Category Archives: Advocacy

SageGlass, with a little help from Jason Decoux, makes a donation to CROCT

Jason Decoux

Last summer, Jason Decoux (CROCT member, Founding Supporter, and regular trail worker) submitted a CROCT grant request to his employer, SageGlass (SAGE Electrochromics). The company annually invites employees to nominate local non-profits to receive a monetary donation. Their Community Gift/Giving Committee reviews the submissions and the the company hosts a dinner to honor the recipients and hand out the checks. We were notified a month ago that the request was approved.

Last night, CROCT president Marty Larson and I attended the dinner in the upstairs events room at Alexander’s in Faribault.

Griff Wigley, Marty Larson

Marty briefly updated the audience on the work our volunteers have done on constructing mountain bike trails in Rice County in the past year.  And he was handed at check for $345 which we’ll use to purchase some much-need trail tools.

Marty Larson

Unfortunately, Jason wasn’t able to attend due to an emergency at work.  We drank a beer in his honor.

 

Photos, video: Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day, 2015

Last Saturday was IMBA’s Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day (#TKMBD).

Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day 2015

We got a late start on planning activities for it but rather than doing nothing, decided at almost the last minute to invite CROCT members to meet at MORC’s Lebanon Hills Mountain Bike Trail where Dakota County was hosting its annual Wild Ride Mountain Bike Festival.

Wild-Ride-Mountain-Bike-Festival-flyer-2015

We had 5 kids and 4 adults show up and we all had a blast among the many hundreds of others who attended. We’ll be better organized for next year’s TKMBD!

15 photos and a 1-minute video:

October 3rd is Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day (TKMBD). Join us at Lebanon Hills

IMBA’s Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day (TKMBD) is October 3rd this year.

Join your fellow CROCT members with one or more of your kids and meet at 10 am on Saturday, Oct 3 at 10 am at MORC’s Lebanon Hills Mountain Bike Trail for Dakota County’s Wild Ride Mountain Bike Festival.

Gather at the CROCT banner somewhere at the trailhead (maybe on the back of my clunker Camry). Look for me or Carl Arnold who hopefully won’t be wearing his snowboots. If you can’t find us, text/phone me: 507.319.5541.

Confirm your plans to attend on the CROCT TKMBD event page. Ask questions there or contact us.

More details on the schedule of events are available on the MORC/Leb Facebook Event page.

Wild Ride Mountain Bike Festival flyer 2015

 

PRAB’s Dale Gehring features CROCT’s Sechler Park trail in his ‘park of the month’ column

PRAB Sechler Park column by Dale Gehring Dale Gehring, Northfield PRAB Chair

Northfield Park & Recreation Advisory Board (PRAB) chair Dale Gehring devoted a paragraph to CROCT’s Sechler Park mtb trail in this weekend’s Northfield News ‘park of the month’ column. It’s titled, Sechler Park offers much more than just baseball and softball. Here’s an excerpt:

One of the things the Northfield Park & Recreation Advisory Board is trying to move toward is making our community’s parks less seasonal. One example of this is Sechler Park… Our local mountain biking chapter called “Cannon River Offroad Cycling & Trails” (CROCT) has now developed a wonderful MTB trail network throughout the wooded portion of the park, ranging from beginner to expert level. The MTB trails can be accessed from Laurel Court behind Walgreens, entering the woods just to the right of the walking bridge. Folks can also enter behind the pavilion in the center of the park. We are currently working on signage that will be coming soon.

Why BikeNorthfield matters to CROCT

I attended the BikeNorthfieldBikeNorthfield steering committee meeting at the Northfield Public Library last night, as the agenda (PDF) included a discussion with City staff leaders (City Administrator Nick Haggenmiller, City Engineer/Director of Public Works Dave Bennett, and Engineering/GIS Technician Jasper Kruggel)  about two upcoming street improvement projects that concern bicyclists: 3rd St. & Hwy 3; and Woodley St from Division to Prairie.

There may not be an obvious connection between CROCT’s mission and the current activities of BikeNorthfield (a link to their Facebook page). But our Sechler Park MTB trail is popular in part because it’s directly connected to the City’s paved trail through Riverside Park and across the Peggy Prowe Pedestrian Bridge.  Our discussions with the PRAB could lead to the establishment of mountain bike trails and skills parks in several other City parks, in which case, extensive street and local paved trail networks are increasingly important so that off-road cyclists of all ages can ride safely to and from the dirt trails and bike parks.

Photo album: