January 2021 Meeting Recap

Meeting 1/25/21

January 2021!!! WELCOME

1st and foremost it’s President Donovan’s 1st meeting AND her Birthday!!!

Side note, it’s also past AMBC President Brian Hanns Birthday!!!

Trail reports:

Trail conditions are typical for East TN this time of the year! Wet and variable

Wet Weather Reminders: Great options include: Baker Creek Bike Park, Marie Myers via Redbud Crest, Sharps Ridge, Loyston, Norris, and Big South Fork.

Take a look at our website for trail conditions!

Weather Report:

Dave Stanley reported that we’re drier than usual but that the cycle of precipitation has timed itself perfectly to be continually soggy. Be mindful of your trail choices!

The Knoxville Track Club presented the club with a check for $3046.75!!!

KTC Longtime partners, presented a check from part of their proceeds from their popular Trail Running Series!

Remember – trails have many users! Runners, walkers, even a few riders – use the trails with respect for all!

Work Project Recaps:

Independent Workdays and Small Projects

Work Completed:

  • Randy Conner with Contour Trail Design and AMBC tackled “The Tree”
  • Alex with Knoxville Outdoor Tours cleared a number of Snags in south Knoxville
  • Bentley Brackett with Elemental Design Co. also cleared a few snags
  • AMBC Staff builder Dave Williams has been busy on the top of Red Bud Crest!
  • Vinnie has put in some hour at Lippincott
  • Tony worked on trails out at Concord – Thanks for all the hard work!

Events:

Small Groups : Small projects — All limited to 10 folks / project Signup are live on our events calendar.

  • This Saturday 1/30 9-noon 2 options
    • Burnett Creek Road Trash Cleanup
    • Mayor Hot Tub trail work (hand building singletrack)
  • Not us but lend a hand CVTA Norris work day 10-1 check their site.
  • AMBC will present at PechaKucha 11th live from the Bijou. The format is 20 slides shown for 20 seconds each, should be lively, wish Kellogg some luck.
  • Leslie King with Catalyst Sports reported on their aMTB (adaptive) training March 27-28
  • Trail Counter Updates
    • Direct Observation Training – March 27th or 28th (2 Hour Training outdoors) Going to need 16 folks! We’ll launch a Golden Volunteer event for this. UTK will have around 40 folks helping.

News:

  • Talking with Albright Grove about some beer – stay tuned
  • Brian Hann with the Trail Committee will be recruiting Trail Crew Leaders for the 2021 trail building and maintaining season – again – stay tuned
  • We’re now webcasting the meetings to YouTube and with some luck we may add a Zoom meeting component.

 

See you for the next meeting February 22nd 2021

September 2020 Meeting Recap

TRIPS

Looks like a group hit North Dakota (Maah Daah Hey Trail) and Duluth, MN. Some of you will remember that we competed against Duluth in the Bell Built Grant. The trails were super impressive and close in to the city. Would absolutely recommend a visit.

WEATHER

Dave Stanley, looking like a mountain man and reporting in: We have an additional 3” of recent rain and things are WET. In comparison last September has almost zero precipitation. We are now looking at a solid #2 spot for the wettest year recorded!

Dave has recently been to Bentonville, Arkansas and said it’s exactly as you’ve heard – “Disneyland for bikes” with a surprisingly good art scene.

Kellogg says it’s halfway to Colorado and worth the trip!

BIG CHECK

Unfortunately, the annual TVB checkpoint race was cancelled due to Covid BUT in a surprising turn of events, many of the entrants opted to donate their entry fee to the club! Thanks to Tennessee Valley Bicycles and those generous non-racers, we’ll be getting a big check for over $700!

SMALL PROJECTS

We’ve had lots of people working in the woods!
  • SO many – 8 snags in concord alone.
  • Treadwork at Lippincott – yay Vinnie!!!
  • Dave Williams has been working on Barn Burner, Cruze Valley Run, Floyd Fox and we’ve had quite a few small groups out working on various things at Baker Creek.
  • Let us know if you want to take on a specific project and keep the trail reports coming! trails@ambcknox.orgwith (Location and photo please!)

EVENTS

  • The Baker Creek Bike Park grand opening was a hit! We had good turn out and super shredder, Mayor Kincannon, had some good riding and life wisdom for the crowd. BIG THANKS to the City and County for all of the hard work!
  • Saturday October 3rd is Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day! There aren’t any organized events this year but that shouldn’t stop you from getting out there!
  • Knoxville Adventure Collective has a fun event coming up – Maskerade Adventure Race October 1-8th
  • Log your miles for the Norris Dam 84 Mile Challenge – on horse! on foot! on your bike!
  • Everyone’s favorite 12 hour race has been postponed . Check in withCVTA for updates on the Hill of Truth.
  • Speaking of CVTA – The Dirt Lab grand opening is October 9th!
  • The No Business 100 is October 16th Big South Fork / Picket State Park and they could us some volunteers!
  • VOTE! October 5th is the registration deadline and early voting begins on October 14th in Knox county.

