Demand is high for grooming our trails and it's tough to cover our widespread system with one machine. We're now raising funds for another SnowDog. Please check out the project page to donate!

October 26^th 2021 @ 7pm

Metro Meeting

Benno’s – West Allis

22 Members in attendance

Dave opened the meeting by reading our mission statement and introduction of Board members

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.

Introduction of Board Members

James Mattox, Chair (Absent)                    

Ron Stawicki, Member at Large

Dave Burch, Co-Chair                                   

Isaac Olson, Member at Large  (Absent)

Dan Kutz, Treasurer  (Absent)                    

Chris McArdle, Member at Large

Beth Kazinski, Secretary

Election of New Board Members

Next Election meeting will be here at Benno’s on November 30^th here at Benno’s for 2022 positions.  Positions available:  Co-Chair, Secretary, and 2 Member at Large positions.

We would like to accept the nominations for the following positions.  Everyone to say a few words on who they are, their background, and why they want to be on the board.  

• ·        Co-Chair   - Chris Shay
• ·        Secretary - Melissa Clark
• ·        Member at Large – Bryan Douglas
• ·        Member at Large – Tom Hartman

Floor opened for additional nominations.  Bryan nominated Lindsay Carlson for Member at Large and she excepted via text message.    

Treasurer Update:

Dan was not present to give update.  Dave touched on a few key points of the financial report.  One was membership at 163.  Discussion on how to get membership numbers up.  Ideas surrounding getting awareness out there, visibility, pride in belonging, supporting community, NICA, and social events.  Trail pages are very visible, but Metro page is not.

Pleasant Valley and Port Washington Trail Update – Eric Hackbarth

Pleasant Valley:

The 5x6 storage shed is finally purchased and will be assembled and installed soon.  Got both county and city to approve.  It’s a small storage shed and testing to see if it will be vandalized – hoping not. 

They will also be looking for new sponsor opportunities on their sign/board.  This is done yearly.  

The last several weeks a bunch more of the problem wet areas on the green loop have been patched and graded so water will run off the trail.  So far, they are working well.  These added patches to several similar patches from last year, the green loop is becoming much more sustainable.  One more round of patching is planned for the beginning of November.  A workday will be announced on the Pleasant Valley Facebook group.

Port trails:

Update will be provided on at the next meeting.

Milwaukee County Parks Update – Dave & Marty

Kegel 2.0 workdays won’t be until spring.   Final review by parks is in December which means it’s too late start dirt work.  Meantime, workdays are happening at Oak Hill 4.  Watch the page for dates.    Marty is going to be stepping down as Milwaukee County Trail Coordinator next year and we will need someone to step in for him.   Trails are Kegel/Alpha, Tosa system, and River Glen.    If anyone is interested, please let the Board or Marty know.  

Heritage Trail Update - Chris Shay/John Slawny

Green loop is done!  It is about 1 mile of additional trail to the blue that is out there.  Flow trail is complete just waiting on signage before the Park will allow it to open.  Dirt has been delivered for the jump park.   All the take-offs will be wooden ramps to help with maintaining them.    The Grand opening will be in Spring of 2022.  The trail is going to have an 80’s theme.   The Green loop will be named “Fraggle Rock”; Blue Trail will be “Take On Me”; and jump line is “Double Dragon”.   There will be a phase 2 which will include more miles as a stacked loop. 

Minooka Park Project Update - Ron

Workdays are in process.  Completed 4 already in October with at least one more in Nov.  Last workday we will have a cook-out.  We’ve been building up the berms and this coming weekend we will be taking on the powerline berms. 

We are still working with the park to put in a new storage shed to keep the new tools in. 

Fat Bike Grooming – Bryan

Bryan is working on new trailer. Building sides so they can cover the machine when in route to trails.  Snow and salt not good for the machine.   Anyone have ¾ inch plywood they would like to donate to the build?  If so see Bryan Douglas.  It would be nice if we had another snow dog, one for northern trails and one for Minooka or southern trails.  There is a lot involved coordinating between the 3 trail systems. Should start thinking about fundraising for one either for this year or next. 

Social Events/Rides

Soliciting the group for ideas of what they would like to see for social rides/events.  Suggestion to bring odd Tuesday rides back.  Maybe a weekend group ride for those that aren’t fans of night riding.  Maybe Sunday late morning.    Rides/social events should be schedules for each trail.  Will work on dates and reach out for group ride leaders at different trails. 

Become a member or donate to your local trails at www.metromountainbikers.com

Meeting adjourned 8:39pm

August 24^th 2021  7pm

Raised Grain - Waukesha

28 Members in attendance

Ron opened the meeting

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.

Introduction of Board Members

James Mattox, Chair - absent                    

Ron Stawicki, Member at Large

Dave Burch, Co-Chair - absent                 

Isaac Olson, Member at Large - absent

Dan Kutz, Treasurer                                      

Chris McArdle, Member at Large - absent

Beth Kazinski, Secretary                              

Eric Hackbarth – OCMB

Election of New Board Members

Next Election this November 2021 for 2022 positions at Benno’s in West Allis.  If you are interested in a Board position, please contact the below individuals for more details.

Positions up for renewal

• Co-Chair  ( Dave will move to Chair)
• Beth Kazinski, Secretary 
• Ron Stawicki, Member at Large
• Chris McArdle, Member at Large

Melissa Clark is interested in Secretary position.  Melissa brings her knowledge of architect, design and fundraising.  She will certainly be a welcome addition to the Metro Board.   

