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2009 Midwest Mountain Bike Summit

The 2009 Midwest Mountain Bike Summit that will take place on May 29-31, 2009 at the Cannonsburg Ski Area near Grand Rapids, MI. The three-day Summit will provide educational and networking opportunities to over three hundred mountain bicyclists, trail builders and advocates from across the Midwest.

More information:

http://mmba.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=89694

http://www.midwestmtbsummit.com

Cannonburg Game Area Trail Day follow up

4-18-2009

Cannonsburg State Game Area

Today a team of Volunteers embarked on the first Organized Trail Day of 2009 at the Game Area. The focus today was reclaiming the overgrown main trail head parking lot on 4 mile road. Trimming, Tilling and Tamping reclaimed approximately 30 feet of width to the back half of the parking area. The idea is to promote parking in three rows vs two in order to allow more vehicle parking in the parking lot relieving the parking out on 4 Mile Road a long time complaint of the local residence. So try parking as far to the left and right as possible and in the center next time your out for a ride. A special Thanks goes out to Johnny Carinos Italian Restaurant at Knapps Corner for donating a great lunch. Thanks Mike!

5-16-2009

Cannonsburg State Game Area

Today a team of 13 eager Trail Crew Volunteers completed the second planned Trail Day of the season at the Game Area. I must say we knocked one out of the park at the game area today! The Crew completed the long awaited trail reroutes flagged and approve last year. These sections are in the 3rd section of trail before the parking lot at 3 mile road. Work included reroutes around two severely eroded fall line trail and sand pits. Reclaiming of the old ruts and trail was also completed making the old trail almost disappear. Great work team, awesome job! Thanks you.

Thanks to BC Pizza Belmont for a great discount on Pizza and Salad. And a Hugh THANK YOU goes out to Nader Atallah at Home Run Deli and Liquor on Post Dr. (just West of the Exit off 131N.) Amazing Sandwiches, Greek Pasta Salads, Wings, Meatballs, Jerky and Sweets (all kinds of stuff) plus a Great Deal on Founders 6 packs - $7.99!!! Check them out before or after a ride.

Stay Tuned for Details on the June 20th Trail Day.

Chris

Cannonburg Game Area Trail Day

Saturday MAY 16th 9:00 AM main trail head. We need a good turn out on the one. Please come out for the day, for an hour, what ever time you can donate will be a huge help as we prep our Heritage Trail for the upcoming MidWest Mountain Bike Summit! As always lunch will be provided. Bring gloves and H2O.
Thanks in advance!
Chris

Luton dump recap

Two picture equals a thousand words.

GR Parks event

I Love GR Parks event- http://www.friendsofgrparks.org/

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – May 7, 2009 – Do we want better parks, to become a bicycle friendly community, to build a whitewater course through downtown Grand Rapids or organize more farmers markets? If so, how can citizens, government and business take action to make these visions a reality? Who are the champions who will move pieces of the green agenda forward in Grand Rapids?
At Green Gathering: Actions on Wednesday, May 13, 6:30-8:30 p.m., the public is invited to review three park special studies – Joe Taylor, Ball-Perkins and Butterworth Landfill – and three Grand River special studies – 201 Market Street, eastside riverwalk extension from the Blue Bridge to Wealthy St. and a “rapids” run on the Grand River. Future action then will be prioritized based on recommended strategies for Natural Systems, Greening, Parks and Recreation, Connections, the Grand River and Local Food.
The forum takes place at Harrison Park Elementary, 1440 Davis Ave. NW in Grand Rapids. It is the third of three community forums hosted by Green Grand Rapids, an 18-month project launched by the City to update the 2002 city-wide Master Plan and the Parks and Recreation Master Plan with an emphasis on green initiatives. For information about the meeting, go to http://www.greengrandrapids.us/ or call 616-456-3031. A final fall 2009 open house meeting will also be held.
“This is a very important part of Green Grand Rapids – where individuals can make a difference. Their actions have a direct impact on making our city even better,” says Suzanne Schulz, planning director for the City of Grand Rapids. “The special studies show how many green objectives and strategies can be achieved with concept plans developed with public participation. The next step is challenging. We must set priorities because financial resources are limited. People who are passionate about the Green Grand Rapids vision need to step forward, like the Friends of Grand Rapids Parks and organizers of the Bicycle Summit have done. We need strong, committed community leadership to be actively involved in making Grand Rapids a more desirable place to live, work and play.”
About Green Grand Rapids
Green Grand Rapids is an 18-month project designed to update the 2002 city-wide Master Plan and the Parks and Recreation Master Plan with an emphasis on green initiatives. Financial supporters of Green Grand Rapids include Grand Rapids’ Downtown Development Authority, Wege Foundation, Frey Foundation, Grand Rapids Community Foundation and Dyer-Ives Foundation. For information, go to http://www.greengrandrapids.us/ or call 616-456-3031.

