February 2020 General Membership Meeting Minutes

CRAMBA’s February 2020 General Membership Meeting was held on Tuesday, February 18^th 2020 at 7pm at Hogg’s Hollow in Utica.34 members were in attendance.Membership: currently have 456 members - 404 current, 52 lapsed/expired.  May is our annual Spring Membership driveFinances: Currently $51k in the bank, big expenses for the year include $6k for insurance and expenses related to the Addison Oaks race

• Stoney Creek: No bids had yet been placed on the project during 2^nd round of bids
• Ay CRAMBA Winter Event: Weather for the weekend is forecasted to be too warm, but membership elects to continue to hold as a social event, and refrain from trail use if the temperature gets too high.
• Survey Results: Survey results are available on CRAMBA.org. Highlights of the findings include requests for more features, harder lines, better communication/improvements to the website, and more group rides.
• eBikes: Survey results indicated that most had no opinion or were in favor. CRAMBA is a group that advocates for trail access for mountain bikes, and supports Class I (pedal-assist) at the Land Manager’s discretion, and if a usability study has been performed.  CRAMBA is against all forms of Class II (throttle-controlled).
• Restructuring of Committees: Current committees (Events, Communication, Trail, and Membership) are largely inactive. Looking to rebrand these as Special Interest Groups, requesting volunteers and sign-up sheets were passed around during the meeting.

• • Bike Patrol: officially recognize as a part of CRAMBA, currently not identified in bylaws and looking to formalize.
  • Trail Improvements: Ride trails, identify areas that need attention or have good potential for new features or reroutes.  Work with the Trail Coordinators to make things happen.
  • Events: Run existing events, come up with ideas for new events, collect feedback and ensure CRAMBA is using that feedback.
  • Advocacy: Dedicated to the advancement of mountain biking in our area.  New trail developments, solving potential conflicts with land managers through education.
  • Membership Involvement/Community Outreach: Get people to attend our events, rides, and trail days.  Make announcements, manage social media pages regarding our events.  Work with Events group.  Bring topics to the board that may need discussion.
  • Fundraising: Garner donations for new projects, events, and ideas.  Files for relevant grants.  Seek out local organizations to sponsor events as long as the businesses don’t conflict with CRAMBA’s mission (no MLM).  Seek membership signup/renewal contributions for people at our events.
  • Ride Hosts: Help run group rides, meet attendees’ expectations.  Come up with other rides that could be more social in nature, or to other destinations around the state.  Host rides at other times of the day.  Daytime and nighttime rides, weekend rides, etc.  Ex. host rides on MOT when trails are under water.

Trail UpdatesAddison Oaks: Need people to show up so that they can take pictures of “people on fat bikes” (held 2/22).  CRAMBA was presented with a plaque as a thank you for donating snow grooming equipment for the trails.Bald Mountain: Lake Orion high school has a trail system, but is not recognized by the state at this time (currently, some of the trail goes onto private property and needs to be redirected).  A connector bridge is being started this summer from Paint Creek to Bald Mt. South.  Looking to structure Bald Mt South as a “beginner” trail system, and turn Lake Orion into “intermediate” trails.Bloomer: Last fall new signage went in, but there are still a few spots that would benefit from additional signage.  Recent rains have done damage to the trails, and trail work will need to be done.  Bloomer suggested as a potential location for a weekly ride, or possibly night rides.Clinton River Park Trails: $800 was received from the Rotary Club to help rebuild a bridge, there is deadfall that needs to be removed, and the trail could benefit from additional signage.Columbus County: A bridge was donated for the trails but still needs to be installed, brush needs to be cleared out.Holly Holdridge: Not permitted to use snow grooming equipment on certain sections of trail, but there is a snow bike route (visible from Ron’s Strava).  CRAMBA donated money to help replace a roof on a pavilion with the stipulation that a dead tree overhead is removed.Holly Rec: Wilderness Trail – signs are incorrect: Lakeshore Loop is not open to bikes but the Wilderness Trail is.  Looking to see what traffic the trail is getting in the winter.  Fuel sponsor for trail grooming: CMS Fueling Station and Craft Beer.  Groomed twice at Holdridge, three times at Wilderness Trail.  Look on Facebook for Holly Area Mountain Bikers “HAMBsters” for group rides and trail conditions.Pontiac Lake: The portion of the trail that’s groom (via snow mobile) is rideable, some additional signage was recently put in.River Bends: Groomed as often as it can be, given the current weather.Stoney Creek: Needs a cleanup day sometime in April.  Looking for people to step up as “foremen” to be able to lead trail workdays.Oakdale: Lapeer wants another 4 ½ miles put in this season, and is actively looking to make the are an “all season trail”.Holly High School: Drainage issues have been fixed, the school is looking to expand/tune up the trails as they are actively used by kids.Seven Lakes: Interested in doing some re-routes around rattlesnake land and repairing some blown out trails.