Thanks to Damon W. and Dale R.for helping out with weed wacking tonight. Dale gets extra special credit for helping out twice to get the trail ready for a race he's not going to be able to attend. Above and beyond dude!!!
Couple notable riders checking out the damp conditions from last nights rains. My money is on them if the moisture predicted from Monday slides into Sunday.
I sent out an announcement for last minute trail maintenance Friday morning at 8:30am. It's cancelled.
Good thing that there are some folks out there that do actually work out there on the trail besides dialing in their bikes. Sorry for being a bit bitter, but I am having a husband at home who can't race right now, because, he has gotten tendinitis in his right shoulder from trail-work. And instead of letting it go and heal he goes out there again to bust it up once more so we all can have fun on Sunday. Shouldn't it be all our responsibility to get a course race ready and if not all of us, then besides the trail leader, maybe some members of the shop that organizes the race?
You bring up a good point. It was my understanding that part of the Psycowpath model was that THOR members did the trail prep to help support all the other work that goes into putting on a race, that the host club does.
There is alot that goes into putting on a race that usually is quite a bit of demand on a club.
I know that MWC had members working on Swanson and joined Martin on Sunday and Tuesday this week to help out.
I think we need to communicate the expectation that THOR members should help do trail maintenance, especially when their club is not the host club.
This eases all the other demands in preparing for and puttting on the event for that club.
You have a valid frustration for wanting more volunteers, and I know we all want Martin back racing!
I feel we need to create the environment where all THOR members get involved.
I felt that (forgive me if I am wrong) you were calling out our cycling community and shop for not helping more with Swanson, despite our member's efforts.
Damon and Kevin put in some quality time with Martin, and many more club members will be helping set up, mark, put on, and tear down for the event.
Through the THOR e-mail list, let's try to direct members to help with course prep, especially if they are not the host club. That way, through teamwork, we can all enjoy the event.
It takes all forms of sacrifice. Some donate heavily financially to THOR, some donate time by leading the organization, and some donate time working on the trails. We all play a critical role in the success of THOR and Psycowpath.
That is my vision for how it is supposed to work. If I am off base, I apologize.
Thanks again, to you, Martin, Dale, Kevin, Damon and other THOR members that do the trail work to make the trails enjoyable.
Yes I was out riding last night while others were doing trail work. Do I own a weed wacker? No. I didn't even know folks were going out and doing trail work.
But before you drag me through the dirt, keep in mind, I work almost 50 hours a week at a bike shop. It's retail work which means while most of you are out enjoying your bikes on the weekends, I'm working on them. If you don't see me at many events it's because I'm working, promoting the sport and introducing new riders to the past time that we all love so much. I work at a bike shop because I love cycling in all forms. Unfortunately when you take a job at a shop it often means that you sacrafice your personal ride time. Sorry to disappoint but I enjoy riding my bike more than I like working on them.
We all have our own talents that we bring to the cycling community. I'd like to think that I give back as much as I take. This Blog being an example.
Damon, Dale and Martin spent 3+ hours each cranking out trail work yesterday and the trail is in excellent shape. Thanks a ton for all your efforts and thanks to the folks that worked on Sunday as well.
Bellevue approves park improvements BY KRISTIN ZAGURSKI WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Bellevue's Jewell Park will get a disc golf course after the City Council approved improvements there and at another city park.
The council voted 10-0 Monday to approve the plan for the park at Washington Street and Combs Road.
The Omaha Disc Golf Club will build a 16- to 18-hole disc golf course in the upper, forested area of the park. A dog run is possible in the lower portion, though the city still is working out liability concerns.
Hastings Banner Park, 52nd and Virginia Streets, will see a new road built with the approval.
The city and the Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District each will pay $40,000 for the Jewell Park project and $48,000 for the road at Hastings Banner. A letter from the resource district to the city listed incorrect amounts for the projects, said Public Works Director Jerry Hare.
When the people in the host club are the same people taking care of the trails, you don't get a reprieve when it's your race, you get double duty. That's been my experience and expectation at Tranquility.