Luton Park Update

May 9th will be our next trail day at Luton Park, we plan to remove all of the items in the dump pile on the yellow loop. Padnos has already agreed to provide a dumpster for scrap metal and we plan to have a dumpster for trash as well. The problem will be that we need plenty of "runners" to go back and forth the 1/2 mile from dump to barn. If you have a pick up truck, quad, skid loader, trailer, etc. let me know so we can coordinate the haulers for the day. Then we need plenty of people to pick up the scrap and trash. Most of these items are tires and 5 gallon metal buckets. Please bring leather gloves and heavy work boots for protection! Do you have little ones that would like to help? This is the perfect chance, tons of tin cans and unbroken glass bottles to pick up too. Again bring gloves. We could also use flat blade shovels, leaf blowers, rakes, plastic trash cans. Spread the word on this one, lets make Luton Park a better place for all to see.

Update: Forest Hills Foods deli department has donated box lunches for the event, thanks Jeff!
Padnos Iron and Metal has so graciously donated a scrap metal dumpster and Allied Waste will provide the trash dumpster, thank you Doug, Lee and Jan!

We had a total of 20 people on April 26th and the rain held off until we got the Yellow Loop completely fine tuned. Due to the heavy rain last night, the very first section has a 20 foot area underwater, this is easy to avoid by simply riding the old original hiking trail near by. A total of 80 man hours were put into the trail work today! The new bench cuts will not only improve the flow of the ride but also lessen the erosion that storm water causes by running down the trail. Good work everyone! A special thank you to the Bissell cycling team for providing the lunch today.

2009 Yankee Springs Time Trial Recap

2009 Yankee Springs Time Trial Recap

Thanks to all volunteers for the hardwork, some starting last Oct 2008, to make the 20th Anniversary of the Time Trial a huge success. Feedback from racers online and via emails are overwhelmingly positive!

Results show 550 registered racers. What's even MORE significant- only 126 of these were day-of registrations, which means we had a 77% pre-registration rate via BikeReg.com. We cannot understate how important pre-registration is to helping the check-in process for the volunteers on race day! This percentage is unprecedented for most mountain bike races.

Niel Scharphorn, sporting BikeTag #1 for the second year, took first place in the elite category for the second year in a row with a TWO-lap time of 1:29:22 He did his FIRST lap nearly as fast as previous years! Lap #1 = 43:57, Lap #2 = 45:25 (2008 his one lap time was 43.32)-- Congratulations Niel!

Results are here:
Yankee Springs Time Trial website -and-
Race Services

The Anniversary Pint Glasses were a great success- and we sold 63 online at $5.00 each in addition to the glasses we gave to the 425 pre-registered riders. We sold 61 Time Trail T-shirts online via BikeReg and a significant number of shirts were sold on site as well by Jason Bechtel, who admirably manned the Shirts and Pintglass table.

Also, the timing company's online results search was highly applauded

On to next year-- YEAHHHHH!

2009 Midwest Mountain Bike Summit

2009 Midwest Mountain Bike Summit

The 2009 Midwest Mountain Bike Summit that will take place on May 29-31, 2009 at the Cannonsburg Ski Area near Grand Rapids, MI. The three-day Summit will provide educational and networking opportunities to over three hundred mountain bicyclists, trail builders and advocates from across the Midwest.

More information:

http://mmba.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=89694

http://www.midwestmtbsummit.com

New Bike Park to be built in Grand Rapids

GRAND RAPIDS -- Mountain bikers will have a new place to ride within the Grand Rapids city limits this summer.

A mountain bike trail and skills area are slated to be built in May at the former southwest Little League site at 580 Kirtland, now the home of a BMX bike track operated by Helmet-On.

The project comes after three years of discussions between area mountain bikers and the Grand Rapids Parks and Recreation department. Cyclists have been asking where a city park trail might be built. City officials say they found a location that fits. Click link for full story....... http://www.mlive.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2009/04/grand_rapids_mountain_bike_tri.html