Nov 16, 2022 | 7:15pm  Metro MTB Public Meeting

Raised Grain

4 Members in attendance

45 Attendees

Mission Statement

Metro Mountain Bikers is a non-profit, volunteer organization dedicated to safeguarding the future of mountain biking through the preservation and promotion of responsible off-road bicycling opportunities.  Which includes the education, sponsoring events, trail construction, and trail maintenance.

Board Members

Chris Shay, Chair

John Slawny, Co-chair                                            

Dan Kutz, Treasurer       

Melissa Clark, Secretary

Tom Hartman

Isaac Olson – not present

Lindsay Carlson – not present

Eric Hackbarth, Ozaukee County Representative – not present

Topics:

Ron Stawicki presented Metro a $920 check representing donations collected from the October Bik-e-Shaw social ride and June’s Bike for Bruch ride. Thanks for Magellan’s on Main Street in Waukesha for hosting these community social rides, providing pizza, to fundraise for our bike trails at Minooka.

Minooka Storage Shed is currently being permitted and precured. An image of the prefabricated shed was presented. The shed model and color was selected to go with aesthetics of existing park buildings.

Donations

•  Washington County have given Metro $13,000 this year for our Heritage Trails
• Wheel & Sprocket has given a Metro a gift of $5,000 and continues to be a great partner
•  Metro received an anonymous $5,000 donation
• Trail work at Heritage is currently mostly donated by our trail builder, Gavin.
•   We are currently at $37,000 in donations for the year which is phenomenal!

Hugh Jass Fat Bike Race Series overview

• Started in 2014 for people to get out and ride in the winter months by Wheel & Sprocket
•  3.7” or wider tires needed to podium in the races. Narrower tires are allowed to race but you need to have a fat bike to win.
• 5 events per season
• t’s the State of Wisconsin’s biggest fat bike race series
• Usually, 200-300 riders per race
• Hammerschlagen occurs after each lap (drive a nail into the stump at the end of each lap)
• First race is this Saturday at our Metro’s Kegel-Alpha Trail in Franklin, flannel theme
• $40 registration per race

Trail Fairy of the Month Award presented to Andy Van Sistine. Andy has been leading weekly night rides at Minooka for 5 years! All are welcome. Andy has hosted riders ages 3-72 on the same group ride. Social rider every Thursday at 7:30pm. Typically 20-30 riders/

Don’t Ride Mud Trails

• The annual problem during this freeze and thaw time of year when the trails take the worst abuse.
• Chris Copper shared a fantastic Facebook post about freeze thaw (copied below):  

A reminder for those that have been around for a while and a little education for those folks newer to the best sport ever. Enjoy. Throughout the winter, but especially in the late Fall and early Spring, you'll often see Freeze/Thaw in the trail conditions. When the temperature is dropping at night, but near or above freezing during the day, the trails can be either fabulous or terrible, so please keep the following in mind:
• Most of the soil in this area is clay. When this clay soil freezes, the water in the soil expands. When it thaws again, the water contracts and the soil has been aerated. This aerated soil holds more water and becomes mud.
• When mud gets ridden through, tires push it to the sides of the trail creating ruts. When it freezes overnight then thaws again the next day, riders push the mud further to the sides, creating deeper ruts.
• After a few cycles of this, the trail is permanently cupped, holding water all the time. With every storm, it erodes more and then trail volunteers must spend valuable time repairing it.
• As soon as trails start to thaw, which can even happen well below freezing if trails are in the sun, they'll turn into a particularly soupy form of mud and do the most damage to the trail.
Please only ride the frozen trails early in the day or after dark and avoid anywhere you're leaving a rut and you'll be rewarded with trails that are fast, grippy, and fun. Your trail volunteers and fellow riders will thank you!

Snow Grooming Update

• Metro will be snow grooming at Heritage, Minooka and Pleasant Valley this winter
• Please speak with Bryan Douglas if you’d like to help with grooming: douglasbd14@gmail.com

Metro Winter Riding Event in the Works

• Neon Nights – “Lets Glow Crazy”
• Save the date for Saturday, January 14^th, at Minooka
• Family event
• Drinks, food, glow sticks
• Different group roll outs at different times

Outgoing Board Members & Trail Director Recognition

• Dan Kutz, Treasurer: Thanks DAN! Dan also led our insurance policy renewals each year.
• Isaac Olson, Board Member at Large: Managed everything on our website, Trail bot app system, all our of on-line donations. Isaac has served 8+ years on Metro’s board. He is also one of the original trail builders at Minooka.
• Eric Hackbarth, OCMB (Ozaukee County Mountain Bike) Club Leader for 6 years: Managed all our trail work in Ozaukee County. Our Trail Director at Pleasant Valley.

2023 Election Results

• Kerry Norman elected as Metro's new Treasurer
• Kevin Eccles elected as Board Member at Large

Meeting adjourned at 8:00 pm