Tag: <span>MORC</span>

Learning to ride Photo album

Reed Smidt, Jeff Leech, Porter Million, Drew Diller Porter Million,  Jeff Leech, Reed Smidt, Drew Diller Jeff Leech, Porter Million, Reed Smidt, Drew Diller
To the mountain bikers riding past this group of MORC dirt bosses (Drew Diller, Jeff Leech, Porter Million, Reed Smidt) on Friday night on the far west loop of the Carver Lake Park Off-Road Cycling Trail, it probably looked like they were discussing the best place for a picnic. Only partially true.

Carver Lake Park, west loop, playground Jeff Leech, Reed Smidt, Drew Diller, Porter Million Porter Million, Jeff Leech, Reed Smidt, Drew Diller Future site of picnic area
They were mainly doing planning for an elaborate technical feature in an area called the Playground, using many of the logs that the City of Woodbury graciously piled nearby at their request.  Photo on the right: that’s where they’re planning to eventually put a picnic table.

[Apologies to the young whippersnappers reading this who are all WTF? about the title of the blog post. My geezerly brain sometimes shifts to ancient song lyrics like this one when I have to think of a title.]

Trail work

Gary Sjoquist, Dennis Porter, Don YoungdahlFellow MORC members Dennis Porter, Don Youngdahl  and I met with QBP Advocacy Director Gary Sjoquist yesterday at QBP’s HQ in Bloomington to discuss the current situation with the mountain bike trails in the Minnesota River Bottoms that I blogged about last week.

The MORC Board has not taken a formal position on the proposed paved or ‘finished surface’ trail through the Cedar-to-169 segment (Bloomington refuge corridor), nor have they officially appointed any of us to speak for them. But given the long history that Don, Dennis and Gary have with this issue, I think it’s probably fair to say that the Board is happy to have us working on it. I volunteered to be an informal liaison to the Board.

Our strategy for the next two months is simple: meet with the leaders  we know at the various government agencies and other key organizations to get a better understanding of what they know and their concerns. The new manager of the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge has been hired and evidently will be starting in August.  In the meantime, we’ll be contacting people at the Parks and Trails Division of the DNR, the Parks and Trails Council of MN, the City of Bloomington, and the MN Division of the Izaac Walton League.

I edited my blog post to make it clearer that website for The Friends of the Minnesota Valley’s Trail Advocacy Group is a separate website from the Friends of the Minnesota Valley website. While Ed Crozier is listed as Director Emeritus of the Friends of the Minnesota Valley, it would appear that his advocacy on this issue has not been embraced by their Board. If true, we need to understand why.

One of the arguments against constructing a paved or ‘finished surface’ trail along the bottom lands of the Minnesota River is that it’s likely to be very expensive to maintain it since the river regularly floods. After the meeting, Don Youndahl and I did a reconnaissance ride from the Bloomington Ferry Bridge trailhead to see the condition of the trail since the flooding that had occurred a week ago.

Don wrote last night in the MORC forum:

Tried a reconnaissance ride from Bloomington Ferry late this morning. Almost no standing water, but still too wet in the low spots. The good news is the flooding has knocked down a lot of the itch-weed. Wait for a few more good drying days, & bring a hand saw. The flood has done it’s usual job on the trail.

MN River Bottoms flooding, Bloomington, July 2013

MN River Bottoms flooding, Bloomington, July 2013 MN River Bottoms flooding, Bloomington, July 2013 MN River Bottoms flooding, Bloomington, July 2013 MN River Bottoms flooding, Bloomington, July 2013
As you can see, the flooding deposited huge amounts of muck everywhere, including on top of the bridges that cross the smaller streams (bridges that Don, Dennis and other MORC members have constructed and reconstructed many times over the years). If there was a paved or ‘finished surface’ trail through there, the cleanup costs would be significant. It’s not clear which government agency would budget for this regular occurrence.

Griff Wigley and Don Youngdahl Griff Wigley and Don Youngdahl
I took the selfie on the left when Don and I returned to the parking lot. We toasted ourselves afterwards at Zeke’s Place.

