Kudos to BGI and specifically service manager Mark Degunya.  He was a great help on getting the suspension setup on our mountain bike tandem.  There isn't much to choose from when it comes to tandem forks and shocks.  We chose a standard Fox Float 34 SC fork and Fox Float DPS shock knowing they were not going to be valved correctly for the application.  On the first ride it was obvious the suspension was too stiff.  Working with Mark we concluded there needs to be less compression damping and more rebound.  Mark contacted Fox to verify our assessment and give them all the info they needed to ensure quick turnaround.  I sent the fork and shock to Fox and they turned them around in one day with expedited return shipping.  All at no cost to me.  The bike now rides really well and is a joyous adventure every time.  Thanks to Mark at BGI.  He is a wealth of knowledge on modern mountain bike technology.
https://facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2084985738181150&id=100000092336998&set=gm.894693427395890&source=57&refid=18&__tn__=EH-R

Open to children and adults of all ages (all children should be accompanied by an adult or guardian). This is a free event with many prizes.  All prizes will be awarded randomly.  Must be present to win.  May is National Bike Month and this event is brought to you by White River Bicycle Coalition, The City of Anderson, and Rangeline Nature Preserve Volunteers.  Come join your fellow riders at 1pm for a fun day on the trails.  Learn more... https://facebook.com/events/1889656601105765

Work day scheduled for Saturday March 31st to repair The Pier.  Meet in the RNP parking lot at 9am.
The Pier has a few runners and a stringer that needs replaced.  This will be difficult since the lumber needed is 10 foot long pieces.  Need as much help as we can get to haul in the materials and complete the repair. 
Tools needed:  staple guns for T50 staples (I have staples), cordless drills/impact drivers. 
What to bring: water, lunch, work gloves.

Please share your ideas and comments on October 24, 2017.  Learn more... https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1829536470409396&substory_index=0&id=212642228765503

The National Bike Challenge starts in 4 days.  There is an all-new user friendly website that pulls all its data from Strava (your profile, clubs, teams, etc), not just mileage as in the past.   If you participated last year, all you need to do is log into www.nationalbikechallenge.org to activate your account.  Just click the orange Join The Challenge button and it will prompt you to log into Strava.  Log on to Strava and you're done.  That's it.  Go ride and help RNP climb the leaderboard!

A few details:
Your info and rides might take a few hours to populate.  Whatever clubs, teams, etc. you joined in Strava will be your group(s) in the National Bike Challenge.  So make sure to join the RNP club in Strava if you have not already.  To do so, click Explore at the top of the Strava website.  In the pull-down menu, click Clubs.  Type RNP in the Club Name search box and hit enter.  Click the orange Join button.  If you are using a mobile device, the steps will vary slightly, but still very similar.

I got tired of walking the trail carrying a chainsaw every time one of those dead Ash trees fell.  So I mounted the chainsaw to my fat bike.  Now the fatty has a purpose when there is no snow.



For those interested in the details and more photos, click here:
http://www.hmba.org/smf/index.php?topic=15064.msg119494#msg119494

HMBA is working on updating their website.  One big change will be with the trail indicators.  The volunteer who created the trail indicator system is no longer in the area and they are unable update it or add new users.  So they are changing trail indication strategy.

Since they use mtbproject to provide the most updated maps to trail users, they would like for their trail indicators for HMBA trails to be updated as well.  So they are going to start pulling data from mtbproject to their site.

Mtbproject does not have a blue indicator for freeze thaw.  They do have an area for notes that will help better describe the conditions.  HMBA has asked mtbproject for a blue rating.  We will use yellow and comments for now (the same way we did it before the blue was added).

You can access the trail conditions either with the mtbproject app on a smartphone or with a computer.  The steps for each are as follows:

Smartphone:
-Open the mtbproject app on your smartphone.
-Touch the magnifying glass to start a search.
-Click the Locations tab
-Type Rangeline Nature Preserve on the search line. (It should pop up before you get done typing)
-Choose Rangeline Nature Preserve from the results list
-Touch the Trail List button
A list of every trail in the park will appear.  The condition for each trail will appear on the right side of the screen.  In most cases you won't need to look any farther.  If you want to see the comments, tap a trail and scroll down to the Conditions area.

Computer:
 -Go to www.mtbproject.com
-Search for Rangeline Nature Preserve
-Touch Rangeline Nature Preserve from the results list
-Scroll down to the trail list. The red, yellow, green indication is shown to the right of each trail name.
-Touch any trail name for more info.
For quick & easy access, you can use this direct link and add to your favorites:
https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/7021078/expert-loop

This obviously is not as convenient as the HMBA dots, but it's what we have for now.  Many smartphones have a way to add shortcuts to the homescreen.  One very simple method is to add this website to your phone's homesreen: https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/7021078/expert-loop .  Then it becomes a one-touch process.

Please check the conditions before heading out to the trail.
Thank you.