CROCT skills park update, fall 2021

CROCT teamed up with the City of Northfield Public Works Department to upgrade the Sechler Skills Park this year.  Props to Streets & Parks Supervisor Dennis Clark for the ongoing support!

City crews and CROCT volunteers expanded the jump line, including a much bigger launch mound; moved a big boulder to the middle of park; and reinstalled the kiosk.

 

CROCT skills park update, fall 2018: teeters and skinnies and jumps, oh my!

Our Sechler Skills Park got an overdue update this fall.

Michael Knoll, owner of Michael’s Cycles in Prior Lake and Chaska and Behind Bars in NE Mpls, donated several wood features that they’d been using for skills clinics, most notably, a teeter totter and an up-and-down skinny plank. The obstacles were built by one of their long-time customers, Greg Henningsen.

We revamped 7 of the 8 table top jumps and added a new one with help from the staff at the City of Northfield’s Streets & Parks Department.

Featured riders in the photos above: Devin Lee and family.

As of October, 2018, the list of skills park features  includes:

  • 3 berms (1 large wood berm, 2 dirt berms)
  • 8 tabletop jumps (7 beginner-level, 1 intermediate-level)
  • 2 wood drops (1 beginner-level, 1 intermediate-level)
  • 2 large log piles
  • 1 line of 8 small rollers
  • 1 log skinny/logover obstacle, configured for several levels of difficulty
  • 2 railroad ties configured for uphill steps
  • 1 large boulder
  • Two permanent skinnies (intermediate-expert)
  • 1 teeter totter
  • 1 up-and-down skinny plank
  • Miscellaneous movable wood skinnies

The skills park has its own page here on the CROCT website, listed under the Trails dropdown menu.

CROCT’s Sechler Skills Park continued to evolve in 2017

With help from volunteer trail workers, support from the staff at the City of Northfield’s Streets & Parks Department, and power from our lovable Ford tractor (still on loan from CROCT member Bill Nelson,) our Sechler Skills Park grew quite a bit last year. It now has its own page here on the CROCT website, listed under the Trails dropdown menu. Scenes from the 2017 season:

The list of features (photo album below) will grow again in 2018 but currently includes:

  • 3 berms (1 large wood berm, 2 dirt berms)
  • 7 tabletop jumps (6 beginner-level, 1 intermediate-level)
  • 2 wood drops (1 beginner-level, 1 intermediate-level)
  • 2 large log piles
  • 1 line of 8 small rollers
  • 1 log skinny/logover obstacle, configured for several levels of difficulty
  • 2 railroad ties configured for uphill steps
  • 1 large boulder
  • Several skinnies (intermediate-expert) with changing configurations

Defeat of Jesse James Day’s Parade 2017! Volunteer’s needed!

Last year we had such a great turn out and everyone seemed to have a great time being a part of the parade that we decided to do it again! We raised a good amount of funds that helped pay for dirt, tools, and more for the local CROCT trails. Most impressive though was the multitude of people asking what’s CROCT? That starts a conversation about who/what CROCT is and what this volunteer organization is doing in/for Rice county.

With your help we can continue to get the word out and get more people interested in riding and supporting local trails! Join us September 10th in the Defeat of Jesse James Day parade as a CROCT volunteer!

For those of you whom will be new to this here is what to expect and what is expected of you:

#1 Wicked cool new T-shirt to wear this year!!! Which will be handed out at the starting point at cornerstone church!

#2 March in a parade, carry a banner, make memories, wave to folks along the way, and enjoy the company of great people! (laughing with your “Banner Buddy”!) We will begin staging at 1 pm! Ready, set, go, to march at 2pm (make sure to arrive by 1:30 to grab a shirt, sign waiver, heckle the pre parade pep talk, and be assigned a banner)! We will begin staging at 1 pm, in the parking lot of Cornerstone Church (Google map link).

Children are welcome!

#3 Smiles and looking like you Love biking and trails (easy!)!

Remember: We need at min 76 people to help out but the more people we get the less trips you have to make down the parade route!

WHY SHOULD YOU DO THIS???

We need to get the word out about CROCT in order to raise funds to support our active and expanding trail building and mountain biking education projects. If you like what CROCT is doing in your area this is a great way to support this volunteer organization and we can’t do this without you!!! Who doesn’t love to experience a parade from the inside out!