I don't think MIB's expectation for people to work at all their non host club trails is viable for the Tranquility crew anyway. Why? Because of the time commitment required just at Tranquility to keep it in great condition.
Most of us have full time jobs that don't spend our day around bikes. So after mowing our own lawn a couple times a week, do you think we want to mow more or go ride our bike? And then expect additional trailwork one out of four weeks at the next race course?
Though THOR is the local IMBA club that builds and maintains the trails, I see it function only as an umbrella organization to collect all the volunteer hours and present a unified mtb presence to land managers. It has some financial support and overall direction for trail standards. But it has had litle affect at regular trailwork maintenance, imo. I think a tighter and more committed trailworkgroup is created by having local bike clubs work one trail more or less.
I should have included the fact that a full mow and trim is running about 12 hrs at Tranquility. That is required every two week with an additional 6-8 hrs on the off weeks for the faster growing sections.
MIB had sent a E-mail to Martin and me offering to try and round up a group of people to do some work Thursday. He did so because that as soon as he would be able to personally help. I made a point to get up early Sunday after racing for 6 hours the day before so I could help. I did this because that's when I had some free time away from family and work. I also told Martin I planned to go Friday at 3:00 and weed-whack for a few hours. My point is that we all have different schedules and priorities. I think the trail leaders just need to spread the word on what needs done and people can help out when it works for them. Not everyone needs to help every time, and if your hurt just make sure people know you can't help, or you can help by scheduling the work. If you feel that you doing more than you fair share just do what you can and let others do what they can. Thanks you all that have helped with all the trails and those who plan to help in the future. And thanks to those who help out in many other ways.
I would suggest using MTB OMAHA to get the word out on what needs done on what trails.
I want to apologize for my comment. First of all to Martin. I didn't mean to single you out. You are not the only one working out there at Swanson. And my apologies go to all the other folks that put in all the work out on the trails.I know you go out there and work hard!! I know it is a joint effort and every single hand and hour put in counts. I also realize that there is more to putting on a race then trimming the trails.
I see our biking community as my family away from home and that's why I get so passionate about it. And you are a great family:D!
I think different expectations caused some disappointment for THOR and the Host Club here. The Psycowpath Host Club guide states "Trail maintenance day with THOR" so THOR expects the host club to help trail prep for the race.
Most THOR trailleaders don't need all of one hand to count the number of trailworkers that consistently help maintain the trail. We quickly find out that if something needs to get done, we are the ones who usually end up doing it. When we expect a lot of help and it doesn't happen, we get discouraged. When we see people who we "expected" to help, riding their bike while we're hanging onto a weedeater for 3+ hours, more than our shoulder and elbow hurts.
I appreciate the money Kent and his shops have raised through three THOR fund raisers over the years. That has provided the finances for establishing THOR as a 503c, capital improvements and equipment purchases. Unfortunately, we still need volunteers to build and install the capital improvements, and volunteers to use the equipment to maintain the trails. THOR appreciates the $2/racer Psycowpath donates as well, since this is the main revenue stream at this time.
We all have busy lives. Trailleaders need to think of different ways than "come one, come all to the trailwork day" approach because this doesn't seem to work anymore.
Again, I find more success getting volunteers from the close relationships in BMCC then appealing to less developed friendships or large group email blasts. (So, don't get to know me to well or I will put you to work!) But even BMCC can't get regular maintenance done in one day becaus: 1) its hard to get that many people together at one time. 2) We don't have the number of mowers (and storage) needed.
We are working towards two person mowing teams assigned to different "1 hr" sections of the trail. We try to limit a volunteer to no more than two hours every two weeks during the heavy mowing season. We will be coming up with a schedule for week and section to signup for. As Kevin suggested, maybe each trail can have something like this developed for race prep and put out for signup with time frames to complete the work in.
This is the heavy mowing season with lots of races local and regional, let alone just riding for fun. Balancing family time, work, recreation, etc., is hard. Over the last several years, I am usually burned out on racing and trailwork by June. Hopefully, things will be better in a couple months when the grass starts slowing down.
