News Story

Yep, Made the news - see below

Driver injured after hitting treeSt. Joseph News-PressA one-vehicle accident on Corby Parkway sent one woman to the hospital and blocked traffic for more than an hour as workers cleared a fallen tree from the roadway Sunday afternoon.Laurel J. Grimm, 21, was driving southeast at 4:16 p.m. on Corby Parkway between Corby Pond and Ashland Avenue when she lost control of her 2003 Chevrolet S10 and veered off the right side of the road. The truck crashed into trees along the road, one of which fell and blocked traffic, according to Sgt. Richard Ketchem of the St. Joseph Police Department."By the time city yards employees arrived and got it all cleaned up, it was probably an hour to 90 minutes or better before we opened the road and traffic could come through," Mr. Ketchem said.Ms. Grimm was transported by ambulance to Heartland Regional Medical Center, where she was treated and released, according to a nursing supervisor.Ms. Grimm was issued citations for careless driving for failure to maintain control of her vehicle and for failure to provide insurance, according to police records.

Manawa Race

Well, it was really hot. Really hot.

The trails were in fast condition, even though they had sustained major flood damage earlier in the year. Poised between Lake Manawa on one side, and the river on the other, they didn't have much of a chance in those big rains. THOR (trails have our respect), the trail building group in Omaha, is awesome with good community support, good funding, and strong membership; they got the trails whipped into shape really quick.

For my part, I forgot just how flat the course was, and I have apparently forgotten how to gear for flat races. I spent about 1/3 of the race totally spun out. In the heat spinning like crazy blows energy quick. The rest of the 2/3 race was spent in very, very tight and twisty single track. This is the kind of trail that I have always preferred, and I was able to at least sort of hang on because of the single track part. I guess that's the cool thing for me about single speed, it is just as much about planning for the race as it is about riding during the race. I fell down on the planning part this time.

Regardless, it was a fun race. My mom, step-dad, and daughter also came to the race - so it was fun to have a fan base, even if I didn't perform like I deserved one. Here are the results -

Note that Woodman had almost 4.5 minutes on the next 3 of us. What an animal... And a helluva nice guy.

Next up - St. Joe trail building story. Went out for a Corby ride this afternoon. Was trying to map the south side for the website, but kept running into problems. The weirdest part: while starting the second lap I heard the snap of a tree falling, then constant honking for a few minutes. I was farting around with the GPS, so I wasn't paying much attention. Then after rolling into the trails, right before the rock bridge there was a yellow pick-up hanging part of the way across the trail. There was a very disoriented woman in the driver seat, and a few by-standers jumping around trying to figure out how to get her out of there. Luckly I had my saw in my pack, so I cut the trees that were pinching her doors shut, then cut a trail up to the road so they could pull her back to the road. Also cut out the trees that she had knocked onto the trails. By-standers and Paramedics thanked me, which was cool. The lady just staggered past without saying anything, might have been rattled, or drunk - not sure. At one point a cop asked if I had a permit to cut trees in the park. I just gave him a look and that was the end of it.

Anyway, it was an interesting ride. Ate a lot of spiders, so I guess it is that time of the year. All in all, I had fun - just wish I would have thought to get a photo of the truck on the trail, it was something else.

Race Saturday

For anyone interested, there is a race in Council Bluffs this weekend at Lake Manawa. It is part of the Nebraska Lottery Psycowpath race series (a well run, safe, fun series). Payouts and prizes are generally very good and the crowd is very cool.

The course is a lot of fun, and is great for beginning racers, as there is almost no elevation change. The course is very twisty/curvy through the trees on an approximate 7 mile loop. It will be a fast but fun race.

Here is the information - hope to see some of you there!

http://www.nebraskacyclingnews.com/content/view/728/190/

Krug Bridges

Repaired 3 bridges this weekend. Scabbed one together to make it at least rideable with out getting wet and muddy (will need help hauling the heavy bridge planks to really fix it). The final 3 crossings didn't have a bridge to start with, but I think we should try to build something across them.

