We have some exciting progress to report! First, the Hobble Creek Bicycle Association was recently given a $250 Clean Trail Project grant from ExtremeTerrain! ExtremeTerrain is primarily for off-road Jeep enthusiasts, but they are active in supporting the full range of trails and users and we very much appreciate their contribution. Check them out here:

With this grant we were able to purchase several tools that will help us keep our local trails well maintained for mountain bikers and other users. Here is our new collection:

I can guarantee that these tools won’t just be sitting in the garage! In fact, we are having an HCBA Trail Maintenance Day coming up Wednesday, May 31. Meet at 6:00pm at the dirt parking lot on Canyon Road just above Bartholomew Park for a quick orientation and then we’ll work until we’re tired or it gets dark. There is lots of work to be done on a new trail just cut by Blazing Trails, our local professional trail builder, with funding from the 2022 UORG Grant, the Utah Department of Wildlife Resources, and fundraising done by the HCBA. So bring some gloves and any trailbuilding tools you have and don’t forget some water! Here are a few pics from the new trail–it’s going to be awesome!

In other news, the city contractor continues to make progress on the bike park in Spring Creek Canyon. Please continue to be patient as they finish up their work on it this summer. And good news! Springville City was awarded a substantial UORG grant this year to make the upper and lower bike park an amazing community resource. Here are a picture of the ongoing construction area–I’m stoked to see this copmleted!

On Thursday October 27 at 7:00pm we will be holding our annual meeting and elections for the board of directors at the Snelson PhotoColor Lab in Springville. The following positions are available if you are interested in helping to shape the future of cycling in Springville and Mapleton: executive director, secretary, advocacy director, road biking director, family biking director, mountain biking director, bicycle maintenance director, and publicity director. We will also be talking about various projects currently underway to improve cycling in all its varities in our communities. Hope to see you there!

This Saturday at 8:00am we will be holding a fundraiser breakfast–pancakes, bananas, and juice–to raise money to continue building new trails at the mouth of Hobble Creek Canyon. A suggested donation for the pancake breakfast is $10. The event will be at the Garth Killpack gun range, but if coming by vehicle you will need to park elsewhere (the upper Bartholomew lot or along Canyon Road above the gun range) and ride in. After breakfast we will be riding the new 1-mile loop at the base of the canyon called “Rabbitbrush”. It is a beginner trail and fun for all ages and abilities. We will also have HCBA t-shirts for sale and proceeds from donations from breakfast and the t-shirts will help in building two additional trail options. Please RSVP if you plan on coming. We hope to see you there!

Bike with the Mayor

Also this Saturday but at 10:30 (so you could do both!) is Springville’s annual Bike with the Mayor event at the grassy area next to city hall. The HCBA will be there with a booth and Griffin Park of Jolly Circle Bike Shop will have a maintenance stand up and running for some quick tune and lubes. There will be food, swag, and bicycle registration provided by Springville CIty. And after the group ride, complete with police escort, there will be lunch and the grand opening of the splash pad. 

Road Ride Next Saturday

Next Saturday, the 21st, bike month continues with Mike Snelson’s semi-monthly group road ride. We’ll meet at the front entrance of Springville High School at 8:00am and head out for 30-40 miles of nice morning riding.

Screening of Motherload

Also next Saturday, at 6:00pm at the Springville library, the HCBA will be putting on a screening of Motherload, an award-winning documentary about families —especially moms— saving money and finding increased happiness and fulfillment by using cargo bikes for everyday transportation. If you dislike traffic, or dread the school drop-off line, or hate paying high gas prices, or wish your kids could safely cross the street, this film is for you! Before the movie there will be a Cargo Bike Roundup in the parking lot where you can check out a variety of cargo bikes and ebikes. Come test ride cargo bikes, get inspired by the film, and meet local families who are replacing car trips with bicycles rides. This event is entirely free and family-friendly. Bicycling to the event is encouraged but not required.

On Saturday, April 2, we’ll be meeting at 9:00am at the main entrance to Springville High School and doing just a quick and easy jaunt to the end of the Mapleton Lateral Canal Trail and back. We will be doing road rides every first and third Saturday to each month from now until September or so, so come out and meet some fellow roadies!

Our next association meeting will be April 13 at 6:00pm at the Snelson PhotoColor Lab. We will be talking mostly about Bike Month, which is May. We are planning road rides, a mountain bike ride and fundraiser, a family ride, Springville’s Bike with the Mayor event, a movie screening of Motherlode, and more. Come meet up with your fellow cycling enthusists and help us plan these fun events!

I had a lovely time mountain biking this evening at the new trail system that we are building at the mouth of Hobble Creek Canyon. The trails were in good shape after winter, with minimal damage from equestrian users and nice grippy dirt. I appreciated the new wayfinding signs that Chris Morrill got from the DWR–we installed the posts last Fall but had been waiting for the stickers. The bigger news is that we recently submitted a UORG application for funding to expand the trail system, including a black diamond line up and around the hill overlooking the current trail and blue line down below.

March 3 at 6:00pm at the Snelson ColorPhoto Lab is the time and place for our first monthly meeting of 2022. Come help us plan some activities and service projects for the year and tell us what you would like to see happen bike-wise in Springville and Mapleton. We hope to see you there!

