Tag: <span>IMBA</span>

Lori Reed and Jesse Livingston IMBA Trail Care Crew logo C.J. Smith, Jesse Livingston, Lori Reed, Jay Thompson, Reed Smidt

Lori Reed and Jesse Livingston, the current members of the Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew, came to the Twin Cities last Friday at MORC‘s invitation for a weekend of their education program on sustainable mountain bike trail building practices.  I caught up with them for a bit of socializing on Friday night at Dick’s Bar & Grill in Osseo after their session in Monticello with some metro area land managers. L to R in photo above: Elm Creek Singletrack Dirt Boss C.J. Smith, Jesse Livingston, Lori Reed, Elm Creek Dirt Boss and MORC board member Jay Thompson, and MORC president Reed Smidt.

Jesse Livingston IMBA Trail Building School, classroom session, Monticello MN

Lori Reed Clay Haglund, Lori Reed, Troy David Grieves, Jesse Livingston
They did their one-day IMBA Trail Building School on Saturday for a couple dozen MORC members. The 3-hour classroom session in the morning focuses on:

  • IMBATrail Care Crew Quick Reference GuideTrail building theory
  • Essential elements of sustainable trails
  • Designing a trail
  • Constructing the trail
  • Rerouting and reclaiming trails
  • Advanced trail construction techniques

Since I started mountain biking in 2011, I’ve showed up to help a bit on a few local trail work sessions (2013 sessions here, here, here, and here) but I’ve been mainly a clueless laborer who retreated behind a camera whenever I got tired.  I took this IMBA Trail Building School because I wanted to have at least a beginning understanding of the art and science involved. As a newbie, I came away very pleased with the experience.  I thought their rapid-fire presentation in morning session was well done: lots of photos and videos, a few quizzes, hands-on with a clinometer, and thankfully, no Powerpoint slides of deadly text-only bullet points.

IMBA Trail Care Crew with MORC members Lori Reed and Jesse Livingston

Rhett Williams, Matthew Bailey, Jeff Leech MORC members with the IMBA Trail Care Crew
The afternoon field session was held at the Bertram Lakes Singletrack near Monticello.  After a quick demo by Jesse, we divided up into 3 teams of 8, each led by a MORC dirt boss (my team was headed up by Jeff Leech).  It was very helpful to have the hands-on experience and coaching. I don’t know how many feet of trail the crews created but I think we more than marginally adequate as we finished early.

MORC group ride at Elm Creek Singletrack with Jesse and Lori MORC/Elm Creek dirt boss C.J. Smith

MORC group ride at Elm Creek Singletrack with Jesse and Lori Jesse Livinston, Lori Reed, Reed Smidt
On Sunday morning, a group of us did a group ride with Lori and Jesse at Elm Creek Singletrack led by local Dirt Boss C.J. Smith.  ‘Twas a fast, flowy ride on a gorgeous autumn-like day and a fitting send-off.

You can follow Lori and Jesse on their IMBA Trail Care Crew blog (they have a blog post up about the weekend titled They Still Got It), their @Subaru_IMBA_TCC Twitter feed, and their IMBA Trail Care Crew Facebook page.

See my album of 40+ photos (large slideshow, recommended) or SLOW CLICK this small slideshow:

Organizations Photo album Trail work

Last June I attended my first regional IMBA Summit, held in Crosby, MN near the Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Trail System. It was titled the 2nd Annual Great Lakes Summit.

This year, it was titled the IMBA Upper Midwest Regional Summit and it was hosted in Cable, WI, in the middle of the Chequamegon Area Mountain Bike Association (CAMBA)’s off-road bike trail system.

IMBA Upper Midwest gang, ready to ride Seeley Pass Trail Sawmill Saloon IMBA Upper Midwest gang at Sawmill Saloon Ron Bergin, Steve Morales
After the IMBA Upper Midwest Regional Leadership Advisory Council meeting on Friday afternoon (I didn’t attend), a group of us got in a 10-mile ride on CAMBA’s Seeley Pass Trail from the HWY 00 Trail Head. I was indeed “superb rolling, flowy singletrack.” We then made our way to the Sawmill Saloon in Seeley for refreshments and dinner and where I got a chance to chat with a couple of fellow geezers that I’d met briefly on the ride, CAMBA’s Executive Director Ron Bergin and longtime CAMBA trail coordinator/volunteer Steve Morales.