For those in the biking industry, we're in the money making part of the year and thus very busy as well. Throw in a race for the club to host and race in, just getting through this can become the goal for many involved.
Does anyone care that the Bellevue city council has just signed the Jewell Park trail's death warrant? Maybe my previous post didn't make that point well. The bike trail winds through 90% of the usable land in Jewell Park, including the upper, forested area of the park. A frisbee golf course undoubtedly represents a major threat to the trail's existence. How did this happen? Was THOR consulted at all? Has THOR abandoned Jewell?
Don, your info is important. Probably should have had its own title for more exposure.
First thing to do is get clarification from Bellevue Parks how this will impact the mtb trail. They may just be using the trail to walk through and setup the disk holes. I think we could coinside with that. Race or golf disk tournament would require single user for event.
I took your advice Dale, and eventually got hold of a guy at the Parks Department named Todd Addison(sp?) who has been talking to the frisbee golfers. He put my mind at ease a little. Apparently the golf course plan is not set in stone yet.
There is a meeting set up next week between Todd, the golfers, and THOR members. He seems sympathetic to our claim there, and acknowledged that bike trails have existed in Jewell for many years. He said that if the golf course must be cut to 9 holes, so be it. Frankly, I don't think there is even room for that. How they managed to get 40 thousand(!) bucks for a frisbee course without a workable plan is still a mystery to me. I hope that our guys are ready for some hard-nosed negotiations.
Sorry I did not post sooner, but I have been out of town on travel and just now saw your post on Jewell.
I have been in close contact with the City of Bellevue concerning this project. We have a very good relationship with Todd and the City of Bellevue that has been developed over many years.
We have a meeting scheduled next week to meet with the city and frisbee course developers.
The plans that I have seen thus far are very workable. By making the park a mixed use park, the city has plans to pave a parking lot, open the restrooms, and rework the road going through the park, along with other improvements. This will be beneficial to everyone.
Believe me, I am looking out for our local mountain bikers as co-chair of THOR, so don't worry.
Our club members,(Miwest Cycling Community)along with THOR, initiated the trail building at Jewell and helped design the course and have good relationships with the city.
What works best in these situations is that the team leaders who have the relationships with the land managers handle the situation.
I can tell you with confidence that if this mixed use plan proves to cause conflict rather than synergy, we will not be the ones asked to leave. The burden is on the frisbee golf course developers to design a course that can be shared use and does not impede the bikers.
If the plan works, the park will see many improvements that are good for all users.
If you have concerns you would like me to specifically address in the meeting, just let me know.
OK, before we get critical of folks riding their bikes when others choose to work, let’s remember the people that made it possible for the trails in our area to even exist. For those of you that are relatively new to the scene, let me take you back ten years.
Platte State Park was on the verge of banning bikes - Thanks Kent for working with the state parks to show mountain bikers could be responsible, and thank you to Jesse and crew (Icon) to make it what it is today.
Lewis and Clark was a loose group of old motorcycle trails mostly running up and down the fall lines and only about 2 miles in total. Thanks to the founders (and only members the 1st couple years) of Thor - Mike Resetar, Steve Dickey, the late Great Tony Naikalis, Big Dean and another smart ass whose name escapes me for making L & C the areas coolest place to ride.
Swanson was an abandon archery range and a problem for the City of Bellevue. Thank you JRat and Duffy for doing almost all of the work involved in getting access and building the original track.
Lake Manawa wasn't even thought of and although they had some help, thank you Rusty and Dickmeister for doing over 90% of the work there in virtual anonymity.
Jewell Park just over a year ago was a haven for poachers, and other assorted low life’s, now the city is looking at putting $40K in to the park, thanks here goes out to the whole community too many folks to mention.
(Dale you guys get all the props for Tranquility, but then that wasn’t ever a secret.)
