GRAND RAPIDS – A state grant could speed development of a “grand loop” of area mountain-biking trails.

Grand Rapids plans this spring to apply for two Recreation Passport grants from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. One would help fund resurfacing of six tennis courts at Aberdeen Park, 798 Evelyn St. NE. The other would help pay for 3.5 miles of natural-surface mountain-biking trails at Richmond Park, 1101 Richmond St. NW.

The project proposed at Richmond Park would be part of “The Grand Loop” that will enable riders to access a network of off-street trails via on-street paths, said Kevin Allen, president of the West Michigan Mountain Biking Alliance.

“Why it’s so attractive at Richmond Park is because it marries with the urban bicyclist as well,” Allen said. “You can literally leave from your driveway and ride a little bit on the street and head out from there and hit some mountain-biking trails.

“There’s a lot of little parcels of property that are untouched, and our plans are to develop trails in these (areas) that not only the mountain bikers, but runners and joggers and cross-country skiers, could enjoy.”

Existing mountain-biking trails in the city are at Ken-O-Sha Park, 3155 Kalamazoo Ave. SE, and Grand Rapids Bike Park, 580 Kirtland St. SW. There also are existing trails at Richmond Park “that are not very sustainable,” Allen said.

“Our goal is to redesign those trails and make them something that everybody can use,” he said.

The Passport grants, which are funded by sales of $10 recreation passports sold by the Secretary of State, will range from $7,500 to $45,000 this year. Recipients must pay at least 25 percent of the total project cost.

The mountain-biking alliance will provide matching money for the Richmond Park trails, while Grand Rapids Tennis Patrons and Grand Rapids Public Schools will pitch in for the Aberdeen tennis courts, city officials said.

“Those courts have been perpetually on the list” of park needs, said Steve Faber, Friends of Grand Rapids Parks executive director. Unlike some parkland development monies, the passport grants are a way for the city to get money for upgrades to existing parks, he said.

City Commission is expected to hold a March hearing on the grant applications.

Grand Rapids last year got two $30,000 Passport grants: for basketball court and restroom improvements at Martin Luther King, Jr. Park, 800 Fuller Ave. SE, and for playground upgrades at Roosevelt Park on Grandville Avenue SW. The local match for each of those projects is $15,000.

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2012/02/recreation_passport_grant_coul.html

It used to be known as City Market, but soon 52 Monroe Center NW in the heart of downtown Grand Rapids will become Central District Cyclery, an urban bike haven that’s a longtime dream of mountain bike enthusiast Nate Phelps.

Phelps is the director of advocacy and a past president of the Michigan Mountain Bike Association, and VP of its local chapter the West Michigan Mountain Bike Alliance. He was also one of the driving forces behind the development of the Grand Rapids Bike Park, a mountain bike course with connecting trails at 580 Kirtland SW.

The 3,100-square-foot shop will feature a showroom for bikes, clothing and shoes; a maintenance area for bike repairs; bike storage for urbanites who need it; and a rental option for people who don’t own bikes. The shop will also offer organized group rides, and pickup and delivery services for bike repairs.

“We’re catering to the urban cyclist who wants to do road rides after work,” Phelps says. “We’re really reaching out to create an urban market, and feel that within a three-mile radius, we have a potential clientele of 200,000 people who live and/or work downtown.”

Phelps plans to open the shop by March 1, and plans to offer brands that include West Michigan bike maker 616 Bicycle Fabrication, Traitor Cycles, Linus Bikes, Gore Bike Wear, Club Ride Apparel, Izip and Sidi bike shoes.

Phelps, an inventory manager for local greeting card company Design Design, will leave his job to focus full time on the bike shop when it opens.

“I’ve thought about opening a shop for years, and have been looking for a location for the past couple of years,” he says. “I think this is a winning location. I really love Grand Rapids and want to participate personally in the re-growth and revitalization of the downtown area.”

Source: Nate Phelps, Central District Cyclery
Writer: Deborah Johnson Wood, Development News Editor

• Wednesday, March 21 – Seven Steps Up, Spring Lake

• Thursday, March 22 – Wealthy Theater, Grand Rapids

• Thursday, March 29 – Park Theater, Holland

WMMBA presents Pedal Driven, an award winning bikeumentary. Created by Howell at the Moon Productions in association with IMBA and in partnership with the United States Forest Service, the film examines the philosophy of shared stewardship and sustainability from both sides, and ultimately, offers examples of the ways in which opposing factions can find common ground in defense of the lands that belong to us all.

Learn more:  http://pedaldriven.howellatthemoon.com/

Proceeds benefit WMMBA’s 50 miles in 5 years campaign and Parkinson’s research. Help us make 50 miles of trail in five years a reality. Help fund research to make living with Parkinson’s less of a reality.

Come see a great movie, mingle with friends, win awesome raffle prizes and snack on local fare. Ticket includes: light fare, entry in raffle and lots of fun. Additional raffle tickets will be available.

