TKMBD2009 – Muddy and Fun!

These riders are hardcore!

Thanks to everyone for a fun Take a Kid Mountain Bike Day event today at Midland City Forest.  I was a little worried that the weather would scare people away, but not so.  The more advanced kids logged about 5.5 miles of trail riding, lead by Tom Canale and Gene Brewer.  The first timers probably rode about 2+ miles of trail lead by Gary Putt.  Some of the most entertaining riding happened in the big mud puddles at the main parking lot!  We will do this again next year and attract more young riders to our great sport!

Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day!

Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day

This Saturday, October 3rd, is our first (hopefully annual) Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day at Midland City Forest.  The free event will be an introduction to mountain biking and is open to kids ages 6 – 16 years.  All that is required is a bike (capable of riding in dirt), a helmet and probably some warm clothes.  I hope that the weather will cooperate for us!

More information, including the waiver form, a printable flyer and possible notice of cancellation (due to weather), can be found here… http://mmbane.wordpress.com/special-events/

We welcome all of the young riders, experienced mountain biker chaperones, bike shops, bike mechanics (for simple tune-ups and air filling) and anyone willing to provide a post-ride snack.  Please contact: thadhallberg@gmail.com (or 989.430.6265),  if you are interested.

Don’t worry…we will wrap it up in time for you to watch football.  Join us!

UPDATE: We will be there, no matter the weather conditions.  The Chalet will be open for shelter and we will have some snacks and hot chocolate.  Rain go away!

Skills Park Prank (Not Funny)…

Warning! Someone’s idea of a prank (at the MCF Skills Park) resulted in serious injuries to two people.  One of the teeter-totters was intentionally propped from the underside, not allowing it to pivot.

One of the injured riders wrote…“From a near stand still, my front tire fell off the end (of the teeter-totter) and I went head first into the ground briefly knocking myself out and fracturing the C3 vertebrae in my neck. Broke a tooth as well. It will be a few weeks before I ride again, but I was lucky I received no neural injuries as it could have been much worse.”

Before riding, please inspect all features at the skills area for tampering. Please report any knowledge that you may have of this tampering or any that you find in the future…just call 911. If possible, please remove any tampering and/or immediately contact Jim Crissman (MCF trail coordinator)

email:  jwcrissman[at]gmail[dot]com.

My sincere apologies to the injured riders.  Get healed up quickly and get back in the saddle!

No Drop Ride Monday @ MCF

UPDATE:  We have seen some intermittent rain today, but it looks nice out there now.  We’re still on for 5:45pm tonight.

A NO DROP* mountain bike ride has been scheduled:
When: Monday June 29th
Where: Meet at the City Forest Trailhead at 5:45pm

Let me know if you plan on attending, and we (I) will look for you in the parking lot prior to the ride!
Please feel free to forward to anyone you think may be interested, or if you know anyone that wants to be added to this distribution list.

Please check out the MMBA (Michigan Mountain Bike Association) website, and our local forum (Northeast Chapter) at www.mmba.org

Keep the rubber side down, and hope to see you there!

Troy

*NO DROP means that this is a FUN ride is open to all riding abilities and types. This is a great opportunity to try mountain biking and have someone who knows the trails ride along with you at a pace you are comfortable with. No one will be left behind!

Who’s In?

Lumber, tools and clay…it’s time to play!  We have been salvaging lumber, sourcing dirt and rocks, tweaking the design, prepping the site and now it’s time to kick off the Midland City Forest Skills Park build!  Who’s in?  I will start a thread soon in the Northeast Chapter forum for discussions to take place, help us gauge the volunteer base and post the dates/times of the work parties.

When you have a chance, check out the short documentary about the construction of the Colonnade Bike Park under the I5 highway in Seattle.  Of course, this project is slightly larger than ours  ;)  however, it will inspire you, as we look to kick-off our project.

Colonnade Bike Park in Seattle, WA

Pump Track Action!

Our skills park will include a Lee McCormack designed pump track.  Pat’s Gradall is delivering 50 yards of dirt (with high clay content), very soon.  Got muscles?…We will need you!  Not sure of what a pump track is?…Check this out…

Stay tuned to the forum for details. Get involved.

Midland City Forest Views

 

Midland City Forest Mountain Bike Trails

More fun with the Garmin Forerunner 405 GPS, Google Earth and Adobe Illustrator…this time at Midland City Forest.  Someday, I would like to overlay our old MCF map and see what needs to be revised, due to reroutes.  Feel free to download the larger image from our Flickr page, if you’d like.  Can everyone access the Flickr photo sets?  Clicking on either image should provide the link.  Hopefully so.  Enjoy.

