September 25/04 6:01 am - Barry Out of Vuelta, Blizzard Bike Club News, Waterloo CC Receives IMBA Grant

Posted by Editoress on 09/25/04
 

Barry Out of Vuelta

Michael Barry did not start Stage 18 (September 24th) of the Vuelta. Michael was sitting 62nd position in GC, over 2 hours down after Stage 17. No reason for the DNS was given, but with many riders suffering from heat stroke and intestinal problems, most likely illness is the reason. Barry is scheduled to compete at the Road Worlds in Verona on October 31st.


Blizzard Bike Club Fort St. John, BC

The 'Race of the Falling Leaves is this Sunday's final road event of the 2004 season. Last year, Robert Martens edged out Stephen Ferris to win this event.

They had a time of 1:29:03 hours for the Montney-Prespatou 50 km circuit. Mike Hientzman was third with 1:30 and Pat Ferris 1:37 for 4th. Roger St. Jean overcame some mechanical difficulties to get 5th with 1:41:00.

A pack of thirteen riders started out with a stiff north wind blowing and cool conditions. A group of Martens, the Ferris duo and Mike Heintzman pulled away from the others.

The weather gods will, hopefully, cooperate for a warm and dry event. Last weekend's Club Mountain Bike Championship was a snowy, tough one and not one to forget.

The 'Race of the Falling Leaves' starts at 2 pm from the old Montney Store and races out towards Prespatou and returns.


CLIF Bar and IMBA Award $3,000 in Grants
Courtesy IMBA

A new round of $500 IMBA/CLIF Bar Trail Preservation Grants have been awarded to six IMBA mountain bike clubs to promote environmental education and inspire conservation in the mountain biking community.

Forty grants totaling $20,000 have been distributed since the IMBA/CLIF Bar Trail Preservation Grants program was established in 2001.

The 2004 second round winners are:

Central Idaho Mountain Bike Association, McCall, Idaho - The club will use grant monies to build bridges over wetlands and reroute eroded sections of the popular 20 Mile Trail in the Payette National Forest.

Big South Fork Club, Oneida, Tennessee - The grant will help create a kiosk to educate trail users about mountain bike opportunities on the Grand Gap Loop in the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area. The National Park Service has allowed mountain biking on this loop to test the possibility of opening more National Park trails to cycling.

Southern Virginia Mountain Bike Association, Danville, Virginia - Funds will help form a Bike Patrol, create new trail signs, promote a youth mountain bike race and build a tool storage shed.

Sonoma County Trails Council, Santa Rosa, California - The group will install signs on 20 miles of trail near Lake Sonoma in partnership with the Army Corp of Engineers.

Hoosier Mountain Bike Association, Indianapolis, Indiana - The HMBA will create an educational kiosk at Brown County State Park - the first Indiana State Park opened to mountain biking.

Waterloo Cycling Club Fergus, Ontario - Grant money will be used for tools to support volunteer trailwork in several Ontario parks.

A leading maker of all-natural energy and nutrition foods, Clif Bar Inc. has been an Above-and-Beyond IMBA corporate member since 1995 and has donated nearly 100,000 CLIF BARS to fuel IMBA-affiliated trailbuilding and maintenance projects.