Treasurer Update – Dan Kutz

Dan gave us a quick snapshot of Club’s overall financial standing.   Recent expenses include the gateway sign at Minooka and container at Heritage.  We have 165 active members.  Down slightly form June.   Donate to your local trails at www.metromountainbikers.com

Milwaukee County Parks Update  - Marty

Light mowing and trimming has been taking place at Tosa and in pretty good shape.   

Alpha is moving forward.   The neighbors have cleared their personal belongings from the Parks property, and we are set to walk it on Wednesday.   Marty, Jessica, and I believe a naturalist will be walking to make sure the new proposed trail does not get closer to the houses than the hiking trail.    Its about 10% of the system that is holding us up.  We have about 40% of the 2.0 trail to complete.  Should need about 10 workdays to complete.  Hoping to have 5 to 10 people.  Looking at Sundays & Mondays.  So please watch FB for scheduled days to volunteer.    He is also looking to have NICA kids volunteer as well.  An Eagle Scout is working on the signage.  He may call on us to help him with funding & work. 

Oak Hill 4 is coming out of its 3 season review this Fall.   We will have to develop a new construction plan most likely for next year.   Finishing up Alpha will be the goal this year. 

Minooka Park Project Update  - Ron

We want to thank the Collectivo team for trimming and mowing at Minooka before the WORS race.  The event was well attended, it was a positive event for the Park.  We should be picking up workdays again this fall to fix some areas and berms. Looking at October and November most likely weekends. 

Pleasant Valley and Port Washington Trail Update- Eric Hackbarth

Pleasant Valley:  If you haven’t seen it yet, they added a new tabletop yesterday to the skills area.  The goal is to replace the old features including seesaws, skinnies, tabletops…. they are for beginner to intermediate riders to help them progress.  They have 5 NICA teams that practice there so they are getting used.

They put in a proposal to the Parks to install a small shed for tools.  Its only 6x8 steel shed so worried a bit about vandalism, so its going to be a test run.    They will have some workdays coming in September for trimming.   

Port:  There is about 2 miles of trail there currently.  There was a bridge that connected it to more trails across a creek but with heavy rains a few years back it washed away and cause major flooding downstream.   The Park doesn’t want it to happen again so trying to come up with ideas to cross the creek.  It’s typically only 5 to 6 inches of water so looking at armoring the bottom.   Until then, enjoy the trails that are their and maybe combine it with Pleasant Valley for a day trip.

Heritage Trail Update – John Slawny

If you haven’t already, COME OUT!  There’s lots of parking too!  There are over 500 hours of volunteer work not including what James has put in.    The current blue loop is in real good shape and the flow is almost done.  Green is halfway done and should be ready in September.   Jump Park will be in October.   The Park should have the dirt dropped off then so we can continue building the jumps.  The Metro sign is going in NOW – thank you Adam!     We also had over 5 tons of stone dropped off from members.  Things are moving along, and the Park has been a great partner of ours and lets us build what we want.    The photo shoot this past weekend went well and park will be using to promote the trails.   Park entrance fee is $5 daily or $40 annually.  If you are doing volunteer work the park waives the daily entrance fee. 

NICA Update

Workdays for NICA kids.  They want to help.  Mike Seiler leads the NICA Teen Trail Corps and wants to get the kids out helping wherever they can.   Please bring projects to him and he will get them out to the NICA coaches.  He can be reached at teentrailcorps@wisonsinmtb.org

Volunteer Hours – Dave Cullberson

Dave was not present for an update

Old Business

Wednesday night races – Stewart not present for an update

New Business

No new business

Meeting adjourned 7:48pm

June 15^th 2021  7pm

Wheel & Sprocket - Franklin

28 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.

Introduction of Board Members

James Mattox, Chair - absent              Ron Stawicki, Member at Large

Dave Burch, Co-Chair                          Isaac Olson, Member at Large

Dan Kutz, Treasurer                             Chris McArdle, Member at Large - absent

Beth Kazinski, Secretary                      Eric Hackbarth – OCMB - absent

Election of New Board Members

• Next Election this November 2021 for 2022 positions
• If you are interested in a Board position, please contact the below individuals for more details.
• Positions up for renewal

  Co-Chair  ( Dave will move to Chair)
  Beth Kazinski, Secretary 
  Ron Stawicki, Member at Large
   Chris McArdle, Member at Large

Treasurer Update – Dan Kutz

• 173 Paid Members 
• Working on an Annual Budget to layout yearly expenditures and incorporate Heritage & Minooka builds.
• Upcoming Expenditures approved in last Board meeting:

$1000 (approx. 10) for new tools.  A lot of volunteers, not enough tools. Thanks Volunteers!!
$2800 for new Container and painting for Minooka, old shed was broken into.

• Donate to your local trails at www.metromountainbikers.com

Milwaukee County Parks Update  - Dave Burch

• MKE Trail Coordinator, Jessica Wineberg was not able to make it but we are working on having her attend our meetings, so she has a better understanding of our mission and the enthusiasm of our membership to have local trails.  We would like a better relationship with MKE.
• Parks Amendment / Right of Entry Permit has been fully approved and we are good until next year when we need to re-apply.   The process should be smoother next year now that we have gone through the process and now what to do and what to expect.
• Fall of next year the 3 season review should be completed by Parks
• Marty was not present to let us know when Alpha 2.0 workdays will resume.  Keep an eye out on FB page for updates.

Heritage Trail Update - Chris Shay

• Chris had a great PowerPoint presentation for us – pictures included as well as number of volunteer hours – well over 500 already!   It included a new proposed budget for phase one.
• Scheduled workdays will be posted as usual.   Thank you to all the volunteers!!!
• Link to presentation. Heritage Trails - Slinger WI Project Update - Google Slides

 Minooka Park Project Update  -Dave Burch

• Meeting with County – No update from James.  However, status was given to the Parks with an estimated time frame for staging area to be completed in late Fall of 2022 or Spring of 2023.  Fundraising has been a challenge due to Covid.

