Trail Report

Went hiking in the Shed. No snow until about 1300 feet. After than all was snow covered. About 4". Very heavy, much of it frozen. Most rides on Michaux are above 1300 feet. Perhaps by Sunday, lower elevation trails such as Southern Gas might work.

Is this a stop right there moment?

Has anyone tried using a mountain bike with very slack geometry for a gravel grinder. I did a quick test ride with no brakes on asphalt and the bike feels pretty odd. Don't know if I want to go to the trouble of putting brakes and cables on if it isn't going to workout. Might try a shorter fork to bring the headtube angle back some.

Greetings from 2014 MBM President

Yesterday's annual MBM Membership meeting at Good Ta Go went well.  There was some clearing of the air regarding recent issues brought up on the blog as well as the regular business of voting on various motions and the election of new officers.  Our club, while not perfect, is not as broken as someone reading the blog over the last few weeks might have been led to believe.

Your new leadership team will have more information for you soon. We are excited about working together for MBM in 2014!  Your new officers are:

President - Scott H.
Vice President - Jeremy H.
Treasurer - Brook H.
Secretary - Ken P.
DCNR Liaison - Lucky
Trail Maintenance Coordinator (formerly Trail Boss) - Mike W.

I'd like to give a big thank you to the outgoing officers for all the hard work they put in to keep this club going.  The best friendships of my adult life have been forged right here in Mountain Bikers of Michaux. I know many of our members feel the same way.

See you on the trails!  (Hopefully soon!)

Sincerely,
Scott H.
2014 MBM President

Did some recon and the trails are pretty bad yet. South side are starting to open up but the north side and valleys are ice and snow

Sunday before Meeting Hike

Some of us will be doing a hike. Snowshoes may be useful. Leaving at 9AM. Penn-Mar, PA. 14609 Pen Mar High Rock Road. 5.2 miles, 1000 feet climbing. Some AT, some off trail. Steepest sections of AT in MD. Park in the Penn-Mar Park parking lot. 2.5 to 3 hours.

I am sorry that you did not get this information sooner, I was having technical difficulties getting everyone's email addresses to work at once. Posting this on the blog is my back-up plan.


As many of you know, the club meeting is this Sunday at Good-Ta-Go, 1:00.
The officers thought it would be a good idea to let the membership know the agenda.
Any 2014 paid member is welcome to make additional motions at the meeting.
We will attempt to run the meeting by Roberts Rules of Order (http://www.robertsrules.org/)
Please become familiar with these guidelines prior to the meeting if you have time.

Also, all 2014 paid members will be treated to one beverage of their choice and lunch.

MBM Meeting Agenda

Date: February 23, 2014

Meeting Agenda

1. Meeting minutes from 2013 (Secretary)
2. 2013 Treasuser report (Treasurer)
3. 2013 trail projects (? Trail boss or DCNR liaison)
4. Summary of 2013 (president)[to include insurance concerns]
5. Elections
   
   
   Motions to be made
   1. Proposed Trail Projects (Brett) (perhaps during this time, a motion can be made to spend $150 for the replacement bridge at the bottom of buckets: $150 should cover a new bridge similar to the one on turtle: concrete center line, 6 beam, 600# max, 30" wide, pressure treated 2X4/6.)
   2. Proposed club forum on Google Groups to include club members in discussions and decisions
   3. Race check points
   4. Pring MBM brochures or cards for placement at local bike shops
   5. Attending event as a group. MBM pays entry fees (Brian will explain)
   6. MBM EZ ups
    

MBM Mission

What is the mission of MBM? Advocacy? Trail building? Group rides? Racing? Trail work? Fund raising? Growing the sport? Protecting Michaux? Where does the money go? What are the benefits to its members? What are the benefits to the community? The blog (for good or bad) is the public face of MBM. Anyone who searches for mountain biking and Michaux will find this blog. This would be the perfect place to let the world know what MBM stands for. Many groups call Michaux home, however this is the most visible. It may be easier to find new or motivated members to take an active role  if everyone knew what the club was about. An open forum that allows outsiders to ask questions and receive answers is key to growing and maintaining any club. If you need to first need to join the club, or attend the meeting to find out what the club is about we have all lost. 
Izzy. 

Moving Forward

Sounds like people on all sides of this quarrel have legitimate complaints and grievances with each other. So where does that leave us? Are we going to let that disband us? Are we going to continue with another year of us vs them, whoever us and them are? People are people and I am sure we aren't always going to agree with each other and get along.

