Kudos roll in for Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crews

IMBA Trail News
Volume 11, Number 4
September-October 1998

Delaware visit makes a difference

Ric Balfour and Holly Hill (TCC#2) were a pleasure to have as guests and really valuable for their expertise. I have altered my approach to a talk that I'm giving to the Greenways and Trails Commission this Wednesday as a result of their advice and perspective. Ric's background as a recreation planner has provided insight that has got me thinking in some new directions. I intend to use his coaching to build a strong relationship with the state.

Holly and Ric were also a big hit at our monthly meeting. Their talk reinforced what Delaware Trail Spinners are working on.

We are very grateful for the resource and think that it's a shrewd and cost effective strategy that makes a huge difference for our sport.

Pete Brakhage
Delaware Trail Spinners

Ontario impressed

We had a visit here in Guelph, Ontario, by Holly and Ric as they were en-route from Buffalo to Chicago. We want to let you know that we were very impressed with both of them, the idea of the Trail Care crew, IMBA's goals, and the fact that they took time to work with us here in Canada. We look forward to a next visit and to working with IMBA to continue to promote responsible mountain bicycling.

Jay Cranstone
Guelph, Ontario

BLM in Nevada appreciates visit

Mike and Jan Riter (TCC#1) provided a fine experience April 15 when they visited Carson City, NV. They were informative and personable. We all learned a lot in a short time. It was especially encouraging to hear them say that narrow trails are quite acceptable on public lands, especially if they are properly aligned to be compatible with topography, soil types, and resource values. The suggestions for trail improvement were excellent and the on-site examples and explanations were made in a positive manner, simple enough to make us realize we could actually apply this information.

Thanks for making this effort to improve mountain bicycling trail opportunities. Federal budgets are squeaky tight at the moment and without your traveling to us, we probably would have missed a wonderful opportunity to learn the newest trail building techniques and the encouragement to incorporate singletrack into our primitive riding systems.

Fran Hull, Tom Abbett, Arthur Callan
BLM Outdoor Recreation Planners
Carson City, NV

TCC helps Michigan park

Trail Care Crew #1 visited Stony Creek, Michigan, today, joined by a few of us from the Michigan Mountain Biking Association. We met with the park superintendent and other MetroPark staff. Gary Hopp, our main contact at the Park, gave a brief history of the trail network and where it is heading. Then, despite the drizzling rain, we hiked the new and old singletrack. Mike and Jan gave us excellent tips for improving the trail, most of which involved bench cuts to remove awkward off-camber sections and managing undesired water flows. It was an incredibly valuable learning experience for everyone.

After our hike, Gary asked Mike how the trail rated. Mike gave it an A-, adding that the fundamental trail design was good, but it needed a little work in spots. We plan another maintenance day in a month or so at Stony to take care of the high priority items the Crew highlighted.

Todd Scott
Royal Oak, MI
MMBA Southeast Chapter

Trails vision spreading in southwest Virginia

In less than a year our community has come almost full circle in mountain biking and we owe the credit to the Trail Care Crew. We have gone from few existing trails to having a five-mile, IMBA designed singletrack, to planning for the completion of the remaining 25 miles. We held our first Bicycle Festival in June to introduce the trail and around 2,000 people showed up. Mike and Jan's thorough education process is leading us into a future of well built and managed trail systems.

You have given us a vision. After people learned what was gong on in the Explore Park trail system near Roanoke, we were contacted by various other groups hoping to learn how it's done. We now have three other projects starting within a 60-mile radius.

Mike and Jan have been invited to the Governor's Greenway and Trail Conference here in Roanoke next May to speak and hold a seminar.

Thanks to Mike and Jan for putting up with all our crazy questions. They have educated us all a great deal and added a quality of life once missing.

John Bolling
Chief Volunteer, Explore Park
Roanoke, VA