Category: <span>Photo album</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:

Organizations People Photo album Trails

Photo album Trails

I’m co-leading CROCT’s Monday night youth group ride again this summer.  And now that I’ve got my MTB instructor certifications (IMBA ICP Level 2 and PMBI Level 1), I’m planning to add a little group instruction each week at the start of the ride.

At our first session, we did a quick braking assessment and I was surprised to see how much trouble the kids (approximate ages 6-13) had trying to come to a stop between a set of cones on a gentle slope.

For an assessment of their ability to select a gear for climbing, we had them pick their own ‘Goldilocks’ route up a grassy slope — not too easy, not too hard.  Unsurprisingly, many of the kids were clueless about how to shift to an easier gear to get up the slope.

So in the coming weeks, we’ll add some instruction, drills and games that incorporate braking and gear choice.  Some photos from week 1:

Learning to instruct Photo album

Last weekend I took photos of the Sawtooth Mountain Challenge, an annual mountain bike race in Grand Marais, Minnesota, hosted by the Superior Cycling Association (SCA).

Superior Cycling Association Sawtooth Mountain Challenge

I’m starting work on a bike advocacy project for Advocate Cycles, one of the race sponsors. (More on that soon.) So I thought it would be fun to capture the event while spending time with founder Tim Krueger and some of the SCA guys I’ve met in the recent past, (eg, Tim Kennedy, Adam Harju):

Advocate CyclesRace sponsor Tim Krueger, Advocate Cycles Tim Kennedy, Adam Harju

With sunny skies, temps in the mid-30s, and a gusty north wind, race director Jay Arrowsmith DeCoux sent the riders out at 10 am on the SCA’s Pincushion Mountain Trail System in one big group: Experts first (22 miles), followed by the Sport class (15 miles) and Citizens (4 miles):

Advocacy Competition Events Photo album

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.

Dan FauseyThe best way to get a sense of what is was all about is to read this blog post by Dan Fausey published on his Mountain Bike Trailer Park blog a titled Something for Everyone – Riding Marquette MI and the IMBA Regional Summit. It’s an entertaining, engaging, and informative read.

I may have my own blog post about the experience in the days to come (yes, that’s Gary Fisher in the featured photo at the top of this post) but in the meantime, see my large slideshow of 115 photos (recommended) or SLOW CLICK this small slideshow:

Organizations Photo album

Duluth Piedmont overlook

When I saw this announcement in late April by COGGS (Cyclists of Gitchee Gumee Shores) that a portion of their Piedmont trail system was opening:

Basically you can session the free ride trails on the NIMBY cluster but all the XC stuff still has draining water going through it.

I knew it was time to head to Duluth, as I’d never ridden Piedmont’s DM, Medropolis, Dr. Diablo, Rickety Cricket, BOB (Bones of the Beast) or the Skyline Trail. I was at the end of my first-ever 30 Days of Biking, my sweetie was out of town, and the weather forecast was stunning for Duluth in late April: warm and sunny.

Among the people I rode with or met on the Piedmont trails over the course of three days: Wyatt Gruben, Rudy O’Brien, Justin Martin, Mason Bacso, Mitch Larson, Conner Nick, David Cizmas, Max Skarman, Karl Erbach, Kelly Erbach, and Cory Salmela.

Photos and videos:

Photo album Trails Video

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:

Organizations Photo album Trail work

2011 Cuyuna Lakes MTB grand opening toast: Gary Sjoquist, Hans Rey, John Gaddo, Jeff VerinkThe day I rediscovered mountain biking also happened to be the day I met John Gaddo (AKA ‘El Gato’). It was the grand opening weekend of the Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Trails back in June of 2011 and he was chauffeuring Hans “No way” Rey around, one of his many duties as a QBP staffer. I happened to be at a Crosby, MN pub when he and Hans came in for beers and dinner with Gary Sjoquist, Advocacy Director for QBP and Jeff Verink, sales rep with GT Bicycles. John told me he grew up in my hometown of Northfield, was into bicycle trials, and we’ve been colleagues ever since.

People Photo album Video

With the gorgeous and ample snow in Rice County, we moved our CROCT group ride to the River Bend Nature Center in Faribault yesterday instead of a return visit to the MN River Bottoms as planned back in January.

It turned out to be a good decision. The grooming of the two-way doubletrack trails by members of the Faribault Flyers club was perfect, making it easy to share the trails with XC skiers, one of whom joined us for much of our group ride.

Group rides Photo album

Advocacy Photo album

CROCT logoI’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:

Organizations Photo album