MONTICELLO-
YMCA Camp Manitou
The Norsemen Motorcycle Club is proud to present the
second YMCA Camp Manitou Hare Scrambles. You will be treated to an awesome GNCC
style course that will start off 1/3 mile through a bean field, great for
spectator viewing off the start. The course then enters a large area of jack
pines consisting of fast sections and tight rhythm sections. Mostly wooded, the
terrain is made up of rolling hills. The course makes its way around three
lakes, which are all connected. There are two bridge crossings and you will be
“treated” to shallow stream crossings. The course currently maps out at 14
miles per lap. The soil is loamy sand and gravel so it stands to be a great
event even if Mother Nature decides to cry down on us, again.
C riders will utilize much of the same course as the
AA/A/B riders but in a different program. Quad riders also utilize much of the
same course less some single-track sections involving one of the stream
crossings. Mini riders have a separate course, three times longer than last
year. Mini event is on Saturday this year at the request of several parents who
ride their own event on Sunday. C riders will start out the day, followed by
the AA/A/B riders, and the final event of the day will be the quad classes.
Special thanks go out to the Norsemen and everyone who
pitched in to get this event off the ground. As you know, Mother Nature was not
kind in March, being the coldest and snowiest month of the winter. Several
people were out there in the snow marking and cutting trail to prepare for this
event.
In an effort to solve the severe problem of the
lines at sign-up, the bar code scoring system has been scrapped. We will be
signing up and scoring people by hand. Be mindful, being the first event of the
season, we are responsible for taking care of people who haven’t renewed their
yearly AMA and District 23 memberships. To help with this problem, we will be
running four different lines at sign-up. It will be up to you how many lines
you will have to wait in. People who have the foresight to renew their AMA and
District 23 membership by mail, and send in the pre-entry form included here
for the event, will already have a number assigned and will just need to have
their cards swiped. All the procrastinators will have to wait in separate lines
each for AMA registration, District 23 registration, and the event
registration. You make the call.
The Pre-entry form is also available on the Norsemen
Motorcycle Club web site at http://www.norsemenmc.org
A large turnout is expected, as this is the first
event of the season and its close proximity to the Twin Cities. Also, this year
we are a point’s event for District 16 Hare Scrambles series.
With 1,400 beautiful acres of land, Manitou offers
horseback riding, canoeing on Long Lake,
swimming beaches on Bertram Lake,
and miles of hiking trails. Among other facilities, they have an outdoor
amphitheater and an arts and crafts building, which, along with several other
shelters, serve as their rainy day locations. Concessions will be available and
is being put on by YMCA Camp Manitou. We ask that you support them on event day, it’s for a great cause! YMCA Camp Manitou offers day
camp programs for ages 4-16. With 1,400 beautiful acres of land, Manitou offers
horseback riding, canoeing on Long Lake,
swimming beaches on Bertram Lake,
and miles of hiking trails. Among other facilities, they have an outdoor
amphitheater and an arts and crafts building, which, along with several other
shelters, serve as their rainy day locations. They offer all the traditional
camping activities such as swimming, hiking, outdoor skills, archery and more.
For kids with special interests, they also offer specialty sessions for fishing,
canoeing, golf and sports. They even have several dirt bikes and they teach the
kids not only riding techniques, but also basic care and maintenance. A
representative will be available to speak with, if any children are interested
in more information about the day camp programs available at Camp
Manitou. There will be a $5.00 gate
fee, which will also, go to help fund the YMCA and the great programs put on at
the Camp.
Upcoming Events:
DATE: Sunday May 5
Mini Saturday May 4
PLACE: YMCA Camp Manitou, Highway 25 south off I94 to second stop
light, Chelsea Road. Turn
right on Chelsea Road 3.2 miles (past the
first Camp Manitou entrance) to Briarwood Avenue.
Turn right on Briarwood Avenue 1 mile to entrance of Camp
Manitou. Follow arrows.
PROMOTING CLUB: Norsemen
SIGN-UP: 12:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Saturday.
7:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Sunday.
Pre-entry forms at http://www.norsemenmc.org
START: 2:00 p.m. Saturday
Mini’s. Sunday schedule:
C
riders - 10:00 a.m.