Pleasant Valley and Port Washington Trail Update- Eric Hackbarth

• Heads up – Local NICA practices will be starting this coming Tuesday and Thursday.  Teams from Cedarburg, Grafton, Mequon, Port Washington & Washington County.  They are particularly good at breaking up into groups and spreading out but keep in mind the parking lot and trails will be busy.

Volunteer Coordinator – Dave Cullbertson

• Dave Cullbertson was not present to update on total volunteer hours year to date. 
• Please contact Dave with any hours that you have put in.
• 20 hours gets a Trail Fairy shirt.  What color for last year???

NICA Update

• Workdays for NICA kids.  One was completed up at Heritage and one coming to Minooka soon.

Old Business

• Wednesday Night Races – Stuart is willing to move forward but needs someone from Metro to assist in getting started.  Insurance needs to be in place before we can move forward.  Dan Kutz volunteer to help get started.
• Social Event in May – Beth - We had 8 members that came out to Raised Grain in lieu of our social ride since Minooka was closed.  Pizza, beer, and lots of talk on where we are all riding next.  Thanks for coming out!

New Business

• Milwaukee County Video Project. Collin Buth stepped up to put together a video for Metro to present and update Milwaukee County Parks on what we do and what we provide to the communities.   Let’s start at Kegel-Alpha.  Looking to get Marty to schedule a small workday to do some filming and discussion around sustainable trails.  We need to make sure we get our message out to the county board members and community not just the Parks.
• Membership Committee Chair.   Josh Pollack stepped up to head our membership drive.  Josh will work with the members of the board on ideas to drive membership.   
• Next Meeting Social Event, July 30^th at Heritage Trails.  Look for the Metro Tent!  The Park is having a beer garden and we will be hosting a ride on the new trails that will open with our Trail Guide John Slawny.

Meeting adjourned 8:09pm

April 2021 Metro Meeting

04/27/2021

Benno’s

West Allis, Wi

27 members in attendance

David did board introductions

Present:                                             Absent: 

James Mattox                                  Chris McArdle

Dave Burch                                      Isaac Olsen

Dan Kutz

Beth Kazinski

Ron Stawicki     

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.   

Elections:

November 2020 Elections were postponed due to Covid.  Everyone please start thinking about participating and if you have any questions on what a particular position entails, just contact us.  Positions up for election:

Co-Chair, Dave Burch will move into Chair position

Secretary, Beth Kazinski

Member at Large, Ron Stawicki

Member at Large, Chris McArdle

Financial Report – Dan Kutz

Club is in a strong position.  $37,800

Insurance renewal this month of $3,142.  There really is only one Company that insures clubs like us.  We tried shopping around.  This does include heavy equipment. 

Membership is holding steady at 192 paid members.  Up from last year

Donation of $75 from last year’s Banquet  

Milwaukee County Parks Update – Marty & Dave

Kegel Alpha - Dave has been working on the MKE Right of Entry Permit that is required to be completed every year going forward. This gives Metro permission to maintain trails and signage in their parks.  This was the first event that that halted the Kegel Alpha workdays.   Dave has completed and submitted to MKE Parks.  The second item was the bill presented by the county supervisors on behalf of the neighbors that boarder the park.   The board voted and it did NOT pass 8-10.  Close.   We appreciate everyone who wrote their city officials on behalf on keeping the trails and how important they are to the communities.  

We will be scheduling a meeting with the supervisors to walk the trails before we schedule more workdays to complete the new 2.0 project. 

Eagle scout project on signage at Kegel Alpha will resume.  We are hoping to have this done by June but TBD.

We also need to do an Annual Report on work completed and what we are planning for the coming year.

Suggestion of putting together a video to update county supervisors on what is happening at Alpha and other parks.  Might be a better way to communicate then a typed letter that most likely doesn’t get read. 

Tosa Trails.  Watch for workdays coming on Oak Hill 3.  Oak Hill 4 is going through its 3-season review with MKE Parks.  Should be through in 2022.  The Baja is being rebuilt again and Parks is aware.  We are trying to get a bike park legitimized somewhere because there is certainly a want/need for it. 

Minooka Park Update - James

Phase 1 – gateway sign.  All the lumber is delivered and on site.  The sign will be facing the new parking lot with trails behind it on the hill.   We will be doing some clean up over the next couple of weeks and holes for the new sign should be in next week. 

Dave has been working diligently on fundraising with local business to help fund the staging area.  It will have 50 to 80 stalls much like the parking lot in area 5.  Suburban Asphalt is donating the materials which will save us a lot of money.    He is also working with local service clubs and Waukesha County community organizations.    Remember we need additional parking before we can build out the bike park because there isn’t enough parking as it is.  Park can’t fund the project for 10 years, so we needed to fundraise get the bike park in sooner. 

Heritage Trail Update – James

Good news, it already has a parking lot!   James with Shore Line Trails has been out rough cutting a trail already and soon will need to schedule workdays to do the finish work.  Gavin McCloud has been out building the jump lines in the bike park section.   We are hoping to open in August.   

Future expansion will include 3 more miles of trail then connect to Glacial Hills.  This is a 10-year plan. 

OCMB Trails – Eric Hackbarth sent update

Pleasant Valley

•  Just completed switching out a 16ft length of the bridge over the creek on the advanced loop.  It took a direct hit from a large, downed tree floating down the creek and was severely damaged.  Repair successful and bridge is in good shape.  Also, several other adding boardwalks will have work done to replace pieces starting to rot.
• The log jump on the 2-way stretch on the intermediate loop was built up to a tabletop end of last year
• The log jump on the 2-way stretch on the advanced loop is being built up to something similar.  Work is in progress
• Look for upgrades to the skills course pieces next to the kids loop by the shelter.  