On November 2, 2021, Springville City will be electing a new mayor and city council. There are three council seats available–one for 2 years and two for 4 years. We recently polled the candidates about their support for cycling and active transportation. For the results of the poll, see the Google Doc here.

As a 501(c)3 corporation we are prohibited from endorsing any particular candidate, but we hope that our members and supporters will read these responses carefully and weigh them in making their voting decisions. With council votes on the new Parks and Trails Master Plan and the Active Transportation Master Plan coming up in 2022 it is vital that we have a supportive city council to make Springville a better place.

On September 30, 2021, the Hobble Creek Bicycle Association met to approve by-laws and elect a board of directors in preparation to apply for official 501(c)3 status with the State of Utah and the IRS. After debating and voting on a few matters the by-laws were approved. Elections were then held and the results were as follows:

Executive Director – Jeff Hardy
Secretary – Jonathan Duncan
Advocacy Director – Kurtt Boucher
Road Biking Director – Mike Snelson
Family Biking Director – Logan Millsap
Mountain Biking Director – Chris Morrill
Bicycle Maintenance Director – Griffin Park
Publicity Director – Jonathan Duncan

Since that meeting I have completed the application to register as a nonprofit corporation in the state of Utah and have received our federal EIN. The next step is to apply with the IRS, which will happen in the coming week or so. So, three years after our organization, we are now official in the eyes of the state and hopefully will also soon be in the eyes of the federal government. We hope this will give us more weight as we work to educate and to promote the use of bicycles in Springville and Mapleton.

After three years of informal organization we have decided to step things up to the next level. Next month we will be applying for official 501(c)3 status to become an incorporated non-profit organization. This will give us a more official presence in lobbying efforts and will allow us to fundraise and apply for grants. 

In order to make this happen (see here for details), we need to approve by-laws and elect leaders of the organization. This will take place on September 30 at 6:00pm at the Snelson PhotoColor Lab on 80 W Center Street in Springville. Please come to the foundational meeting of our soon-to-be official nonprofit!

If you would like to see the draft by-laws before the meeting or submit your name (or someone else’s name) for elections to the Board of Directors, please e-mail me at jeff_hardy@byu.edu. The available elected positions are: President, Secretary, Advocacy Director, Road Bike Director, Mountain Bike Director, Family Bike Director, Bicycle Repair Specialist, and Publicity Director. These positions are subject to debate and revision leading up to the vote on the by-laws. 

Mike Snelson has been organizing road rides twice a month since March, with anywhere from 2 to 12 participating each time. On Saturday, September 18, 2021, our road ride series culminated with a 100-mile ride. (Strava links here and here.) There were only just the two of us, but it was a blast. Here is my report that I shared on Facebook:

Today I rode farther on my bike than I’ve ever ridden before: 100 miles. It’s something that I’ve been thinking about for several years and training for (kind of) the past several months. It’s definitely not something you can just get off your couch and do–it took time and dedication and it took some encouraging friends to get it done.

There were just two of us on the ride today, Michael Snelson and I, with Mike’s sweet wife driving support for us. We started out in a light drizzle that quickly cleared up and made good time down through Mapleton, Spanish Fork, Woodland Hills, Elk Ridge, and Payson. I was feeling strong on the climbs and was quite optimistic as we headed toward Santaquin. Then it started raining. We rode through it for a bit but it kept coming, forcing us under a gas station awning for shelter for a few minutes. It lightened and we continued on to Rowley’s Red Barn on the south side of town, about 36 miles into our ride. By the time we got there it was raining hard again and we took shelter inside to warm up a bit (unfortunately their hot chocolate machine was off). When we went back outside it was still raining hard and was windy, so we decided to drive to our designated brunch stop in Mona. But after only 4-5 miles driving the rain stopped, so we got out, started a new Strava trip, and biked into Mona.

I had never been to Gaydean’s Sweet Art Bakery, and my goodness was that a treat. Downhome cooking for reasonable prices–a giant cinnamon roll and a mango smoothie filled me up with energy for the remaining 57 miles or so. We tore around Mona Reservoir with a nice tailwind and down Goshen Canyon. No one hit us on the dangerous Hwy-6, so that was a blessing. Then it was around West Mountain, which was a really nice part of the ride–perfect temperatures, hardly any wind, hardly any cars, beautiful views.

After turning past Lincoln Beach we hit the full force of a headwind and man, those miles into Benjamin and then to the freeway were slow and painful. Average speed went from around 17 to around 13 really quickly. We made it to Springville but needed to make up some mileage for what we skipped earlier, so we zig-zagged around town a bit. Then, with about 4 miles left, the lightning struck, the thunder cracked, and we rode through a torrential downpour almost all the rest of the way home. It was actually pretty fun, crossing clogged gutters like they were streams and smelling the sweat soak out of our drenched clothes. If anything the rain was invigorating.

So there was my ride. It was long, difficult, painful, fun, and rewarding, all in one. Unfortunately, while we rode, a good friend and fellow biker lay in the hospital, suffering from an actue case of Covid-19. My heart bleeds for Jaime Brimhall and his dear family. He is one of the most amazing people I know–kind, generous, and loving to all around him. My ride is dedicated to him.