Individual tickets $25

Couples tickets $45

Buy tickets here:

Spring Lake and Holland: http://www.eventbrite.com

Wealthy Theater: http://www.grcmc.org/index.php?page=theatre&s=tickets

SOLD OUT! The Fourth annual Barry-Roubaix will be held March 24th, 2012.  The start/finish will be at the The Yankee Springs Recreation Areas Gun Lake Unit on Briggs/Gun Lake Road.  Although this year’s event is sold out, you can always hope for those last minute transfers for the people who bail out.  Or just come out and cheer on your friends, have some Founders Ale and help support the WMMBA’s 50 in 5 campaign.

$2300 cash awards plus trophies or medals to the top five 62 Mile men and women racers (no age categories). 1st-$500, 2nd-$300, 3rd-$200, 4th-$100 and 5th-$50. Michigan Youth Cycling and Kisscross Events will award $375.00 in scholarship to the fastest under 18 year old male and female in the 24 and 36 mile races each. $1050 cash awards sponsored by Greenware plus trophies or medals to the top five men and women 36  mile  racers (no age categories). 1st-$200, 2nd-$150, 3rd-$100, 4th-$50 and 5th-$25.  Overall trophies and prizes to the men and women 24 mile racers and medals or prizes to the top five 24 mile racers in age categories (age categories are generally 10 year splits for 24 milers and 5 year splits for 36 milers, check Bike Reg for exact categories).  Your race age is your age ON race day.

A Pre-race silent raffle with prizes labeled in advance. Everyone has a chance to win!

You may confirm who has entered the race by going to the Bike Reg link and checking the confirmed riders list.

Updated 62 Mile Cut Off Time: For your safety no individual can go beyond the second aid station at mile 44 on the 62 mile loop after 1:00 p.m. (14.66 mph avg)

We won’t be offering free entries for volunteers this year since we are exclusively using Thornapple Valley Church volunteers and a portion of the proceeds will go to their missionary work.

No refund of any kind will be allowed. Although you can transfer your entry to another rider via Bike Reg prior to 7 p.m.  March 22nd, 2012.

• A bonfire on the beach
• 1000 free Barry-Roubaix/Specialized/Breakaway water bottles
• What the Truck catering with tacos and burritos for sale, plus more food vendors to be announced
• Greenware/WMMBA beer tent with Kegs of Founders Ale! A portion of the proceeds benefit the WMMBA’s 50 in 5 Campaign, a goal of building 50 miles of singletrack trails in 5 years!
• Silent Raffle table before and during the event (check to see if your race number was selected)
• Traditional Raffle at 2:30, must be present to win Velocity wheelset and more!
• Chronotrack Timing by Race Services Company. Rigid handlebar number plates with timing chips will be used for the best timing available. The race is timed as if it were a time trial (just like Iceman) to avoid a mass start with 1500 racers!
• Short Sleeve T-shirts available for purchase until March 9th when registering in advance. No day of shirt sales.
• The Barry-Roubaix is proud to be a stop on the American Ultra CX Series Championship for 2012

The proposed Grand Loop bike park in Grand Rapids could get more traction soon when park proponents meet at Richmond Park to review trail possibilities and estimate costs.

The Grand Loop would use a series of existing off-street and on-street urban bike trails to connect a number of Grand Rapids parks in each quadrant of the city, where pump tracks and natural mountain bike trails would be developed or enhanced. Parks under consideration are: Grand Rapids Bike Park, Ken-O-Sha Park, Richmond Park, Ball Perkins Park and some unused cemetery property near Alger and Kalamazoo streets SE.

The Grand Rapids parks and recreation department, the West Michigan Mountain Bike Association (WMMBA) and Friends of Grand Rapids Parks have been working on the concept for a couple of years, says Jay Steffen, director of Grand Rapids parks and recreation.

Ken-O-Sha Park saw some trail work last fall, and in the next couple of weeks, Steffen and others will walk the Richmond Park trails to determine what work needs to be done and approximate costs before applying for a Michigan Department of Natural Resources Passport Grant, Steffen says.

“We’d like to work with the WMMBA to make some of the trails more formalized,” Steffen says. “When I say that, I mean there have been trails blazed in wooded areas that probably shouldn’t be in those locations because of environmental issues. We’ll work with the group to develop areas where there won’t be so much environmental damage.”

Steffen says the concept of connectivity was a key theme in the Green Grand Rapids Master Plan and the Five Year Parks and Recreation Master Plan completed about two years ago.

“Many of the on-road facilities also correspond with The Rapid’s stops, so they are very much interconnected,” Steffen says. “I believe Grand Loop is one of those quality of life amenities that has the ability to attract and retain people in Grand Rapids. Once it’s completed, it will provide new, better and safer biking facilities for the biking community. It doesn’t just accommodate the on-street bikes or off-road bikes; it’s a good mix of both.”

