LUTON RECAP

Thanks to everyone that came out today! The 16 volunteers racked up another 60 man hours by cutting another mile or so on the new Black Loop. I would guess we have another mile to go until we reach the end of the loop and then all the bench cutting and fine tuning begins. Building all these trail is tough work and takes time but these trail will be here for years to come and everyone should be proud to be a part of them. A special thank you to Jody's Restaurant for the delicious wraps and to Jody Beard for the chocolate chip cookies! Stop in for lunch or dinner after a ride sometime.



We will hold another trail day on August 8th at 9am, come on out and help us cut open the remaining section!

Bikestock 2009- Bicycle Festival

The Western Chapter will be present for the Bikestock event in Downtown Grand Rapids on August 1st, come say hi and enjoy the festival.

Cannonsburg Ski Area and Picnic Pops closure notice

The Picnic Pops start this Thursday evening July 9th and run every Thursday and Friday night through the 31st. Riding during the Picnic Pops is not allowed. If you show up to ride the trails, you will be asked to leave. Please choose another location to ride on these evenings.

Luton Park Trail Day July 12th, 9am

Join us for another trail day on July 12th 2009 at 9:00 am. Meet at the Luton Barn on Kies Ave. Help us cut new trail. Currently we are about 1/3 of the way through the Black Loop (previously stated as the White loop). Bring rakes, chain saws and lopers. Jody's of Rockford lunch provided at about 12:30. Come rain or shine. Watch for another trail day in August if we don't get this section finished on 7/12

Wake Wars

7-14-09 NOTICE: WE WILL NOT BE ATTENDING....The wMMBA and GRBMX will be on site during the upcoming Wake Wars, a new event at The Bob in Downtown Grand Rapids on July 25th and 26th. A dirt pump track and jump line are in the works! Open to all. More info as it develops.

Chapter Meeting Minutes - June Meeting

Western Michigan Mountain Biking Association

Meeting Minutes

Date: June 1, 2009

Location: Mangiamo Restaurant – 2^nd Floor, Grand Rapids, MI

Board Members Present: Rick Plite - President, Jason Dew-Vice President, Martin Hall-Treasurer, Nate Phelps-State Representative, Jennifer Bechtel – Secretary

Total Attendence: 5 members, 1 guest, 5 board members

Start time: 6:30 p.m.

Meeting called to order at 6:35 p.m. – Rick Plite

Introduction of Guest – Jason Schwab – Rick Plite

Minutes recap from February 2, 2009 – Rick Plite.

Treasurer’s Report – Martin Hall

MTB Summit Recap at Cannonsburg Ski Area– Jason Dew

150 paid attendees, 50 plus volunteers.

Some overlapping events in other areas drew down planned attendance.

Epic Ride recap – Rick Plite: 20-25 people (good).

GR Bicycle Summit – Nate Phelps

Friends of Grand Rapids came from this. Help from Greater GR Bicyclists Coalition.

Hoping for Bicycle Friendly Community – Bronze level.

Green Grand Rapids – Nate Phelps

Four more board meetings.

Looking for public opinion on Master plan filed every five years w/DNR.

Working with Susan Schultz (City Planner)

Grand Rapids Bike Park – Nate Phelps

A shared facility with the GR BMX group.

Looking positive at this point.

State Report – Nate Phelps

Request for pay increase by President denied by Committee.

Committee listed focus goals for the MMBA President, such as increase membership.

There will be a State Board Meeting Face-to-Face this month, June 6^th, in Grand Rapids.

Michigan Mountain Bike Patrol – Nate Phelps

Newly formed.

Local member is Tim Keating.Trail Coordinator Reports – Rick Plite

Luton Park Trail Days on weekends and evening nights have been successful. Considering Adopt-A-Mile Trail volunteer program at Luton Park.

June 20^th is Game Are Trail Day. Ken Curtis is the coordinator.

Nation Trails Day – Rick Plite

Merrell sponsoring June 6thTrail Day at Luton Park.

Posted signs at area bike shops. Merrell employees are being encouraged to attend Trail Day.

New Trail! – Rick Plite- Location: Belding, MI. Google: Lightning Bend Park.

Needs to be ridden and enjoyed.

14.0 Mid West Women’s Clinic – by Rick Plite/Jennifer Bechtel

14.1 Weekend of June 13^th at Brown County State Park in Indiana.

14.2 Friday night Lights ride if interested. Meals provided Saturday.

14.3 Pay $45 pre-registration or $60 day-of.

14.4 http://www.midwestwomensclinic.com/

15.0 Upcoming Events – Rick Plite

15.1 CANCELED Rapid Wheelman and WMMBA combining for a Cannonsburg Ski Area trail riding day June 27^th at 2 p.m. with hot dogs/hamburgers after. CANCELED Check Calendar for more details.

