Cycling Advocacy

How I got started mountain biking and back into bicycling

I have had a road bike for decades. I own a Puch Pathfinder road bike which I bought from The Bicycle Shop in Muskegon in 1978. I rode this bike as major transportation all through college as well as summer long rides (such as the time I rode from my house in Muskegon to Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, then to my girlfriend’s cottage on Lake Michigan then back home via Scenic Drive and North Muskegon. Road riding was big sport then and would fade until Lance brought it back these past seven years.

In April, 1998 I decided I needed a new bike and went to Village Bike Shop in Grand Rapids intending to buy a new road bike for about $600.00. I ended up buying an $850.00 Giant ATX750 mountainbike for $750.00 ! It was a cro-moly frame, front shock and foot cages on the pedals (which I was familiar with as my Puch had cages). I started riding trails in the Grand Rapids area and joined the MMBA when I heard about that organization. My first trail ride was at Cannonsburg Game Area.

The second trail I ever rode was Ionia Rec Area. After that came other trails in the area such as Yankee Springs and Fort Custer. In June of 1998, I saw a flyer in the bike shop about a race at Robinette’s )rchard. That sounded like fun so I showed up and signed up and DIED on the first lap! Jeez was that tough. I was so very out of shape and left in the dust by the competitors. I went to the promoter desk after the first of two laps and dropped out. He nearly laughed at me.

I determined to get in better shape. My employment had a fitness center and I began using that regularly, running the treadmill and lifting weights. I cut back on beer consumption and began to eat more better- resuming a vegetarian/vegan diet again. By spring 1999 I was ready to try racing again and kicked off my racing career with the 1999 Yankee Springs Time. I have been doing some type of racing ever since.

Brenden began riding trails with me on his 16-inch bike in 1998 also. He had a Trek Mountain Lion ten speed kids mountain bike. By summer 1999, he moved up to a 20-inch Bianchi Wildcat mountain bike as he turned ten years old. He had been doing the kids races at the mountain bike race events, but we arrived at Bloomer Park in Rochester Hills that afternoon too late and missed the kid’s race. I told Brenden I knew he could do the trail- he’d been riding it with me the day before anyway. So I signed him up for the 14-under category and he has been racing ever since.

MY BIKES

2022 Cannondale Topstone-4

Gravel bike with 1X drivetrain- installed a Koobi PRS saddle & Redshift 30degree riser shock-stem

2009 Cannondale CAAD-10
Road bike with Sram Red derailleurs. Koobi PRS saddle. Added 30degree riser stem in 2021.

2006 Cannondale Rush.
I immediately put a Koobi saddle on it. Upgrades over the years morphed the bike.
2007: installed 26" orange Velocity rims.
2012: upgraded the Lefty fork to a carbon fork.
2013: upgraded to 650B Velocity Blunt tubeless wheels which fit this frame.
2016: replaced the drive train, eliminating the original triple front chain-ring set with a SRAM GX 1x11 (32 front, max 42 rear cassette).

2017: due to broken fork on the Lefty at Lumberjack-100, the front fork was replaced with a Rockshox thru-axle fork. No more Lefty.

2007 Cannondale Cross-6 cyclo-cross bike

This bike is now retired as my permanent trainer bike on my Cyclops Smart-Trainer for Zwift riding.

Blue Velocity rims.

Koobi PRS saddle. Shimano Sora derailleurs. RedShift Shockstem

Upgraded cassette 2019 from 11–28 to an 11–32. This is the bike I use on lGravel rA

1978 Puch Pathfinder touring bike
My first real bike. Suntour derailleurs.
Installed a Brooks saddle Sept-2014 replacing the original saddle

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Cycling and Mountain Bike Advocacy

2017: Lobbied cities of Kentwood, Grandville, Wyoming, Walker and East Grand Rapids to adopt the 5-foot passing ordinances. Lobbied the state legislature for passage of the Vulnerable Road User Protection to be added to the motor vehicle code.

2014: Inducted into the MMBA Hall of Fame for Advocacy

MMBA Advocacy

MMBA (Michigan Mountain Biking Association) member since 1998

MMBA State Director of Trail School 2008–2010

MMBA Western Chapter Yankee Springs Time Trial race director 2008–2014

MMBA Regional Trail School Instructor 2005 -2008

MMBA Ionia State Recreation Area Trail Coordinator 2006–2007

MMBA CPS Director and Tabulations 2006–2012

MMBA Competition Committee member 2004 to 2012

MMBA State Board Member from 2004 to 2007

MMBA Western Chapter President 2004 to 2006

MMBA Certified Trail Designer as of 2004

MMBA Western Chapter Volunteer Hours Coordinator 2009

MMBA Western Chapter “webmaster” (one year)

MMBA Hall of Fame — created and directed 2014–2015–2017

MMBA as a western chapter member, Initiated discussions with Kent County Parks (2002) which eventually led to the Luton Park trails (see below).

League of Michigan Bicyclists board member one year

Luton Park Trails History

I initiated discussions in 2002 with Kent County Parks for mountain bike trail in Johnson Park and presented a formal proposal. Kent County Park Dept seemed to stonewall so I initiated a presentation at a County Board of Commissioners meeting. I also wrote a 500-word essay in the Grand Rapids Press to publicize the lack of trails in Kent County Parks.

The Johnson Park proposal and presentation are in the MMBA library:

http://mmba.org/library/Advocacy/Trails/Western/JohnsonParkProposal.doc

http://mmba.org/library/Advocacy/Trails/Western/KentPresentation.pdf

This jump-started discussions with the park director and after some discussion, Kent County Parks directed me to the undeveloped Luton Park in Sept 2003. IMBA Trail Crew came to Grand Rapids and walked Luton with me. I then presented a formal proposal to Kent County Parks. However, it was a slow process with Kent County and by summer 2005 I turned the project over to Scott Peterson who soon after turned the program over to Rick Plite. He eventually got the cooperation of the parks director and the WMMBA initiated a trail at Luton six years later.