So, over the course of the few years that I’ve ridden the Wathen Trail with Joe Perrin, we’ve nicknamed several spots where we’ve been bitten. The latest nicknamed area? Flipper Rock. Just ask Rob F. about it. Don’t worry Rob, it flipped me this week too. Ain’t mountain biking fun? Seems as thought Wathen took down a few of us in the past week. Joe went down on Widowmaker Rock. Always a fun one to crash on. Kevin D. went down just before Superman Rock and just after. Nothing like crashing at 6 a.m. in the morning.
Anyway, enough about owwwies. Onto the biz…


A quick recap from last Monday’s meeting from our Prez – Ron C.

1. Gave a report on TKMB, it was a great event. Recognized DeWayne & Tyler for wrenching and Full Cycle, Performance & Lee’s for contributions. Also mentioned I will be soliciting volunteers in June for fall TKMB.
2. Announced Skills Clinic, Friends of Lory Trail Day and the next trail meeting. Talked up skills clinic.
3. Todd, Monty and Ron talked about IMBA meeting and the need for club growth. Monty went off on a mooning storyJ
4. Three new Patrollers got First Aid kits. Nice work!
5. Bill solicited another round of CPR/FA re-cert. I need to go.
6. Monty talked about the Communications Committee and what they are doing. Thanks to Shawn, Jeff, Mary Lou and Ramon for helping out. And don't forget the CARD COMPETITION! Win valuable prizes!
7. Discussion on trail work at Bobcat, talked about the need to filter stuff on the Google calendar and the Overland website presentation. I updated the Google calendar to reflect that the Bobcat work was “Trail Maintenance” so it can be filtered on the Overland Calendar.
8. Gave out a bunch of tubes & patch kits to patrollers, sold some shirts and jerseys.
9. Lots of miscellaneous dates were thrown out by Todd for Gowdy/?? Trail days. Todd needs to put these on the calendar for us.
10. Stuffed all the bags for the Communications Committee. That went well.


Other stuff:

Overland Grant Awarded - Jason Trujillo has worked tirelessly to get this H.S. Mountain Bike League up and running along with beginning the process to become a non-profit soley focused on kids getting on bikes. Overland recently awarded Jason and his group the funds to purchase a trailer to store all of his gear, take to races, and use as a portable command center for events. If you want more info on Jason and his efforts, we can put you in touch.


Youth Skills Clinic, Saturday, June 5th – Please spread the word. There are still plenty of spots open for this event. Free to children of Overland MTB Club Members. $10.00 to those who aren’t. The link for the sign-up is in the right hand column.


Bike Parts Swap, June 6th 9-11 a.m. – Hosted by club member, Dewayne N, Informal bike part/misc stuff swap behind Full Cycle. This is a non-sanctioned event loosely organized by me so we can all get rid of our extra stuff in the garage/basement. Hope to see you all there. Oh, and bring some cool stuff!!


Communications Committee Meeting – Monday, June 7th at Café Vino. Come help us work to spread the word about Overland Mountain Bike Club. Meeting time, 6:30 p.m. CARD COMPETITION: Don't forget to put your name on your Overland Cards when you pass them out on the trail. I've already given away at least a dozen. My bet, however, is on Rob F. Win some prizes. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, email Kory.


Trails Committee Meeting – Tuesday June 8th. This from Stacy: News since last OMBC meeting:

1. The city is excited about the interpretive Pineridge signs, and suggested we also put a few on Maxwell's to spread out the messages
2. They are also excited to fix the few boggy spots behind the stadium that always get trashed after a rain. They plan to get on it in a few weeks.
3. I'm very actively seeking people to volunteer to do recon-rides on all of our trails. Basically, I need people to go out and ride, and really take a good look at the trail, how it flows, the condition it is in, and take note of areas of damage. Take photos. Give reports. Send the info. to me at ombc.trails (at) gmail.com so we can start planning our projects for the next 2-5 years. Please have people contact me THIS WEEK to get signed up for specific trails. This is an ongoing invitation to submit information to the trails committee, however it is important that we identify as many trail condition issues as possible in the next couple of weeks.


