JUNE 19, 2008 F.O.R.C.E. MEETING AGENDA, MINUTES, & FOLLOWUP

1. Greetings, Call to Order (T. Rassiga absent; all other Board members and officers were present); Treasurers report as given me--at this time $1334.43 remains in the club account, after a $126.96 reimbursement for shovels, rakes, and heavy duty bags. (It was also mentioned that the tools are in storage at a unit off Military Trail in WPB. Tom Rassiga rents the unit and can access the club tools
if the President is unavailable.

2. The Grand Opening of the new Royal Palm Beach Rec. Center was last Saturday.
A few hardy souls came out for the free Hot dogs & helmets the Rec. Center people were handing out. Paul, Jeanne, and I went & thanked several city officials, and met the young “biker” engineer who planned and supervised the construction (In fairness to him, and building a trail like this one is a MAJOR undertaking, we have NO idea what constraints were placed on his design by the city planners!). It’s a very simple trail with a couple of loops, some “features”, and twisty areas that can be interesting at speed. The crushed concrete material has packed,
and rolls very quickly. SO....

a. It’s another place to ride -- be VERY thankful and shut up (AND we don’t have to maintain it!)
b. While not technically difficult, you can really zip around this loop sort of like a criterium (which has already started several people thinking of events) and have quite a lot of fun. The outer loop is .8 miles long and two way; the inner loop is an a .4 mile one-way trail. Both are multi-use, but no horses.
c. If you think it’s too easy, GO FASTER. There are some bermed turns and sharp 180’s around trees that can surprise you. While we were sort of left out of the input loop on this one, the city people were/are very open to adding more off road cycling paths and travel corridors and DO have a comprehensive implementation plan. Thanks again to RPB.

3. Praise and thanks for the incredible turn out and huge amount of work done at last months workday at Pinehurst. All the mulch got spread, some more of the wooden trails were built, and waste shellrock got hammered apart, and moved to reinforce some weakening spots on the trail. Truly outstanding. Continuing in that vein, we have been told by the county that there is NO MORE MULCH as of today per contact with Paul Knudsen More (up to 9 truckfulls) could arrive at any time as it becomes available There is a veritable mountain of it off Benoist Farms Rd. This MIGHT be a pile belonging to Waste Management and not to the County. This material might be free for the asking, but you have to have your own way to load and transport it...?? As in many things, the material itself is the least expensive part--the fuel, transport, and installation are where the “costs” are. Waste Management will be called about availability and procedures, and the Parks and Rec. Dept. would have to approve our sourcing the material from them. Board Member Jennifer Leeds suggested that the mulch the County would approve has to have been sterilized to kill the invasive species seeds, and growable parts. Some of these plants are vitally tenacious--i.e. HARD to kill!

4. Question for Dennis Flushing -- Did you manage to contact the Water Plant about the marl they are trying to find a use for? If they are amenable, can we get a sample of it to do a small test area to see what it will actually do for the ground/sand for our future needs? Board Member Dennis Flushing has not been able to get the contact phone numbers for the particular Treatment facility we were to approach. He’ll keep trying.

5. At this time, the Dupuis trail HAS been mowed--I got sick a couple of weeks ago, and a semi-planned informal slash/ mow/paint adventure was postponed. Paul and I went out there Sunday afternoon (6/15) between rain storms and BIGmowed the entire trail. The magenta paint we used last time is holding up very well, but the vines had covered a lot of the marks (we pulled down all those we could to expose the marks again). We need to finish it with a workday of small mowing, trimming, and pruning, which should go pretty quickly. J. Leeds has tried to contact Bert with the people at Dupuis about the paint & color we are required to use, but has no response yet. The magenta latex used last time has held up VERY well, and hs not faded at all and is still very visible, if a little dark. Adding a little white to
lighten it will improve its contrast and long range visibility.

Our workday this Sunday coming up will still be at Dyer Hill and Perimeter.

6. This Sunday is our next planned monthly trail maintenance workday. It will be held at Dyer Park off Haverhill. There is road construction and parts of Hav. Rd. from 45th street to Dyer Blvd. will be closed until July 27. The access from Military Trail west down Dyer Blvd. is still open (that’s the road that meets Haverhill at the Horse Paddock entrance). The plan for the Dyer Trail Day includes, to the best of my knowledge:

6A. Break up some of a pile of shell rock on the top of the hill that is “blocking” some of the hill top trail that we have not yet reclaimed. This material can be trailered to the washed out corners on the hill, and some can be brought down to stabilize the potholes in the wet cypress section on the East side. I have a utility trailer we can use; we will need a couple of more wheelbarrows to help move it out onto the trail. The club has shovels, rakes, and McClouds to manage the material.
NOTE--We’re trying to preserve the trail, NOT pave it.