If the DNR grant is approved, Steffen says work could begin on the Richmond Park trails in spring 2013.

Clear here for an interactive map of West Michigan bike trails.

Source: Jay Steffen, Grand Rapids Parks and Recreation Director
Writer: Deborah Johnson Wood, Development News Editor

In case you weren’t able to attend, here’s a quickie on some of the things we discussed at the meeting.  I’m not big on long formal meeting minutes, so if you need details, contact your favorite board member….better yet, come to the meeting.

New president Kevin Allen gave a recap of happenings in 2011

Yankee Springs Time Trial update – Registration has been open since mid-November. John Anderson is back with his sound system and announcing talents.  Dan Clark will design this year’s 2012 artwork for shirts, glasses and posters.  Youth Cycling will run our kid’s race event for 2012. Gault/RaceMgmt is back as our timing system operators.  As of January 9th we have over 100 pre-registered racers toward our cap of 700 for the 2012 race.  First committee meeting will be sometime in February.

Volunteers needed:  Yankee Springs Time Trial 4/22/12 (funds 40-50% of what we do), State Games of Michigan scheduled for 6/23/12, Trifecta mostly likely 5/20/12 but keep checking to be sure.  Give a shout out to Kevin Allen so he can get you on the volunteer list.

In October of 2011 trail coordinator George Trowbridge got the final portions of the Ionia Adopt-A-Trail program implemented.

The program is a joint venture between the wMMBA, Dan’s Bike Shop of Ionia, and the DNR.  Trowbridge was approached earlier in 2011 by Gary Ferguson, the manager of Dan’s Bike Shop, about executing the program because he had several of his weekly group riders showing interest in trail maintenance.  The group rides were using more of the trail than ever before because the maintenance has been kept up.  They recognized the effort put forth and wanted to get involved.  Trowbridge then sat down with Ferguson and together came up with a plan.  They both agreed that it was very important to make the plan as easy as possible for the volunteers to understand their requirements, but also as flexible as possible so the volunteers were not limited to specific days or times to work.

In the end Ferguson gathered up some 20+ names of people interested in maintaining the trails of Ionia and offered to make his shop the maintenance headquarters for the Ionia trails, where he would distribute maintenance information and control who was assigned to what trail segments.

Trowbridge provided paper documentation for the volunteers that included GPS’d satellite photos of ½ mile maintenance sections along with a written description of the section, recommended tools, optional tools, and expected maintenance conditions.  Additionally volunteers were provided with a small maintenance cheat sheet/checklist that included the do’s and don’ts of trail maintenance borrowed from IMBA trail books and customized to the environment of the Ionia State Recreation Area.

Recognizing the value of the volunteers, the DNR got involved by providing a renewable one year Use Permit at no charge and also offered to adopt some trail segments that they are better equipped to handle even with their limited staffing.

The year of 2012 should show a nice reduction in labor efforts for any one individual out at Ionia and this Adopt-A-Trail effort will begin paving the way to adding more trail mileage in the future.  The initial reaction of the volunteers to the program has been very positive due to its self-explanatory nature, extensive documentation, and schedule flexibility.

Come out and join us for the first chapter meeting of the year led by our new President Kevin Allen, who will give an overview of what we have accomplished during 2011 as well as what we have planned for 2012.  Additionally Rick Plite will be giving a presentation on the progress of the 10 mile trail and showing many pictures of the progress.  Once again the meeting will be held at Rocky’s Bar & Grill.

Hope to see you there!

• an indoor riding arena;
• First across the Finish Line and Volunteer of the Year awards;
• Championship Points Series (CPS) awards;
• a silent auction;
• a swap meet;
• a raffle;
• and a concession stand serviced by MSU.

For more information please visit the MMBA website at www.mmba.org

The next Trail Day at Owasippe will be Saturday November 26th. To qualify for a 2011 Alcoa-Howmet Action Grant ($3000), a minimum of 12 Alcoa-Howmet employees will volunteer their labor for 4 hours. The planned project is to restore the eroded trail section that was bypassed with Re-Route #3. See attached map. We will have the WMMBA tool trailer on-site. Volunteers should bring gloves, water, snacks and be dressed for any kind of weather including rain/snow. Bringing along a favorite rake, hoe or shovel might also be a good idea. Please be aware that November 26th is within the deer rifle season (Nov.15-30). It is private property and not open to public hunting, but there is a hunt club that has hunting privileges. Wearing bright colors is still recommended.

FREE Lunch will be provided. Time 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM Saturday November 26th

Trail Address: 9900 Russell Road, Whitehall, MI 49461

Trail Map: http://wmmba.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/owasippe2.jpg

Sincerely,

Randy Knapp
WMMBA Trail Coordinator-Owasippe
231-893-2024
rlknapp@chartermi.net