Of course most of the work was done on peoples own schedules and some of these people have moved on to other stages in their lives, i.e families, 50 hour work weeks, travel commitments, etc….
Many of us have backed down our time commitment to trail work, myself included, but take into consideration our lives have changed, personally my days are scheduled weeks in advance and if you plan a trail day when I have a ride planned, I am sorry but I have enough other exceptions that come up that I can’t get out of.
The great thing about Thor is that there are always new folks like you guys that come along and step up as others cycle through, hang in there the next group will step up if you move on to something else as well.
In the meantime each of us will continue to do what we can even if some of us contribute in different ways to the community.
Nice history Shim, but I have to give a shout out to EJ B for his help with L&C. I know we can't name everyone for their contribution, (I mean behind every great man there is a greater woman)...(; But many times and many evenings EJ donated his truck and big tools for late night trail building at L&C. And even though we don't get to see him much anymore, I had throw his name out there.
Thanks Anne, you are right on the money. The thing I remember most about EJ was all the work he did in helping get Tony's bench in, we moved like 10 tons of dirt and and so much concrete it would make your head spin. Nobody would ever have guessed it would take that much concrete for that small of a slab. And dragging the bench with a sled across the snow to get it into place was quite the treat. EJ's construction expertise and Dickmeisters tenacity in doing everything from fund raising to meeting with the parks department really made the labor part seem like nothing. (Also a shout out to Mike McGrath who put in numerous hours shovling dirt to build the foundation). It was also very cool the way the racing community came together to fund the bench. I remember almost everyone who won money at the L&C race that year throwing their winnings into the donation bucket, that was a very cool thing to see.
What a truely great family!
PS Even though I didn't mention you in the last post you know how I feel.
Shim, I agree, we have already come a long way with THOR and have celebrated many successes and will continue to see even more in the future. Thanks for recalling so many good memories.
20 comments:
Since missing Tequila Chicken Tacos last TNR due to the rain, that's a big 10-4!
The trail is ready to go.
Thanks to Damon W. and Dale R.for helping out with weed wacking tonight. Dale gets extra special credit for helping out twice to get the trail ready for a race he's not going to be able to attend. Above and beyond dude!!!
Couple notable riders checking out the damp conditions from last nights rains. My money is on them if the moisture predicted from Monday slides into Sunday.
I sent out an announcement for last minute trail maintenance Friday morning at 8:30am. It's cancelled.
Good thing that there are some folks out there that do actually work out there on the trail besides dialing in their bikes.
Sorry for being a bit bitter, but I am having a husband at home who can't race right now, because, he has gotten tendinitis in his right shoulder from trail-work. And instead of letting it go and heal he goes out there again to bust it up once more so we all can have fun on Sunday.
Shouldn't it be all our responsibility to get a course race ready and if not all of us, then besides the trail leader, maybe some members of the shop that organizes the race?
VeloCC,
You bring up a good point. It was my understanding that part of the Psycowpath model was that THOR members did the trail prep to help support all the other work that goes into putting on a race, that the host club does.
There is alot that goes into putting on a race that usually is quite a bit of demand on a club.
I know that MWC had members working on Swanson and joined Martin on Sunday and Tuesday this week to help out.
I think we need to communicate the expectation that THOR members should help do trail maintenance, especially when their club is not the host club.
This eases all the other demands in preparing for and puttting on the event for that club.
You have a valid frustration for wanting more volunteers, and I know we all want Martin back racing!
I feel we need to create the environment where all THOR members get involved.
I felt that (forgive me if I am wrong) you were calling out our cycling community and shop for not helping more with Swanson, despite our member's efforts.
Damon and Kevin put in some quality time with Martin, and many more club members will be helping set up, mark, put on, and tear down for the event.
Through the THOR e-mail list, let's try to direct members to help with course prep, especially if they are not the host club. That way, through teamwork, we can all enjoy the event.
It takes all forms of sacrifice. Some donate heavily financially to THOR, some donate time by leading the organization, and some donate time working on the trails. We all play a critical role in the success of THOR and Psycowpath.
