Tag: <span>CLMTBC</span>

BikeMNMinnesota Bicycle Summit on Capitol Hill BikeMN's Minnesota Bicycle Summit hashtag
I attended the Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota‘s (BikeMN) third annual Minnesota Bicycle Summit on Capitol Hill yesterday, as I’m trying to get smarter about the state of bike advocacy in Minnesota and who the players are.  I became a BikeMN member a couple weeks ago and am impressed with all that they’re doing and how well-organized yesterday’s Summit was.

Bemidji Mayor Rita Albrecht Bemidji Mayor Rita Albrecht John Schaubach, Rita Albrecht, Jenny Smith
Bemidji Mayor Rita Albrecht (@BemidjiRita) was one of the featured speakers, talking about Bemidji’s new designation as a Bike Friendly Community. I’ve crossed paths with Rita recently in my consulting work so I was pleased to introduce her to two of my Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Crew (CLMTBC) pals, John Schaubach and Jenny Smith.

Jim Oberstar, Jenny Smith, John Schaubach CLMTBC_IMBA_Web_Logo Jim Oberstar, photo by BikeMN
I was also pleased to get a photo of former 8th District Congressman Jim Oberstar with Jenny and John as they were preparing to head over to the Capitol Rotunda for his keynote.  When Oberstar was chair of the U.S. House transportation committee, he helped secure $700,000 in federal funds for the creation of the Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Trails (CLMTBT).  See this June 2011 article by Brett Larson in Silent Sports magazine, Cuyuna Lakes Reclaimed, for more on the role that Jim, John, Jenny and many others played. It’s a marvelous story of how the organic process of bike advocacy can work.

Other speakers at the Minnesota Bicycle Summit on Capitol Hill:

Ron Jackson, BikeMN Board Dorian Grilley, BikeMN Exec Dir Jim Backstrom, Dakota Cty Attny
Ron Jackson, BikeMN Board; Dorian Grilley, BikeMN Exec Dir; Jim Backstrom, Dakota Cty Attny

Barb Thoman, Transit for Livable Communities Rachel Callahan, American Heart Association DSC08580
Barb Thoman, Transit for Livable Communities; Rachel Callahan, AHA;

Charlie Zelle, MNDOT Commissioner Matt Moore, QBP general counsel Eric Husband, Colle + McVoy Jason Gaikowski, QBP Director of Marketing
Charlie Zelle, MNDOT Commissioner; Matt Moore, QBP general counsel; Eric Husband, Colle + McVoy; Jason Gaikowski, QBP Director of Marketing

Advocacy

whiteoutstickerlogosmall

I got hooked on mountain biking after attending the grand opening of the Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Trails last June.  So it’s only fitting that my first race be at another Cuyuna festival and a winter one to boot: the Cuyuna Lakes Whiteout on March 2-3.

The Cuyuna Lakes Whiteout is a winter festival to celebrate the new Sagamore Winter Trails and to benefit the Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Crew (CLMTBC), a division of MORC/IMBA. (Minnesota Off-Road Cyclists / International Mountain Bicycle Association). All event profits will fund continued expansion and maintenance of the Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Trails in Crosby-Ironton.

The organizers have a terrific Tumblr blog site for the event that they’re updating regularly. I signed up for the Cuyuna Lakes Avalanche Pass ($40) which covers all events and includes some swag. The online registration via the NGIN platform is fast and easy. I’ve put myself in the beginner class for both the Sagamore SnowXross Country Race in the morning and the Serpent Lake Ice Bike 500 Race in the afternoon.

Looking at the schedule, my dilemma will be whether or not to skip the afternoon Ice Bike 500 Race in order to have more time to play in the Yawkey Unit as it’s only open for riding on Saturday, sunrise to sunset.  I only had a little time to ride in the Yawkey last year during the Squirrel Fest when the dewpoint was 80 degrees.

Here’s a teaser video created by Aaron Hautala, Creative Director at RedhouseMedia in Brainerd and newly elected president of the Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Crew (CLMTBC). The video features CLMTBC Director of Trail Maintenance Nick Statz. (See Aaron’s blog post on how the video was created: Worst winter ever. Best winter riding ever?):

 

QBP
I’m not surprised that QBP is the Presenting Sponsor for the event, given how much Gary Sjoquist, QBP’s Director of Advocacy, has been involved in getting Cuyuna off the ground.

Competition Trails