Hansi Johnson opens 2013 IMBA Upper Midwest Summit Hansi Johnson opens 2013 IMBA Upper Midwest Summit 2013 IMBA Upper Midwest Summit 2013 IMBA Upper Midwest Summit
IMBA’s Midwest Regional Director Hansi Johnson opened the Summit on Saturday morning at the Cable Community Centre, thanking the 35+ attendees for coming and citing examples of regional cooperation in the past year (e.g., teaming up on get-out-the-vote efforts for the Bell-Built Grant competition).

Adam Harju, Superior Cycling Association (SCA) Kit Grayson, Cyclists of Gitchee Gumee Shores (COGGS) Aaron Hautala, Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Trails (CLMTBT) Mark Fisk, Woolly Bike Club (W/B/C)

Reed Smidt, Minnesota Off-Road Cyclists (MORC) Scott Sherman, Winona Area Mountain Bikers (WAMB) Ron Bergin, Chequamegon Area Mountain Bike Association (CAMBA) Jereme Rauckman, Chippewa Off Road Bike Association (CORBA)

Matt Block, Central Wisconsin Offroad Cycling Coalition (CWOCC) ?, Capital Off-Road Pathfinders (CORP) Aaron Rogers, Copper Harbor Trails Club (CHTC) Stephen Schmidt, Iowa Trail Bombers (ITB) Robert Peters, Southern Keweenaw (SöKē)
Representatives of the Upper Midwest IMBA chapters at the Summit (there are over 20) then each gave short summaries of their chapter’s activities and accomplishments in the past year, as well as their plans for the upcoming year.  In a follow-up email, MORC Board Secretary Susannah King captured my sentiments:

It was helpful to see so many other clubs working toward a common goal, dealing with similar (and different) successes and challenges that we do.

 Jeremy Fancher, IMBA Director of Public Affairs Aaron M. Smith DSC01219
IMBA Director of Public Affairs Jeremy Fancher (with support from colleague Aaron M. Smith) presented on the legal ins and outs of IMBA Chapters having  MOU’s, partnership agreements, contracts, etc. with land managers/owners.  Several Chapter board members I talked to afterwards seemed grateful, worried, and motivated to roll up their sleeves upon returning home to delve deeper into their land manager agreements and do what needs to be done to make them better.

John Gaddo, QBP Reed Smidt, MORC
John Gaddo from QBP gave an overview of the rapidly growing fat bike market (expected to double in the next two years). In the Western US, there’s a push with land managers to allow fat bikes to share the use of cross country ski and snowmobile trails for touring-type riding in the winter. But here in the Midwest, he felt it’s far better for Chapters to focusing on grooming some of their singletrack for both fat bikes and regular mountain bikes; hence, a good chunk of his presentation was about the variety of snow grooming techniques and equipment being used in the area. Reed Smidt, president of MORC, gave details on their grooming experiences in the past few years.

Adam Sundberg, COGGS Kit Grayson, COGGS Lori Hauswirth, Copper Harbor Trails Club Aaron Rogers, Copper Harbor Trails Club (CHTC)
The session on fundraising featured Adam Sundberg and Kit Grayson from COGGS and Lori Hauswirth and Aaron Rogers from the Copper Harbor Trails Club.

COGGS has learned 1) how to leverage small grants into a series of ever-larger grants; and 2) that face-to-face, ongoing contact with the grantee organization is critically important, ie, it’s not enough to just submit the application. They’ve also learned that 1) its annual Gala allows them to reach out to a segment of the Duluth population that doesn’t mountain bike but who believes in its importance to the area. Attendees include community leaders and the more financially well-off; 2) it’s best to have auction items have wide appeal rather than being mtb-related (eg, vacation packages, restaurant deals, etc); and 3) the committee in charge of the Gala works on it for the entire year.

