Trails Council of Minnesota was a key player at several points, Wegner said. When he needed someone to carry–and write–a bill to get matching state funds for the trail, the Parks and Trails legislative liaison Judy Erickson showed him into an office at the State Capitol, got a bill written, found a legislative sponsor and pushed her contacts for approval (it was approved, but then vetoed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty, but it passed the next year). “Parks and Trails gave continuous support for us,” Wegner says. “I could always go to Brett (Feldman, now executive director) when I got beat up by someone.” At one point, the Parks & Trails Council provided a $50,000 loan in order to help get matching funds.
The finished trail
Construction of the trails had its challenges, Wegner says. “There were a lot of bidders on it, but not many truly qualified mountain bike trail builders.” That meant he, representing IMBA, was closely involved in advising the contractor. “We bumped heads a few times, but he was always willing to understand our point of view.”
Mountain bike enthusiasts see the finished trails as the best trails for accomplished riders in the Midwest. But Wegner is also pleased that there are trails for all levels of bikers, so it’s a place for families as well as for “aggressive” riders who want a serious challenge. “We put stuff up in Cuyuna Lakes that there’s no way I would ever ride,” he says.
He sees an economic boon for the local community–something he wasn’t even thinking about when he first envisioned a trail. “I was only looking for a place to ride mountain bikes, but I looked at the town and saw a lot of empty storefronts,” he says. “I thought maybe we could have an economic impact on this town.” During the grand opening of the trails in June, both restaurants in town ran out of food, he says. “That says to me, yeah, mountain bikers can make a difference.”
The next challenges
Wegner is still hoping to make progress on a trail system in Camden State Park and there are trail possibilities at Pillsbury State Forest and Cut Lake Trail in Foothills State Forest. But, other than his business, he’s taking a quieter role. “I think at certain times you need to step away a little bit and let others come in.”
He looks back at his activities as IMBA representative and at the push for the Cuyuna Mountain Bike Trail System and he’s satisfied: “I think we’ve improved the status of mountain bikers in Minnesota and I don’t think you could ask for more out of your life than to make it better for a sport you have a passion for.”