June 12th, Friends of Lory Trail Day – 14 years and running. This is a great event. Bring your friends and family. Many hands make for light work! Please sign up on the link in the right hand column. Also, Roger Thomson is looking for crew leaders. Let him know if you can be a crew leader.


A big thanks from Judy Chapman over at McKee Medical Center: “Thank you for volunteering for the Community Classic Bike Tour on Sunday. We had over 200 volunteers and nearly 1,500 riders. Due to this tremendous support, over $80,000 was raised for the Stepping Stones Adult Day Program expansion project!”


That’s all I’m going to run through right now. May your wheels keep contact with the ground, and if they don’t, I hope it’s a soft landing.

Monthly Meeting - TONIGHT

It's that time of the month when we all show up at Catalyst Coffee and Tap Room and talke mountain bikes! Join us for our monthly awards. Updates on trail days, events, and more.

We're rolling out a little FRIENDLY COMPETITION tonight along with putting together a great Overland goody bag for folks who buy new bikes!

If you want to sign up to volunteer for Friends of Lory Trail Day, the link is in the column to the right.

If you want to sign up for the Youth Skills Clinic, the link is in the column to the right also.

Visit our CALENDAR for more info!

Hope to see everyone there!

May 17th and Beyond....

Ahh, spring weather...Gotta love a nice little branch crushing snowstorm in May.

Hope you all are well. We're looking at an interesting week culminating in our 2nd Annual Spring Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day where 40 kids and their parents will roll through Pineridge and Maxwell.  A big 'Thanks' to the City of Fort Collins Natural Areas for granting us access.  Speaking of Take a  Kid. If you haven't yet volunteered, please do so HERE. It's sure to be a great day.

Social Ride Presto - Changeo
The Social Ride will meet over at the Soderberg Trailhead this week. Mixin' things up a bit once a month. If you'd like directions, go HERE.  Hope to see you all over there this week. As always, this ride is dependent on the weather. All riders are welcome. These are social, 'no drop' rides. We'll be meeting up for snacks and drinks afterwards. As always, bring something to share.

NBB Races - The FINALE
The Final Short Track Race of the Season runs Tuesday Night. If you haven't taken part, do it Tuesday. We have some very exciting plans for this race day. BRING YOUR ID----NEW BELGIUM BEER GARDEN ($4.00 NBB Cans---Ranger, Sunshine Wheat and Fat Tire) -- BRING YOUR ID and some extra cash......As usual we will have a raffle to give away and represent our sponsors products, including the grand prize drawing for the NBB Cruiser bike which is Super Rad this year. All that participated in the first two NBB Races and are present at the last one are eligible to win. Must be there to win. Titus will be there with their demo fleet of bikes you can test ride. Food for sale "Fly By Diner". See you Tuesday. -Jason

Trails Committee Needs Photos and Feedback
The Trails Committee is looking for input from all club members regarding trail conditions. Please take photos of sections of trail you feel are in need of work, whether simple trail maintenance or massive work-arounds and new lines. In order to effectively discuss our long-term trail maintenance and building plans at the June meeting, we need to identify the key trail problem areas in the next few weeks. Any input is much appreciated! And as always, please come to a trails meeting, or just email us with your thoughts on trail work you'd like to see done. We'd like to keep the ball rolling by having a number of trail proposals in the works throughout the year. Now is the time to contribute!