Copper Harbor has learned 1) how to scale the value of its sponsorships from local business owners; and 2) how to conduct a raffle with large ticket items (2013 raffle: $6,000 camping trailer, $4,400 Trek, etc).

Leslie Kehmeier, IMBA Mapping Specialist MTBProject.com
IMBA Mapping Specialist Leslie Kehmeier presented on their new partnership with MTB Project which this IMBA page describes as

a next-generation mountain bike guide and trail map web site. This robust platform for online mapping displays the known trails in any given area, complete with elevation profiles, full GPS routes, photos, detailed ride info and more.

They’ve just added a feature that I think will create an incentive for Chapters to participate/contribute: once a trail has been mapped, embed code for it can be put on a Chapter’s own website. The quality of the mapping is not something that a Chapter could easily do on its own, so this a pretty big deal IMHO.

Leslie blogs about the project at IMBA.com. See all the IMBA blog posts in the Mapping Category, including her recent blog post, Understanding “rides and trails” on MTBproject.com:

If you’ve visited the MTB Project website you may have noticed two categories: “rides” and “trails.” Some have wondered what the difference might be — one doesn’t exist without the other, right?

Ron Bergin IMBA Upper Midwest gang, ready to ride new trail on Camp 38 rd, with Katie Johnson and Bonnie Finnerty
CAMBA Executive Director Ron Bergin led the group ride after the Summit was over. I took one photo as riders were getting ready to depart but the vicious mosquitoes created a strong incentive to keep it in my hydration pack thereafter.  His description of the new (built last summer) cross country flow trail:

5 miles of fast riding, open & flowing with dozens of bermed turns plus two super-fun gravity features and a 180-foot log ride. Start from our newest trailhead on Camp 38 Rd. – so new there are hardly any signs yet.

CAMBA log skinny - photo by Scott Anderson CAMBA gravity cavity - photo by Scott Anderson IMBA Upper Midwest gang at the Rivers Eatery in Cable, WI
I found some photos of this new trail in the CAMBA Trails Flickr group including the two above by Scott Anderson of that 180-foot log skinny (which can be ridden backwards) and the roller coaster Gravity Cavity section (which can be ridden repeatedly in a loop). These two photos are small thumbnail-sized screenshots that are linked to Scott’s originals. Be sure to click through to see them. After Saturday’s ride, we gathered for refreshments and stone oven pizza at the Rivers Eatery in Cable.

CAMBA Rock Lake Trail - MTB Project Rock Lake Wall Street section CAMBA No Hands Bridge
On Sunday, some did the 27-mile Rock Lake IMBA Epic ride and others, including me, just the 12-mile Rock Lake trail (click here to see the difference between a ‘ride’ and a ‘trail’). Most notable for me was 1) the steep rocky downhill section called Wall Street; and 2) the No Hands Bridge (I used both hands and road the angled cut board). The above right photo is from this blog post about the entire Rock Lake trail by someone named rlove2bike.

Here’s the information and live MTBProject.com map (using their embed code) for the Rock Lake Trail:

All in all, ’twas a memorable weekend of great weather, good information, tasty food, excellent microbrews, and exhilarating riding, all stitched together with friends new and old.  Saaaaaweeeet.

Advocacy Organizations Trails

Griff Wigley, Aaron Rogers, Karl Erbach, Hansi Johnson Lori Hauswirth, Hansi Johnson, Aaron Rogers, Mike Brunet, Lyle VanderSchaaf Jay and Claire
During last week’s Ride the Keweenaw, Copper Harbor’s restaurants provided opportunities to do some scheming about IMBA’s Upper Midwest region (Facebook page).

Left photo: Friday night dinner at the Harbor Haus with Aaron Rogers, Karl Erbach, and Hansi Johnson.

Center: Monday morning breakfast at the Pines Restaurant with (L to R) with Lori Hauswirth, Hansi Johnson, Aaron Rogers, Mike Brunet, and Lyle VanderSchaaf.