Port Trails

 We have identified more potential new trail along the bluffs and will be requesting permission to flag and get approval to put in. Probably about a half mile segment.  Overlooks the marina so it will be pretty.

• We will be seeking approval to put a line of turfstone across the main creek crossing.  This will help maintain a consistent surface to go across.
• Eagle Scout Project.  A local scout will be designing/building/installing a kiosk bulletin board at the trailhead at the Guenther park parking lot.

Fat Bike Grooming – Bryan Douglas, Chair

Thank you to everyone who helped groom and snowshoe.  We are still deciding for next year if we should have snowshoeing at Minooka due to it NOT being a mutli-use trail.  It sends the wrong message to those that are hiking that they can walk on the MTB trails.   All other trails it definitely helped!

We do need to look at storage for the Snowdog at Minooka.  It is a haul to get it from the barn to area 5.  Something we need to discuss with the Park.  We are also looking at transportation and upgrades for faster grooming process next year. 

Heritage trails was a great add for this past season.  CALL OUT!   When purchasing a Washington County Sticker there is an option to donate to the MTB trail so please donate!!

Volunteer – Dave Cullbertson

We have a new Volunteer Coordinator Dave Cullbertson who was not present.  Dave records hours and collects waivers.  Make sure to send to him.  The counties use these hours toward grants and donations. 

With 20 volunteer hours you get a “trail fairy” shirt.  So, send those hours in!  We will have to review for 2020 and get shirts ordered.

Other Business

Marty asked about Wednesday Night Races.  Stuart Scholz stepped up to run the event.  It may not be every Wednesday and may or may not be traveling but we will have something.  Dan Kutz volunteer to help Stuart when he can.  Stay tuned!!!  Need to talk to Wheel about insurance for the event. 

Shed at Minooka was broken into, but nothing was stolen.  We do need to replace but not sure if we should buy another shed or POD.  Will be discussed at Board meeting and with Parks. 

Next meeting will be a social meeting end of May. 

8:59pm Meeting adjourned.

March 2020 Metro Meeting

03/10/2020

Beer Snobs

Hartland, Wi

18 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.   

Introduction of Board

Present:

James Mattox

Dave Burch

Dan Kutz

Beth Kazinski

Ron Stawicki

Chris McArdle

Absent:

Isaac Olson

Membership Renewal

Membership renewals should be going out automatically.  A year is from the date that you became a member.   You can always go to the web-site www.metromountainbikers.com to check and see when your membership is up for renewal.

Trail Conditions/Maintenance

It seems to be working well updating the trail conditions on the Metro Facebook page and pushing to each group page. We will continue to do this through-out the summer.  Trails are closed for spring thaw.  Hopefully we can get out soon to walk the trails to see what maintenance needs to be done and if/when they would be rideable. 

Milwaukee County had stated they didn’t have the resources to remove the large trees anymore, so we are trying to figure out what this means and if so then we will have to do it.   We are looking for NICA to help do the trimming at the Tosa Trails since they seem to get overgrown quickly.  Stay tuned and watch the specific trail pages workdays.

Signage

There was obviously a need to for fat bike signage at Minooka.  This was the first year for grooming and people didn’t realize that the groomed trails were for bikes and not hiking.  We certainly put enough out there so it should be obvious that its for bikes.    

Minooka Park Update - James

James went over why we need to put in a Staging Area and not the park.    Staging area is for educational and recreational activities including mountain biking.  A parking lot is for cars.

Before the “Staging Area” goes in, Ron and James are working on the proposed plan on the new trail head and re-routes to give to the Park.  There will be a lot of dirt work to start.   They will be renting equipment for a weekend and will try to do as much machine work as possible but will need volunteers for manual work as well.    It might be something that NICA can help with. 

We will also need volunteers to help with the features from Little Switz.  Right now, we are figuring out how to get them to the Park.  We need to have the new trail head and features in before the Ribbon Cutting in June.

Dave is working on fundraising in the forms of County Grants, DNR, and Stewardship funds.  Some of these grants leverage volunteers’ hours so make sure you get them into Chris Cooper!  We will also approach the Kegel Foundation and Peoples for Bikes.  If you are interested in fundraising, let Dave know he certainly can you our help. 

We will also have a FAQ on our website to help Members with why and what is occurring with the fundraising projects.

Bike Expo

Bike expo is coming up and Chris has out on the website a sign-up sheet.  You should be able to select the time/day you are able to work.   The booth will be about the same as last year but with foam boards of each trail system that Darrin is currently working on.  We probably won’t have the video playing this year.  Hoping to get a spot by the fat bikes since we will have the groomer in the booth.  We will also have the donation tube since we did raise $200 last year toward the groomer.   Member ask if we could have laptop available for people to sign up.  It can be something we can look at doing. We need to make sure we have WiFi available.

NICA

Practice starts in July with races in starting in September.   Within their season we can let coaches know where and when trail work needs to be done.  Chris C. has the document in Google Docs for each trail head to completed to let them know what needs to be work-on.

Grooming

Everyone agree it was grooming at Minooka and Pleasant Valley was awesome?  It wasn’t easy getting through the single-track sections and it added on hours to the process, but it was certainly worth it.    

We are working on extending out the exhaust system to move it away from the person running it.  We did have a member step up that will do it for us. 

We would like to have more grooming options but are limited by one machine and volunteer time.  We are looking at Nagawaukee golf course for next year.  Three to four options are max.  We would have to pay off this machine before looking at purchasing another.  We would like to expand but need to be smart about it.