That is my vision for how it is supposed to work. If I am off base, I apologize.
Thanks again, to you, Martin, Dale, Kevin, Damon and other THOR members that do the trail work to make the trails enjoyable.
I personally appreciate your sacrifice!
MIB
Wow! I think we're getting called out Shim.
Yes I was out riding last night while others were doing trail work. Do I own a weed wacker? No. I didn't even know folks were going out and doing trail work.
But before you drag me through the dirt, keep in mind, I work almost 50 hours a week at a bike shop. It's retail work which means while most of you are out enjoying your bikes on the weekends, I'm working on them. If you don't see me at many events it's because I'm working, promoting the sport and introducing new riders to the past time that we all love so much. I work at a bike shop because I love cycling in all forms. Unfortunately when you take a job at a shop it often means that you sacrafice your personal ride time. Sorry to disappoint but I enjoy riding my bike more than I like working on them.
We all have our own talents that we bring to the cycling community. I'd like to think that I give back as much as I take. This Blog being an example.
Damon, Dale and Martin spent 3+ hours each cranking out trail work yesterday and the trail is in excellent shape. Thanks a ton for all your efforts and thanks to the folks that worked on Sunday as well.
Speaking of THOR,
WTF?.
Bellevue approves park improvements
BY KRISTIN ZAGURSKI
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Bellevue's Jewell Park will get a disc golf course after the City Council approved improvements there and at another city park.
The council voted 10-0 Monday to approve the plan for the park at Washington Street and Combs Road.
The Omaha Disc Golf Club will build a 16- to 18-hole disc golf course in the upper, forested area of the park. A dog run is possible in the lower portion, though the city still is working out liability concerns.
Hastings Banner Park, 52nd and Virginia Streets, will see a new road built with the approval.
The city and the Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District each will pay $40,000 for the Jewell Park project and $48,000 for the road at Hastings Banner. A letter from the resource district to the city listed incorrect amounts for the projects, said Public Works Director Jerry Hare.
When the people in the host club are the same people taking care of the trails, you don't get a reprieve when it's your race, you get double duty. That's been my experience and expectation at Tranquility.
I don't think MIB's expectation for people to work at all their non host club trails is viable for the Tranquility crew anyway. Why? Because of the time commitment required just at Tranquility to keep it in great condition.
Most of us have full time jobs that don't spend our day around bikes. So after mowing our own lawn a couple times a week, do you think we want to mow more or go ride our bike? And then expect additional trailwork one out of four weeks at the next race course?
Though THOR is the local IMBA club that builds and maintains the trails, I see it function only as an umbrella organization to collect all the volunteer hours and present a unified mtb presence to land managers. It has some financial support and overall direction for trail standards. But it has had litle affect at regular trailwork maintenance, imo. I think a tighter and more committed trailworkgroup is created by having local bike clubs work one trail more or less.
I should have included the fact that a full mow and trim is running about 12 hrs at Tranquility. That is required every two week with an additional 6-8 hrs on the off weeks for the faster growing sections.
MIB had sent a E-mail to Martin and me offering to try and round up a group of people to do some work Thursday. He did so because that as soon as he would be able to personally help. I made a point to get up early Sunday after racing for 6 hours the day before so I could help. I did this because that's when I had some free time away from family and work. I also told Martin I planned to go Friday at 3:00 and weed-whack for a few hours. My point is that we all have different schedules and priorities. I think the trail leaders just need to spread the word on what needs done and people can help out when it works for them. Not everyone needs to help every time, and if your hurt just make sure people know you can't help, or you can help by scheduling the work. If you feel that you doing more than you fair share just do what you can and let others do what they can. Thanks you all that have helped with all the trails and those who plan to help in the future. And thanks to those who help out in many other ways.
I would suggest using MTB OMAHA to get the word out on what needs done on what trails.
I want to apologize for my comment. First of all to Martin. I didn't mean to single you out. You are not the only one working out there at Swanson. And my apologies go to all the other folks that put in all the work out on the trails.I know you go out there and work hard!! I know it is a joint effort and every single hand and hour put in counts.