6B. General pruning and maintenance--since the rains have come, Dyer will become a jungle quickly!! I plan to form our numbers into several groups to each walk/ride a section of the trail and prune it paying special attention to the eye-gougers, palm stems on the trail, and low hanging strangler vines. Hand pruners and lopping shears work best--bring them if you have them. We can have a couple of string trimmers there as well for the few overgrown grassy areas. If workers find a problem like that they will MARK THE SERVICE RD as close as possible to it, and we can drive the needed tools to where they are needed. I’ll also bring my battery powered sawzall and my bow saw for heavier branches It would also be a good idea to share some cell phone numbers so the work groups can “call for back-up” or special tools when and where they need them rather than sending a runner. Walking while pruning the trail works best, and goes pretty quickly; riding gets you to and from your work area faster.

WEAR GLOVES AND AT LEAST LONG SLEEVES!!! Please trust me on this!!
Also long pants if you plan on using a string trimmer.

6C. I’ll bring a cooler of water and ice; Matt from On Your Mark Performance Center has offered to supply us with Gatorade and some goodies for after.
Where is the easiest place for us to meet and find each other? Group discussed this and decided to meet at the Horse paddock and park along the road there. The Trail groups can then drive to their sections to work. (This worked very well on Sunday--12 of us got the whole trail trlimmed and several eroded turns on the hill stabilized with recycled shell rodk -- we started just a little after 7 AM., and
flinished working about 11 AM. Several then changed clothes and went for a ride to check out the trail!)

6D. Any additional comments or suggestions from the floor re this trail day?

Our next planned Trail Workday (July 20) will tentatively be at Dupuis. Weedeating, pruning, vine removal, and light mowing should be the chores of the day. We plan to carpool to Dupuis from the parking lot at On Your Mark cycles, across from the turnpike entrance at PGA Blvd. The shop is on the right past the gas station.

7. Tom Rassiga has asked about using some of the scalpulated asphalt to work into
the “dual-slalom” type trail addition. The county is still in the process of validating the perimeter trails GPS mapping and standing. Once that is finished, we can propose a trail development and addition in that clearing, and stabilize it with approved material like is already used on the hill in several spots (SWA will NOT let us use red clay at anywhere!!!). I don’t think the county will have a problem with a well made swoopy two track addition to the trail (which can be bypassed by
less skillful riders). Again, once we can get permission, the real problems of the transport costs, the labor, and machinery to install the material come forward. In fairness, we can only ask Dorsey to do so much.(well, Dorsey and Mr. Bobcat). It was decided a committee should be formed from those interested in and willing to work on the addition; when enough people are committed, we can pursue the “pump” section. Rennie Vogel brought foreword his understanding that a downhill trail had been cut and used in the past with county approval. He agreed to contact John Phillips to see if any of that planing material was still available.

8. A reminder about the Riverbend Park ride on the 29th which should be interesting and fun. As Jennifer mentioned in her post on the forum, a lot of this area is almost unique in it’s natural wildness. As mentioned, there are also canoe rentals there if you want to see what the park looks like from the water, or go down stream...which with the rain we have had might be ...brisk. Thanks to Chris Aumente for arranging this for us. Chris also brought up the Trivia night at O’Sheas on Clematis on July 13, at 5 PM.

9. Chopper Night is next Tuesday evening--June 24 at 7:30 PM leaving from the Southern Bridge. I believe the theme is “Trailer Trash Tuesday”....check the link on the forum and see what Kenny has dreamt up this time.

10. Tommy at the Bicyclery is sponsoring a “Tour de France” Movie night on July 5th, from 8:30 'til 11 PM. Free “sparkling beverage” to those old enough; Bring your own chair to be sure of a seat. He’s having a bike giveaway and a giant sale (10-70% off) all day.

11. A fundraising dinner is planned for Saturday evening , June 21. for Leo Contreras; tickets are available from either Lake Worth Bicycles or the Bicyclery for $20 (by Friday the 20th). Leo has qualified for the World Duathlon Championships and could use the financial help in order to go! (This went very well, attended by many friends and cycling supporters. Despite the rain delay for the GREAT barbecued chicken and chorizos. Much fun!)

9. No Questions/ comments/discussions came from the floor about other trails, business, and ilssues “For the Good of the order”.

10. We adjourned following a motion from the floor. (It was assumed since the rain was so loud nobody could hear ANYTHING!!!!!)

Our next club meeting will be on July 17th, 2008 (the 3rd Thursday) at the
Pinehurst/Veterans park pavilion.

Our next scheduled workday will be on July 20th, tentatively at Dupuis Trail (see above re: carpooling from the On Your Mark Perf. Center parking lot @ 7 AM -- PGA Blvd., S at the Turnpike entrance past the gas station & burger place, on the left.)