May 25, 2022 | 7: 00pm

Metro MTB Public Meeting

Ray’s in Tosa

4 Members in attendance

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, Co-Chair                                                           

Dan Kutz, Treasurer       

Melissa Clark, Secretary

Tom Hartman – not present

Isaac Olson- not present

Lindsay Carlson

Eric Hackbarth, Ozaukee County Representative – not present 

County Updates:

Minooka Trails

• o   Trail head signage has been installed
• o   Metro Storage shed is in progress
• o   Metro communicated to Waukesha County Parks Department that we are not able to fund a parking lot at Minooka as previously agreed to. The Club targets raising $50,000 annually and a $200,000+ expenditure would preclude any trail development for about four years.

Milwaukee County

•  Oak hill 4 is completed. Signage will be coming in next couple of weeks
• Kegel-Alpha
• Scheduled works days to be announced.
• 3-hour works days, Saturday workdays starting at 1pm
• Kegel-Alpha trail extension should be completed this weekend
• Eagle Scout signage is ordered; signage install should happen in June. Eagle Scout Go-Fund me to be up and shared soon.
•  There’s only a few Milwaukee Co trails: Kegel-Alpha, Tosa and River Glen. All multi-use.
•  New Facebook group BIPOC of MTBers (now renamed MKE Urban MTB Connection) working to bring trails to more urban locations. Metro made a major push for Milwaukee River Trails years ago. Lots of tough obstacles. May be worth a revisit now.
•  Parks department announced they’re closing the golf course at Doyne Park. Milwaukee Co is seeking input on future use. Great spot for a multi-sport park including MTB, BMX, cyclocross and pump track. Central urban location may help with previous topic.

Ozaukee County

• Storage shed installed
• Trails are in good shape

Heritage Trails

If you haven’t been up to Heritage Trails, get up and ride the trails! The County relationships has been great! Mountain Biking is the #1 priority for Heritage Trail Park. Heritage has SE Wisconsin’s first flow trails and jumps.

We just opened the new Black Line, Double Dragon. The new flow trail getting all the attention which has 7 jumps and 4 drops!

What’s coming up this year?

• Adding another ¾ of a mile this year to Double Dragon
• Adding dedicated jump line
• Take on me, steep decent will get a bi-pass bridge
• Training features- on agenda to get added built like the wood features borrowed from Pleasant Valley for the International Women’s MTB Day Event
• Winter grooming, adding bi-passes for the steepest assent and decent for winter groomed trails.

Thanks to Washington County Parks! Their Parks are 100% park admissions passes funded, zero tax dollars go the Parks.

Plan is to have our trails at Heritage built out in the next 1-2 years. Goal of Club, what is next after Heritage is built out? Where do we want to build trails next? What Counties?

Question about liability? Drops?

• Safety is our Club’s #1 Mission. We were not allowed to open the trail until we had emergency markers every 8th of mile. Every jump had to be properly signed with bypasses. Part of it is us educating others, educating the community. County has the liability. The state of Wisconsin has recreational liability statutes. Metro doesn’t operate the trail; we donate to build and maintain the trails.

Treasure/ Budget Update:

Larger 2022 expenses:

• Liability insurance
• Heritage Trail Development
• Gateway signage at the trail heads

Revenue

• Donations double where we were last year, largely in-part of the second Snowdog purchase this year
• Membership is essentially flat

International Women’s Day Event at Heritage: Great turn out! 71 riders, 15 volunteers. Had 7 join Metro MTB at the event!

Website Refresh: (see attached presentation showcasing website updates!)

Announcing our 2021 Trail Fairies! (see attached presentation) Trail Fairy awards go to Volunteers that put in at least 20 hours for the year. Thanks for all 200+ trail volunteers for 2021!

Grand Total for Volunteer hours for 2021: 4,408 hours = $125,796 in value!!

How can YOU help Metro Mountain Bikers?

• Open co-chair position             
• Social media coordinator
• Workday trail volunteers and/ or workday support (help with refreshments, food for volunteers)
• Social events
• Grant writing
• Legal advice
• Equipment operators, skilled excavators

Open position: Co-Chair position is currently open. Voting will occur at our next Public Meeting in July. Please send nominations to any Metro Board Member.

Meeting adjourned at 8:20 pm