Some winter trail guidelines to follow

It's that time of year where the temps are usually below 32 degrees. The ground is frozen solid most of the winter season, but there are a few exceptions. To keep the trail in great shape for spring, please do not ride the trail when it is above freezing with only a light snow cover on it, like right now. Also, parts of the trail that get direct sunlight will get thawed sometimes, so if you see wet muddy sections of trail, please do not ride any of the trail.

By caring for the trail over the winter months, it greatly reduces the maintenance in the spring. Our volunteers will greatly appreciate not having to fix ruts and pits from people who ride during thawing cycles.

One important warning while riding Theo! You must yield to skiers at all the ski trail crossings once the ski trails are groomed. Also, do not ride on any of the ski trails and cross them at a 90 degree angle and only at the locations where the mountain bike trail crosses a ski trail. If you just follow the mountain bike trail, it will cross the ski trail at 90 degrees.

Also, once we get a good amount of snow it's really tough to ride the trails. Two things can be done to keep the trails rideable in deeper snow conditions. One, snowshoeing the trail does a great job of compacting the snow so bike tires will not sink in. Also those with Pugsley's (the big tired bikes) who ride the trail help compact it quite well, but it's a lot a work to break in a snow covered trail with a Pugs. Pugsley's and 29ers with 2.3 tires work amazingly well in the snow. A 26 inch wheel is fine, but doesn't roll as well in deeper snow. Studs are generally only needed if an icy surface forms under the snow cover. But most of the time studs don't do much, all you need is a good aggressive knobby tire.

More updates as winter progresses.

Enjoy the winter.

It's a blogfull morning, but one more thing!

If you are interested, the MPRB has it's 2009 proposed budget posted. This is a PDF doc, so make sure you have Acrobat Reader installed (Preview on a Mac).

http://minneapolisparks.org/documents/about/budget/2009_proposed_budget.pdf

Keep in mind that they don't generally budget money for the off-road cycling trails due to the fact that MOCA currently builds and maintains all of the trails in Theodore Wirth Park north of Hwy 55. Since MOCA is a 100% volunteer organization that gets funds through donations made to MORC, there isn't a need for the MPRB to budget money for off-road cycling trails at this time.

Riding the trails this time of year.

There are a few guidelines that will help you be careful not to damage the trail while riding it. This time of year the trails don't really get a chance to dry out. It's just too cold and when it warms up above freezing, the ground melts and makes for a wet and muddy surface. If someone rides when the ground is thawed, then a rut occurs and will last all winter and throughout the spring. So please only ride the trail when it's been a degree or two below freezing (32 degrees) for a couple of hours. This will make sure that any softer areas of the trail freeze up before they are ridden. Also, if there has been a significant amount of rainfall, give the trails the standard 36 - 48 hours time to dry up as best they can before riding it. If the trails are super wet from rainfall, they won't freeze solid as fast as they typically do.

If all riders can help care for the trail, it makes life better for riders, trailworkers, and any other trail users. We all enjoy a nice smooth and fast singletrack and it takes only a little effort by all riders to help keep it that way.

The 4 core IMBA principles:

Another Raking Party success!

The leaves were wet, which made it a little tougher to rake, but having a decent number of people really helped speed things up. We had about 10 volunteers and raked the entire trail within 3 hours! mara and I brought some delicious flavored croissants, cookies, and hot spiced apple cider for everyone. It was a good time and MOCA really appreciates the volunteers who come out and help us do such important tasks on a cold November day.

2008 Election results

On Wednesday November 12th the MOCA board held the annual elections for the officer positions. There were also two new appointed roles created and one appointed role was filled that has not been filled in a couple of years. Below are the results of this years MOCA elections.

Officer Positions:

President: Matt Moore
Vice-President: Charles Chenvert
Secretary: Steef Mansfield
Trail Stewards: mara larson and Shad Holland

Appointed Positions:

Minister of Propaganda: Justin Kalemkiarian
Master of Acquisitions: Charles Chenvert
Captain Huck: Jake Wittenberg

We will have a very productive year in 2009. Huge thanks to all of these individuals for stepping up and volunteering their time to MOCA!