Send trail feedback and photos to: ombc.trails (at) gmail.com
There are a lot of trail days on the calendar this year - between Lory, Horsetooth, Hewlett's, Bobcat, Devils Backbone, and Redfeather, there will be plenty of opportunities to help repair and rebuild trails. Keep an eye on the OMBC website calendar.  Thanks! -Stacy

Patroller's Corner
Congrats to our newest patroller Dave Skram!!! And our first Trail Ambassador Eric Skram!!! Way to go guys. Remember to get your IMBA/NMBP dues up to date and get your check rides in, we have a couple more riders very close.Thanks to everyone for the help with the Community Classic Bicycle Tour. I need to get a list of everyone who needs or wants First Aid and CPR refresher/recert or the full class, we will try to schedule something next month. Please contact me at wfheist (at) msn.com.
Also, look for an update on the Picnic soon. Thanks. -Bill H

Club Meeting next Monday
Hope to see you all at Catalyst Coffee and Tap Room on Monday, May 24th. We'll talk mountain bikes, have great t-shirts and jerseys for sale, recognize some riders, talk mountain bikes, and keep everyone up to date on what's going on around town.

Also, thanks to Overland Mountain Bike Club for sponsoring me over the past 9 months for the Leadership Fort Collins Class. What an amazing experience and an opportunity to learn more about our great city. There's a nice little write up where Overland is mentioned. Read it HERE. -Kory

We do have one classified ad this week from club member Matt Solley. Check his listing on Craigslist HERE.

And that's about it. Don't forget to stop by one of our great Local Bike Shops and show them some love. And of course, our pals at New Belgium don't mind your support either.

Here's to a dry week...

Spring Newsletter

This week's blog is in two parts. The NEWSLETTER and the agenda below for the Trails Team Meeting on Tuesday.

Have a great week. See you on Wednesday for the ride. We'll either hit Josh's afterwards and console him or head to Maya Cove at the corner of Drake and Taft Hill.

Keep those knobbies rolling.

Trails Committee Meeting: Tuesday, May 11th, 7:30pm at NEW BELGIUM BREWERY.

On the agenda:
1. Overview of the new Trails Committee Google calendars
2. Discussing upcoming trail maintenance days: how many OMBC trail days can we do this year (Pineridge, Bobcat, etc.) and how do we want to be involved with trail days of other groups (volunteers, food, etc)
3. Budget for the above-mentioned.
4. Group discussion of reasonable trail projects to propose over the next 2 years, based on cost, relationships with the land owners, and status of the current travel management plan for that trail area.
5. Prioritize projects and assign volunteers to start researching/writing a proposal for longer-term projects. I want to be sure each team has a project brewing.
6. Look at our comprehensive list of trails thus far, making additions as needed.

* Your homework:
1. We're compiling an exhaustive spreadsheet of all the area trails, per land agency. Please bring your front range trail knowledge to help fill in some of the gaps!
2. Decide if you want to be an integral part of a *new* trail project over the next couple of years, and be prepared to step up and volunteer to help with the proposal! Great opportunity to communicate with Trails Committee team leaders, land owners, rangers, trail designers, and volunteers! Never done this before? Sweet. You're in good company. It's a learning process.

* Trails Team leaders:


If you have any information on the expiration date / re-writing of your land agency's travel management plan, please bring that information to the meeting (better yet, email it to me as well) so we as a group can discuss ways we can pro-actively be involved in the new trail development and start thinking of a timeline for doing so. Also include the main contact person and their phone number/email for that land agency. Thanks!

* Do we have a volunteer to take the minutes for this meeting? Beer may be involved....

See you Tuesday!

Stacy
ombc.trails (at) gmail.com

Spring Take A Kid Registration Filling Fast

We love kids. We love kids on mountain bikes. In fact, we love kids so much we've added another Take-A-Kid Mountain Biking Day to our calendar. We'll help kids understand the importance of being safe while out on the trail. We'll lead guided rides for Beginning riders, Intermediate riders, and Advanced riders. And of course, we'll have food too!

Any child who can pedal a bike is welcome to join us. (Parents are welcome to join us for the ride too.) Here's the info you'll need:

Where: Maxwell Natural Area Parking Lot
When: May 22nd @ 9:30 a.m.

Registration is limited for this free event and is filling fast. REGISTER HERE. You'll need to register each child individually. Please don't register yourself.

We hope to see you on May 22nd. We do have a limited number of 'loaner' bikes and helmets for those kids who might not have a bike and/or helmet. Helmets will be required on all riders who participate in the event.