Wick Field

Marty has been in touch with a small group that are looking for support in building trails behind Wick Field.  They have started on their own already.   The land is about 14 acres with 90’ vertical slope.  They are calling it Hobo Hills.  The land is property of the City of Milwaukee.  They don’t have written approval to develop the property but a verbal interest in allowing MTB trails there.   The Alderman is on board.   They would like to get help from Metro on building out trails and maybe putting in some features and put together a master plan.    Marty is trying to get a meeting together with them and our board members to discuss opportunity.     Would be helpful for us to walk the property. 

James Mattox motioned to allow the board to explore possibility participating in developing and maximizing the use of the property for MTB trials.  2^nd by Dan Kutz, all board members present voted yes.  No Nays.  Motion carried. 

Open Floor

Membership appreciation banquet is this Sunday at Raised Grain.  We’ll be having Pizza and door prizes.  This is a free event for Members Only. 

Charlie, member in attendance, brought up that Mt. Olympia in Oconomowoc is looking at putting MTB down hill trails on the hill.  No metro involvement but exciting to hear, nonetheless.

Heritage trails is still moving along but no additional update.  Still waiting for the ground to thaw before any work can start.  Looking to have trails done in July.

Wednesday night races -  James is working with an individual who is interested in running the Wednesday night races.   He has a racing club in Milwaukee – not mtb.    His main reason for wanting to do this is to keep kids on bikes.  Outside of WORS there really isn’t any other races for the kids to participate in.    James did explain the partnership with Wheel & Sprocket, and he is fine with that.  It would still be promoted as a Metro Event.  Would like to incorporate all 3 trail systems and have an overall series winner.   We would give it one year and see how it goes.   Still need to finalize some details and will go to the board.

Meeting adjourned 8:34pm

January 2020 Metro Meeting

01/14/2020

Café De Arts

Waukesha, Wi

19 members in attendance

 

James did board introductions and turned the meeting over to Dave Burch our new Co-Chair

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.   

Financial Report – Dan Kutz was not present

James touched base from our board meeting regarding total funds in the bank account.  Around $27k and we still have some donations for the groomer to add.   We still need about $2500 in donations to finish paying off the groomer and added maintenance costs.  You can donate on Metro’s site and receive a receipt.  We do have some projects coming up but won’t require much funding.    We don’t have any requirements to liquidate funds but if we went over $100k in the account we would be required to do annual reporting.

Membership is holding steady around 250 members, up about 2%

Some ideas were given for adding members since there are over 1200 people that follow Minooka page alone.  The thought is to pool the individuals on each page to see why they aren’t members and what they are looking for in order to become one.  

Leadership (Board) Meeting Update

James gave the members a brief update from our recent board meeting.  Some of the items discussed were:

·        Minooka Park Project – discussed strategy to complete and formed a fundraising committee

·        Trail signage – we want to have all trail systems with consistent signage and are looking to start with Glacial Blue.  Of course, we are working on a design to give to the landowners for their approval.  It would be great for riders to have a sense of direction at Glacial Blue.  Make your own adventure without getting lost.

·        E-Bikes – discussed the boards stance on allowing off-road e-bikes on trails.  We were all for it if it’s only Class 1 which is pedal assist with max 20mph.

·        New Trail in Washington County – Heritage Park.   As you may recall, 2yrs ago the park approached us about building trails.  James and Ron walked the property and it’s viable for trails.   It was put on hold because they wanted to build a lake first but about 3 weeks ago the park came back to us and the lake is out.  They want to move forward right away with the trails.   Board voted to add this new project as a Metro trail.  James will head the project.  The Park has $12k earmarked toward the trails and Gavin (Little Switz build crew) is going to donate his time and equipment to build flow trails with “features”.  Project looking to be completed this summer.     

·        Update on Milwaukee Underpass Project - Both Marty and James have been in these meetings and they are moving ahead with this project.   It is more than just a pump track and will allow for other activities.  The “Friends of the Underpass” have asked us to help with future maintenance and possibly using our 501c3 to take donations.   The board agreed if it is simple maintenance and not replacing the asphalt pump track down the road.  Marty believes the attorneys will more than likely set up their own non-profit and possibly hire landscaping company to do maintenance.  But we certainly will help where we can.  Exciting to know this thing really has legs. 

Alpha Trail Update - Marty

Marty gave an update on the last meetings he had with Milwaukee County Parks.  However, the county recently decided to have a “3 season rule” where any new projects would not be looked at for 3 seasons.  So, all the flagging we did and then the route they decided on (including the hiking trails) are now on hold (again) for 3 seasons.   They won’t look at Alpha again until Nov of 2020.  They also said they no longer have the resources to chainsaw fallen trees on any of the MTB Trails including Tosa.  It is apparent that MKE County Parks is not interested in building more MTB trails, so we as aboard have decided to table all Milwaukee projects.  We will continue to maintain the trails we currently have but will not use our volunteers time to push for new trails until we can find out what the county’s concerns are with mountain biking.  James and Dave are scheduling a meeting with Milwaukee County Parks to discuss further.

Minooka Park Update - James

Minooka project is fully approved and looking to have new trails to ride June.  Of course, spring is always questionable but looking to have a tiller and 2 compactors cutting in the flagged re-routes our volunteers cut in last fall.  This includes the new trail head!  We are planning on putting in a wall ride and other features donated by Little Switz. 

Once that is complete, we then need to focus on putting in the 60-stall parking lot with sidewalk to the bathrooms.  James is already talking with individuals with connections to contractors and looking to see what we can have donated.  Dave is working on the fundraising for the now “Staging Area Project”. This opens the project to not just a parking lot but more of an educational area for users.   Dave is hoping to have a draft of the project at the next meeting.