Annual raking party this Sunday (11/16) at 10:30am

Every year we rake the trail after most of the leaves have fallen. It's pretty easy and light work, not like raking a yard, and we make it fun. We plan to have some bagels for the morning and maybe some warming beverages too.

So you might ask, why do we rake every fall? We do this for two main reasons. One, it makes for much better late fall and winter riding. The snow will compact better if it's not on top of a bunch of leaves. Second, and the main reason we do it, is so the trail dries up and hardens faster in the spring. This will allow us to open the trail up to a week earlier than if we had leaf cover on the trail. That is one extra week of riding in the spring when we know everyone is just itching to get on dirt.

We will meet in the par 3 parking lot at 10:30am. If you can't make it on time, just come find us on the trail or start raking and you are bound to run into us.

If you come out, please bring your favorite yard rake. If you have extras, bring those in case people don't have one. Make sure you bring your favorite colder weather beverage as well.

Important Survey to fill out if you visit or live in Minneapolis!

This is the letter we received. Please take the time to go fill out this survey.

_________________________________________________________

Dear Resident and/or Park Visitor,

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) is seeking public input for its Bike, Walk and Roll Plan. It will set the programming and infrastructure guidelines for the following activities: biking, in-line skating, walking, mountain biking, hiking, running and BMX riding. The resulting plan will identify infrastructure changes or improvements as well as programming opportunities. Identified improvements are anticipated to range from basic maintenance to rehabilitation to those that might catch the eye of potential donors to the park system. The recommended improvements will become part of a new Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for the MPRB.

You are encouraged to complete a biking/walking/rolling survey by Nov. 28. Surveys are also available at recreation centers and the MPRB’s customer service desk (612-230-6400). If language accommodation is needed to provide input in this process, please call 612-230-6472. You can find additional information about the CIP and the Bike, Walk and Roll Plan at www.minneapolisparks.org.

Thank you for your support of the Minneapolis park system.

__________________________________________________________

Some helpful info and survey link!

Here is the link to the page.
http://www.minneapolisparks.org/default.asp?PageID=1099&SearchID=216566

and a link to the survey.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=jpurl2g4t6cQ4uif_2bEY1hw_3d_3d

Last Sunday's trailwork!

What a perfect day for trialwork and a ride after. You could not have asked for better conditions on a November 1st Sunday.

mara working on the downhill rock armor.

Tom, Chuck, and mara working on the downhill rock armor. The feature really shows here. This downhill will lead you into some rollers, a berm, then a gap jump into the gully. Should be some fun flow!

During the ride we stopped to get a picture of Chuck with the Chuck Rock. Don't ask......just call it the Chuck Rock and everything will be okay.

All in all, it was a fun day. A big thanks to Ken, Mark, Chuck, and Tom for showing up to help mara and I last Sunday.

Trailwork this Sunday at 10:30am

On Sunday November 2nd we plan to have another trailwork session. We will continue with the advanced section (section 6). We missed trailwork last Sunday due to poor weather. So we will continue finishing the downhill rock armor, then hopefully have time to start on the tight and twisty uphill rock climbing section after the new gully crossing.

Bring good work shoes/boots, long pants, water, gloves if you need them, and anything else you may want to have with you. We provide the tools, so no need to bring your own. Bring a bike if you want so you can test new sections if needed or go for a ride after trailwork. If you can't make it at 10:30am, just come later (we will be there 3-4 hours) and join us on the trail.

Trailwork rained out twice in a row!

We plan to have our last trailwork this Wednesday (10/29) at 5pm.

I uploaded some recent trailwork pics and just thought I would share.

Work on the downhill rock armor.

It needs more work yet. But when finished, this will be one fun section of trail.

Trailwork this Sunday.

On Sunday (10/26) we plan to have another trailwork session to continue our awesome progress on Section 6.