Right: The conversation at times turned to mountain bike tourism for the Upper Midwest region, as epitomized by Jay and Claire, two college students visiting Copper Harbor from Vermont. They were traveling to Montana, trying to visit as many mountain bike parks as possible on their way. For their next stops after Copper, I told them that the sequence (heading west) would be to ride CAMBA, Spirit Mountain, COGGS, and then Cuyuna. Alas, due to the wet and cold spring, only Cuyuna would work for this trip.

People

Last fall, Bell Helmets and IMBA announced the Bell Built Trail Building Grants and the 12 finalists were named earlier this year.

Bell Helmets is providing $100,000 to fund three, mountain bike trail projects, one each in the categories of bike park/pump track, flow trail and downhill/gravity trail. Out of the 12 selected as finalists, the public will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite project in each category on Bell’s Facebook page, beginning March 5.

Bell BuiltThree Midwest parks are finalists in three separate categories:

Pump tracks/bike parks

  • Elm Creek Bike Park: Minnesota Off-Road Cyclists, Maple Grove, MN

Flow trails

  • Hobbs Hollow Flow Trail: Hoosier Mountain Biking Association, Brown County, IN

Downhill trails

  • Overflow Trail: Copper Harbor Trails Club, Copper Harbor, MI

The big push here in the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes regions has been to vote for all three Midwest parks (you can only vote once in each category). The deadline is this Friday, April 12.

Copper Harbor Trails Club at Wheel & Sprocket's Bike Expo Sale Copper Harbor Trails Club at Wheel & Sprocket's Bike Expo Sale Copper Harbor Trails Club at Wheel & Sprocket's Bike Expo Sale
Last weekend, Aaron Rogers and Lori Hauswirth from the Copper Harbor Trails Club had a booth at Wheel & Sprocket’s Bike Expo Sale in Milwaukee where they cajoled passersby into logging into their Facebook accounts to vote. Very cool.

I’ve been doing a little work behind the scenes on this because A) Elm Creek is in the Twin Cities, about an hour away my hometown of Northfield; B) I’m a member of MORC; C) my riding ability has improved immensely because of the Eagan pump track so having more bike parks around is great for the sport; and D) I expect to be making frequent trips to Copper Harbor to take advantage of their downhill trails.

Because the Bell Built Facebook voting process can be a little cumbersome, I created this 3-minute how-to video/screencast:

httpv://youtu.be/j5S-1y8g3z8

So don’t delay. Vote now for:

  • Elm Creek Bike Park/Maple Grove, MN in the Pump Track Category
  • Overflow Trail/Copper Harbor, MI in the Downhill Category
  • Hobbs Hollow/Brown County, IN in the Flow Trail category

We Midwest / Great Lakes mountain bikers would appreciate it.

And now that I’ve blogged about this, I’m going to nag, harass, and bother my non-mountain bike Facebook friends into voting. My message:

As you probably know, I’ve fallen in love with mountain biking the past two years. (You can read more than you’ll ever want to know on my blog, Mountain Bike Geezer.)

Right now, three Midwest mountain bike trails have a great opportunity to win a large grant from the Bell Helmet company. Most area mountain bikers on Facebook have already voted but because you can only vote once, it is critical to get our non-mountain biking Facebook friends to vote. Which is why I’m harassing you!

Step 1 (optional): See my short YouTube video on how to vote.

Step 2: Go to the Bell Built Facebook page and vote for:

* Elm Creek Bike Park/Maple Grove, MN in the Pump Track Category

* Overflow Trail/Copper Harbor, MI in the Downhill Category

* Hobbs Hollow/Brown County, IN in the Flow Trail category

If you vote, come on back here and ‘like’ this post and I’ll find a way to thank you.

Advocacy

Dave Cizmas and Hansi JohnsonHansi Johnson nails the tabletop in the micro-rhythm section at Ray'sHansi Johnson (IMBA) and Charlie Johnson  (LAMBA)
Hansi Johnson, IMBA’s Midwest Regional Director (his IMBA blog is here, his Universal Klister blog is here), organized a two-days-for-the-price-of-one weekend for IMBA members at Ray’s Indoor Bike Park in Milwaukee over the weekend.