I also realize that there is more to putting on a race then trimming the trails.
I see our biking community as my family away from home and that's why I get so passionate about it.
And you are a great family:D!
I think different expectations caused some disappointment for THOR and the Host Club here. The Psycowpath Host Club guide states "Trail maintenance day with THOR" so THOR expects the host club to help trail prep for the race.
Most THOR trailleaders don't need all of one hand to count the number of trailworkers that consistently help maintain the trail. We quickly find out that if something needs to get done, we are the ones who usually end up doing it. When we expect a lot of help and it doesn't happen, we get discouraged. When we see people who we "expected" to help, riding their bike while we're hanging onto a weedeater for 3+ hours, more than our shoulder and elbow hurts.
I appreciate the money Kent and his shops have raised through three THOR fund raisers over the years. That has provided the finances for establishing THOR as a 503c, capital improvements and equipment purchases. Unfortunately, we still need volunteers to build and install the capital improvements, and volunteers to use the equipment to maintain the trails. THOR appreciates the $2/racer Psycowpath donates as well, since this is the main revenue stream at this time.
We all have busy lives. Trailleaders need to think of different ways than "come one, come all to the trailwork day" approach because this doesn't seem to work anymore.
Again, I find more success getting volunteers from the close relationships in BMCC then appealing to less developed friendships or large group email blasts. (So, don't get to know me to well or I will put you to work!) But even BMCC can't get regular maintenance done in one day becaus: 1) its hard to get that many people together at one time. 2) We don't have the number of mowers (and storage) needed.
We are working towards two person mowing teams assigned to different "1 hr" sections of the trail. We try to limit a volunteer to no more than two hours every two weeks during the heavy mowing season. We will be coming up with a schedule for week and section to signup for. As Kevin suggested, maybe each trail can have something like this developed for race prep and put out for signup with time frames to complete the work in.
This is the heavy mowing season with lots of races local and regional, let alone just riding for fun. Balancing family time, work, recreation, etc., is hard. Over the last several years, I am usually burned out on racing and trailwork by June. Hopefully, things will be better in a couple months when the grass starts slowing down.
For those in the biking industry, we're in the money making part of the year and thus very busy as well. Throw in a race for the club to host and race in, just getting through this can become the goal for many involved.
Does anyone care that the Bellevue city council has just signed the Jewell Park trail's death warrant? Maybe my previous post didn't make that point well. The bike trail winds through 90% of the usable land in Jewell Park, including the upper, forested area of the park. A frisbee golf course undoubtedly represents a major threat to the trail's existence. How did this happen? Was THOR consulted at all? Has THOR abandoned Jewell?
Don, your info is important. Probably should have had its own title for more exposure.
First thing to do is get clarification from Bellevue Parks how this will impact the mtb trail. They may just be using the trail to walk through and setup the disk holes. I think we could coinside with that. Race or golf disk tournament would require single user for event.
Why don't you contact them and see what they say?
I took your advice Dale, and eventually got hold of a guy at the Parks Department named Todd Addison(sp?) who has been talking to the frisbee golfers. He put my mind at ease a little. Apparently the golf course plan is not set in stone yet.
There is a meeting set up next week between Todd, the golfers, and THOR members. He seems sympathetic to our claim there, and acknowledged that bike trails have existed in Jewell for many years. He said that if the golf course must be cut to 9 holes, so be it. Frankly, I don't think there is even room for that. How they managed to get 40 thousand(!) bucks for a frisbee course without a workable plan is still a mystery to me. I hope that our guys are ready for some hard-nosed negotiations.
Don/All-
Sorry I did not post sooner, but I have been out of town on travel and just now saw your post on Jewell.
I have been in close contact with the City of Bellevue concerning this project. We have a very good relationship with Todd and the City of Bellevue that has been developed over many years.
We have a meeting scheduled next week to meet with the city and frisbee course developers.