Meet at 10:30am at the Par 3 lot. We will continue work on the downhill rock armor, we are almost finished, and then move to the tight uphill rock climbing section to start work on that.

If you can't make it at 10:30am, we will be working for about 3-4 hours, stop by anytime to come help. Bring good work boots/shoes, wear long pants, bring work gloves if you use them, and water.

Hope to see you there!

It's that time of year again!

This Wednesday(10/22) at 5pm will be our last Wednesday trailwork for 2008. It was a great year and we got a lot done. Meet us at the Par 3 lot. We will likely do light maintenance on some areas that need fixes.

But wait, we are not done for the year, we are now doing weekly Sunday trailwork until the ground gets too solid to work with. The next one will be starting at 10:30am Sunday (10/26) and going about 3 - 4 hours. We plan to continue work on Section 6 (advanced section).

Hope to see you there!

Trailwork on Sunday Oct 19th at 10:30am

We plan to continue work in Section 6. The rock causeway needs to have an entrance and exit put in. We also need to finish up work on the downhill rock armor. Once we get those two projects completed, we plan to start on the uphill rock climbing section just after the causeway.

Meet at the Par 3 lot (parking permit required to park there) and bring water, long pants, maybe bug spray, work gloves, and good work boots/shoes. We will supply the tools.

The more people we get to volunteer, the sooner we can get the first 1/2 of Section 6 finished and open for riding.

One Ditch Witch, 6 people, and 2 rocks bars!

It took us months to plan for the projects that happened on Sunday. When all was said and done, we got 2 huge projects completed. One was a rock causeway, first in our area, that crosses a gully. The other project was to armor two low spots the trail will go through in another gully. That project was done by a troop of Eagle Scouts.

We just happened to have our major trailwork day, including machine work, on the same day as the Theodore Wirth Cup (a Cyclocross race). But after some negotiations with Paul Schoening (race director) about the course layout on Friday, all was good to go. A huge thanks to Paul for working with MOCA on coordinating the two events at the same location. It's nice to know that we have a tightly knit and awesome bicycle community here in Minneapolis.

A huge Thanks goes out to Tim Wegner for his time behind the Ditch Witch. The guy has some serious skill with that machine. He also has a ton of patience as we asked him to take the whole causeway apart and reassemble it so we could get it just right. He shook his head at us a couple of times, but hung in there. In the end, we got the causeway just right. This made for some great celebrating afterwards. We knew we could do it, it was just a matter of time and patience by all to get it done the way we wanted it. Puzzling rocks together is never an easy task and the larger the rocks, the tougher it is to get them together.

The crew hard at work!

Completion of project, what an awesome job by all! Thanks to Tom, Chuck, Jake, and mara for all the hard work you put into this trail feature!

Jake giving it a test ride. He said it was like riding on the sidewalk. Okay, he didn't really say that, but you could tell he was thinking it.

The Eagle Scouts got their 2 projects done. Thanks for coming out and giving us a hand with out trail! 

In the end, it was a great day for MOCA. We plan to have some future, less chaotic, Sunday sessions. If we get enough good weather this fall, we might just get lucky and get this 1/2 of Section 6 completed and open for riding. We still have a lot of work to do though, so it's possible it might not get done until early spring or summer of next year.

Huge trailwork session this Sunday!

All the right pieces fell in place for us. We will be having a mega trailwork session from Noon - 4pm, maybe longer, this Sunday (10/12).

We have 3 main projects going on all at once. One project will be moving really large rocks by machine to a new rock causeway. We need people to help dig out the area these rocks will be placed. Another project will be to continue the rock armor downhill that is just over 1/2 complete. Some Boyscouts will be working on another rock armor project for us.  We will need some trailworkers to support them by bringing rock to there worksite. Once these goals have been met, we will move ahead to get our advanced section (Section 6) well on it's way!

All you need to do is show up at noon this Sunday at the Par 3 lot. If you come late, just head up to the prairie and you will have no problem finding us. Also, there will be a CX (Cyclocross) racing going on, so you can take some time to spectate that during any downtime we are likely to have.