Mountain Bikers of Michaux - We are part of a club that rides in a beautiful part of Pennsylvania forest and uses a resource for enjoyment, recreation, exercise, and social gathering. Notice that last part...If we didn't want to socialize we could all ride alone without the club. We're not all going to be great friends who invite each other on every ride or things outside of mountain biking. If people find good friends, great. The club's purpose is obvious and I think we all agree on our main priority. I met the folks that are officers of the Nittany Mountain Bike Association over the summer and they were having similar issues a few years ago. They had a lot of hard feelings and people fighting back and forth about previous transgressions and inconsistencies. Along the lines of what Larry said, they also had numerous trails that were unmarked and off the grid. In a few years, they have secured tourism grants, permission to build trails, purchased trail building equipment, and have also grown their club in number and in influence. How? Among other things, they got back to what they originated for in the first place....get a group of likeminded individuals together to protect their hobby/sport. Nobody here is getting paid for their time so this thing isn't going to be perfect or to everyone's perception of what it should be all the time. I am okay with that and I hope that others can be okay with that imperfection as well because it is our reality. I haven't noticed that re-hashing old grievances and telling each other what we do wrong to be incredibly helpful, correct me if I'm wrong. So can we forgive/forget/shake hands, and have a beer on Sunday to go forward and not backwards? Here are my 1.5 cents worth of suggestions for what I hope we move toward in 2014 and beyond.

1) More official meetings - I agree with what someone else said that once per year is not enough to air these issues--maybe quarterly, monthly?

2) Legitimize what we do so we can perhaps mark trails with signs, get accurate maps created and encourage a formalization of our trail system

3) Secure tourism grants just as Nittany Mountain Bike did (I'd be glad to lead that charge) so we can improve our visibility and positive impact in the forest

4) Regular input from members as to how things are going and how they can improve (people do pay dues after all) through regular meetings/gatherings

5) Groups separated by more/less hammering for larger group rides with occasional FULL GROUP rides for cohesion that may be slower but include everyone (Army does this with Company Runs)--It is obvious that ride choice is something people are interested in

6) End senseless banter and bickering--nothing brings down an organization quicker (club or company) like talking behind each other's backs or sniping on a message board--let's please stop (self included)

These are just suggestions of what I feel are the more important things that could help our club for next year and beyond. Feel free to agree or not and please don't feel like my suggestions are a slight to anyone who is or has been in an officer position. These are just one man's opinions and I wasn't sure I'd be able to articulate them in the meeting well enough. Anyone up for progress?

Thanks for reading if you made it this far,

JH

Keeps a good thing going too.

Keep a good thing going!

This Sunday, Feb 23, is the annual club meeting. It’s at Good Ta Go in Chambersburg and starts at 1pm. Everyone is welcome but only members can vote. Regardless, I hope you’ll join us.

I’ve been an officer in MBM for four years. Two years as Secretary and two years as President.  In that time I have tried to do many things and controversial or not, my ultimate goal was to keep a good thing going. It wasn’t easy, at times it wasn’t fun but I did it anyway because I want others to enjoy the same life changing experience I had in 2007. That was the year I started riding in Michaux.

I found MBM searching the internet for trail maps of Michaux. When I attended my first MBM ride I failed miserably. However, to my surprise the group encouraged me to come back and stick with it. Thanks to that encouragement I did stick with it and today I love riding trails. The tradition of encouraging others defines MBM. It is my hope that tradition continues.

MBM is a successful, respected organization. The officers, volunteers and members change lives for the better more than they will ever know. I am proof of this and so are many of you. So please consider becoming an officer and accepting the torch to help keep a good thing going! If you’re interested in leading MBM into the new year please attend the meeting or contact me if you can’t make it.

I know many of you are wondering what will become of the club. The fact is you as members ultimately decide the course of MBM. At this time I have yet to receive notification of any member nominated to run for office. If we do not have members interested in maintaining the organization as officers my only option is to refer to our bylaws and disband the club.

Attend the meeting, step up and take the torch, keep a good thing going!

See you at a ride soon? Hope so.

~Slow

Single Speed 29er For Sale

Gary Fisher Rig 29er Single Speed.  17.5" Frame.  New chain with less than 100 miles, relatively fresh drivetrain, thudbuster seat post, fox front fork which was rebuilt by Push some time ago (I bought it off Mooch).  Hydraulic disk brakes.  A great bike that handles well.  Black in color.  You still see these Rigs around quite a bit as they didn't suffer the frame problems of later Rigs.  Great size frame which fits many people well between a large and medium.  If you want to take your riding to the next level get an SS.  It will make you stronger and better in the rough stuff.  $750.  Contact Scott via email at p r o p h e t 2 at me .com

Scott 

Michaux Snow Updates

I am really looking forward to getting back out on the bike!
With the weather looking much warmer in the week to come, I thought a thread with some updates may come in handy. If anybody gets out for a hike or shoe or ski, please give an update as to any ridability that is noted whether fireroad or trail.
Thanks all!

3D printed mountain bikes?

If I was a betting man, I'd put money on Seeber having one of these by spring or at least before anyone else....

Read about it HERE

Hilarious Video (NSFW)

Bike Swap Sunday Feb 9th

The bike swap is Sunday.
click here for details