Winter War Mups

Baby, it's cold outside...how in the world are we going to make it to spring when it's this cold now?

Here's how...

-- FIRST --

January 28 we're going to gather downstairs at Acoustic and watch SingleTrack High. It's a film about kids who ride. There will be beverages and food. It will be a fundraiser for FAST too because we always need a money to pay our annual insurance premiums.

-- SECOND --

December 14 - ONE WEEK from this posting  - we're supporting The Riddlebox Fat Bike Endurance Race. Complete details and registration is here - riddlebox.eventzilla.net. Our in house chef - Adam rocks in the kitchen - seriously rocks - is makin' egg bakes for the 8am breakfast.

Also, and this cannot be overstated, Adam rocks in the kitchen.

-- THIRD --

We're looking ahead toward spring and adding singletrack. We want to complete the northend trail in Leaders Park to Homestead. We want to add and expand a section on the easy loop. Finally - and no promises here - we've done our part - other parties need to do their parts - we walked through here this fall to better see what singletrack would look like.

-- FINALLY --

We're going to go out anyway, even if it's cold. We welcome all sorts of non-motorized activities in Leaders Park. Snowshoes, boots, bikes - what else? Come one out. It's beautiful in the winter too. HOWEVER, if it's wet not frozen, please stay off.

The Riddlebox

Did someone say egg bake? That's us marking our place down there in the bottom right corner of the image. We're happy to have our in-house chef prepping some eggcellent egg bake for Saturday.

RiddleBox Fat Bike Endurance Race - December 14 - register at http://riddlebox.eventzilla.net

BIKE IT!!!

It's Time For An Update. Ready?

First and most importantly - we've moved our trail maintenance day to Sunday. We've moved our trail maintenance time to 3pm. We're keeping our meet spot at Lowell & Homestead the same, at least until we move it.

In summary: 3pm, Sundays, Lowell & Homestead intersection.

There's plenty to do. Seriously.

For example. The Vandals are back and we must keep up with them. The exit ramp off one of the wooden obstacles has been removed and must be replaced. The joy of The Vandals is we never know from week to week what they'll be assigning us.

For another example. It's fall. The leaves are falling. The leaves are falling and covering the trail. The trails are covered with leaves. This presents a grand opportunity. The opportunity is to define the trail by raking the leaves to the edges of the trail. Defining the trail pays dividends well into the next season because it focuses the riding. Help us rake. You don't even need to bag the leaves when you're done. We WANT the leaves to stay.

--

Now let's talk about our volunteers. There were 8 of them last Sunday. Yeah. 8. 8. With 8 people stuff gets done.

Adam, Ben and Kyle from FAST! Yeah, they count. Janelle, Pete, AJ, Bob & Colin. First of all, AJ! Second of all, Colin was out riding and got off his bike and picked up a rake.

They improved bench cuts by digging. And they raked. And they rocked.

Volunteers. We owe you. We won't forget.

--

If you don't follow us on Twitter or Like us on Facebook, you could.

We're Moving Right Along

We're two Thursdays in to our trail improvement and expansion. By attending both work sessions Janelle, Chris and Evan are leading the way through the park. John, Nate and Phil are right behind them.

We're not asking for huge commitments from our volunteers. Adam and Ben will be leading the effort on Thursdays nights until the work is finished or the weather gets mean. Come out and move some dirt around for a couple hours. If everyone who likes us on Facebook came out once before the end of October we'd have 41 people a night!

Adam says this about Thursday's progress, "100ft / 2hrs = 50ft/hr...50ft/hr / 6vols = 8.33ft/hr/vol...average by IMBA standards and we were in the deeper of bench cuts..." - which is what we're asking for. Come two hours on a Thursday and scratch 16 feet of trail into the ground.

Thursdays. Start @ 6pm. Finish  @ dark. The meet spot is just east of Lowell Ave & Homestead Circle.

Some Trail Expansion: Build It

We’re expanding the singletrack at Leaders Park and we need your help, please.

At the very northwestern part of the park there’s a severe elevation drop to the north bridge. This portion of trail gets lots of use by the neighborhood because it’s the most direct route from Homestead Circle to Ronning Park at the top of the hill. We’ve seen quite a lot of deterioration from erosion and traffic. It’s time to change the routing.