Once the staging area is complete, we are fundraising to have a contractor come in and build out the hill side! 

Dave Burch is the Chair of our Fundraising Committee so if you are interested in helping, please contact Dave.

Fat Bike Grooming – Bryan Douglas, Chair

Ron thanked the grooming crew for getting out and grooming all the trails and keeping their schedules flexible and follow the snow.   We are working on options to better communicate when trails are open and closed.  Minooka is controlled by the Park, they consult us but ultimately it’s up to them.   If someone is out riding when they shouldn’t, please don’t be mean but rather use it to educate them on groomed trails.  Don’t assume they know. 

If you like the groomed trails, don’t forget to donate on the Metro site to keeps this project moving ahead!

Volunteer Hours

Chris Cooper has added the 2020 Volunteer Spreadsheet to the Metro Mountain Bikers Page for volunteer hours to be added.  If you have any 2019 hours to add, please do so before next week.  Chris will be locking out the 2019 one after next week.  We had 930.75 volunteer hours logged for 2019!!!  Thank you to all our volunteers!   You can email your hours to Chris Cooper at cooper4768@hotmail.com   Use subject line “Volunteer Hours”

NICA Trail Work

Chris Cooper is the Metro Liaison to NICA in communicating trail needs and scheduling maintenance days for NICA teams.   We will certainly look forward to having the extra hands this spring!   

New Business

Marty asked about Wednesday Night Races.  We are still where we were last year, waiting for someone to step up on run it.   Maybe we can look at a timing system to help but we still need a point of contact. 

Bike Expo.  YES metro will have a booth with the Groomer in it.  We are also looking at revamping the look and making it “brighter”.   We want to be seen!  Maps off all the trails, pics of riders, shredding videos, etc…..We want people to come in and ask who we are.  We will need enthusiastic mountain bikers to help us spread that excitement!

Beth Kazinski has stepped up to file the Social Media position.   She will be working with James to get a marketing strategy going.     

Next meeting in February 11^th.   It is a social meeting.  We are looking at a night ride at Minooka followed by Raised Grain.  Stay tuned!

8:29pm Meeting adjourned.

November 2019 Metro Meeting

11/12/19

Bennos’

West Allis, Wi

36 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.   

Introduction of Board

Financial Report – Dan Kutz

Refer to spreadsheet handout.

Club has a positive net cash flow.  

Changing system for member payments.  Paypal’s fees are increasing so will move to Wild Apricot’s payment system.  Isaac was making the necessary changes and members should be able to renew their memberships without an issue.  

Alpha Trail Update

Marty is at a council meeting so not present to give an update.  However, James did share that metro members showed up in force again at the public meeting in support of mountain bike trails.    There are some hurdles to overcome still but looking at spring to push for more trails at Alpha.  Remember we are looking at making the hiking trails, multi-use and allowing mountain biking.  We are making headwinds with the municipalities. 

Minooka Park Update - James

Minooka project is fully approved, and contract is signed and in our hands!   It includes Fat Bike Grooming at Minooka.  Huge win and a long time coming but it’s here.    We do need to submit a grooming plan to have approved.

There will be parts of the blue where the groomer will not fit but you are still able to ride.  Feel free to snowshoe these areas if you wish.    

The plan also includes the use of machinery to build out phase 3.  Phase 3 includes the build out of the hill with features donated by Little Switz.  We are talking a 15ft wall ride people!

Question was asked if there were any hooks or conditions in the contract that we would be held up against.   James stated no except the one for building the parking lot because there isn’t enough parking in Area 5 now and with the addition of phase 3 the park expects more users and there isn’t any more room in current area to accommodate. 

There is a major shift in the county parks attitude toward mountain biking and it is included in the master parks plans for the county.   The parks have never sold so many out of state passes then they have and it’s because of the mountain biking.  We bring in almost as much as the dog park.

 Fat Bike Grooming – Bryan Douglas, Chair

Sunday at Minooka 9am the fat bike committee is getting together for their first meeting to figure out where they can and cannot go with the groomer as well as develop safety plans.  So if you are on the committee be there.  Right now, we have permission to groom Minooka and Pleasant Valley.   We are working on a 3^rd location – hoping Negawaukee golf course.    The county is open to grooming since it’s just the golf course.  The nice thing is they don’t have dog walkers here.   We are going to keep it to 3 locations this year so we can get the system down and running smoothly before we think of adding anymore.  We want quality trails over quantity.  If you have questions or interested in being on the committee just contact Bryan. 

Volunteer Hours

With all the new opportunities coming our way there will be a lot of volunteer hours that need to be counted.  We send these hours to the counties and they use when applying for special projects.   It is important to show involvement in the club and giving back to the community.   Snowshoeing counts too!  If you go out to do any volunteer work as a group, designate one person to report the hours for all who showed up.  You can email your hours to Chris Cooper at cooper4768@hotmail.com   Use subject “Volunteer Hours”

NICA Trail Work

Thank you to all the coaches that showed up tonight, we are so excited to have the NICA teams involved in Metro.    NICA has a program where the kids can give back to the trail systems that they use.  We welcome the additional trail hands and Chris Cooper will help organize with the groups (15 NICA Teams in the Metro area) since he is the Volunteer Coordinator.    

Metro does have an age limitation on our insurance which didn’t allow the Kids to participate regardless of their enthusiasm to do so.  NICA has the insurance coverage under this program for the Kids so we should all be covered. 

Steve, NICA Coach present suggested having a designated NICA liaison between them and the Club.  Congrats Steve that this now you!   Seriously though, yes, it is a good idea and to please discuss further with James.

