Over The Top Skate Park

It should really be called a bike park since there wasn't a single skate boarder there and to be honest the ramps were built for BMX and pretty dang large. I met up with my buddies, Jed, Thor and Griff for a little evening session about 2 weeks ago. The Over the Top Bike Park is in Zumbro Falls, MN located at the Bluff Valley Camp Ground, about 1.5 hours south of the cities. It isn't the easiest place to find but totally worth the trip if you have the itch to ride your bike in the winter or on one of those rainy weekends this summer. It is not for beginners. The park is tight and has pretty large ramps. The over all size of the park is pretty small but still a great time.

I took these pictures from Griff's blog:
http://mountainbikegeezer.com/posts/my-first-trip-to-over-the-tops-indoor-bmx-park-humbling-rewarding/

We rode for about 3 hours and then headed home right before the big winter storm blew in. I had a great time, met some great people there and learned a few things like a foot jam whip. I couldn't land it on the wedge ramp but I will keep working on it!
Check out Over the Top Skate Park here on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/overthetopskateparkmn?fref=ts

Keep it real!

A little more press

Here is another great article from Emily Buss from the South Washington County Bulletin

http://www.swcbulletin.com/event/article/id/22496/

I rode my bike over the future bike park yesterday. The goal was to establish the best rout. No need for that because about 2 blocks from my house I can get on a bike path and it takes me right to the park on a nice rolly trail that winds through prairie. Yesterday I was really wet and kind of out of breath when I arrived. Those hills are tough on a single speed 24 inch BMX bike. The ride was 10-15 minutes. I know right, I am out of shape but I'm hoping that if I ride my bike there and back every time I go to do work or ride I will be in killer shape! I guess I need to step up the cardio or bike time. I like bike time... I will need to start riding more and this weather is totally helping me with the motivation to do so!

Keep it real!

It's official!

Alright! Cheers, time to celebrate! The City Council and Mayor approved the park in its entirety last night. We will now begin the fundraising aspect of the project. We will need to raise money for rental equipment as well as materials so that we can build the skills area!

If you can’t tell I’m really excited and thankful for the help and support of Zac Dockter, the task force and Reed Smidt from MORC. All of our hard work finally paid off! This project is going to be huge and is going to be a great attraction for the City of Cottage Grove.

Besides raising money we will be raising awareness, creating a Facebook page and hopefully a buzz throughout the riding community. This park will be the second of its kind in the metro and the state of MN. I know there are other projects in the works right now so there may be potentially 4 total bike parks in the metro and a few others around the state by the end of the summer but from the plans I’ve seen none of them will be on the same level as this park.

Now Mother Nature needs to speed up the spring season to get rid of this snow. Before we can get in and start working the city will need to come in a clear the area in preparation for their prairie restoration project, which will give us a clean slate to start working.

Stay tuned for more information on when this project will begin. If you have any leads for potential sponsors please let me know.

Keep it real! 

Approval Meeting

Hey everyone. If you have time tonight around 730pm and would like to show your support for the potential bike park in Cottage Grove, please come to the City Council Meeting tonight at the Cottage Grove city hall. I will be presenting and the City Council will be making a decision on the project. I hope we have reason to celebrate!

Here are a couple news articles about the up coming project:

http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_22807595/cottage-grove-gets-rolling-bicycling-projects

and

http://mobile.swcbulletin.com/page/article/id/22471/#.UUn1AH1NSKk.facebook

Keep it real!

One more to go

Hey ya'll we got the news that myself and the Task Force will need to do one more presentation! This time is the big show, we will be in front of the City Council on 3/20/2013. I'm not going to lie I'm a little nervous at this time because this is kind of the make or break point in this plan. I really really hope that they have been following along and have seen all the great energy that surrounds this idea. Not only from myself and the task force but from the MORC member, all of the people that attended the meeting on 3/11/2013 and the media attention we are getting. Griff featured the park in a blog post , Bob Shaw called last week to do an interview for the Pioneer Press that will be in this Sunday's paper so keep your eye's out for that, also Emily Buss from the South Washington County Bulletin called on Wednesday and stated that she will be putting an article out about the project in the Bulletin on 3/20/2013 so please check that out too! Also there has been a lot of buzz on Facebook about it on multiple pages! If you have some time, come show your support at the City Council meeting on 3/20/2013 at 7pm at the Cottage Grove City Hall.

Keep it real!

Ok next step please

The meeting went great! I am honestly not sure it could have gone any better without someone stepping up to sponsor the bike park.

All the people that attended were a little hesitant at first but after we explained the project and were the funding was coming from and who would be taking care of the property after it was built they were all excited and on board! A couple actually decided to speak in front of the Park Board and put in a good word. The park board was unanimous in voting yes for it and making a recommendation to pass it through to the City Council and they also had nice things to say about the Task Force and MORC about how passionate and dedicated we are!

I want to thank all the people that attended; it was a decent crowd about 10 people not related to the task force or MORC board. It went better than expected, to be honest.

Thank you to the task force for all your hard work, nice speech Chris Braaten, Tara Steele and Griff Wiggle. You could see the excitement in the Park Boards faces when the people were talking about how excited they were for this project. Thanks to Tara Steele for putting together our short video and Trevor Crawford for all the Auto Cad and google earth image work! Thanks to the MORC board and especially Reed for all their support! As well as my wonderful wife Kelly for supporting me and putting up with me having meetings and doing work for things like this all the time. 

I'm really excited about this. I think this will be a great park offering all sorts of different things for all type of riders and all skill levels.

I spoke with one of the council members and she was all about this so I hope it is all smooth sailing at the next city council meeting. I am not sure if they can sneak it in the 3/20 meeting or if it will have to wait till the 4/3 meeting but we should get the final word soon!

With that please let me know if you know of any one or business that might be interested in being a donor. That is our next step is to put together our donor/sponsor packet and hit the streets to find some funding for the parts of the park the city cannot fund at this time.

Thanks again!

From the top to the bottom:

Return line

4x (aka mountain cross) track

Advanced jump line (AKA slope style course)

Beginner/int jump line

MTB skills area

To the right are the pump tracks and tot track

Let's try this again!

It is go time! The voting is up and working. If you have previously voted it was reset about 10 minutes ago so please go revote! Every vote counts and we only get 1 vote per person!

Spread the word and support the mid-west, Elm Creek Bike Park in Champlin MN, Over Flow DH trail in Copper Harbor and Flow Trail in Brown County IN 

https://www.facebook.com/BellBikeHelmets

Your Help is Needed!

Today is the day! Voting begins for the Bell Built Grant finalists

at:www.facebook.com/BellBikeHelmets

Vote for the Elm Creek Bike Park project and make it happen!!

And while you're at it keep our Midwest neighbors in mind and vote for Copper Harbor, MI (DH

category) and Brown County, IN (flow trail category) as well!

Thank you & good luck to all!