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!