15.2 BIKESTOCK – a 2009 Bicycle Festival at Ah-Nab-Awen Park in Grand Rapids on August 1^st from 12 – 6 p.m. They have asked WMMBA to participate.

16.0 NCT Epic Ride – Rick Plite

16.1 80 miles w/halfway option

16.2 Set 1 price/person at $145.00. This includes two nights lodging, meals, and covered vehicle for bicycle transportation (improving over last year).

17.0 Next meeting: August 3, 2009 –Mangiamos

18.0 Motion to adjourn – Martin Hall. Nate Phelps seconded. Motion passed.

18.1 Meeting Adjourned at 7:30 p.m.

After meeting discussion: Jason Schwab volunteered to help WMMBA coordinate on Twitter, Facebook, and blogspot sites for updates.

These minutes to be posted at:

http://westernmmba.blogspot.com/

Cannonsburg Game Area Trail Day Update

If you have it in your calendar already- please note that the trail day was moved from June 20th to June 27th (Saturday). Help out on the 27th at one of the areas most ridden trail!

Dirt Rag Summit review

Midwest MTB Summit Recap

Posted: June 9th, 2009 by Andy Bruno

We promote and cover mountain bike advocacy a lot here at Dirt Rag, arguably more than any other magazine. We do it because we believe it is critical for continued access to trails, and to help promote and grow the sport we love. We also do it to give some much-deserved recognition to the good work of all the local clubs and volunteers out there building and maintaining trails for all of us. These local clubs do some amazing work with minimal resources, all in the name of building better trails.

Recently the Dirt Rag World Tour had a chance to get together with several Midwest local trails advocacy groups for the 9th Annual Midwest Mountain Bike Summit in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This was a meeting of people on the front line of trail access, from groups like the Michigan Mountain Bike Association (MMBA), Wisconsin Off Road Bicycle Association (WORBA), Friends of Off-Road Cycling (FORC) Quad Cities, Gateway Off-Road Cyclists (GORC) St. Louis, Chicago Area Mountain Bikers (CAMBr), and Wisconsin Off-Road Bicycling Association (WORBA) to name a few.

These are the kind of people who make it happen in your neck of the woods. They’re out there swinging Pulaskis and McLeods building and maintaining trails. They’re also the ones working with local land managers to gain access to areas so that new trails can be built.

The three day summit/festival was a great way to share information, meet new friends, and learn new trail-building techniques. IMBA was there in force with a 2-day trail school with hands-on technical trail building demonstrations, along with Club-Care and Gateway Trails presentations. Plus there were other workshops and seminars focusing on all aspects of mountain bike advocacy with nationally and regionally known presenters. Stihl and Ditch Witch brought some toys for hands-on trail building at the Cannonsburg Ski Area. There were also races and organized rides from the ski area. Last, but certainly not least, the summit concluded with a 40-mile epic ride. And Founders Brewing provided some much needed refreshments after three days of learning, digging and riding. Advocacy never tasted so good.

A special thanks goes out to Nate Phelps and his crew from the Michigan Mountain Bike Association for hosting this event. Word is, the Midwest Mountain Bike Summit will once again be held in Grand Rapids in 2010. Keep an eye open for details at: www.midwestmtbsummit.com.

National Trail Day- Recap

June 6th was National Trail Day and the Western Chapter along with Merrell celebrated by cutting in 1.25 miles of new trail at Luton Park. A record 43 people attended! Merrell supplied water bottles for particpants and held a raffle for a couple of gift certificates, congrats Jeff Corey and Russ Greenwood! Look for another trail day later this summer so we can finish the loop and open it for riding. Currently it is a dead end so we left it closed for now.

Owasippe CLOSED June 8, 2009

Owasippe CLOSED June 8, 2009

Bryan Myers has had communications from the rangers at Owassippe- Al and Larry
.
From Bryan: The trails are closed as of sundown tonight for the scout camp.
There has also been illegal trail pirating during the recent closure. This type of defiant behavior will definitely close the door to Owasippe for all! Under the new conditions, we are on a one year probation out there. This is private property. Trail use is a privilege.

After the scout camps are done for the season, there will be a new sign posted at the trail head with a new sign-in procedure so that all riders are accounted for. Please remember that Al and Larry want us out there. They are on our side because bikers are excellent security camera's. Do not confront them in the same manner that someone did whoe drove a large red Dodge truck (license plate "BYU...") in March. The trails will be closed for good and Matt's hard work to re-open will be poisoned forever.

PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO ANYBODY THAT NEEDS TO KNOW! THANK YOU!!!

There will be a happy trail work day in Aug as soon as we get the green light. Crews will be setting up the new trail signs, courtesy of the West Michigan Coast Riders Bike Club. Please sign up in advance. Many of you are already on the list.