Woolly Land Happenings

Do you ever wonder what is going on in Woolly Land or with the Woolly members when you aren't looking?  Here is a little peak at the last couple of weeks.

Cheq 100

The Woolly had a great contingent out to ride the Chequamegon 100 on June 19th.  I'm not going to bother pestering them for reports because I'm sure I won't get them (yes I just called you guys out).   Next time though take at least one picture would ya?

But from talking with the guys it was a mixed day.  We had a few miss the start, one failed nutritional plan, and a few really solid rides.  Kudos to the guys riding 80+ miles of single track!

Jason from a Cheq pre-ride.

Nate from a Cheq pre-ride.

Mohican 100

Steve Hamlin took off to Ohio to participate in the second event in the National Ultra Endurance series race, the Mohican 100 on June 19th.  Check out his race recap here.

Woolly Member Meeting

Last Thursday a large contingent of the Woolly Board and a few other members gathered at the St. Croix Falls Library to discuss Woolly business.  We discussed trail maintenance, allocated some funds for a new tiller for building and reconditioning trail, elected an interim Vice Chair to complete the current term (that's me, Ben, still haven't figured out what I am supposed to do in this role), and discussed fat bike jacket design (coming this fall).

From L to R: Ingrid, Micah, Ben, Jason, Joe, Aaron, Mat, Patty.  Picture by Frank

Trail Head Sign Installation

Progress is being made on our new signage at the trailhead.  Dallas finished construction on the frame this weekend and a couple of us helped him get it installed.  Now just to finish up the content and get that fabricated and put up.  I think it is looking great!

Lutsen 99er

Bill Schildgen and Steve Hamlin (back at it just a week after the Mohican) took on the Lutsen 99er on June 25th.  Steve had an opportunity to ride it with his dad which is super cool.

Sounds like Bill had some tough moments in the close of the race with some debilitating cramps.  Here he says he was duck walking the final climb because of cramps so bad he couldn't bend his knees.  Ouch.

Stubborn Mule Adventure Race

This isn't just a bike race, this is an ADVENTURE race, which includes biking.  A 30 hour adventure race too.  Keith headed back up to the Cable area just a week after the Cheq 100 to take on a crazy new challenge.  We don't have any reports yet, so we can only assume that he survived.

Family Gandy Rides

Dallas got the kids out on the Gandy Dancer trail for a little family ride time.  Talk about a good looking family all decked out in Woolly Gear!

Woolly Member Meeting Thursday 6/22/2016 7:00pm SCF Library

Hi Woolly Enthusiasts,

Tomorrow evening we will be holding our monthly member meeting at the Saint Croix Falls Library at 7pm.  We meet in the meeting room on the south end of the building.  All current and prospective club members are welcome.

Note: Image does not quite denote typical attendance at a member meeting.

Some topics I expect to be on the agenda:

• Trails
• Maintenance
• New Trail Plans
• Trailhead Signage
• Business
• Treasurers Report
• Fat Bike Jacket Design
• Filling the Vacant Vice Chair Position
• Outreach
• Format and Timing for Group Rides

So please come and we will be sure to make you feel welcome.  If nothing else you get to hang out with cool people passionate about mountain biking in the St. Croix Valley.

I hope to see you there,

Ben

No Group Ride Tuesday June 14, 2016

Sorry to say, but with the recent rain and the forecast for more rain this afternoon into evening we will not be hosting a group Woolly ride tonight.

Partial Trail Closures

Woolly Fans,

While the trails are overall in great condition, we have a few spots that are notoriously wet and continue to be soft after the rains last weekend.  In fact our dirt crew has been doing a bunch of volunteer work in there this past week.  We are talking hours of manual labor digging and moving dirt trying to improve the conditions and maintainability of the trail.

We've put tape up across the trail and done a minor reroute while we work this out.  Specifically we have rerouted around a large portion of the trail in Regal Park and the rock garden.  Please, please, please respect the trail tape and stay off the trails when marked.  We've had a few instances where the tape has been cut and people have ridden anyhow resulting in considerable rework for our dirt crew.

We don't pay those guys very well.  OK, we don't pay them at all, not even in beer!  So having to repeat work isn't great for their long term sanity.

If you are super anxious to ride sections of trails we highly encourage you to join us for some work days while we improve these trails so that we can get back to riding them more quickly after wet conditions.  Find the link on this page for contact and shoot us an email and we'll get you involved.

Thanks!!

Group Ride Recap

What a great night for a group ride!  When I got to the parking lot it was PACKED.  Too bad it was 6:05 when I got there.  As the leader for the ride I really wanted to be there plenty early and I thought I had left work with way more time than necessary, but sadly traffic from the Cities was as bad as I've seen it so far this construction season.  My sincere apologies for being late.

From what I hear there was a small group that took of shortly before we arrived so they still got some riding in.  Starr and I also got to ride with Bill and we eventually ran into Greg out on the trail.

Conditions were absolutely perfect on the majority of the trails.  We skipped Regal figuring it was still probably pretty wet.  I would venture to guess it will be perfect by this afternoon.

A big props to our dirt crew who was out this weekend and Monday removing the face slappers and weed whipping.  They also did some work on a big mud hole out in Regal.  We will see how that holds up this week.  If you are interested in helping out please get in touch.  We are always happy to have more help.

Our next ride, weather permitting, will be Tuesday June 14th, 6:00 pm at the trail head.  I promise to be on time next week!

Woolly On!

Ben

First Group Ride of 2016 Tuesday Night 6/17

Hey Woolly Fans, we are finally going to kick-off our Tuesday night group rides tonight (6/7/2016)!

Here is how the rides generally go down:

1) Meet in the Woolly Trailhead parking lot shortly before 6:00pm ready to ride.

2) At 6:00 or very shortly there after your friendly Woolly representative will lead all gathered parties on a no-drop lap of the Woolly Trails.  No drop means that we ride at a conversational pace with frequent stops to regroup and let people catch their breath.  We may also scale the loop depending on skills and abilities.  That first lap should take about an hour or so.

3) After that, it is game on for anyone who wants to go ride some more.

Given the recent rains tonight we will be treading lightly and avoiding the sections of our trails that do not drain as well.  Specifically we will be skipping the trails in Regal Park.

So come on out and join us tonight.  We will flip that closed sign later today after the trails have had some time to dry out so don't freak out that it still says trails closed, we will have that group ride.

Going forward we will be keeping the blog here updated with the status of the group rides so please check back in each week.