Board Positions

Tonight’s the night to Vote or consider running for a position! 

Positions available for 2020:

·        Co-Chair  (open)  1 year co-chair then 2 year chair

·        Social Chair  (open)

·        Member at Large (Isaac Olson)  2 year term

·        Secretary  (Beth Kazinski)  2 year term

James described the details of each position available and opened the floor to additional nominations.  Dave Burch stepped up for Co-Chair and name added to the ballot.  Voting remained open for an hour.  Get ballots back to Secretary to be counted.

We had 23 voting members present.  We encourage those in attendance who aren’t currently members to consider joining.   All membership dollars go back to YOUR local trails. 

Open Floor

Ron presented check to Metro for $100 from the last Bike-Sha.  Thank you to Dan at Magellan’s on Main St for the Pizza donation as well as everyone who came out to ride and donate.   Stay tuned for the next one!

8:02pm Meeting adjourned.

Election Results

Dave Burch, Co-Chair

James Mattox, Social Chair

Member at Large, Isaac Olson

Secretary, Beth Kazinski

 

Introducing your board and committee chairs for 2020!

Board

James Mattox, Chair

Dave Burch, Co-Chair

Beth Kazinski, Secretary

Dan Kutz, Treasurer

Ron Stawicki, Member at Large

Isaac Olson, Member at Large

Chris McArdle, Member at Large

 Committee Chairs

Darrin Jaeger, Social Media Chair

Chris Cooper, Volunteer Coordinator

James Mattox, Social Events Chair

Bryan Douglas, Fat Bike Grooming Committee Chair

James Mattox & Ron Stawicki, Minooka Committee Chairs

Marty Weigel, Alpha Committee Chair

 

September 2019 Metro Meeting

9/10/19

Bennos’

West Allis, Wi

19 members in attendance

Introduction of Board

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.   

Minooka Park Update - James

Minooka project is fully approved just waiting for contract to be signed at next executive committee meeting.    This should be in late October.  There were no objections during the county parks meeting so should go through no issues. 

County fully approved our plan which included reroutes with donated Little Switz features on the hillside!   Also includes new trailhead, parking lot, hang-out area, etc.   The contract waiting to be signed also includes the use of heavy equipment which is a big win!  Note, we are not held responsible for building the parking lot if we are not able to raise the funds. 

Watch for invites for trail workdays!!

County is also allowing us to place a storage shed behind the bathhouse at Area 5 so we don’t have to keep dropping off and picking up equipment at someone’s house.

Waukesha Freeman interview gave us more exposure and we should capitalize on this with fundraising efforts to local business…maybe asphalt companies????  We’ll need to start putting together a Fundraising Committee.

Alpha Trial Update – Marty

Marty and Harold are working with Jessica the Milwaukee County Trails Coordinator.    We are trying to protect the downhill run.   The naturist shut down the inner loop we were looking for; however, they are going to sanction the use of the hiking trail for mountain biking –it will become a multi-use trail.  This is for the root river parkway only.   The river line will still be there if its dry enough to use.    

Marty and Harold did walk the property and are suggesting to the trail’s coordinator the area behind the archery range for additional single track.    We do have to close some trail but gaining just a bit more than we are losing.

There will be a public meeting regarding making the hiking trail multi us and we do expect some push back from hikers so we need MOUNTAIN BIKERS to show up in force on our behalf.  Meeting is scheduled for Thursday October 10^th at the Ross Lodge from 4pm to 7pm.

James will have Darin send out a post via social media and email.   

Fat Bike Grooming – Brian Douglas, Chair

Everyone should have received an email form regarding what they would like to see for grooming.  Where?  Which Trails?  Who is interested in being on the Fat Bike Committee?

We will need people to help move the equipment and groom the trails.  We will also need individuals to help coordinate grooming schedule once we have a few places to groom.  The open/close for trails will be on Metro website.  

We do have a place in Cedarburg to store the equipment and James donated the use of his snowmobile trailer to move the groomer.  It is small enough for a car with a hitch to pull.    

Feedback from the returned responses we’ve received so far, Pleasant Valley trail came up in 75% of those responses.   We will also start with county golf courses.  Of course, everyone would like to see Minooka on that list.   Please complete the form and send back with your suggestions.  Our goal is to start with 3 places to groom.

Membership – Goal is still 1000.  

We had 10 new members in the last 30 days.

·        Metro 118

·        GEARS  19

·        OCMB  17

We had small flyers printed to hand out.   The flyers ask riders to join Metro and support our trail systems.  Please take a stack and hand out whenever you can. 

Volunteer Hours

With all the new opportunities coming our way there will be a lot of volunteer hours that need to be counted.  We send these hours to the counties and they use when applying for special projects.    You can email your hours to Chris Cooper at cooper4768@hotmail.com 

Board Positions

Voting will take place for the new Board Positions this November so if you are interested place email Metro.  

Positions that are coming up:

·        Co-Chair

·        Social Chair

·        Member at Large (Isaac Olson)

·        Secretary

Open Floor

Ron presented check to Metro for $150 from the last Bike-Sha.  Thank you to Dan at Magellan’s on Main St for the Pizza and beer donation as well as everyone who came out to ride and donate.   Stay tuned for the next one!

Eric Hackbarth gave an update for OCMB.   The Port Washington short trail that washed away and then the city was using to dump debris on is now a trail again.   They have been working hard re-creating the trail all summer long and is better than what it used to be.    They just finished a ridable 2mile loop so check the OCMB page and go ride it in!!!  Exciting to have more trail to ride!

A plus to note that River Glen Trail has been open a lot his year although the Mountain Bike stickers on the sign keep disappearing.    Hmmm

Today’s 50/50 raffle donating $35 back to the Club.    

