1. the HS Mt Bike Team
Jeremy, sorry we missed your last name Jeremy!, a junior from the Estes Park Mountain Bike team attended and filled us in on the State Championship race. The Estes Park High School team finished their season in 12th place out of 44 teams in division 2. Jeremy informed us that after experiencing a mechanical issue at the beginning of the race he dropped from a fifth place lead to 70th; he managed to regain a position in the lead and finished in 7th! Great job Jeremy!
2. Message from President Greg– Thad relayed some thoughts on keeping EPCC fun and the focus on having a good time on two wheels from Greg Sampson. Thus the next items…
3. BD/Christmas party – It’s hard to believe that EPCC is a year old next month. Many last night were commenting about how wonderful it is to have met new friends, gone on organized rides with new folks and to have accomplished so much in a year. To celebrate we will have a Birthday/Christmas party on December 17th at the Twin Owls Steakhouse at 6PM. Bring something fort the potluck and a bicycle themed Dirty Santa gift. Please note Alicia Mittleman that Dirty Santa is a type of gift exchange and not something…else…
4. Sunday Fall River Road Ride – YO! Fall River Road is opened, and well re-built! Good job RMNP! It will close after the 31st. Now is the time to ride it and enjoy the incredible autumn we are having this year. Post when and where to meet on our facebook group page if you are planning to ride it this weekend! Have a great ride!
5. Halloween – likewise if you are planning on riding into town for Halloween post something on facebook so we can say “HI” and have someone fun to ride with! (Many of us with families are planning on riding to Kind Coffee and assailing the town from there. Some rumors have been spread about going directly to Laura’s via bike to beat the crowd for one of their incredible caramel apples.
6. 3 feet rule video – Alicia Mittleman informed us that significant progress has been made on the making of a 30 second infomercial on the 3 feet passing space between motorist and cyclist. Alicia shared that – “Public Information Officer Kate Rusch has agreed to review the script, SRGT Rick Life has agreed to be in an interview, and best of all, Nick Molle from Channel 8 agreed to run a 30 second commercial/Public Service Announcement 10 times a day in the summer for FREE.” Nice job Alicia!
7. Bike friendly application – Alicia also shared that we will know the results of our bicycle friendly application mid-November. Additionally she has contacted the League of American Bicyclists (the group we submitted a bicycle friendly application to) about hosting a League Cyclists Instructor Seminar here in Estes!
8. 34 and 7 – Mark Kougl wanted us to know that there is a meeting at EP town hall Thursday night at 6 PM to discuss 34 & 7 reconstruction and Mark K. Plans are to have CDOT spec’ed highways (= more biker friendly highways) finished by December of 2017. Attend and wear your EPCC t-shirts!
9. FLAP – Erica Goad- updated us about the FLAP project and plans from the TAC for downtown. The Fish Creek trail will be an 8 foot wide trail consisting of crushed refines south of Scott Avenue. North of Scott Avenue there will be a 10 foot paved trail. FIMA funding largely influenced this development. Many of the EPCC members are excited to grind some gravel and have a trail in place again! TAC- There are three different ideas on the board regarding our town’s main street. Two of the three options offer something better to cyclist and pedestrians, a third option does not. It is extremely important that we attend the TAC meetings, Belle Morris- please continue to keep us posted!, and voice our concerns for a more bicycle friendly Estes Park.
10. Mini grant – Erica Goad has submitted an application for a Safe Routes to School mini-grant of $1,000. As part of the application process, John McGrath and Heidi Tryon visited with Park R-3’s superintendent to discuss bike friendly paths to school. Plans are to send two members to training so that they can lead fun and instructional clinics on bike safety. We will know in December if we have been awarded the grant. Thanks Erica, John and Heidi!
11. Trails in Hermit Park – Thad Eggen contacted Christine Flemming, District Manager of Larimer County Open Space. She is excited to meet and discuss some trail ideas for Hermit park. Thad will post the results of the meeting on fb and the website. Thad is also working on obtaining a map of the forest service land surrounding Estes Park in order to rough draft a Perimeter trail that could be presented to the forest service for input, assistance and hopefully approval.
12. Bike Fun Park – Cherly Sarnwick shared some ideas for the Bike Fun Park. A bike park is in the master plan and ideas have been shared to incorporate some of the new beach-front area of Fish Creek into it. Steven Wens shared that the Bike Park in Eagle, CO is only a half acre in size and draws visitors for competitions from across the state. EPCC hopes to keep the dialogue going on this idea and help bring a park into Estes. Randy Biddle has been in contact with a silent donor who is willing to help with the design of the bike park. Please continue to discuss this wonderful idea with our Park and Recreation board members and employees.
13. Non profit status – Mark Thiess, Alicia Mittleman and Erica Goad all brought up that we need to move forward with establishing EPCC as a non-profit and moving our status with IMBA from chapter member to charter member. Reasons are: higher success with grants, accountability with finances, resources (assistance in trail design, tools for trail building, volunteers) from IMBA and a greater level of respect with other government agencies. EPCC needs a volunteer who has some experience with this process to help. Anyone out there with some non-profit know-how?