OTHER RANDOM THINGS

  • The Knoxville Regional TPO is working to create a long-term vision for the transportation system in our region and they could use your input.
  • Memberships continue to roll in! Thanks to you all who’ve checked your status and re-upped. We are 50% above last year!
  • Jeremy Walker’s eagle scout project was growing pumpkins and he harkened back to those fun days to create the first AMBC Pumpkin Sale! Thanks to Sokno Taco for letting us use their yard. We sold out and raised some money for trails! Look for us next year with MORE BIGGER PUMPKINS!

FALL FEST

It’s going to be different but let’s make the best of it! We do know we have FOUR awesome things happening and details on all will be available soon:
  1. SUPER RAD bike raffle with Harper’s Bike Shop!
  2. FRESH merchandise at an in-store booth at REI! Want to VOLUNTEER??? Sign up here!
  3. EPIC silent auction (send items to info@ambcknox.org)!
  4. FUN checkpoint ride organized by Dirty Bird Events!

AND THE BIGGEST NEWS OF ALL!

Matthew and Ellen Kellogg have a tiny mountain biker brewing! The wee future shredder is due in November! BIG CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Thanks for tuning in, folks! We’ll be back again next month to do it all again!

CHEERS!

August 2020 Meeting Recap

We have the usual crew of Wes Soward, Matthew Kellogg and Dave Stanley PLUS a new special guest, Mr. Russell Manning!

  • Mr. President recently visited Pisgah and Dupont and reports that both are “well used”. LOTS of folks seem to be taking to the woods.
  • Loyston is a popular go-to. Especially with all the rain we’ve had (see below).

THE WEATHER

Dave Stanley, who has been slacking recently, says we are still on track for a record breaking year for rain and a new goal is in sight – we could achieve the 9th wettest August EVER and there is still a week of rain to go! Things have been cooler and we haven’t had any days in the triple digits this summer.

REPORTING TRAIL ISSUES

Our friend and all around good guy, Russell Manning, did a little tutorial about what to do when you encounter a down tree:

  1. Dismount (or bunny hop and then dismount depending on skill level).
  2. Take a photo of the trail impediment.
  3. Open your preferred trail map app (Trailforks, Mountain Bike Project, etc.. ) and screen shot your location.
  4. Email the club at trails@ambcknox.org and POOF JUST LIKE MAGIC our dedicated team will add it to the list and get it taken care of.

WORKDAY RECAPS

In addition to the VERY MANY down trees and jungle-like brush we’ve been tackling, we’ve had progress on some more projects.
  • Elevon + US Bank teamed up to remove invasives at Ijams around the Turnbuckle Trail. Ijams has been educating volunteers about “cutting and treating” so we don’t have to revisit areas in the future.
  • Vinnie has been doing some treadwork at Lippencott – you should check it out if you haven’t before. It’s a fun little section of trail and a good connection between parks. John Baker has recently fixed the SUPER COOL instrument at the trail head. Get your jam on.
  • Dave Williams has cleared most of Barn Burner and moved onto the dirt. Watch for continued improvements. Please don’t run over Dave.
  • We have brand new signage for Marie Meyers + #YRGD and could use a few volunteers to help install. UPDATE: We need One person familiar with Marie Myers to help
  • BAKER CREEK SMALL PROJECTS – SIGN UP HERE if you want to join us on Sunday to work at Baker Creek. Two groups will head up to Devil’s Racetrack and one will help out on Barn Burner. Groups will be limited to ten people each. We’ll have a fully masked safety talk to start the day and then hit the woods. We provide the tools. Rogue hoes tend to be good for distancing…

EVENTS

  • The drive-in movie was great! We had around 90 cars full of people come out to enjoy a night of nostalgia and an excellent mountain bike film. Big thanks to Harper Audi for getting us out of the house and raising money for trails!
  • Knox Bike Racing has their last race of the season this Wednesday. Race safe y’all and don’t forget to distance!
  • Join Mayor Indya Kincannon, members of City Council, and Urban Wilderness stakeholders for a 10 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 27 opening celebration at the Baker Creek Bike Park, 3700 Lancaster Drive! Yep, we know you’ve all been getting shredy already but if you’ve got time, come tell the city THANK YOU for your fun new park (sport your AMBC gear)!
  • Ijams Symphony in the Park has gone virtual! If you’ve parked at Meads Quarry, you’ve enjoyed Ijams. Become a member and contribute if you can. They’ve got some pretty sweet silent auction items.. guided ride led by AMBC.. wink wink.

OTHER NEWS

  • Our new Eco Counters are in and we’ve already started to get data. We’ll be getting daily info and UT will graph it over the next three years.
  • Membership is up over 50% this year! Inquiring minds want to know WHO we are are WHERE we hail from. We are going to work on extrapolating that information to get a better picture of AMBC and will try to have some interesting factoids for you next month. Are YOU a member? JOIN HERE!
  • The new Urban Wilderness trail maps look good and should be out soon. We’ll keep you posted on how to get yours!
  • We’ve reached out to our neighbors at the Norris Dam State Park and they are interested in working together to fix some problem erosion spots on the Norris trail system.