Meeting adjourned.

May  2019 Metro Meeting

5/14/19 at 7:12pm

Café De Arts

Waukesha, WI

24 members in attendance   

James opened meeting  at 7:12pm

Introduction of the Board

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.

Quarterly Financial Update

Dan – Treasurer presented financial report for Metro, GEARS and OCMB accounts.    Refer to Handout

Insurance was renewed for the club and now includes equipment use.  

Fat Bike Grooming

Dan Douglas volunteered to be Chair of this committee.   He will be responsible for setting up committee and organization.    If you are interested you can contact Dan or Metro. 

The committee will be responsible for:

·         communication with area trails and golf courses for grooming

·         communicating to community trail conditions

·         transporting the equipment

·         equipment maintenance

·         Fundraising

Update on Trail Projects

Minooka Park

James has had several meetings with the Park and have a strong partnership going.    Phase 3 that we originally were in discussion on is no longer an option due to land being declared protected by the Naturalist.  

However, we have a new plan which is broken out into 3 phases.  See map handout.  Within this plan we will be re-routing the trail head as well as some existing trail.   We are adding a session area on the hill going into the new “hand-out” area by our own parking lot.   Flagging has already started and we are hoping to be completed by mid-summer.  Weather and manpower permitting. 

There has been some stress on the park with the existing trail head in picnic area 5 lot.  One side is Picnic Parking and the other is MTB parking.  However this is not happening and riders are parking on the wrong side.  This causes issues when the area is rented out.   Park needs additional parking to accommodate more users but is not in the budget for the next 10 yrs.  Unfortunately the Courthouse is getting most of the county’s budget for renovations.   We cannot move ahead with building new trails if we don’t have the parking to accommodate more users.    So it is either wait 10 yrs or fundraise and do it as a Club. 

We are also looking at being able to close off the Green Loop when needed.  Most times the trail is good except for the Green and since we can’t segment it off, the whole system gets closed.  We want to re-route some existing trial to be able to close this section off as needed as well as extending the Green back up the hill and into the new exit.

3 PHASE PLAN

Phase 1:  New Trail Head and re-routes

·         Little Switz donated 4 trailer loads of stuff/features that we will incorporate into the trails

·         Includes re-route of the Green to new exit

·         Fundraising for Phase 2 and 3

Phase 2:  Parking lot

·         Will have our own Hang-out area for which the park will have picnic tables and grills added.

Phase 3: Contractor to build out session area

The total cost that the Park is estimating (inflated) is $750,000 with half of that going to the parking lot.

TRAIL WORK DAYS………..We will need volunteers to assist with Phase 1.  Ron will be spearheading but needs 3 other crew leaders since he can’t possibly be at all trail work days.  If interested, see Ron.    

We would really love to get NICA teams in to help.  If they are under 14 they can’t use equipment (per insurance) but we can certainly find something for them to do on the trail.  Glen did mention that NICA has a requirement that each team needs to give back to the trails they use and this would certainly qualify. 

Ball Park Commons Update/Alpha

No update

Glacial Blue

Greg was not present at the meeting  to give an update.   However, he did want to mention that they are doing group rides every Tuesday  night.  This is a great chance to learn the trail system since nothing is marked and its two directional, but once you learn it you can make your own ride. 

They raised $2500 toward the Glacial Blue project

JUNE 23^rd– Mark your calendars for their Social Event.   There will be beer pop-ups in the woods as well as food.  Please join us for the event and get to the trails!

Wednesday Night Racing

We couldn’t get one to volunteer to head these races so we decided to post-pone until next year.  Someone has stepped forward to head them next year.  We will continue to look for more volunteers through-out the year so we have affirm commitment by February 2020.

Tuesday Rides

Need Ride Leaders for Odd Tuesdays.   We like to change up the trails but essentially you pick where you want to lead.  Please contact Metro and let us know if you are interested.

Membership Drive

Membership goal  is 1,000 members .  We are currently in a renewal turn over so numbers should go back up.

Metro   125

GEARS  18

OCMB   12

We want to do more social rides since we are losing membership drive from Wednesday night races.    We are thinking of making these social events MEMBER ONLY.  You are welcome to join at the ride!

Awareness is huge.  ASK from each of us here to share Metro site to FB friends/ pages and encourage your friends that ride our trails to join Metro and donate to new trails.   They don’t have to move dirt but their membership dollars will be a huge contribution to pay a contractor to do it!

James will try to get social events together to membership drive.  Stay tuned.

Colectivo Donation

Chris McArdle presented Metro $1000 donation to use these funds toward building new trails at Minooka.   Thank you Colectivo for the generation donation and support you show the Club as well as the mountain bike community.  We will certainly put the funds to great use!

Little Switz opening Day is May 19^th  

Darrin presented free lift tickets to all first timers present to experience The Hill for themselves.   There is something for all levels.  Not everything there is a huge gap jump.   You can keep the wheels on the ground if you wish.   Come enjoy the ride with us!   Thank you Little Switz for your support!

Bikesha by Ronsta

Beer, Bikes, and Pizza

The next Bikesha will be Saturday June 22^nd.   Dan at Magellan’s on Main St. is generously donating pizzas for all.  There is no cost for the ride but donations are welcome and all funds raised go back to Metro! 

Ride starts at the back of Magellan’s.  Gather around 6pm.  Leave one beer after 6pm to tour the parkway.  No drop ride.   Refreshments provided during the ride by Ron. 

Ron also presented donation to  Metro of $150 from the last Bikesha.  Thank you all!

Thank you Ayhan for hosting Metro Mountain Bikers meeting.  Food and coffee where delicious!

Meeting Adjourned 8:25pm

Map Handout: