mbruemmer11d2

Just wanted to shoot a message out to you guys about some mountain biking trails in Rockford. The Rock Cut Trail Crew is trying to branch out and develop new trails in the Rockford area and although they have some support, more is needed. The trails are meeting opposition from area hiking and horseback riding populations and could compromise this new development. Like I said before, the more support that can be put together the better. It would be fantastic to develop some more good trails in the area rather than having to travel hours to find good mountain bike trails.

commo_soulja

I have no f*ckin' clue where Rockford is but good luck on working it out with the other trail users. I e-support your trail advocacy efforts.

BenzFanatic

I googled the "crew" and it's Rockford, Illinois, as I suspected. Didn't realize there was good biking going on up there. Good to know.

dminor 

Ahhh . . . didn't think it could have been Rockford, WA

mbruemmer11d2

Yes it is Rockford, IL. Sorry should have been more specific. Rockford currently has trails in Rock Cut State Park including a race every fall as well as trails in Espenscheid Forest Preserve, which are currently in the process of being expanded. Rock Cut is closed to Mountain Bikes from November to April leaving Espenscheid the only trails open during the colder months. Any support to help the Crew expand into these parks is needed. The main complaint from the apposing groups is that mountain bikers will over run the parks and make it unsafe for hikers and horseback riders. The more support we can get the more we can show them that there can be a co-existence between all of these groups.

Teamskene's

Ill be moving back to Rockford at the beginning of July and plan on becoming as involved as I can for trail building as Im diving headfirst back into MTBing (waiting on a Santa Cruz Tallboy LT out here in Philadelphia) Depending on the time commitment of my new job Id love to help with trail building/maintenance. Ill be primarily riding Rock Cut as I live about 5 miles away. I heard via the register star that some new development may be happening this year? SO should I just hit up the rc trail crew when I roll into town???

mbruemmer11d2

Yeah the Trail Crew does the developing and maintaining on the trails in the Rockford area. The new developments have been at Espenscheid but they are currently working on getting approval in Anna Page Conservation Forest as well as Lockwood Park. The development in these parks has been met by opposition from Horseback riders and hikers stating that Mountain Biking in the parks will cause more danger on the trails. I hope you do contact the Trail Crew when you move back. We can use all the avid members we can get.

BenzFanatic

I can see their reservations, walking a trail with bikes is so much more dangerous than with a 1000 lb 6ft+ tall animal. And if you crash into a horse it's likely to cause a several horse pileup, and possibly explode.