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!

DH has arrived

Hey everyone, the long time anticipation for DH is over! I'm proud to announce the first true lift access riding area in Minnesota! Spirit Mountain in Duluth, MN has officially claimed the prize! They will be officially opening for business on Thursday May 23 at 4 pm. I hope that there are huge crowds up there to show them that the hype is for real hear and that investing in the mountain is a great idea and hopefully they will expand. I have heard rumors that they are planning on it and have committed a decent amount of money for a budget to add additional trails to the mountain this summer but only time will tell at this point. They do however have two trails they will be opening with. A green level trail called "Candy Land" and a blue level trail called "Smorgasboard." 

Candyland is a 1.5 mile beginner/ intermediate level downhill flow trail featuring large berms, medium and small sized table tops, and hip jumps. All features on Candyland are roll-able, making it an ideal trail to learn on, and perfect for gravity-based mountain biking skills.

Smorgasbord is a 1 mile intermediate level freeride/ downhill mountain bike trail featuring large berms, medium size jumps, a drop, and rock gardens. Several features on Smorgasbord are mandatory, including small 3-4 foot gaps, and a 5-foot drop.

If you would like more information please check out Spirit Mountains website:

http://spiritmt.com/adventure-park/mountain-biking/index.html

I also highly recommend that you go to their facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Spirit-Mountain/169923041393?fref=ts

and like the page and post up how amp'd you are to have lift access riding in MN!

Looks like a great season of Mid-West riding to come!

Keep it real!

Cottage Grove Bike Park Informational Meeting

For Immediate Release

Informational Meeting To Discuss and Review the Proposed Cottage Grove Bike Park
Cottage Grove, Minnesota- February 25, 2013 - On March 11, 2013 at 6:00 p.m. at the Cottage Grove City Hall  (12800 Ravine Parkway South) there will be an informational meeting about the proposed bike park at West Draw Park (7050 Meadow Grass Ave). This information meeting is open to all Cottage Grove residents and anyone interested in learning more about the bike park project.
At the meeting we will reveal the proposed design, discuss the chosen park location and address any questions and concerns about  the design, park location and project details.
Immediately following this informational meeting  will be a Park Commission Board meeting at the Cottage Grove City Hall Council Chambers at 7:00 p.m. The Park Commission meeting will also be open to anyone that would like to attend. The Park Commission will be voting to approve or reject the proposed bike park project. Your support is welcomed and encouraged at both the information and Park Commission meetings.
We hope to see you there showing  your support for this new and exciting park amenity that will add to the community and overall parks system of the City of Cottage Grove.
This project is supported by the Minnesota Off-Road Cyclists (MORC). MORC began as the North Central Mountain Bike Group (NCMBG) under the umbrella of the Minnesota Coalition of Bicyclists in 1994. March 1998 marked the official name change to MORC as its known today. The membership has grown to over 800 members today. In 2012, The Board of Directors made a decision to advocate for other riding opportunities beyond cross country off-road cycling trails in the Twin Cities. MORC Gravity was established in November 2012 to help advocate and bring more gravity based riding, including bike parks, to the Twin Cities Metro area.
Contact:
Chance Glasford - Cottage Grove Bike Park Task Force Lead, MORC Board Member
cglasford@gmail.com
Ph: 605-216-5676
###