Advocacy

Those of us who love to ride have endured a miserable spring here in the upper midwest, with the trails closed due to wet conditions as often as they’ve been open.  The weather has also taken its toll on the trails indirectly because so many of the weekly work crew maintenance sessions have had to be cancelled.

So with the weather cooperating last Wednesday night, I followed a MORC work crew at Carver Lake Park Off-Road Cycling Trail in Woodbury while they reshaped several corners.

Porter Million and Matt Walkowiak Matt Walkowiak Matt Walkowiak and Porter Million Porter Million and Matt Walkowiak
This section of the trail had become hazardous because it’s at the end of a relatively fast downhill. Riders were often hitting the tree or sliding out trying to go around it on the left. MORC Dirt Boss Porter Million and Matt Walkowiak removed the tree, and then dug up a lot of roots and moved a significant amount of dirt to both make a small berm and provide two places for rain water to flow away from it.

L to R: Ray Schwarz, Jeff Leech, Viv Jones, Aron Braggans Viv Jones and Aron Braggans Aron Braggans Viv Jones
Matt Walkowiak, Zach ?, William Sweasy 11-DSC01314 Zach ? and William Sweasy
Meanwhile, the rest of the crew was shoveling, hauling, and hand tamping a lot of dirt to build up three troublesome, off-camber, eroded corners on another section of the trail.

Foreground L to R: Jeff Leech, Viv Jones, Porter Million, Drew Diller, Zach ? Porter Million Foreground: Zach ? and William Sweasy
With a couple of coaching sessions from Porter, the crew reshaped the problematic corners into berms. I later emailed Porter for an explanation and he wrote:

These berms were carefully constructed to avoid puddling in the instance of rain. By taking the slope of the turn into consideration, and by also adding a roller, the crew was able to design the berm to direct any water flow to a specific drainage area off the trail. By adding the properly constructed berms to this section, a rider should be able to carry their speed through the turns, and have less fear of washing out on what use to be a couple of loose, off-camber turns.

Viv Jones, Ray Schwarz, William Sweasy, Drew Diller, Zach ? L to R: Porter Million, Zach ?, Drew Diller, Matt Walkowiak, Aron Braggans, William Sweasy, Viv Jones, Jeff Leech, Ray Schwarz, Joel Hampton
And the crew saw everything that they hath made, and behold, it was very good. Right photo, L to R: Porter Million, Zach ?, Drew Diller, Matt Walkowiak, Aron Braggans, William Sweasy, Viv Jones, Jeff Leech, Ray Schwarz, Joel Hampton

Trail work

Businesses Photo album Trail work

Chance Glasford, Eagan Bike Park build day Eagan Bike Park build day Eagan Bike Park build day
MORC board member Chance Glasford orchestrated a dozen volunteers yesterday for a big build/rebuild of the MORC pump/jump park in Eagan (Facebook page link).  His May 6 blog post set the stage:

This coming Saturday will be the first major build day at the Eagan Bike Park, the newest addition to the MORC riding facilities. The park is currently about 80% complete after all the hard work from the volunteers last year. The original group of volunteers approached MORC and asked if MORC would like to partner with the City and help take this Bike Park to the next level and fulfill its true potential.

The answer was “Yes” and now is the time to act! There will be a Mini-Excavator, Skid Steer and gas plate compactor on site to speed up the building, but a majority of the work will still need to be done by hand. Please come help make the first bike park in the Metro area a success! Dress for trail work, wear closed toed shoes and bring gloves. (continued)

Mark Gavin, de-berming at the Eagan Bike ParkWhen I wasn’t learning the art of de-berming from MORC board member and treasurer Mark Gavin, I periodically took photos of the amazing transformation. 

I could only be there from 9-noon so I’ll try to get back there in the next day or so and take some more photos to show the end-of-build-day results.

See my large slideshow of 3 dozen photos (recommended) or SLOW CLICK this small slideshow:

Photo album Trail work

I joined a crew of MORC / Lebanon Hills volunteers last night as we did some berm repairs, removed downed trees and branches from the trails, and improved a small jump line.  The trails are still too wet to ride.