New Maps

Check the STJ Trail Maps link for two more trail maps. Thanks to Dr. Adam for collecting them!

LM

Trail conditions

Has anyone been on the trails today? I hope to ride Corby about 3:30- 4pm, either that or a road ride with knobbies!

Tuesday / Thursday

Probably won't be riding the Tuesday / Thursday night thing this week. Hopefully some folks will gather and cruise. Post if you do.

Won't be around for the weekend either.

Happy riding.

Detail work

Brad and I worked on the girl scout trail the other day and got the worst nub situation taken care of. I think Randy trimed somemore because there was more done Thursday. It is getting down to the end of finnishing that section. We still need more chain saw work done to get small stumps and large nubs out. There is one large tree that will need a big saw down on the trail. The scout that is doing the project is going to blow the trail then trim one last time. There is also trash that needs to be gotten out of there, the city is going to pick it up soon. Get with me to get bags if you are interested in cleaning out the trails. Lansen is there anyway to post trail maps on this site? It would be great if we could refer people to this site to check out the trails.

trail progress

I caught Brian once again clearing South Corby its almost all cleared. The first section of the girls scout camp is almost done except for some chain saw and blowing. It is technical off camber and rocky. It is mostly rideable now except for some down trees we did alot of bench cutting so some of those areas might be a litte soft. If someone would please do about 3 hours of chain saw work on that section that would be great. There are a lot of nubers sticking up any help lopping those would be great also.

Tuesday Night

A new rider out last night. Ty on a sweet new Specialized Stump Jumper. He did a great job.

All trails are in great shape at Corby after Brian trimmed them. Thanks man!

One big tree is down on the trail at the end of the North loop. It is about 18" diameter and is oak, so it is really hard to cut. I made one cut with the hand saw so it can be climbed over now, but the second cut still needs to be made to clear the trail. It took about 45 min to make one cut.

It was a great evening. Hope to see some more folks out on Thurs.

trail day sat and answers to questions

Saturday 8 AM to 4 PM the scouts are doing trail work for an Eagle scout project on a new section of trail at the end of the parkway walking trail before the Krug pool. I know there are lots of races this weekend but any help would be great Sat or throughout this next week. Meet at the end of the concret ramp on the last S curve towards krug or walk up the ramp you'll see the orange flags on your right just follow them. Chain saws would be great, trimmers, lopers, shovels or hoes would be good to. The new section is 1 mile or so out of 4-5 or more in the area of the old girl scout camp, this is ment to tie corby and krug together. This section is where the old girl scout camp was where the walking trail goes through the woods passed lovers lane heading NW to Krug Pool. Once again there is more there than I thought. This section has tons of rocks!! it will be tight off camber technical single track with rocks!! Did I tell you guys there are rocks!!! in this section? just checking. The ends of the first section of the girl scout trail is about a hundred yards from the end of the walking trail to up the hill to the first curve in the S curve where the pull in is. This Is between the walking trail and the road. Other sections will be added later in the year. That brings me to maintaining what we have already I don't want to over build what we can maintain. We need to get something in place to help assign sections to maintain. I love to ride but we all need to pitch in to keep the trails clear. I am seeing a lot of new people were at the shop because of the new trails so I can see the sport growing lets keep the positive movement forward. Thanks to everyone who has help build and maintain the trails lately. Brian trimed most of south Corby the other day, thanks Brian.

The Pain

Well I've either got tired legs or I'm weak and lame. Rusty kicked my ass all over Krug park for a lap last night before I gave up and went home. Good job Rusty.

I think I'll be taking the rest of the week off before the race on Saturday. Hope to see some of you there. So far its Jim, Rusty, and me heading up to Trenton. I'm looking forward to drinking some of that free Rolling Rock after the race. Oh yeah, riding will be fun too.

City Parks

Talked to a manager in the parks dept today about some city help on maintaining trails. He said he has had lots of comments on the trails we have been building and he seemed pretty appreciative of our cause. Sounds like budgets are tight, but he also sounded willing to explore opportunities for symbiosis.

Cross your fingers!

