Member At Large

I attended the monthly Friends of Webster Trails board meeting tonight.  There's a "Member at Large" position open on the board and I asked if I could fill it.  In that position I'll help out with whatever I can.
The motion was raised to have me fill that position, and it was seconded.

But it won't be official until next month, after the board members make a decision.

So it's looking like I'll soon be a Member at Large for both FWT and GROC, since I was asked to joined them too.  I look forward to contributing where I can.

Typical Ride at BPW

I enjoyed the mild weather today at Bay Park West.
Nothing too exciting, just a good ride.

I rode about 5 miles.

Muni at Bay Park West - 2011-11-13

Mountain Bike Leaf Blowing

I recently mentioned that a few local superheroes have been leaf blowing the trails for the rest of us mortals to ride.  This makes the trails less slick, much easier to follow, and they'll dry up faster in the spring.

It's a big job to clear miles of trails, but thanks to Mark's invention and GROC's support, it's not so bad.

Here's a video of Frank operating one of the "Rocket Man Zamboni" machines at Bay Park West:

Muni with Roland

Roland, a muni rider from Albany, is in town for a business conference.   He's the guy who has put together the Muni Only Race in Schenectady for the past two years. This afternoon we rode together at Bay Park West.

BPW was the obvious choice of riding locations because the trails were leaf blown. Thanks again to the few great mountain bikers who've been doing this!  It's great to be able to ride one wheel without slipping on the leaves.

Riding with Roland at BPW was an eye opening experience.  He's such a good rider and could climb all the hills and pass all log and rock obstacles.  I need to learn to do rolling hops like him.   In one rock garden, when the going got tough, he was able to hop the final half.  He's put a lot of time into his riding and his hard work has paid off.

I stretched my knee extra today and had a chiropractic adjustment to try to avoid the lateral knee pain I've been having. We rode 5 miles, and at a place like BPW, that's more than enough to give me knee trouble, before and after the ride.  My knee was fine during the ride, and afterwards it has been feeling ok.  I've been stretching extra to hopefully prevent the usual pain.

Muni at Bay Park West - 2011-11-07

Jamie Starts Learning

Jamie Lissow, from The Wease Show, stopped over this weekend to borrow a unicycle from me.  He seems to have the necessary drive to learn.

He practiced at his home and already made some good progress.  It might not seem like much but it really is huge.

Here's his first day:


This morning he mentioned it on the radio.

Multiflora Rose

Today I joined the Friends of Webster Trails at Finn Park to help with trail work.
The expectation was to do some digging and install a culvert in a wet section.  Unfortunately the town had not dropped off a load of gravel needed for the job, so we went to Plan B.

Plan B was to remove a whole bunch of Multiflora Rose.  This plant is a shrub that, at least where we were, is 8 feet and has approximately 10 billion thorns.  It's nasty stuff and is an invasive species in this area, originating in Japan, China, and Korea.  According to National Park Service, "it has been planted in highway median strips to serve as crash barriers."  Seriously, this stuff is strong and dense.

If I didn't have work gloves on, I would have been useless.  But if I do that work again, I think I'll should get some thicker gloves.

If you were being chased by a psycho with a chainsaw and Multiflora Rose was in your way, your best bet would be to turn around and ask to borrow the chainsaw.

This was the last official FWT trail work day for the year.  After the work, we gathered in the Liberty Lodge there in Finn Park and enjoyed cider and donuts.  Some of the crew had also put together display tables showing things like how the wooden trail signs are made, samples of plants in the area, and maps of present and future trails.  Good stuff.

GROC

I was recently invited to become a board member of GROC, the Genesee Regional Off-Road Cyclists.

GROC is an organization of volunteers that has brought the Rochester area so many shared-use trails.  They are the stewards of four parks in our region:

Dryer Road Park in Victor

Ontario County Park in South Bristol

Tryon Park in Rochester

Irondequoit Bay Park West in Rochester

Because of GROC’s efforts, Tryon and Bay Park West are the first two out of the 21 Monroe County Parks to allow legal off-road cycling under a shared-use pilot program.

Two years ago I started working with the Friends of Webster Trails.  Just over a year ago, GROC got the go ahead to start working in Bay Park West and I began helping them.

I expect to officially become a board member at the next GROC meeting.  Hopefully as a board member I can contribute to GROC in a bigger way.