Leb trail work May 7 2013 - berm repair Leb trail work May 7 2013 - jump repair 
These screenshots are from short Vine videos that Dirt Boss John Lundell took that night. I’ve linked them to the originals.

Trail work

BikeMNIn late Feb, I attended the Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota‘s (BikeMN) third annual Minnesota Bicycle Summit on Capitol Hill, noting that I was "trying to get smarter about the state of bike advocacy in Minnesota…" (Blog post here.)

A few weeks later, for the same reason, I attended the Parks and Trails Council of Minnesota’s Day on the Hill which led to having lunch here in Northfield with Executive Director Brett Feldman and Northfield’s First Ward Councilor Suzie Nakasian in which we explored the pros and cons of forming a Northfield area regional bicycle council. (Blog post here.) Brett encouraged us to get in touch with BikeMN’s Executive Director Dorian Grilley.

Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota‘s annual meeting, 2013Park Tool's new headquarters in Oakdale, MNSo with that in mind, I attended BikeMN’s annual meeting yesterday at Park Tool’s new headquarters in Oakdale.

During the meeting, my eyes widened as we heard details from BikeMN staff and board members about the myriad of bike-related activities, projects, collaborations that they’re involved in.  (See the Education and Advocacy pages on their website for a glimpse.)

Dorian is well-connected and versed in national bicycle advocacy issues so I was pleased to hear some of the latest news, including the repercussions from Trek CEO John Burke’s speech last fall at Interbike (my blog post here).

Nick Mason, BikeMN's Education & Technical Assistance Program ManagerBikeMN's Executive Director Dorian GrilleyAfterwards, I did have a chance to talk with Dorian, as well as with Nick Mason, BikeMN’s Education & Technical Assistance Program Manager.  Both offered their help to get things rolling in Northfield with a start-up of a local bicycle advocacy group and hopefully, one or more of their Bicycle Friendly Programs. (March blog post: Bemidji has earned ‘Bicycle Friendly Community’ status. Why not Northfield?)

And as I wrote back in March:

There are other [Northfield area] projects and developments that have a bicycle-component: the Northfield Depot; the East Cannon River Trail segment; the TIGER Trail (aka the Northfield Modal integration project); Safe Routes to School; the Gateway Corridor Improvement Plan; Northfield Roundtable’s Framework Plan; and the Cannon River Corridor recreational concept.

MORC Board members Reed Smidt and Mark GavinI also put on my mountain biking hat (helmet?) and with MORC Board members Reed Smidt and Mark Gavin, chatted with Dorian about how BikeMN and MORC could work more closely together. One idea: give communities with mountain bike trails and pump/jump/BMX parks extra credit when they apply for Bicycle Friendly Community status.

You can keep up with all-things BikeMN via their blog, Twitter feed, and Facebook page. And consider becoming a member. These guys rock.

Click and scroll through the photos either one at a time or via a slideshow. (Memo to self: use a flash when taking photos with my smartphone of people indoors.)

Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota‘s annual meeting, 2013Ron Jackson, BikeMN BoardBill Armas, Director of Sales Marketing, Park Tool

Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota‘s annual meeting, 2013Libby Shea Hurley, BikeMN Board memberPeter Breyfogle, BikeMN Treasurer

Patty Soldner, BikeMN Membership, Marketing and Events ManagerCameraZOOM-20130504113853419Natalie Gille, BikeMN's Northern Region Bicycle Friendly Community Program Manager

Michelle Breidenbach, BikeMN's Safe Routes to School Education CoordinatorMN State Senator Jim Carlson, District 51 - EaganBikeMN's Dorian Grilley and Ron Jackson

Park Tool's new headquarters in Oakdale, MNPark Tool's new headquarters in Oakdale, MNPark Tool's new headquarters in Oakdale, MN

Advocacy

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

I’ve blogged a bit about the Eagan pump & jump park where I learned to pump last year. If you follow that tag link, you’ll see the name of Chance Glasford, the guy behind the park’s creation.

Griff Wigley, Cottage Grove - bike park presentation 3.11He’s at it again, this time leading the development of a proposal for a bike park in his home town of Cottage Grove.  Yesterday, the proposal went before the Cottage Grove Parks, Recreation & Natural Resources Commission and I went to lend some support. Reed Smidt, President of MORC, spoke, as did other members of the Cottage Grove bike park task force.

