New mountain bike club

Last night I went to a meeting where it was decided that a new mountain bike club would be formed to serve the Coeur d'Alene area. FTTRC might have some kind of loose affiliation but the new club will be a completely separate organization. The main reason people wanted an organization for the the Coeur d'Alene area is to build trails and keep other trails open to bikes. There's a few areas close to Coeur d'Alene which have lots of potential for building mountain bike trails. I hope to see this new club grow and I look forward to working with them in the future.

buffing the Rabid Rabbit

It was raining at Beacon this morning so I decided to do some maintenance to one of my trails, the Rabid Rabbit. There was a number of places where grooves had developed this spring from the mud. The rain was helpful since it let me see all the places water was collecting on the trail. I smoothed out some of the grooves and improved the drainages all along the trail.

I also put up one more trail marker, at the top of the Rabid Rabbit. I'm going to try and get a BOB trailer to make the task of installing trail markers easier.




Riding down the Rabid Rabbit later in the day...

Trail work at Dishman and Canfield

Today I went over to Coeur d'Alene to help with trail work. A new trail is being built on the City owned portion of Canfield Mountain. There were over 30 volunteers. The local bike shops and North Idaho Freeride Association both helped to bring volunteers. An employee for Coeur d'Alene Parks department was there to oversee the building. He was excited to have our support and seemed very enthusiastic towards mountain biking trails.

On Saturday I helped out with the WTA/REI trail work party at Dishman Hills. WTA is a trail building association for hikers although the trails they build are multi-use trails. Me and Dan Webber spent the morning widening a switchback so it was rideable for bikes. I'm hoping WTA will host a work party at Beacon in the future.

Helping other groups is a win-win because of the positive relationships that are established. Locals in N. Idaho are talking about forming their own mountain biking organization or forming an affiliation with FTTRC. Stay tuned...

talks with Canadians

Just gave the Trails Manager of Kootenay Columbia Trails Society in Rossland a tour of Beacon Hill. He was a really cool guy and gave me some maps for the trails in Rossland. They have 12 paid trail builders which makes me very jealous :) He has ridden the Kettle Crest trails and is interested in bringing down Canadians to the Kettle Fest this year. I'm also going to have to check out more of the trails in Rossland!