This deteriorating section of trail also roughly marks the northern border of Leaders Park. We’ve spent some time around a table with park’s leadership describing the whys and wherefores of what we want to do. We’ve also spent time showing them a roughed in solution to our problem.

They agree it’s the right thing to do and the right way to do it.

Here it is: we’ll go north, gradually down the hillside and south to reconnect to the bridge. We will also connect our trail to the east/west portion of Homestead Circle. This provides an access point; additional on-street parking spaces and a nice connection through the park for people utilizing our trail for FUN transport.

It’s a modest expansion but it’s also the biggest publicly available singletrack expansion within 70 miles of Sioux Falls in two years.

One week from today, Thursday August 29 at 6pm IMBA trained Adam will lead a learning and trail building session at the park. After Labor Day the work will continue on Thursday evenings until the build is complete. Please commit to a few Thursday nights between now and the end of October.

The meet spot for the learning/building session is Homestead Circle & Lowell Ave at the north end of the park.

There are no trail faeries. Singletrack exists because people build it.

Big Loop Video

We are Falls Area Singletrack and we approve this message.

It's Shindig Thursday

We doing a pizza shindig Thursday to celebrate our volunteers, members and riders. People like you.

We've got the Meldrum Park shelter reserved at 6pm for a couple hours. Meldrum Park is a few blocks west of Leaders Park, so ride, check out the handcrafted trail then come eat free pizza. Then ride again.

There will be some time to exchange information, talk about future efforts at Leaders, and tell about the work we've been doing to maintain the park.

You're invited. We'd be happy to see you.

Thursday, June 27, 6pm.

Wacking Weeds...

...but keeping the flowers.

Pushing Back the Green

There were no ramps...

to return to their original state...

so the team split up.

Some took to the string trimmer pushing back the spring growth on the east side expert loop.

Others made improvements to the bench cuts on the west side expert loop.

There are only 2 more Thursday night trail sessions remaining in June. Thursday Trail Day this week will be more string trimming, some lopper work, and more dirt movement.

The final Thursday in June we're gonna have a bit of a shindig. Pay attention for that. If you're not on our e-mail list get on it.

Bridge Ramp Permanence

We used to have this pretty cool and slightly intimidating bridge ramp. It ended a few inches above the ground. Rock then completed the decent to the ground. Now, because we can't have nice things - somehow the rocks tended to end up in the river - last Thursday night's volunteers (thanks Ben and Brad!) made a more permanent solution.

Here's what it looks like on the way off the bridge:

What it looks like on approach:

And, the profile:

The Bridges of Leaders Park

Thursday was our first Thursday Trail Day and by most measures it was a huge success.

In March we cut and treated enough wood to repair the railings on both bridges.

Thursday began with a pretty decent amount of haulin' wood.

Then it was time to get the power tools out and put the screws to it.

Many hands make light work and Travis, Steve, Adam, Ben and Brad turned this out in just over two hours.

 In the end there were two bridges returned to their original condition.

This is how these are supposed to look. Thanks guys!

Thursday Trail Day

Beginning May 9 we will be working in Leaders Park from 6pm to DARK. This will continue weekly for the foreseeable future.

Please come out and support the effort to make the trails in Leaders Park even better. All are welcome.

Gloves & close toe shoes are important. Water is too.

Gettin' Busy. Now.

We have a plan!

Saturday and Sunday.

This weekend, Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 4 we're clearing branches. We need your help. And your friend's help too. Seriously. As you know FAST has a lot more trees than most people - which means we've got a lot more downed branches.

Remember Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 4. FAST has the tools. You bring: closed toe shoes, long pants, long sleeve shirt, gloves and maybe some protective eyewear.


Also, there's no P in our ARK. Micturate on your own trees before you arrive.

---

Thursday is Trail Day.

Beginning Thursday May 9 every Thursday is Trail Day.  From 6pm to DARK we'll being in maintenance mode and transition to improvement mode as time passes. The first tasks are to repair the bridge railings. All the wood is cut and treated. We need to attach.

Remember Thursday's Trail Day.

Also, we don't P in the Park on Thursday's either, so go before you go.

---

Now. Go.

Update: Leaders Park Branch Removal

From President Kyle:

Hopefully everyone has survived the last few weeks with this crazy weather we have been having. I was just at Leaders Park to survey the damage from the recent storm. There is a bit of damage to the trail in the order of trees blocking the trail.

