Jay Wilkes opened the meeting with a comment on the very successful work part at Olde Rope Mill Park on National Trails Day, June 5^th. With strong support from REI, including Volunteer T-shirts for all participants, and lunches provided by Canyon Burgers, 170 volunteers participated in the largest work party SORBA Woodstock has ever held. The next work party will be June 26^th. John Hicks will be training interested volunteers on bridge building techniques. The first six miles of the Taylor Randahl Memorial Mountain Bike Trails are scheduled to be completed later this year.

Tyler McDaniel was in attendance at the meeting and was recognized for his excellent work in constructing the kiosk at Olde Rope Mill Park. This was his project for his Eagle Scout award.

Jay reported that the bridge over the Little River has been delayed because of the Georgia DOT. The environmental impact studies have expired and will have to be redone. We estimate it may take about one year before this bridge is completed.

Scott Stewart will begin Dirty Thursday work parties at Blankets Creek this coming Thursday, June 17^th. The focus will be hand finishing the re-route on Dragon’s Tail. The wet areas on Mosquito Bite are a high priority as well.

The downhill trail on the old fire road section of the Dwelling Loop has been delayed a few weeks due to a change that was required in the plan we submitted to the USACOE. The original plan called for using telephone poles and the COE will not allow them. We must use natural wood from trees that have fallen. We revised the plan and expect approval soon as they have expressed support for the plan.

The trailhead park renovation continues to move forward. Ross Engineering has been contracted by the County and is finalizing their plans for submission to the County. Once submitted to the COE we expect a response in about 90 days. We anticipate work to begin this fall.

We have had discussions with the County about the concept plan for connecting Blankets Creek and Olde Rope Mill Park. The discussions have been productive and positive. This project will take time to develop and execute. We do not have an anticipated timetable at this point in time.

The trail counters at Blankets Creek recorded approximately 7,500 users in May, despite some rain during the month. There were 6,800 loops on Dwelling, the highest number recorded to date.

We have added additional ropes at the Kevorkian Pass on the VMT to help prevent riders from falling off the trail at that point.

Our events coordinator, Melanda Murchison, has announced two upcoming group rides. The first will be a women’s ride at Blankets Creek on June 26^th at 8:30 am. The second ride will be a camp and ride event at Raccoon Mountain in Chattanooga on July 24^th.

Free-Flite will have a demo day at Blankets creek on July 27^th and Trek and Gary Fisher will demo at Blankets on July 11^th.

Stephanie Bunkley reported that three of her high school club members have qualified to race at the USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships at Granby Ranch, CO on July 15-18.

The meeting was adjourned.

Jay Wilkes opened the meeting pointing out that this is the first chapter meeting held at Olde Rope Mill Park, site of the Taylor Randahl Memorial Mountain Bike Trails. He also thanked Dan Thornton and Free-Flite Bicycles for cooking burgers and dogs for the meeting.

Jay talked about how successful the 2010 IMBA World Summit in Augusta, GA had been. He commented on how well regarded SORBA is in the IMBA family and how well managed and informative the summit was. SORBA, IMBA and the City of Augusta did a fine job hosting the event. The FATS trail system was a huge hit among attendees and earned high praise from Hans Rey who spoke to the summit about his new trail flow design and rating system.

Jay recognized the hard work Charlie Shultz has put into building the Taylor Randahl trails working alongside Stephen Mullins of Pro Trails. He also thanked Ken Nix for the work he has done recently, especially on the second stacked loop currently under construction.

On National Trails Day, 6/5/10, REI is sponsoring a work party at Olde Rope Mill Park with the goal of bringing 200 volunteers to help build the new trails. The Kennesaw and Perimeter stores have online signups for volunteers, the first 200 getting REI volunteer t-shirts. The work party will begin at 8:00 am. Crew leaders will meet at 7:30 am. Canyon Burgers will be generously providing lunch. The City of Woodstock will also have a presence at the park that day to draw attention to this wonderful addition to their park system.

Jay commented on the advocacy for preserving mountain bike access to the Mountaintown trail outside Ellijay. Mike Palmieri of Cartecay Bikes, is an outspoken advocate for this effort and shared his thoughts with Jay and others at the World Summit.

Scott Stewart announced that we will begin Dirty Thursday work parties after work, a couple of times per month. They will be about two hour time slots focused on small projects at Blankets Creek. The Dragon’s Tail re-route is first on the list of projects.