If you are willing to help out and volunteer please use the link for the sign up form:

Sign Up Form

Also if you can please print, sign and bring the waiver (PDF) to the parade (we will have some on hand day of for your convenience):

Questions? Contact the CROCT parade volunteer chair : Aleasha Markley.

 

 

CROCT to build new public trails in Faribault

We are excited to announce that this spring, summer and fall CROCT will be building a 3-4 mile, multi-use trail at Shattuck-St. Mary’s School in Faribault. The trail will be open to the public, in addition to being an outdoor eduction resource for the school, where students can learn how to build sustainable trails and how to mountain bike.

The joint CROCT-Shattuck St. Mary’s School venture is part of Shattuck’s commitment to community outreach. An ultra runner and biker himself, Shattuck President Nick Stoneman is one of the key forces behind the project. Thank you, Nick!

The trail will also be a great resource for the Cannon Valley Composite Mountain Bike Team, comprised of high school students from various high schools in the Cannon River Valley.

CROCT will pursue this trail building project, in addition to building trail at Faribault’s Teepee Tonka Park.

We are thrilled to be expanding into Faribault and to welcome Milltown’s Todd Trembley to the CROCT Board. A Faribault Resident, Todd brings a wealth of expertise. He currently coaches the Cannon Valley Composite Mountain Bike Team.

If you are interested in helping build these trails, please contact CROCT President Marty Larson at martini.ss@gmail.com. Trail building is fun and rewarding, not to mention a great workout!

Last Friday, Marty and CROCT Board Members Jeremy Bokman and Sarah Jansen surveyed Shattuck’s land:

 

Downtown Bicycles to support CROCT-NCS youth summer mountain biking camps

Tom Bisel, CROCT Member, CVVC Founder and President and Owner of Tom’s Downtown Bicycles, will be helping support our CROCT-NCS youth summer mountain biking camps!

Tom Bisel
Tom Bisel

Online registration for the mountain bike summer camps opens tomorrow. Scholarships are available through Melissa Bernhard (MBernhard@northfieldschools.org). Please contact CROCT Board Member Sarah Jansen (guild44@gmail.com) for any additional assistance, or if you are interested in volunteering to help with the camps. We will NOT let income be a barrier to participating in these camps.)

The three summer mountain biking camps run for one week (June 12-16, July 24-28 and July 31-August 3). Bisel, who is committed to “giving kids the tools so that they can succeed on two wheels”, will be offering mountain bikes for rent for $25 (for the entire week!). Bisel is excited to see more and more families out riding bikes together, noting that Northfield is a great community to ride your bike, whether on road, gravel or mountain bike/fat bike trails.

Downtown Bicycles will also check over summer camp participants’ bikes, in order to make sure they are safe before the classes commence. “We’re just here to help”, Tom explains, “one of my roles as a bike shop owner is to be a resource to all the cycling communities in our area”.

Bisel opened his shop eight years ago, when he noticed a lack of support for the growing active community in Northfield. Since then, Bisel has supported numerous efforts to get kids on bikes, not just volunteering his time, but also donating bikes to Northfield Public Schools.

Thanks Tom Bisel!

Those interested in the summer mountain bike camps may also be interested in local bicycling Advocate and CVVC Member Bruce Anderson’s Nature Immersion Club, at the Greenvale Park Community School. The class begins today and continues every Thursday evening (6-7:30 pm) through May 18.

Anderson describes the class as follows:

“Nature Immersion Club gives kids the opportunity to learn how to bike safely on Northfield-area streets, gravel roads, and off-road trails, and go on outings to experience and learn about the natural world. Rides will be taken to the Carleton Arboretum, St. Olaf Natural Lands, Hauberg Woods, Sechler Park, and McKnight Prairie for hikes, nature photography, and bird, tree, and wildflower identification. The emphasis will be on having fun in nature! Parents are welcome as well! Don’t have a bike? No problem — we will help you find one.”

Exciting things are happening for kids’ biking in Northfield!

Please contact Bruce Anderson (bruce@sustainablecommunitysolutions.com) and/or Community School Co-Coordinators Kathryn Lozada (klozada@northfieldschools.org) and Laura Berdahl (lberdahl@northfieldschools.org) for more information.

You can also follow Downtown Bicycles at their Facebook page or Twitter feed.