You all knew it was coming – there will be no in person fall fest this year. “It’s a pandemic”. We are very sad BUT we can do some things!

  1. The RADDEST BIKE RAFFLE IN ALL OF THE LAND.
  2. FRESH MERCH! We are working on a creative, safe, in-person shopping experience for you. You won’t want to miss out on this year’s LIMITED EDITION foam hat. We don’t know what it will be yet but rest assured – you want it.
  3. SILENT AUCTION! You won’t be able to throw real elbows this year but it’s on! If you or yours, has an item or experience to donate to our good cause, we would love to hear about it – info@ambcknox.org
  4. FUN CHALLENGES + SWEET PRIZES! We have to ride bikes, right?

Stay tuned for lots more – we’ll be rolling out all of the fun stuff soon and hope that you participate with your usual (well almost) level of enthusiasm!

Thanks for tuning in, folks! We’ll be back again next month to do it all again!

CHEERS!

July 2020 Meeting Recap

It was our fourth Facebook live meeting and we’ve hit our stride! Extreme efficiency (and sadly, lack of fun events) has made for short and highly entertaining monthly meetings.

Matthew and Wes were safely reporting in from their own homes/sunflower fields and weatherperson, Dave Stanley, exhibited extreme multitasking skills from the BRAND NEW pumptrack at Baker Creek.

If you weren’t able to catch the broadcast, you can do it HERE.

TRAIL REPORTS

  • Sharp’s is good!
  • Charit Creek Lodge is a great stop for a Big South Fork bike packing trip!
  • There is a new bike park in Hendersonville – check it out!
  • Our super rad bike park is OPEN. Please remember to give each other space and watch for wee shredders. “Pre-ride + Ride + Free-ride”. ALSO, we shouldn’t have to say this but LITTERING IS NOT COOL.

THE WEATHER

Dave Stanley, whilst ripping backwards around the track (not really but the special effects were top notch), reported that after an extended dry period, we’ve finally gotten some spotty rain. We are actually still on track for a pretty wet year. His prediction is that we’ll have a top five finish for wettest year ever. Also in with the fun fact: asphalt gets hot, y’all! 140-150 degrees hot! Watch yourselves out there and HYDRATE.

WORK DAYS

They aren’t really a thing but we have some killer volunteers that have been busting stuff out!

  • U.S. Bank & Elevon joined forces for a socially distanced day in the woods. They worked on clearing at Hastie Park.
  • David Brichetto and Moose Halstead have been putting in the time at Concord, Corey, weed eating wizard, has been clearing at Baker Creek.
  • Brian Hann, Wes Soward and Keith Crouch need a crew to help build a new trail. Shoot us a message if you are interested in helping out. Planning for the end of next week.
  • Trails@ambcknox.org for downed trees, yellow jacket alerts, and tool borrowing.
  • AMBC has Dave Williams working out on the trails with his primary focus being dead fall and Baker Creek. Thanks Dave!!!

EVENTS

  • Knox Bike Racing has a revised race schedule. We know you are stoked about things happening but please be safe and remember to keep your distance in the parking lot.
  • The Hartford 50 is on! You can sign up day-of and they do need some volunteers. Info at rapidexpeditions.com.
  • Harper Audi is sponsoring a DRIVE-IN movie on Thursday, July 30th at the Parkway Drive-in in Maryville. Accomplice by TGR will be on the big screen! Great turnout – Thanks Y’all!

OTHER NEWS

  • Best Medicine (the beer) is back in stock! Ask for it by name!
  • The Great Smokey Mountain National Park is taking comments on the the proposed Wears Valley Mountain Bike Trail System. THIS IS A BIG DEAL. Make your voice heard! For more information and trail plans click the link below and then review the document list with descriptions and potential trail maps. Comments can be made now – August 19th.
  • The Trailforks app has a “Trail Karma” program. They offer some prizes and opportunities to donate to whatever trail system you are riding. It’s pretty cool and we’ve already gotten some donations. Consider using it when you travel or just when your stoke is high at home.
  • The Smoky Mountains Hiking Club and AMBC are looking at the feasibility of a crushed stone trail along the historic Smoky Mountain Railroad. This is fun news and we will continue to keep you updated.
  • We got our Eco-Counters! They are capable of sensing direction and counting users – we’ll know how many people make it past Baker Creek! UT is in charge of facilitating the program and managing the data.
  • The sunflowers are blooming and our logos (thanks Urban Horticulture Supply!) should be visible from space soon!
  • The new trails and playground at Sharps are not open yet – we’ll keep you posted on this Legacy Parks Foundation project.

Thanks for tuning in, folks! We’ll be back again next month to do it all again!

CHEERS!