We currently are setting up a plan for branch removal and trail clearing. I can't stress enough that no one not authorized by the board go in to Leaders Park and remove or cut any trees. The trail is still very wet from all the recent snow and shouldn't be ridden on.

When the time comes and the weather warms up we will have a few opportunities for you to help with branch removal and trail clearing. We will need everyone's help on this one. We can't make this happen with out all of you. We will be riding here soon. The park will be ready when the weather warms up and the trail dries out.

Check back here for information on branch removal and trail clearing soon.

Remember, the bike swap, April 14, 10am to 2pm.

Hiliday Inn City Centre 100 W. 8th St

Full details are here.

Rock & Roll April

Ready. Grab your calendars...

---------------------
April 5 - a fundraiser for FAST at Latitude 44

The official event page is here on Facebook.

Doors open at 8pm. Music starts about an hour after that.

Cover charge is $5 which goes right to the FAST bank account for trail maintenance.

Here's the lineup of local talent:

Gerry Grooms and Tyler Pridey will start off with some jazz standards.

Condor is next with their guitar and cello fueled bluegrass, old time, folk, blues, and rock with some jazzy undertones.

Jack, Johnny, Jamison and son finish it off with their high energy mix of Bluegrass folk and fresh original songs

---------------------  
April 14 - the Sioux Falls Bike Swap at Holiday Inn City Centre

The official event page is here on Facebook

We also posted about it on the blog, here.

Admission is $5 - doors open at 10am.

If you're a seller see the blog post for details.

---------------------  
April 20 - Earth Day Clean-up at Leaders Park

The official event page is here on Facebook.

From 11:30am to 1:30pm.

After a year's worth of accumulation it's time to walk the FAST Trails at Leaders Park and carry out the visible garbage.

We'll supply the bags, truck and landfill trip.

You bring shoes and gloves for yourself.

Together we'll spend some time making the world a better place.

Leaders Park Trail Maintenance - Day 1

Our first Leaders Park Trail Maintenance Day will be this Sunday, March 24 beginning at 11:00am.

Most activities will take place in the workshop of the building on the northwest corner of 33rd St & Spring Ave from 11am to 5pm.

X marks the meet spot...

1. Meet spot at 11am.
2. Land at Lowe's to make purchases - 38x10x2x4
3. Return to meet spot.
4. Measure twice.
5. Cut once.
6. Treat lumber.

Domino's Pizza will be provided to hungry souls sometime between 1:30pm and 2:30pm.

All are welcome, any of the time, or all of the time.

Even just stop by to say hi.

Linkage:

Our Facebook Events pages.

Follow Sunday real time live tweeting @fast_inc.

E-mail fallsareasingletrack@gmail.com with specific questions or to receive a phone contact for the day.

Go.

The Swap Must Go On

Sioux Falls Bike Swap 2013

All fees and admissions support the work of Falls Area Singletrack.

Sunday April 14, 2013 10am to 2pm
Holiday Inn City Centre, Sioux Falls 100 W 8th Street

Sellers: Tables $25, Bike Corral $10/$5 for additions bikes
Buyers: $5 admission

For information or to register a table contact Kyle Andersen, kjandersen2@gmail.com

Downloads:

The 11x17 poster (pdf)

The documented details (pdf)

The registration forms (pdf)

Postponed: Count the Vandaled Boards

We're postponing today's bridge work at Leaders Park because of the the cold and the wet. March 23 at 2pm is the new day.

KELOLAND TV: "Bike Trail Fights Vandals Tearing Down Bridge Railing"

KELOLAND TV reported tonight - with pictures - about the dismantling of our bridges in Leaders Park. They talked to our shiny new President Kyle.

Count the Vandaled Boards @ Leaders Park

Let's get ready for the arrival of SPRING! Come join Kyle, Michael, Adam, Brad and Ben at Leaders Park to count the missing boards from the bridges. Meet at 6th and Leadale by the trailhead. We'll move to Lowell and Homestead and hike to the bridges from the north end of the park.

We'll assess the vandalism and determine the needs to make the bridges ready for the season.

All are welcome.

Obviously ground conditions will be treacherous and the weather will be cool. Dress accordingly and remember - there's no P in our ark.

The latest updates are here on our Event Page.