in Fatbike Forum

CORP is considering forming a committee of volunteers to represent and assist in all things Fat!  This proposed committee would be responsible for:
Interacting with land managers to help them understand winter riders
Assisting in coordinating fat bike races and events
Establishing a budget for maintenance & grooming.
Hosting an annual fat bike fundraising effort.
Ensuring that fat biking is represented in CORP master plan.
and whatever else might help the growing herd of fat bikers be heard in the club.

Are you interested in helping out? Any thoughts on what this committee could accomplish?

Certainly interested. This a big segment of our membership. Glad we are addressing it.

I am interested as well. I would like to see winter riding and grooming embraced more by the club.

I am interested as well.

Certainly interested.

Ha! Interested!? You two are pretty much that committee right now  :D
For those who aren't aware of the efforts going on, Chuck has been pushing hard for several seasons to bring grooming into the area and with a big thanks to Dave Reece and other contributors has gotten it off the ground at CamRock with a Rokon motorcycle pulling a stat-of-the-art grooming device out there.

Garrett has been leading the charge out at Pleasant View to work with the city to set up the policies, signage, maps and work with the XC trail grooming team to have those trails maintained in the winter.

Them along with Jeff at Quarry ridge, who is pioneering the bleeding edge of grooming equipment, things are starting to get rolling but we still need more help.

Blue Mounds is ideal winter riding but Walt and Gary could really use more support to get things officially going, the master plan(s) needs input from fat bikers, and riders are hungry for events.

Anyone who steps up to help, even if it's a small commitment like reporting on trail conditions, can make a real difference.

Don't forget the fat bike membership drive! If membership reaches 260, I'll start grooming Pleasant View and Seminole for the rest of the winter. I may do a test out at Blue Mounds, too. Next winter is still up for negotiation!

I heard this fat biking thing is just a fad :P

I heard this fat biking thing is just a fad :P

We'll call it the Fad Bike committee 
The fella who puts on the Inukshuk race has offered to be a part of this, that's enough to call it a team and it's a pretty well rounded bunch but the more the merrier.

One task that we need to work out is a continuation of a lively Facebook thread that Garrett started.  We need to come up with some signage words that discourage people from rutting up and post holing trails in the snow.  Banning a tire size doesn't really work because sometimes fat bike tires can cause the ruts and sometimes the trail is hard enough for a cyclocross tire.  It needs to be short and sweet, basically "Don't rut up the trail" but somehow describe the problem. It is tough to put into words the difference between ruts and packing a trail in.  Input is very much welcome for this.

My current strategy is leave the damage so people see the problem for themselves. Quarry Ridge was rutted up by a few riders in slush last week, then it froze solid. I could groom it out, but I want them to see what they damaged first.

Signage would be great.

My new drag will do a better job of chopping down ice ruts and filling them. The lack of snow demotivates me to build it though since what I have works great if we only get 3-4 snowfalls a year, and I need a real 4-8" snowfall to test anything new.

Quarry Ridge was rutted up by a few riders in slush last week, then it froze solid. I could groom it out, but I want them to see what they damaged first.

Yeah I went out Sunday and it was pretty bad on top of the hill. Luckily they didn't ride 3 sisters which remained awesome.

You are right that any tire can do it. Most places just ban tires less than 3.5" or 3". But we had the same problem as Quarry Ridge at CamRock last Saturday. Major ruts in the slush, then froze to a dangerous rut. And they were riding 5" tires. They rode it 20 minutes after we groomed it. And the trails were closed. So any tire can do it. We have to educate riders on the issue. And riders have to not be boneheads. And we have to be less afraid of calling out boneheads when we see it happening.
I think the "No Ruts" education is also good because that applies year-around. Though I get what you are saying about riding on powder (not really a rut) versus rutting already groomed snow. It can get to be a bit of a sticky wicket.
But I would think rutting trail on groomed snow can be described pretty well.

So how does this sound? in big bold letters:

"Don't ruin the trail with tire ruts or foot prints"

then some more detail in a smaller font

"These trails are generously groomed and maintained by volunteers for everyones benefit.  One person can ruin those efforts for everyone by leaving deep tire ruts or footprints in the snow which freeze to become unrideable and ungroomable.  If temperatures are near or above freezing, and your tires or feet are leaving impressions deeper than an inch then please turn around and try again another day.  Visit madcitydirt.com if you have any questions"

Less words would be better but i think that gets the point across
 

Signage ideas.

Jay

that sounds great Rich.   Add 'RUTS SUCK" in large RED bold font above that.   

Anyone aware of other clubs trying to tackle the same issue?  CAMBA, MORC?  maybe we could get some ideas from them.

So how does this sound? in big bold letters:

"Don't ruin the trail with tire ruts or foot prints"

then some more detail in a smaller font

"These trails are generously groomed and maintained by volunteers for everyones benefit.  One person can ruin those efforts for everyone by leaving deep tire ruts or footprints in the snow which freeze to become unrideable and ungroomable.  If temperatures are near or above freezing, and your tires or feet are leaving impressions deeper than an inch then please turn around and try again another day.  Visit madcitydirt.com if you have any questions"

Less words would be better but i think that gets the point across

I gladly volunteer to be on the Fat Bike Committee or to help the previously formed committee.

I don't have a ton of time but I may be able to help a bit. Can getting fat bike access to snowmobile trails be an initiative?


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