The plans that I have seen thus far are very workable. By making the park a mixed use park, the city has plans to pave a parking lot, open the restrooms, and rework the road going through the park, along with other improvements. This will be beneficial to everyone.
Believe me, I am looking out for our local mountain bikers as co-chair of THOR, so don't worry.
Our club members,(Miwest Cycling Community)along with THOR, initiated the trail building at Jewell and helped design the course and have good relationships with the city.
What works best in these situations is that the team leaders who have the relationships with the land managers handle the situation.
I can tell you with confidence that if this mixed use plan proves to cause conflict rather than synergy, we will not be the ones asked to leave. The burden is on the frisbee golf course developers to design a course that can be shared use and does not impede the bikers.
If the plan works, the park will see many improvements that are good for all users.
If you have concerns you would like me to specifically address in the meeting, just let me know.
Regards,
Kent M.
THOR Co-Chair
OK, before we get critical of folks riding their bikes when others choose to work, let’s remember the people that made it possible for the trails in our area to even exist. For those of you that are relatively new to the scene, let me take you back ten years.
Platte State Park was on the verge of banning bikes - Thanks Kent for working with the state parks to show mountain bikers could be responsible, and thank you to Jesse and crew (Icon) to make it what it is today.
Lewis and Clark was a loose group of old motorcycle trails mostly running up and down the fall lines and only about 2 miles in total. Thanks to the founders (and only members the 1st couple years) of Thor - Mike Resetar, Steve Dickey, the late Great Tony Naikalis, Big Dean and another smart ass whose name escapes me for making L & C the areas coolest place to ride.
Swanson was an abandon archery range and a problem for the City of Bellevue. Thank you JRat and Duffy for doing almost all of the work involved in getting access and building the original track.
Lake Manawa wasn't even thought of and although they had some help, thank you Rusty and Dickmeister for doing over 90% of the work there in virtual anonymity.
Jewell Park just over a year ago was a haven for poachers, and other assorted low life’s, now the city is looking at putting $40K in to the park, thanks here goes out to the whole community too many folks to mention.
(Dale you guys get all the props for Tranquility, but then that wasn’t ever a secret.)
Of course most of the work was done on peoples own schedules and some of these people have moved on to other stages in their lives, i.e families, 50 hour work weeks, travel commitments, etc….
Many of us have backed down our time commitment to trail work, myself included, but take into consideration our lives have changed, personally my days are scheduled weeks in advance and if you plan a trail day when I have a ride planned, I am sorry but I have enough other exceptions that come up that I can’t get out of.
The great thing about Thor is that there are always new folks like you guys that come along and step up as others cycle through, hang in there the next group will step up if you move on to something else as well.
In the meantime each of us will continue to do what we can even if some of us contribute in different ways to the community.
Nice history Shim, but I have to give a shout out to EJ B for his help with L&C. I know we can't name everyone for their contribution, (I mean behind every great man there is a greater woman)...(;
But many times and many evenings EJ donated his truck and big tools for late night trail building at L&C. And even though we don't get to see him much anymore, I had throw his name out there.
Thanks Anne, you are right on the money. The thing I remember most about EJ was all the work he did in helping get Tony's bench in, we moved like 10 tons of dirt and and so much concrete it would make your head spin. Nobody would ever have guessed it would take that much concrete for that small of a slab. And dragging the bench with a sled across the snow to get it into place was quite the treat. EJ's construction expertise and Dickmeisters tenacity in doing everything from fund raising to meeting with the parks department really made the labor part seem like nothing. (Also a shout out to Mike McGrath who put in numerous hours shovling dirt to build the foundation). It was also very cool the way the racing community came together to fund the bench. I remember almost everyone who won money at the L&C race that year throwing their winnings into the donation bucket, that was a very cool thing to see.
What a truely great family!
PS Even though I didn't mention you in the last post you know how I feel.
Shim, I agree, we have already come a long way with THOR and have celebrated many successes and will continue to see even more in the future. Thanks for recalling so many good memories.
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