I’ll have more to blog about my memorable experiences in the coming days but for now, see the large slideshow of 50 photos (recommended) or SLOW CLICK this small slideshow (apologies for some of the crappy smartphone photos):

Update 5 PM: an 8-second video clip of Hansi on the Micro Rhythm feature:

httpv://vimeo.com/57773365

Update Jan. 22, 7:30 am: an album of 140 photos of all areas of the park. I took these early on Saturday morning before it got busy so I could climb around without getting run over.  The photos are boring because there are no people in them.

See the large slideshow or this small slideshow:

Events Organizations Photo album

Ray's IMBA promo

IMBA and the two Ray’s Indoor Bike Park locations (Milwaukee and Cleveland) are teaming up to do a weekend advocacy event and membership drive this weekend. And I’m going to Milwaukee. Judging from the Facebook event page, it looks like 30+ from Minnesota are going.  The blurb:

IMBA members will receive two days of riding for the price of one and they will also be eligible for prizes via a drawing. IMBA is also going to carve out a space for clubs to represent themselves. IMBA envisions a very simple get together with a space for folks to promote the work and trails that they have going and to get folks to mix and intermingle during our off season.

Here’s a decent video overview by Subaru (a sponsor) of Ray’s Milwaukee:

httpv://youtu.be/JdQ1VYqn8lY

Organizations Parks

Winter Bike Expo, Freewheel Bike Winter Bike Expo, Freewheel Bike Winter Bike Expo, Freewheel Bike  
Freewheel Bike held their 2nd annual Winter Bike Expo ("the world headquarters of winter riding fanatics") yesterday at their Midtown Bike Center. The fat bikes were everywhere (Surly and Salsa each had a big presence) and since I’m doing some work on the 2nd Annual Fat Bike Winter Summit & Festival coming up in January, the Expo gave me a picture of how much enthusiasm there is here in Minnesota for fat biking.

Griff Wigley being influenced by Aaron Hautala Joe Meiser and John Gaddo, QBP Hansi Johnson and Aaron Hautala Aaron Hautala's Cuyuna Series G Surly Moonlander
I hadn’t planned on going but on Friday night, I had dinner with Aaron Hautala, president of the Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Crew and while I was under the influence, he influenced me to go. I got to chew the fat (heh) again with former Northfielder John Gaddo, Outside Sales Rep at QBP (Quality Bicycle Products). He introduced me to Joe Meiser, Q’s Product Design Manager who, just a few days ago, had sent me all his photos from the 1st Annual Fat Bike Summit for posting on the site. I also got to talk fat bike advocacy with IMBA Midwest Regional Director Hansi Johnson.

I took a photo of Hansi and Aaron, two guys who, unlike me,  actually  know what they’re doing with a camera.  (See some of Aaron’s photos on his Sweet Cuyuna Living’ blog; see some of Hansi’s photos on his Universal Klister blog.) Alas, I was laughing when I took their photo and ended up with a very blurry image. So I’ve covered up my mistake with a stylized version of it. My choice of red was influenced by red accent that Aaron has used all over his Cuyuna Series G Surly Moonlander, which he had just outfitted with monster 4.8" Bud and Lou tires from Surly, complete with red valve stem caps.

See my large slideshow of 56 photos (recommended) or SLOW CLICK this small slideshow:

Events Photo album

I attended the IMBA Great Lakes Summit in a conference room at the Heartwood Center here in Crosby yesterday, hosted by IMBA Midwest Regional Director Hansi Johnson.  The promo blurb:

Schedule: Great Lakes Summit at IMBA Cuyuna Lakes Ride CenterThis season our Summit is focused on IMBA Chapters and clubs looking to become Chapters.  So if you are either an existing Chapter or are with a club that is seriously looking to become an IMBA Chapter please pre-register.  All other clubs or individuals feel free to contact IMBA Midwest Regional Director Hansi Johnson if you are interested in attending.

The Summit is a one day event.  We will be meeting and discussing various advocacy topics and issues that pertain to the IMBA Chapter Partnership.  Later in the afternoon we will ride the Cuyuna trails and then we will have a social at Ya Betcha’s Bar & Grill later in the evening.

