Category: <span>Photo album</span>

Photo album: testing Welch Village’s new lift-served gravity flow trails
Published July 8, 2017 by

Photo album: testing Welch Village’s new lift-served gravity flow trails

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:

Read MorePhoto album: testing Welch Village’s new lift-served gravity flow trails

Organizations People Photo album Trails

Clay Haglund Jason Decoux Peter Zotalis Welch Village

Published November 16, 2016 by

Photo album: Brownie Lake opens at Theo

Brownie Lake segment at Theodore Wirth MTB opened yesterday. More details to come:

Photo album Trails

Brownie Lake Theodore Wirth Park

Adding some instruction to a weekly youth group mtb ride
Published June 17, 2016 by

Adding some instruction to a weekly youth group mtb ride

Learning to instruct Photo album

CROCT IMBA Instructor Certification Program (ICP) Professional Mountain Bike Instructor Association (PMBI)

Photo album: Superior Cycling Association’s Sawtooth Mountain Challenge mtb race
Published October 25, 2015 by

Photo album: Superior Cycling Association’s Sawtooth Mountain Challenge mtb race

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):

Read MorePhoto album: Superior Cycling Association’s Sawtooth Mountain Challenge mtb race

Advocacy Competition Events Photo album

Advocate Cycles Jay Arrowsmith DeCoux Pincushion Mountain Trail System Sawtooth Mountain Challenge Superior Cycling Association Tim Krueger Voyageur Brewing Company

Photo album: IMBA Great Lakes Regional Summit 2015
Published June 22, 2015 by

Photo album: IMBA Great Lakes Regional Summit 2015

Organizations Photo album

Dan Fausey Gary Fisher IMBA IMBA Regional Summit

COGGS rocks! Photos & video of some X sections of the Piedmont trail in Duluth
Published May 4, 2015 by

COGGS rocks! Photos & video of some X sections of the Piedmont trail in Duluth

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:

Read MoreCOGGS rocks! Photos & video of some X sections of the Piedmont trail in Duluth

Photo album Trails Video

30 Days of Biking Bones of the Beast COGGS Conner Nick Cory Salmela David Cizmas DM Duluth Foxx Rocks Justin Martin Karl Erbach Kelly Erbach Mason Bacso Max Skarman Mitch Larson Piedmont Red Dress Rudy O'Brien Wyatt Gruben

Two dozen volunteer trail workers install two bridges and reroute a trail in a week
Published May 3, 2015 by

Two dozen volunteer trail workers install two bridges and reroute a trail in a week

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:

Read MoreTwo dozen volunteer trail workers install two bridges and reroute a trail in a week

Organizations Photo album Trail work

CROCT Sechler Park Trail

El Gato returns to his Northfield roots, draws the heat
Published March 26, 2015 by

El Gato returns to his Northfield roots, draws the heat

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.

Read MoreEl Gato returns to his Northfield roots, draws the heat

People Photo album Video

bicycle trials CROCT John Gaddo Sechler Park Trail skinnies urban

Photo album: CROCT group ride on doubletrack at the River Bend Nature Center
Published March 1, 2015 by

Photo album: CROCT group ride on doubletrack at the River Bend Nature Center

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.

Read MorePhoto album: CROCT group ride on doubletrack at the River Bend Nature Center

Group rides Photo album

CROCT River Bend Nature Center

CROCT’s presentation to BikeNorthfield’s Soup & Cycles
Published January 18, 2015 by

CROCT’s presentation to BikeNorthfield’s Soup & Cycles

Advocacy Photo album

BikeNorthfield CROCT Marty Larson Soup and Cycles

Photo album: CROCT’s inaugural group ride
Published November 16, 2014 by

Photo album: CROCT’s inaugural group ride

Organizations Photo album

CROCT