Rochester Active Sports Club

Saturday morning, August 16 saw another day of work clearing brush and limbs on trail segment #33 just north of the creek on the west side of the park. This section of trail winds along the side hill above the creek with gentle undulating elevation changes. Our thanks to the following volunteers who worked Saturday morning: Eric Counselman, Dave Greymont, Joey Keillor, John Resman, Jeff Robertson, and Henry Walker.

If you'd like to be on the email list to hear about work days, please email Bruce Walk (bmwalk@aol.com). We typically keep work sessions to ~2 hours so our volunteers return!

Here's the link for the Essex Park page for more news and pictures

Results from the August  5th and 12th TTs can now be found on the VeloRochester page. Excellent riding in last nights time trial!  Perfect racing conditions and sheer determination helped shave time off last weeks results as nearly everyone that raced the week before brought their time down.   Next Tuesday, August 19th, is the third and last race on the 18.9 mile course (you keep your best two results if you race all three).  The fourth and final race in the series will take place on August 26th: a 3.39 mile race from Douglas to the top Genoa Hill !  Even if you won't complete the series (two of 3 on the long course plus the Hill TT) please try to challenge yourself in one or both of the last two events.

The wildflowers along the woods trail and north loop at Quarry Hill are now in full bloom. Here's a link to photos taken August 5th. If you haven't been over to the trails lately, now is a great time to take a walk. They were mowed on Wednesday and the wild flowers definitely make it worth the trip. This is the second growing season and the concentration of native grasses and flowers in some areas is amazing to see!

Paul Scanlon completed his kayak / ride event for the Red Cross on May 4th. This is the 3rd time Paul has done some type of endurance event as a fund raiser for the Red Cross. Full details of his 26 mile kayak trip and 100 mile road bike (back to back) are given below. If you are interested in supporting the Red Cross,. you can still do so - pledges / check can be sent to his home address and should be made out to the American Red Cross.
C/o Paul Scanlon
100 Mayo Park Drive SE
Rochester MN 55904

The results of the first 200 km brevet ride on May 10th, along with a photo of the participants are now on the Randonneur Bike page

The bluebells are out in force along the Mayowood trail - a great time for a bike / walk / run along the trail to enjoy the Spring flowers (photo courtesy of Dave Greymont).

Supporters of several state recreational trail projects celebrated a milestone Wednesday. Earlier this week, funding for several trail systems was included in the 2008 bonding bill signed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty. The state bonding bill included a total of $15.32 million for state trails, with at least $4.27 million designated for segments of five state trails in southeast Minnesota. The bill included more than $13 million for regional parks and trails across Minnesota.

Local trails getting funding for expansions and improvements include the Stagewood trail (Oxbowpark to Owatonna), $500,000, the Chester Woods segment of the Blufflands State Trail, $970,000; the Great River Ridge Trail in the Plainview area, $1.5 million; the Mill Towns Trail expansion from Lake Byllesby Park to Cannon Falls, $500,000; and several sections of the Root River Trail in the Preston area, $600,000 total. Trails with the best chance at funding were those connected with another trail and ones where construction could start this year to complete the trail, such as segments of the Great River Ridge Trail and the Blufflands State Trail from Rochester to Chester Woods Park.

For full details see the Post Bulletin article

RASC Volunteer Ski Trail Grooming started this season on December 1, 2007 and concluded on March 16, 2008. This year was the best season in many years with good snow cover for greater than 100 days. During that time, a team of 7 volunteer groomers (Dave Greymont, Brennan Kelly, John Resman, Jeff Robertson, Greg Rowley, Bruce Walk, and Henry Walker) performed trail grooming on approximately 10km of trails at the Quarry Hill Nature Center and on a 3.6km loop at Schmidt Park. They groomed a total of 67 times taking 215 hours and covering over 1316 km of trail !!! The full report is presented below.

The RASC Easy Riders group is back on Monday/Wednesday evenings starting on April 14th. This is a group road ride at a relaxed pace (11-13 mph average speed) for those new to road riding or for those who are just interested in riding at a non-demanding pace. Full details can be found on the BIKE and the ReCycle pages.

The All City Nordic Ski Team wrapped up the most successful season yet with a fun ski at Quarry Hill and an End of Season Banquet. Full photos on the ACNST Photo Album page.

A large contingent from Rochester competed last weekend in the 35th annual American Birkebeiner and Korteloppet events. The trail was in the best condition for many years and the weather was perfect with temperatures in the mid-20s by race finish for most skiers. Henry Walker was the top Rochester finisher in the Birkebeiner with a time of 2 hr 23 min. ACNST skier Mike Resman was the top local finished in the Korteloppet with a time of 1 hr 9 min. A full list of all local participants can be found on the ski page.

About 65 ACNST skiers and coaches enjoyed a fantastic weekend of skiing up in Maplelag. A big thanks to John Resman for all the time put into organizing this trip. Plans are already underway for a repeat trip next year ! Full set of photos and results of the Sunday time trial are on the ACNST page.

RASC Annual Meeting - Quarry Hill Nature Center
Saturday 17th November, 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm

Minutes of the Annual meeting have now been posted to the web site - access details have been sent out in the lastest RASC e-mails new bulletin.