 

Midland City Forest Mountain Bike Trails

Mountain Bike Skills Park (Teaser)

 

Mountain Bike Skills Park Concept

We are very close to kicking off the latest addition to the Northeast Chapter mountain bike offerings, a Skills Park at Midland City Forest.  The park will include beginner and intermediate level mountain bike features designed to improve your balance and bike handling skills.  It will be located behind the rear toboggan tower, in an unused, rectangular shaped, grassy clearing. Features will include: dirt jumps, drops, skinnies, log rides/piles, teeter-totters, rocks and a Lee McCormack designed pump track.  This will be the only publicly accessible mountain bike skills park in the Northeast Chapter region (that I know of).  Volunteers will be needed to efficiently build this park, so that we can start riding it as soon as possible.  A portion of this project will be completed thanks to the leadership of area Boy Scout, Matthew Zawisza, earning him an Eagle merit.

Materials for this project will mostly consist of recycled lumber, re-ground concrete, donated scrap rough sawn cedar and other donated items.  If you have or know of other (free) materials that could be used in the build, please contact thadhallberg[at]gmail[dot]com.  Galvanized fasteners and bagged concrete will be needed, as well.

The skills park design has gone through a few rounds of revisions.  Ideas for the current design are based on features seen while researching similar parks.  Some details could change slightly during the construction phase.  If you have some expertise in designing or constructing bike skills features, please volunteer some time, to help us get this right!  Work days will be announced soon.

IMBA calls Skills Parks the “gateway” feature at mountain bike areas.  It helps to introduce younger riders to the sport.  They hone their skills on the jumps and skinnies, then venture out into the nearby trail systems.  I think that the Skills Park will be a great addition to our mountain biking lineup (for all ages).  MMBA Northeast Chapter will be responsible for its maintenance and upkeep.  Please help us in this effort!  Pick up your trash, report damaged features, report or thwart any malicious destruction, ride smart, wear a helmet and other necessary gear, be aware of other riders, etc.  We are fortunate to have the City of Midland’s approval for this project.  Let’s keep the door open for future opportunities.  Thanks!

Feel free to leave any comments below.

A little more help at MCF please…

…and then you can play!

Hey Mudhaters–

Another big rain last night. But the leaves are sprouting and soon the trees will start doing their work to pull the water out of the ground. In the meantime, the high use of the Midland City Forest trail during this wet spring has markedly increased the number of mudholes that need some work. We placed 12 minibridges, plus 3 mini-minis, mostly on the south end of the south loop last weekend, but there is more to do. We’ll concentrate on moving re-cycled sidewalk chunks and gravel to remaining trouble spots in the dismal swamp area of the South loop and the north end of the north-bound Gnu. Work gloves and heavy shoes are a must. Safety glasses too, for those of you who might want to release your inner hammerman to help shape the chunks.

Just a note on technique: It is important to level the joints between chunks to smooth the ride. Too many riders seem to prefer riding in the mud to staying on the armor, making the trail wide and ugly. Since I cannot be there to spank each of the weenies for their transgressions, we must lure the bums back onto the trail by the quality of our craftmanship. Think smooth! If you haven’t attended one of these work parties, take heart, I’ll get the concrete to the nearest 2-track crossing with my tractor; we only use the wheelbarrows from that point.

Meet at the main parking lot on Monroe at 1:00 pm, Sunday, May 17. Bring a wheelbarrow if you have one, and maybe something to cut small roots (an axe or lopping shears), a necessary step for leveling the pieces. Do I have a volunteer for cookie baking? Oh, and remember to bring a water bottle.

Hope to see A BUNCH OF YOU there. Remember to log your hours. Feel free to forward this note to anyone who might be interested.

Yrs in Dirt,  Jim

(989) 297-3009 cell

Mother’s Day Party at MCF

Well not really…

We’ve got to get our new minibridges installed (at Midland City Forest). I’m hoping at least a few of you can help to get the stuff we hammered together last week into the woods tomorrow afternoon. We’ll move concrete chunks and gravel on another day. Please meet at the main entrance to the MCF at 3:00 PM. We’ll make a quick tractor circuit of the park and tote the minibridges into place, mostly in the dismal swamp area of the south loop. Should take less than 2 hours. Bring work gloves.    -Jim

Skills Course & Pump Track Project Nearing

 

Matthew at Parks Meeting

The skills course and pump track additions to Midland City Forest are going through the necessary approval steps.  A portion of this project is being organized by area Boy Scout, Matthew Zawisza.  A successful completion will gain him an Eagle Merit.  Last night Matthew presented the project at the Midland Parks and Recreation Commission meeting. Following the presentation commission members asked several questions and later granted us their support to proceed.

 

Nice job Matthew!  Just a couple more hurdles before we are cutting boards and moving dirt!