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ACTION ALERT

Minnewaska State Park Preserve in New Paltz, NY is currently looking for comments to help guide them in their master planning process. The park is over 20,000 acres of forest with 30 miles of scenic carriageways for biking, hiking and equestrian use along with 35 miles of hiking trails which connect to waterfalls, lakes and vista points that provide many 200 degree views up to 60 miles away. The park has recently expanded by more than 8,000 acres and has significant potential for new, sustainable single track trails.

This is also the time to let the park staff know that single track mountain biking is an activity that is compatible with hiking and should be included on the existing hiking trails, not just the carriageways.

Please let the park staff know that they should include the expansion of single track mountain biking opportunities during the master planning process. There currently is no single track mountain biking in any of the 20,000 acres of Minnewaska.

Some speaking points for your letter should include the following:

• The impact of bikes vs. hiking on sustainable single track trail
• The fact that most trail erosion is not user based erosion but due primarily to poor trail design
• Mountain biking helps to get more users people out to appreciate nature
• Health benefits, today’s obesity rates, inactivity of kids…
• Other trail related interests you may have such as hiking, birding, nature watching in addition to biking.

For more speaking points or just to learn some good information, go to the following pages

http://www.imba.com/resources/conservation/index.html
http://www.imba.com/resources/land_protection/index.html
http://www.imba.com/resources/science/index.html

Minnewaska Web Page
http://nysparks.state.ny.us/parks/info.asp?parkId=78

Send comments to;
Mark Hohengasser
Park Planner
NYS OPRHP
Empire State Plaza, Agency Building 1
Albany, New York 12238
Mark.Hohengasser@oprhp.state.ny.us

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NEW YORK STATE PARKS - PRESS RELEASE
The public is invited to participate in the development of a master plan for Minnewaska State Park Preserve.
Under the direction of Commissioner Carol Ash, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation is undergoing a master planning effort to advance the agency’s goals of park revitalization, natural resource stewardship, education and interpretation, create new connections with other green space and improve sustainability practices.

Staff will provide a brief overview of the planning effort and an introduction to all of the resources and uses of the park. The public is invited to provide suggestions on issues, impacts and alternatives that should be addressed in the Minnewaska State Park master plan.

Two meetings will be held: the first on Tuesday July 8, 2008 at the SUNY New Paltz Lecture Center Building, Room 100 from 6:30PM to 8:30PM. The second meeting will be held Thursday July 10, 2008 at the Ellenville High School Auditorium from 6:30PM to 8:30 PM.

If you are not able to attend either of these meetings, you may provide written comments, suggestions and ideas by August 11, 2008 to:

Mark Hohengasser
Park Planner
NYS OPRHP
Empire State Plaza, Agency Building 1
Albany, New York 12238
Mark.Hohengasser@oprhp.state.ny.us

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Everyone please e-mail Mark Hohengasser or take the time to write an actual letter and help to get some single track built in this vast land area.  In a time when many moutain bike trails are threatened we have the opportunity to gain some new trails to explore.

Even if you are not from the area please contact Mark and let him know that you support more single track moutain bike trails.  Out of state support also shows the park planners what sort of tourism opportunities might be out there.  This could be the British Columbia of the North-East.  You could have endless mountain bike trails in such a huge area.

Also be sure to share this with any one you know that may be interested.  Getting a lot of support in the planning phase is critical to having trails in the future.

Winter just seems to be dragging on and on here and I just want to ride. I’m not the only one feeling that way either. Noah over at Blue Collar Mountain Biking wrote about his fix for sloppy unridable trails in his piece, Chomping at the bit? Go Urban.

Another solution to this issue is Ray’s Indoor Mountain Bike Park. Ray’s is currently the worlds only indoor mountain bike facility (according to my research and a CNN piece from 2006).

Ray’s provides a year round riding venue for mountain bike riders of all skill levels. There is a large beginner area, a pump track, and several different areas for more advanced riding.

They hold special events like manufacturer demos with pro riders and skills camps for kids. Pro riders from all over travel there to get in quality practice when the weather is preventing them from riding elsewhere.

It really surprises me that Ray’s is the only indoor park of its kind. This seems like such a great idea to me. I know it was not a small undertaking and took a large commitment in time and money to make it happen. I assumed before I started researching for this article that their would have been three or four such places in the U.S. alone and maybe a few in Europe, but I was wrong.

So if your really jones’n for a ride and the trails are sloppy where you live gather up your friends and plan a trip to rays.

So its winter time and for much of the country that means snow and ice. Bicycles don’t always do very well in these conditions but you do have some choices to increase traction and decreasing slippage. They all revolve around studded tires.

When it comes to studded tires you can either buy off the shelf studded tires or you can add the studs your self. It doesn’t end their though. There seems to be a few different methods to studding the tires your self.

Off The Shelf Studs

These might set you back a little bit but their engineered for this and I’m sure they work quite nice. There are a lot of models to choose from so you should be able to find something you like and they should be available to most bike shops.

• Schwalbe Marathon Winter and Ice Spiker Pro
• Innova Snow tires (you have to scroll down a bit)
• Nokian Winter Tires (Finland based company available in the U.S.)
• Kenda Klondike tires

Do-It-Yourself Studs

Now if you are a bit adventurous or just cheap and you want to make your own, these sites give some instructions and explanation of the way they did it. Each one is a little bit different.

• Stud Your Own Tires by Byron Kuster
• MORC How-to: Build Your Own Studded Tires
• Tricks of the Trade: Make your own studded ice tires

I’ve not tried any of these options my self. So if you have, please share your experiences by leaving a comment. Did you make your own or did you buy them? What model? Did they work? What problems did you have? You know stuff like that.

The photo is from Mark Hohengasser of the IMBA and ORTA. Thanks Mark.

Are you interested in mountain bike trail building?  If you are then you need to know about ORTA. 

Mark Hohengasser is a Missouri IMBA State Representative for the Central region and he is also an ORTA Representative.  ORTA, or the Osage Region Trail Association, is a mountain bike trail advocacy group based out of Jefferson City, Missouri. 

Mark has been working with us on the Bothwell Lodge State Park trail improvements and additions.  Mark e-mailed me yesterday to get the latest update on our project and to tip me off to the ORTA web site.

They are doing very good things over there and have a very successful trail project at Binder Park. 

If you want to learn how to properly build mountain bike trail, you want to volunteer some of your time, or you want the latest news on trails in the Central Missouri region then head over to the Osage Region Trail Association

Don’t forget to sign up for their monthly news letter.