Bring good trailwork shoes, gloves, long pants, maybe bugspray, and comfortable clothes for dirty work. Tools will be provided.

Hope to see you there!

Board meeting next Wednesday!

The MOCA board meeting will be held at the Kenwood Community Center in Minneapolis on Oct 8th at 7:00pm. The meeting can take up to 2 hours, but it's usually less.

Before the meeting we plan to have a group ride at Theo starting at 5pm and going until about 6:30 so we have time to ride over to the KCC for the meeting. Please feel free to join us for the group ride and/or the MOCA board meeting.

Trailwork on Wednesday, Oct 1st at 5:00pm

We will be leaving the par three lot at five pm to do trailwork this Wednesday. If you'd like to join in the fun but can't be there exactly at five, look for us in the new section north of the service road by the golf course fence.

We will resume work on the downhill rock armor. If there are enough people, a mini-crew will also tackle tread issues in the south loop.

Tools are provided. Bring gloves, work boots, water, and homemade cookies if you're into baking and sharing! : )

Yesterdays trailwork

It was a bit too wet to ride yesterday, so we were talking to riders and asking them not to ride the trail. Justin came in his work suit and hung out at the trailhead to talk to approaching riders. This freed up the rest of us to focus on the trails. Thanks Justin!

mara and I visited with the regional IMBA rep on some rock moving and plans for the advanced trail we are currently working on. Tom and Chuck went out and did some deberming (taking the high outside edge off) of the trail so water will flow better. All in all it was a good trailwork session with some good planning for our big trailwork day in Oct. We hope it will be Sunday Oct 12th. This isn't set in stone, but once we have it as a solid date we will let you know. The plan is to have as many people as we can that day. We plan to put in some huge rock by machine, along with having a crew armoring the bottom of some gulleys. We need a few people to help us shovel and place rocks while the machines are doing the moving. Any help we can get would be greatly appreciated. I will make an officail post here in the blog and on the MORC forums when the date is set.

The trails are in pretty good shape. It is fall, so when riding watch for areas covered in fallen leaves. Those can cause you to slide out in a turn rather quickly. Have fun and be safe!

Problems with riders riding the trails when they are wet

For some reason 2008 has been the year to ride the trails when they are wet. I am not sure why so many people ride them when they are muddy or have puddles all over, but this creates a lot more work for our volunteer trailworkers and severely damages the trail.

The general rule of thumb is that if your tires are leaving a tread mark (in any part of the trail) or mud is collecting on your tires, the trail is too wet and soft to ride. This causes low areas that will retain water and erode the trail much faster. See the Wet Trails PDF document to see how this happens.

If you are out there and see other riders riding the trails when they should not be, please inform them as best you can. We all need to work together to keep our trails in good shape. Thanks for your support and understanding.

We have recently started work in Section 6

What is Section 6 you ask? Section 6 is the new advanced trail that the MPRB promised we could build once the Theodore Wirth trails became legitimate. This section is located in the northwest section of the park right along the fence the boarders the golf course. There will be two sections, 6a and 6b (official names yet to come). We plan to get 6a completed and open sometime by early next season. The idea of this section is to have some tight technical climbs and good flowing downhill sections. Expect to see some technical challenges along with berms, hips, and jumps. There will be a couple of tough rock sections too.

After 6a is completed, we plan to get started on 6b. We do need volunteers to come out during trailwork. Not only do we need help building the new sections, we also need enough people to keep the existing trails maintained. We prioritize work on the existing trails, so the more people we get, the faster we can get the advanced sections done and ready to ride.

Currently we are doing trailwork every Wednesday at 5:00pm. Meet in the Par 3 parking lot. We supply the tools, so just bring some gloves, good dirt working shoes, long pants, and bug spray. Hope to see you there!

Welcome to the MOCA blog

We will use this blog in conjunction with our website to keep you posted on current happenings with MOCA. If you want to know more, please go to our website and read about us. Now go ride you bike!