Yes, I wanted to return the favor to Chance for all he’s done that has benefited me.  But I have my selfish reasons, too. Cottage Grove is only 35 minutes or so from Northfield and I expect to be a regular at the park if it’s built, as it’ll be considerably bigger with more features than the one in Eagan.

Cottage Grove - bike park presentation 3.11 Reed Smidt and Chance Glasford, Cottage Grove - bike park presentation 3.11 Chance Glasford, Cottage Grove - bike park presentation 3.11 Chance Glasford, Cottage Grove - bike park presentation 3.11

The parks commission unanimously approved the proposal and it now goes to the City Council for consideration in a couple of weeks.

Trevor Crawford and Chance Glasford at Cottage Grove - bike park presentation 2.14 Chance Glasford, Cottage Grove - bike park presentation 3.11

Left: The video of Chance’s Feb. 11 presentation to the commission

Right:  The video of Chance’s Mar. 11 presentation to the commission

Advocacy Parks People

Mammoth_Trail_MapI began contacting a few guys individually about the Mammoth trail in Chaska over a year ago. Much of the information about it on the MORC site had been removed, as it’s not a MORC trail and some portions of it go across private property. We saw some ‘no trespassing’ signs and in a few places, tree branches had been deliberately placed across the trail. Neither the Mammoth page on MTBR nor the Mammoth page on Singletracks provide much in the way of current information.

The common refrain I’d heard: go with someone who knows the trail the first time because they aren’t marked and it can be difficult to find your way around. The map (right) was emailed to me with the caveat:

That isn’t the most updated map but it will work. Unfortunately there is not an updated map available. Skull loop has been shortened due to loss of access to some private land and Tom Thumb Loop is slightly different than shown.

Griff Wigley and Graham Wigley  Graham Wigley, Washing Machine loop, Mammoth Trail The Washing Machine loop, Mammoth Trail 
So on Wednesday, I finally went with my son Graham who’s ridden there before. And we still got turned around a few times. It was a warm, humid day, occasionally drizzling – perfect for leisurely wandering the beautiful area—so getting a bit lost wasn’t a problem. And the Original Sin loop (AKA the ‘washing machine’ loop) was every bit as fun as I’d heard. Among the many challenging technical obstacles we encountered:

Griff Wigley, Mammoth Trail1. the half log skinny (right) which, as you’ll see in the first half of the video below, rolls from side to side.  And in the middle of the log there’s a narrow ridge that runs nearly the entire length. If you ride to the right or left of the ridge, the log flips you off.  You have to ride exactly in the center, on top of the ridge.

I made it on my 4th try.

big skinny, Mammoth Trail muddy tire
2. the long downed tree skinny that slopes downhill. It’s pretty fat and has all its bark so I was confident I could ride down its complete length and maybe even up.  On my first attempt I applied both brakes to scrub off my speed after about 20 feet and my rear wheel locked up and slid off. I noticed that my tires were partially packed with damp dirt, so I mentally reasoned, Move my weight back a little further for better rear wheel traction; less rear brake and more front brake. 

You may be wondering: Why brake at all on a skinny, especially one that you can roll down?  I find it helps my balance on a skinny to keep pedaling. So on a level or downhill skinny, I apply both brakes just enough to provide resistance to the pedaling.  And this downhill tree is steep enough that you’d pick up speed quickly, making a crash a little more scary with the numerous trees around it.  Plus, the tree narrows considerably as it forks to the left around a tree at the very end. That part would seem to require a slow, delicate touch.

Alas, I never got that far. My next attempt lasted all of 3 seconds and made me glad I had on all my body armor.  More front brake was exactly NOT what was needed, as my front wheel immediately slid off, though in retrospect, I may have just applied it a little too hard when my front wheel was at a slight angle.

As the drizzle began to turn to rain, I decided it would be prudent to call it a day and make plans for a return engagement.  I’ll stay on the Original Sin loop, however, as that loop doesn’t cross any private property.

See this 90-second video clip of my four attempts of the two obstacles:

Trails Video