MTB Project bills itself as the “next generation of mountain bike trail maps” and is in partnership with IMBA. Among their many map-related features and tools, they make it possible to embed their maps on a website. I’m the webmaster for CROCT and we now have a Sechler Park Trail page where we’ve done this.
I’m on the Board of CROCT (Cannon River Offroad Cycling and Trails), a new IMBA chapter here in Rice County. And yesterday, we hosted our first ever group ride in Northfield’s Sechler Park during the area’s first real snowfall of the season. Nearly two dozen riders participated.
CROCT Board member Carl Arnold made this 1-minute video of some of the rides:
After a couple hours of riding, we convened for some refreshments at Fit To Be Tri’d in downtown Northfield.
See the large slideshow of 80+ photos (many low res, captured from video) or SLOW CLICK this small slideshow:
I have a little story to tell but if you want to get all the info about the MORC 20th Anniversary Gala coming up on Nov. 9, CLICK HERE. More on the Gala’s Facebook event page here.
I took up the sport of mountain biking in serious way in June of 2011 after attending the Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Festival Grand Opening. In the photo above, I’ve added an arrow pointing to the MORC and IMBA tents in the back of the parking lot at Cuyuna that weekend. I’d never heard of either organization but I became a member a few days later shortly after purchasing a a 2011 Trek Gary Fisher X- Caliber 29’er from Penn Cycle in Bloomington, courtesy of Ben Witt at Milltown Cycles in Faribault. (If that makes no sense to you and you’re curious, click here.)
I’ve been hooked on mountain biking ever since, as evidenced by the 250+ posts to this Mountain Bike Geezer blog. And in those 3 years, I’ve done 90% of my year-round mountain biking on MORC trails in the Twin Cities metro area. I feel a kinship to the organization like no other because of what it’s given me: the enjoyment of a sport I love and the opportunity to meet and spend time with so many great people. Being a MORC board member this year has been an honor, especially since it’s MORC 20th anniversary season, topped off with this big fundraiser Gala,
I’m also pleased that Penn Cycle, where I bought the bike that I still ride nearly every day, has stepped up to be the Title Sponsor for the Gala. That’s founder/owner Pat Sorenson handing a check to MORC Executive Director Matt Andrews in the left photo.
I attended IMBA’s 2014 Upper Midwest Regional Summit last week. It was hosted by Capital Off Road Pathfinders (CORP / Mad City Dirt), with Day 1 at the Lussier Family Heritage Center in Madison, Wisconsin and Day 2 at Trek’s headquarters in nearby Waterloo.
Update: PDF’s of the speaker presentations have been added to the 2014 Summit’s page.
See the large slideshow of album of my 40+ photos or SLOW CLICK this small slideshow:
On tap, indeed.
My mountain biking colleagues Clay Haglund and Doug Janni and their Mankato Area Mountain Bikers (MAMB) club members are hosting a fundraiser next month at the Mankato Brewery. “There will be music, beer, food, games, merch, and a raffle with great prizes from local businesses” says the flyer which I printed out and put up yesterday in a few key spots around Northfield. See their Facebook events page for more details.
As a MORC Board member, I attended the 2nd Annual MORC Trail Steward and Dirt Boss Summit last Saturday at Darby’s Pub and Grill in downtown Minneapolis. Many riders volunteer to do trail work but the Trail Stewards and Dirt Bosses are the ones responsible for each trail and bike park, leading the crews, assisting with openings and closings, directing maintenance, conducting inspections, developing short and long term plans, etc. The Summit is one way that the MORC Board thanks them (dinner, drinks, swag, etc) for their leadership and work during the previous year on its twelve trails and bike parks in the Twin Cities Metro area.
I’m part of a group of Rice County residents who’ve met twice in the past six weeks here in Northfield, working on the formation of a club called Cannon River Offroad Cycling & Trails (CROCT).
We have a:
I attended the 2014 Parks and Trails Council Day on the Hill on Tuesday with my MORC Board member hat on, as I’m paying close attention to the bonding bills (HF 2497 and SF 2144) that have been introduced at MN Legislature. (See the March 6 blog post by the MN Parks and Trails Council titled Over 100 gather to advocate for parks and trails.)
The bills include $2.5 million in funding “to develop the Minnesota Valley Trail from the Bloomington Ferry Bridge to the Minnesota Valley Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center in Bloomington.” Among those invited to speak about various trails seeking funding was Ed Crozier, Friends of the MN Valley Trail Advocacy Group. Ed’s presentation included a video explaining his group’s rationale for adding a paved segment to the trail system.
It’s old news now but while reviewing my blog posts since the beginning of the year, I see that I’ve neglected to specifically mention that I became a member of the MORC Board in January. We held an all-day annual meeting (retreat!) on January 5 and I moderated a webinar on what happened at it a week later.
According to this post on Facebook, employees at QBP “spent weeks turning this year’s copious snow into a fat bike demo course” for their annual Frostbike dealer show at their headquarters in Bloomington. (I was there yesterday, doing board member booth duty at the MORC booth.)
I don’t know for certain, but I’d bet that John Gaddo was the instigator, designer, and chief test rider. (I stole the above left photo from his Facebook profile.)
Last week I moderated a webinar and Q&A session with MORC President Reed Smidt and MORC Executive Director Matt Andrews.
Here’s my lightly edited 1 hour and 12 minute video of the session, with a Table of Contents of 46 clickable segments on the left side that allows you to quickly jump around to whatever interests you most.