Corby Cruise

6:30 - Corby Stretching Station. Tuesday Night Ride!

new trails

Well the Corby stuff went well, there was some good articals written about the new trails. Its time to start new ones I'm marking new trails at the old Girl Scout camp towards Krug. Its part of a boy scout eagle project let me know if you want help.

Weekend Rides

Who would like to ride Saturday Morning?



I will be at Krug Park at 8am and will probably be there until about 10:30. I would like to get at least 2 laps in, so the pace will be "steady".



If it rains, change the plans to Corby Pond.



Sorry I haven't made the Tuesday or Thursday rides this week. Been fighting somekind of mild cold or something and haven't felt much like riding.

Wednesday Night

Didn't feel real good last night and didn't ride.

Anyone up for a ride at Krug tonight? Around 5:30 in the lot.

Call if you want -> 752-2025.

Racing Good Times

It was a big weekend for racing. Rolled with the single speed class at Lewis & Clark in Council Bluffs on Sat and again at Landahl in KC on Sunday. Pulled out a third place on Sat (although they recorded me as 4th) and a second place on Sun. Trail conditions were great at L&C, but things were as muddy as I have raced at Landahl. SS class started behind most of the sport field, and I believe I had to pass somewhere around 60 people by the time we sorted through the sport field and lapped the beginner field. It was still fun, and although there were some bad wrecks on the slippery rocks, most people seemed to have a good time in the mud.

Also got to hang with good folks from Lincoln, St. Joe, Omaha, KC, Columbia, and Manhattan. Can't complain a bit. Might have had too much to drink at some point in there, but I don't think I offended anyone too bad.

Here's a brief photo narrative of the weekend:

cvo happy to re-hydrate.

festivities after L&C.

Rusty after riding Krug on Thursday

Beers and pasta after Landahl.

Moab, Part 2

OK, it's been 5 days since our return from the trip...and as promised I want to share photos and some of our experiences along the way.

First off, you'll notice this post focuses on our ramblings around the Fruita area in CO. Sorry...I had to stick with the theme of my initial post, hence the Moab reference.

Let's begin with the cast of characters: Matt, from Lacrosse, WI; Scott, who lives in Glenwood Springs, CO; and Javier and myself from St. Joseph. Matt began his journey by driving to St. Joe the night before our departure, gathering Javier and I into the rental, and leaving early Thursday AM. We arrived at Scott's house sometime that night (after the mandatory stop at REI in Denver) and sacked out at his place. We headed out to Fruita the following morning, set up camp, and hit the trails....

Fruita, Day 1:
Our first ride of the trip was in the Bookcliffs of Fruita. These trails were very fast, hard packed, swoopy, and scary in spots.


Here's Matt cruising along the Zippity-do-da section...


Matt rounding a corner on the upper section of Zippity-do-da. This was one of those scary spots. The photo doesn't really do it justice, but if you don't make the very sharp slightly off-camber turn, you get hurtled down that very steep and rocky slope to the left...ouch!


Here's the gang: Scott (left), Javier (center), and Matt (right) basking in the glory of completing a loop and getting ready to head out for more.

After riding the Bookcliffs, Scott had to go to class (he's working on his Master's). After dropping off Scott, we headed out for some more riding a little west of Fruita.


Rustler's Loop was our last ride of the day. It was a short but extremely fun and fast trail that we would have ridden again if not for the fading daylight.

BTW...while riding the Bookcliffs, we met some guys from Omaha, NE. Later that night, we met them again in the same campground, two spots down from us. More on them in a later post...

Well, that's all for now. I have a crappy internet connection, and uploading the photos is taking forever. More to come...

Lewis & Clark

Sounds like the race is on in Council Bluffs!

Sport/Expert/SingleSpeed starts at 12 noon. I will be leaving STJ at 8:30 or 9:00. Anyone that wants a ride to the race should call me by 8:00. 752-2025

These are great trails. Some of the best in the area. Assuming the rain holds off tonight, you are doing yourself a favor if you ride this race.

Updates of the race and hopefully some pictures will follow. Happy trails!