Pine Haven Work Party TONIGHT.

Pine Haven Update: Midland County is low on available resources to clear the downed trees within Pine Haven and has given us permission to clear these trees, in preparation for the Pain Haven race in September.

Jeff Adamcik is calling for a trail cleanup work party TODAY (Monday) at 6pm at Pine Haven. If you have a Chain Saw, loppers and/or hand pruners, please bring them!

If all goes well we’ll ride a lap once completed, then enjoy a few Lumber Baron’s Growlers….

Questions to Jeff at 941-9192.

PS…I know that it is pouring rain right now.  I will try to post an update later in the day, should Jeff decide to cancel the work party.

Skills Park Work Party (Tomorrow)…

The next Boy Scout work party is tomorrow (thurs, july 16, 6:00 pm at mcf skills park) to build log piles and lay out gravel paths through the sand between obstacles. The drop jumps are done, the skinnies with the rock nodes are done, 2 teeter-totters are now tottering, two benches are installed, and generally a good time is at hand. If you want to help, bring your bike as well as your favorite shovel and garden rake; there will be plenty of time to ride after the work is done, I think. Be sure to thank Matthew Zawisza — this is his Eagle Scout project and he has done a terrific job.  
Also, note the new kiosk under construction at the parking lot. That’s Rusty LaRose’s Eagle project, which will be a big improvement for communications at the trail head. Great job, guys!!! (and your dads!)  BTW, if you haven’t found it yet, the Midland City Forest mountain bike skills park is in the clearing behind the sliding hill and south toboggan tower. 
This will finish Matt’s responsibility for his Eagle. Shaping the pump track will be the responsibility of the MMBA chapter and our recruits. I’ve got it “excavated” with my tractor and we are waiting for the city’s clay pit to dry out enough that they can deliver the dirt, then there will be a lot of hand work sculpting the bumps and turns.

-Jim “subgeeze” Crissman

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.

First Group Ride at NEW MMCC Trail

This Wednesday’s ride will be at the Mid Michigan Community College Trail in Harrison. We’ll be leaving the main parking lot at MMCC at 6pm sharp. Figure on a 45-50 minute drive from downtown Midland. The weather forecast for Wednesday is PERFECT (sunny and 80 degrees) and we’d really like to get a good turnout for the ride this week – guaranteed worth the drive!

We’re really excited about getting on this trail. It’s set in a beautiful forest with massive trees (some that we ride under) and rolling hills. This trail sports some long, gentle climbs (a few not so gentle) and is completely dry. I don’t think we’ll need a single bridge, which is really great for these recent soggy days. Once we get this trail ridden in with a few bikes it should be fast (big ring?). A nice combination of mostly fast flowing trails (like Hanson Hills) some tighter technical trails (Burns Rd), with a couple short sections of hilly two tracks (Iceman). What’s not to love?

We made great progress this past weekend thanks to a really nice turnout for the trail work session on Saturday. We’re close to having the entire loop cut in, and should be able to easily navigate around the few sections still needing work for our ride. At this point, we probably have around 7-8 miles ready for riding, with perhaps 2-3 miles to go. We’re shooting for a 10 mile loop when all is said and done.

Directions: Take US-10 west to US-127 North about 12 miles to the Mannsiding Road exit (exit 168). Turn Right on Mannsiding Rd. for approx 1/4 mile to Old Clare Avenue. Turn left (North) on Old Clare Avenue for approximately 3/4 mile to the MMCC main entrance parking lot on right.

FYI: Some of us will be working on the trail during most of Wednesday afternoon, before the ride. If you’re interested in joining us , give Steve (430-7082) or Vaughn (205-5909) a call.

Ride on!

Steve

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

IMBA Trail Care Crew in Lansing

IMBA is coming to Lansing, MI, May 23-24, and you’re invited to join in the special events. Kelly and Collins Bishop of the Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew are teaming up with the Michigan Mountain Biking Association Mid-State Chapter for a weekend dedicated to improving local trails and having fun.

The visit features a trailbuilding school and a group ride. This is your opportunity to rub shoulders with the IMBA Crew while learning all about trailbuilding. Check out the details below and come join in the fun.

Schedule:

Saturday

9:00 – Noon: Trailbuilding School classroom session at Delta Township Offices

1:00 – 4:00 PM: Trailbuilding School field session

Sunday

10:00 – Noon: Trail work

1:00 PM: Group ride

For additional information and to RSVP, please contact Chris Mensing (cmensing76@yahoo.com)

MMCC Work Party 9am Saturday, May 16th

Thanks to all the volunteers who have been helping at the Mid Michigan Community College mountain bike trail these last few weeks. We currently have almost half of the 10 mile loop cut and with a good turnout this week we hope to make a big dent in the remaining sections.

The next trail day is coming up this Saturday at 9am. We could really use some help with raking and pruning (loppers). We’ll meet at the MMCC main parking lot on Clare Ave (Old 27) and then head out to various sections.

Questions? Give Vaughn (205-5909) or Steve (430-7082) a shout. Thanks.

Steve

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

Another Mid-Michigan CC work day…

This is late notice, but if you would like to get involved with building the new trail near Harrison, be there tomorrow Saturday May 9th at 2pm.  Volunteers are meeting up in the main MMCC parking lot.  See older posts for details.  Big (plastic) leaf rakes work well and loppers/hand pruners.

Call Vaughn with any questions (989) 205-5909

MMCC Trail Build Kicked Off!

 

The "roller coaster" section

Day 1:  Perfect weather!  Two small crews working in two different sections.  Each crew following the orange ribbon markers plotted out by Vaughn Murray.  The crew that I was in tackled an extra dense section. The chainsaw and loppers were mandatory here.  Our section was further complicated by the removal of some trail markers, prior to our arrival.  Steve, Tom and I did our best to think like Vaughn and forge ahead.  We later rewarded ourselves at Ruckles (in Clare) with fish dinners and cold beverages.

Day 2:  Again…perfect weather!  About a half-dozen of us formed one team and tackled what will be the last mile of the loop.  It’s fast and flowing through slightly rolling terrain.  It concludes with a roller coaster style, winding section before spilling back out into the main parking lot at Mid-Michigan Community College.  This section made our mouths water with anticipation of bombing it on our bikes.  Of course, it can’t all be fast and flowing…what comes down, eventually has to go up again.  There will be some good climbs to test your strength as well.  A glimpse of Vaughn’s “roller coaster” section shown at left.

We need more volunteers to speed up this build process.  There is plenty more trail to build.  Upcoming work dates/times to be posted soon.  Thanks to those who volunteered last weekend!