IMBA Great Lakes Summit 2012 IMBA Great Lakes Summit 2012 IMBA Great Lakes Summit 2012 IMBA Great Lakes Summit 2012

 Hansi Johnson, IMBA Midwest Regional Director Andy Williamson, IMBA Great Lakes Region Director Aaron Rogers, IMBA Trail Specialist Steve Weber, DNR Land Manager

Aaron Hautala, Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Trails Reed Smidt, MORC Ryan Lieske, MORC Jordan Vandal, CLMBT Crew

Aaron Rogers, Ryan Lieske, Reed Smidt,  Hansi Johnson leading a group ride at the end of the day

Update: Here is IMBA Midwest Director Hansi Johnson’s Great Lakes Summit report  (PDF) on the meeting.

Great Lakes Summit report 2012 - Hansi Johnson

Advocacy Organizations Photo album

bridge on the Switchback trail, CuyunaI pitched my tent in the Portsmouth Campground in the Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area at about 8 pm last night. I’m here for the 2nd Annual Cuyuna Lakes MTB Fest on Saturday but came up early for IMBA’s Great Lakes Summit, too.

There was just enough daylight left to get a ride in on some of the Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Trails, so I took Switchback from the campground over to the Mahnomen Unit and rode Crusher, Miner’s Mountain, Chute, Ferrous Wheel, Trammer, and Rocky Flats.

Early this morning, I took Drag Line from Portsmouth over to the Yawkey Unit, riding Man High Hill and Haul Road on the way and then Bobsled a couple of times.

Cool discovery #1: I had assumed both Switchback and Drag Line were just plain old connecting trails. Wrong. They’re both hugely fun intermediate level trails. Lots of rollers and a surprising number of berms for  two-way trails.  Non-stop pleasure riding, both directions.

Cool discovery #2: I took it a little easy on all the trails, as I was by myself, but it was so much more fun riding these trails than last year, I couldn’t stop grinning. Why? I’m in better shape, of course. But my skills are better, due mainly to A) what I learned about braking, turning, and ‘the attack’ position at the Leaders’ Summit skills class; and B) spending about an hour at Eagan’s Lexington Pump & Jump Park where I learned (thanks to Chance Glasford), how to pump, ie, accelerate without pedaling.

Andy Williamson, Aaron Rogers, Hansi Johnson, Maureen Heartland Kitchen Café Heartland Kitchen Café
By 8 am this morning I was starving so I headed over to the Heartland Kitchen & Café, my favorite breakfast spot in Crosby. I lucked out, as some of the IMBA guys were there: Hansi Johnson, Midwest Regional Director;  Andy Williamson, Great Lakes Region Director; and Aaron Rogers, Trail Specialist.

I coaxed the café’s proprietor, Maureen Christopher, into posing with them for a photo, since Maureen is such a fan of the mountain bikers who’ve helped her business thrive since the park opened last summer.

Learning to ride Trails

IMBA Midwest Director Hansi Johnson published a post to his blog in late October titled December 2011 Mountain Bike Action Magazine feature on the IMBA Cuyuna Lakes Ride Center. He wrote:

Earlier this summer I did photo shoot for Mountain Bike Action at Cuyuna.  Pro rider Eric Carter flew in from CA and along with some great local riders ( Peter Gustafson, Rori Stumvoll, Nick Statz, Peter L.)  we rode and shot the full system of trails. The results are in a 7 page, 16 photo feature in this months MBA issue. So check it out!

As an advocate for off road cycling I find myself constantly telling stories.  For me, using the visual medium of photography seems to be an effective method of telling those stories.  This feature is a direct result of that.  I would like to thank all of the folks that helped me on this shoot, especially Mike Van Abel and the folks at IMBA!

I subscribed to the digital version of the magazine (a great deal, only $15/yr to be up to date on all the cool gadgets). I patched together screenshots into this 4-page PDF (FYI, jpg screenshots converted to a PDF does not make for a crisp PDF.  The document text is readable but gets increasingly blurry as you zoom out past 100%):

MBA cuyuna1

Media