Central Chapter Newsletter - March 2024

Tony 
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Tony Feeney
Central Chapter President

Central Evergreen invites you to join us for our upcoming TrailBuilders Ball! This event will be held at Pybus Public Market on the Wenatchee waterfront Friday, April 12th, from 5-10pm. This evening event is a fundraiser for your local Evergreen chapter and will be filled with celebration, community, and a shared passion for the trails that bring us together.

Connect with fellow trail enthusiasts, builders, and supporters. It's not just a ball - it's a celebration of the hard work, dedication, and love that goes into creating and maintaining our beloved trails.

Highlights include:

• Free member’s only happy hour from 5-6pm
• Dinner provided by Garlini’s
• Beer, wine, and cider
• Evergreen’s 2023 highlights and a 2024 look ahead
• Basket raffles
• Live music from the Chumlilies

Thanks to this year’s sponsors - Arlbergs, Garlini's Napoletana, Hellbent, Wenatchee Valley Brewing Company, and Pybus Public Market. 

Get your early-bird tickets for only $59 before April 5th! After April 5th tickets are $69, and day-of event tickets are at $79. Ticket includes dinner and 2 drink tokens.

SageFest is coming up! Every year, Central partners with the Chelan Douglas Land Trust to do maintenance work on some of our favorite riding trails in Sage Hills and Horse Lake. The 6th annual SageFest is April 20th and is an easy way to show your love for our trails and strengthen our riding community by volunteering a few hours with Central Evergreen and CDLT members.

Did we mention there are expert trail builders on hand to make your time easy and fun? If that’s not enough motivation, a BBQ social will follow! Even if you’ve never done any trail maintenance or don’t know a McLeod from a pulaski, you’ll get the training you need to make your time worthwhile. There’s nothing better than riding a trail that you’ve had a hand in maintaining. We will be brushing out trails, clearing drainage dips, and other general maintenance to keep our beautiful trails in tip top shape.

We will meet at the Horse Lake Reserve Trailhead at the top of Horse Lake Road. Volunteers can expect a light to moderate work party, walking a total distance of 2 miles with 300 feet elevation gain. All are welcome! 

Central Evergreen sponsors the grooming of trails for fat biking at Squilchuck State Park, just outside of Wenatchee. A dedicated crew of volunteers and board members maintained the groomer, trained new groomers on how to operate the snow dog, and when the conditions allow, groomed the park for fat biking. This year five main trails received most of the attention which allowed for roughly 4-5 miles of riding. Occasionally, the road out of the park to the north was groomed which added a considerable amount of riding through the new orchards in the Stemilt Basin and back into the campground at the top of the park. Come visit next winter as we continue to make Wenatchee a fat biking destination. Or visit the trails in late spring, summer and fall to see the hard work and dedication to quality trails that Central is known for.

This effort would not have been possible without the tireless work of local board member Mic McLane and trail building legend Matt Rose. In addition, Central Evergreen partners with Washington State Parks to make Squilchuck one of the only trail systems in the region with groomed singletrack.

If you are looking for a way to give back to the local riding community and train the next crew of shredders, an easy opportunity to do both is becoming an Evergreen instructor. Central is currently accepting applications for both paid and volunteer positions for the upcoming riding season, which will start sooner than we think!

Volunteer instructors teach adult classes at Squilchuck State Park and Ski Hill in Leavenworth. These three-hour classes typically have 5-10 attendees and two or more instructors. They focus on the basics of mountain biking, such as proper body and bike positioning, braking, cornering, and having fun!

Our summer kids’ camps are paid positions and include week-long classes, also at Squilchuck State Park and Ski Hill. The goal of these camps is to empower youth to build skills and confidence on a mountain bike through a fun, safe and social environment.

Instructors get training provided by Evergreen along with generous discounts from many leading mountain bike gear and bike suppliers. The training dates for new instructors are May 18/19th at Squilchuck. Returning instructors are only required to attend May 19th.

If you have any questions about these opportunities, please contact the education coordinator at centraleducation@evergreenmtb.org

The Central Chapter would like to recognize a new partner with Evergreen, J & K Earthworks, owned and operated by Kurt and Reid Davis of Rock Island. They are a great example of trail users who have stepped up to help others enjoy the trails by providing their expertise in keeping our equipment in excellent running condition.

Chief mechanic Bret Desmond has worked numerous hours keeping our excavators in top shape so we can focus on constructing and maintaining our ever-growing trail network. Having an excavator working at peak performance is extremely beneficial to our trail builders which continues to allow them to create fun, exciting and varied riding experiences.

J & K Earthworks has provided Central with labor and parts and Bret has given up his riding and personal time to service the equipment. If you cross paths with Bret on the trails, be sure and thank him and J & K for all their help. They are an example of a business that shares our mission to build and maintain sustainable trails and continue to develop the potential our region has for riding.