There continues to be discussion about dogs at Blankets Creek and the requirement that they be on a minimum 6 foot leash. We will continue to educate users about this requirement and work with the County about compliance.

Melanda Murchison has stepped up and volunteered to be our Events Coordinator. She talked about the VMT ride for newbies on Saturday at 10:30 am. There was discussion about having a chapter sponsored camping trip to FATS this year, likely in the fall when it is cooler. The Petersburg campground was a big hit with everyone who attended the World Summit. Riding the Bartram trails right out of camp is excellent and the FATS trails are just down the road.

Jay reported that the trail counters showed a significant increase in Dwelling riders, larger in relationship to the other trails than we have ever recorded. This likely indicates a surge in first time/beginner riders. Approximately 7,500 riders visited Blankets Creek in April.

Walt Bready and Robin Allen attended tonight’s meeting and also spoke highly of the World Summit experience. Walt was on hand to promote a contest for a Gary Fisher Hi-Fi. Winners must be a current IMBA-SORBA member as of December 2010.

The downhill/freeride projects at Blankets Creek are proceeding. A plan for the beginner DH on the old fire road has been submitted to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACOE). Work on the expert loop/South Loop extension is underway and promises to be a tremendous addition to the Blankets Creek riding experience.

The County has signed a contract with Ross Engineering to finalize the plans for the new trailhead at Blankets Creek. The concept plan created by Scott Gordon, former SORBA Woodstock President, is the basis for this great improvement to Blankets Creek. A revision to the master plan will be submitted to the USACOE. John Hicks met with the USACOE and the County Commissioners have blessed this project. The County is eager to move forward on this project as soon as possible. We are also in discussions with the County Commissioners about the plans for a connector trail between Blankets Creek and Olde Rope Mill Park.

Stephanie Bunkley attended the World Summit, too, focusing on learning more about high school racing and her efforts to partner with Reinhart College to use their trails as a race venue.

Jay adjourned the meeting.

Jay Wilkes opened the meeting thanking Kevin Poske and OutSpokin’ Bicycles for providing pizza dinner for the meeting.  This was our first meeting in 2010 at the trails.

The trail counters indicate that the message about trail closures seem to be getting out.  The number of poachers when the trails are closed is very small.

Jay reported about the SORBA Board of Directors meeting held at the Nantahala Outdoor Center in March.  A lot of the meeting focused on the 2010 IMBA World Summit which will be held in Augusta, GA on May 5-8.  This is a great opportunity to showcase SORBA and the FATS trails that were built by the CSRA chapter.  Ellis Alexander from SORBA Woodstock will be co-presenting in one of the breakout sessions at the summit to share the fundraising success at SORBA Woodstock.  There will also be an expo at the summit and SORBA Woodstock will have a booth manned.

The parking lot at Blankets will be closed on Tuesday 4/13.  Trails will be opened but the county will be repairing the entrance that is starting to look like a pump track.

The trail marking system will soon be installed.  Markers have been put out to bid by the county.

The Dragon’s Tail re-reroute is open.  It needs some finishing hand work but it is a great improvement on that section of the trail.

Mark Heiman and the SOFA riders have designed a great beginner downhill run for the old fire road.  Work will begin soon on that section.  The route for the expert South Loop extension is being finalized and work parties will be announced soon.

Charlie Shultz and Steven Mullins have finished 1.3 miles of the new Taylor Randahl Memorial Trail.  Work parties will be held on 4/17 and 4/24.  The Boy Scouts are building a replica of the kiosk at Blankets Creek to honor Taylor Randahl who helped Thomas Turner build the Blankets Creek kiosk for his Eagle Scout project.

REI will be supporting a 200 person volunteer day at Rope Mill on National Trails Day, 6/5/10.  Show up early and get a REI volunteer t-shirt!

Dogs off leashes continue to create a safety hazard at Blankets Creek.  We continue to receive reports of incidents/collisions.  The park rule is that dogs must be on a leash.

Cherokee County Commissioner Karen Bosch arrived at the end of the meeting and made the official announcement that the acquisition of 5+ acres between the parking lot and the church has been finalized.  This is a huge event for Blankets Creek.  A concept plan has already been created that expands the parking by more than double the current capacity, adds permanent bathrooms and changing rooms and a pavilion.  A new entrance will also be created that will line up with the turn lane travelling west on Sixes Road.  Ms. Bosch shared how much enthusiasm Cherokee County has about Blankets Creek and the relationship between SORBA Woodstock and the county.  They are determined to help us make this one of the finest mountain biking parks in the country.  Ms. Bosch has worked hard on our behalf within the County Commission to draw attention and direct resources to improving what is the busiest park in the county.

