With a big assist from the City of Northfield Public Works staff, the CROCT MTB skills park in Northfield’s Sechler Park got some improvements this year. Workers brought in several…
Category: <span>Organizations</span>
Last week, Welch Village General Manager Peter Zotalis hosted two test sessions for two of their lift-served gravity flow trails (total four to be built). I was there for both days, and got to ride with two experienced local guys, Clay Haglund (MAMB) and Jason Decoux (CROCT).
Grand Opening is July 29. They expect to be open one or two weekends prior. I’ll be teaching beginner-level downhill clinics (for experienced XC riders who are new to bike parks) there soon. Watch for details on the Welch Village Facebook Page and on General Manager Peter Zotalis’ blog.
See the album of 20 photos:
Update March 7, 2018:
IMBA’s Instructor Certification Program (ICP) has transitioned to the Bike Instructor Certification Program (BICP) and is no longer part of IMBA. It’s still led by Shaums March, but under a new non-profit organization. They’ve also reconfigured their courses/certifications with new pricing to: Ride Leader, Level 1, Level 2, Level 1-2 Combo, Level 3. And they’ve added recertification, prep, and refresher courses, too. Their new logo:
I’ve not updated the links or information in the blog post below.
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This spring (2016) I’ve gotten certified as both an IMBA ICP Level 2 and PMBI Level 1 mountain bike instructor (blog posts with photos here and here). The competing certifications are similar in that they’re designed to equip one with the ability to instruct beginner and intermediate-level riders in basic skills. (IMBA’s ICP Level 1 is a Ride Guide course; PMBI’s Ride Guide course doesn’t use a Level number.)
I wasn’t planning to take either one this spring as IMBA wasn’t offering a Level 2 course locally and PMBI’s Level 1 course at Spirit Mountain in Duluth sold out quickly. But I got lucky.
Jeff Milbauer, owner of nearby Valley Bike & Ski, had contracted privately with IMBA to offer the course to some of his staff/instructors. When one had to drop out, he contacted me and I took the spot. And then PMBI added a second course/instructor to their Spirit Mountain Level 1 weekend and I snapped up one of those openings.
My rationale for taking PMBI Level 1 having just completed IMBA ICP Level 2 two weeks prior?
- Proximity: Duluth is only 3 hours away and I wasn’t confident that PMBI would offer the course nearby again anytime soon
- Terrain: the IMBA Level 2 course was held at nearby Buck Hill in Burnsville, MN and neither its new mountain biking runs nor its new skills park was open yet. Spirit Mountain is a mountain bike mecca with lift access
- Weather: it poured nearly the entire weekend for the IMBA course. I was hoping I’d get lucky for the PMBI course in Duluth
- Collegiality: I wanted to be able to team up with fellow instructors. With everyone passing, there were 8 IMBA Level 2 instructors in the state of Minnesota. The two courses at Spirit Mountain would mean there could be up to 14 additional PMBI instructors in the region
- Curiosity: I’m a blogger and I was naturally curious to know first-hand what the differences were between the two competing certifications
- Future professional development: I figured that having a foundation with both certifications would give me better options for pursuing their more advanced certification levels
- Marketing advantage: I’d likely be the only mtb instructor in the Upper Midwest region with both certifications.
As a board member for Cannon River Offroad Cycling & Trails (CROCT), I’ve been taking the lead on our PR and social media, not just to inform local mountain bikers…
Last Saturday was IMBA’s Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day (#TKMBD). I’m on the board of CROCT and we got a late start on planning activities for it. But rather than doing…
Back in June I blogged about the weekly youth mountain biking group rides I was co-leading all summer, one of my activities as a CROCT board member. As part of…
After my two days in Duluth, I headed across northern Wisconsin and Michigan’s U.P. to attend the 2015 IMBA Great Lakes Regional Summit in Marquette. The best way to get…
I’m a member of the CROCT Board here in Rice County MN and after witnessing the speed of vehicle traffic on the recently reopened Sechler Road (it’s closed to vehicles during the winter months), we made a quick decision last week to remove the ditch crossing bridge that we installed recently and reroute the trail directly over the creek prior to the gate at the north entrance to the park, keeping riders completely away from the road/pavement.
The creek crossing required a bigger bridge than the one we used for the ditch so the two bridges that a crew of CROCT volunteers fashioned from the wood of the old Mill Towns Trail bridge were put into service:
Last Tuesday, CROCT member John Ebling used his tractor to transport the bridges to the shoulder of Sechler Road near the creek crossings:
Back in late October of 2013, I spent a couple days mountain biking in Duluth, MN. My blog post: Duluth’s XC MTB trails just keep getting better. Here’s partly why.
What I didn’t blog was on the day I met up with then IMBA Midwest Regional Director Hansi Johnson (he’s got a new job now) for a ride on the COGGS Piedmont trail, I got a parking ticket in the Canal Park lot near his office. I had paid for parking using the PayByPhone service but inadvertently paid for parking in stall #138 when I’d actually parked in stall #136. As you can see, the stenciling on the pavement makes the number 6 look pretty close to an 8:
I was irritated but the fine of $12 didn’t seem onerous so I planned to pay it. I lost the ticket and promptly forgot about it. But a few weeks ago I got a notice that my fine had grown to $45 and was about to be turned over to a collection agency. Previous notices had ended up in a pile of my aging mother’s unpaid medical bills that I was contesting.
So on Friday morning I visited the City of Duluth’s Parking Services web page and filled out their form with this:
Five above zero and windy? No problem. River Bend Nature Center held their first Fat Bike Event on Saturday and it was a hit, even for those like me who spent most of the time in the cozy confines of the RBNC Interpretive Center.
It was a first for CROCT, too, where I’m on the board. Our volunteers staffed a table, complete with our new CROCT banner and CROCT brochure (PDF):
Props to CROCT board members Galen Murray and Jeremy Bokman, as well as member Michael Lehmkuhl for getting the banner and brochure created in time. And special thanks to RBNC Education Coordinator Kaytlan Moeller (pictured above/left with CROCT board member Carl Arnold) for hosting us. She posted a thank-you note on the RBNC Facebook page, along with 18 photos.
CROCT member and blogger Christopher Tassava wowed the crowd with a presentation on his recent fat bike adventures:
Michelle Barker is the new IMBA Upper Midwest Regional Director, replacing Hansi Johnson who resigned last summer to take a position as Director of Recreational Lands for the Minnesota Land Trust.
She met with me and fellow CROCT Board Member Marty Larson yesterday at Tandem Bagels in downtown Northfield, on her way back home to Iowa after attending the Cuyuna Lakes annual meeting on Thursday night.