The meeting was adjourned.

Jay Wilkes started the meeting. He discussed the recent meeting with the City of Woodstock that went over the budget and payment schedules for the Taylor Randahl memorial trails. The city approved SORBA Woodstock to start machine construction. Work parties will be scheduled in the future. Not sure on frequency, but will post on website and Facebook. At least one a month.

The Dragon’s Tail Extension is in the works. A work party to complete it is scheduled for this Saturday, 3/14. Also at the Blankets Work Party, we will be measuring the old Dwelling fire road to layout the beginner downhill.

The county has closed on the 5.5 acre tract next to Blankets Creek. We asked Scott Gordon to draw up a concept plan for the new “trailhead park”. Amenities included a large pavilion, permanent bathrooms, bike wash, new entrance to the parking lot and expansion from 75 parking spaces to 185. The county is getting the roads and bridges department to look at the cost of a new entrance.

Kudos to Scott, Chris, Richard, Jeff and others for the next boardwalk section on Mosquito Bite.

The trail marking project is coming along. We have submitted artwork and signs to CRPA to bid out. We will be installing fiberglass stakes (like on other COE, USFS trails) every ¼ mile. Each stake will include a unique number for Fire and Rescue to ID location - Hope to be installed by springtime.

The county has submitted a plan to the COE to clean out the blocked culvert at the entrance. As soon as they get COE permission, they will close the parking lot for a day and clean in out. They will let us know in advance so we can post on the website. Folks will have to park at the church for the day and ride over.

Since last years Bike Patrol covered 2 years of CPR, we will be skipping bike patrol training this year and picking it up next year for new recruits.

The SORBA Main BOD meeting was announced. It will be at the NOC near Tsali. Weekend passes are available at $25 a person. Bunkhouses are limited. We have space for a total of 8 people. 6 are already taken.

The IMBA World Summit was announced again. We have 6 campsites reserved at Petersburg campground. 4 have been claimed. 2 are open. Jay Wilkes will be attending the summit. Woodstock will have an EXPO booth in the parking lot of the Marriott. Attendees are encouraged to help man the booth from noon to 6 pm.

Jay opened the floor for questions/comments. Rob from SOFA asked how he could get involved in helping out with the freeride plans. He would like to see some of the successful features at Big Creek be incorporated at Blankets. We welcomed him to participate and help bring SOFA expertise into the design and construction of new features at Blankets Creek.

The meeting was adjourned.

Jay Wilkes opened the meeting at Summits Wayside Tavern with a toast to the new Rope Mill project final approval to start work.

- First work party is scheduled for Feb. 20^th.

- Charlie has come up with a new blade dubbed the “Frankenblade” for the Dingo that should speed up construction. The plan is also to use a Tamper machine to tap down the trail.

- We will need all the help we can get and plan to contact our 18 new crew leaders to ask for their help.

- Canyons Burgers wants to get involved with possibly supplying food for work parties. They have also committed to making a donation to SORBA each time someone visits their restaurants and presents their SORBA membership card. 

Blankets Creek trails remain closed due to the freeze thaw and wet conditions.

- The Dragon’s Tail reroute still needs work. The new South Loop extension has been flagged and recently the county received complaints from neighbors about the close proximity of the trail to their property. The county has been out to the site and has determined that the trail does not exceed our boundaries. 

- New gravel has been placed at the entrance to Blankets by the county and they are in the process of getting bids to clear the clogged storm drain. We will make an announcement when they plan to do the work since the entrance will be closed while they are working on it.

- Mosquito Bite left side has remained closed since the flood and we are now planning to build a 48’ boardwalk 3’ wide with some rollers and banks to address the issues there. 

Work on the trail marker project is continuing. We have gotten feedback from the FD and have implemented some of their request. We have decided to use fiberglass stakes for the markers. 

Bike Patrol classes will be held sometime in the spring/summer if needed. All of our patrollers from last year have CPR certifications that are good until 7/2011. 

March 19-21^st is the SORBA/IMBA spring Festival and board meeting at the Nantahala Outdoor Center. Please visit SORBA.org for registration details. 

The IMBA World Summit will be held in Augusta May 5-8. We have reserved campsites so let us know if you plan to attend. 

The meeting was adjourned by Jay Wilkes.