AA/A/B
riders - 12:00 p.m.
Quad
riders - 3:00 p.m.
MILEAGE: 14-mile loop
TERRAIN: Rolling hills, pines, woods, and grass track. Oh yea, and
a little MUD, if it rains.
REQUIREMENTS: AMA card, parent present with minors (racing or
spectating) District card, US Forest Service approved spark arrestor (sound test may be given).
ENTRY FEE: Race day Mini
$20; Bikes and Quads $35. Pre-entry Mini $15; Bikes and Quads
$30. Pre-entry must be received by 5:00
p.m. Thursday May 2 to qualify for the savings.
GATE FEE: $5.00 – proceeds to go to YMCA Day Camp program.
OTHER INFO: Concessions available – proceeds to go to YMCA.
See you at
the RACES!
2002 Event Trail Bosses
Monticello Hare Scrambles
Jay Waalen 763-263-5835 jwaalen@hotmail.com
Huntersville Enduro
Joe Opitz 320-363-7968 newelopitz@aol.com
Akeley Enduro
Jim Fearell 952-884-9100 jfearell@yahoo.com
Grand Rapids Enduro
Joe Gale 218-326-9312 jgale@mnpower.com
Mora Enduro
Todd Mathwig 612-753-2287 tnt6972@aol.com
Brainerd Hare Scrambles
Brett Hardy home
218-829-2737 / work 218-829-7985
Holyoke Enduro
Ken Fastner 651-456-0224
home / 952-402-3696 work ken_r_fastner@notes.seagate.com
Akeley Hare Scrambles
Floyd
Martineau 612-682-5629 fmartineau@juno.com
Pine Island Hare Scrambles
Dana Koenig 507-356-8571
v2f2338@us.ibm.com
Cambridge Hare Scrambles
Rob
Martinson763-753-5351
rkmartinson@msn.com
Millville Hare Scrambles
John Martin
507-753-2779
scmxpark@nr.net
Mazeppa Hare Scrambles
Jim Erickson
507-451-7451
fmartineau@juno.com
Pointskeepers
Enduro - Jacquie Honstrom 320-592-3932 rjhonstrom@citlink.net
Floyd Martineu
fmartineau@juno.com
Hare Scrambles - Ron Gerken 763-757-7833 rgerken@visi.com
Jason Gerken
763-754-1513 jasongerken@hotmail.com
Quad Hare Scrambles – Bob Lind 763-428-8508 fourtrxr@aol.com
The Norsemen ask that you pay attention to
this paragraph!!!
Because of everybody’s excellent behavior last year, we have been
invited back this year. Please keep in mind; this event is occurring on PRIVATE
PROPERTY! We are very lucky to be allowed to host an event at beautiful Camp Manitou. We would like to continue to be invited back each year but that will
depend on how the riders and spectators conduct themselves. It will be up to
everyone to self-police to ensure a fun, safe race and to be invited back next
year. There will be no riding before event day! There will be no riding after event
day! This property is closed to all motorized traffic! DON’T EVEN ASK! It
can’t be put any plainer than that. We all need to be thankful for the
opportunity we have been given and don’t expect any more. Have fun!
Jay
Waalen
Did you realize there is a new
rule for District 23 ARMCA
Enduro and Hare Scramble
year-end awards?
WHO ARE THOSE
GUYS, . . . ?
Question: What’s gives you the best chance to
win a gun fight?
Answer: Get
more guns on your side!!
“WHO
ARE THOSE GUYS” AND “WHAT DO THEY WANT” are two very famous lines from one of
my favorite movies, “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” You know the one with Paul Newman and Robert
Redford. It’s a great movie with a not
so good ending for Butch and Sundance.
Basically, the good/bad guys didn’t have the right stuff to win the
fight, their bad side finally caught up with them. This brings me to the point of this
article: Who are those guys, what do
they want and do we have the right stuff to win the fight?
A
few weeks back, the Minneapolis Star & Tribune did a fine job explaining
the new phenomenon called ATVs. All
kidding aside, and putting political
persuasions in the closet, the paper did a fairly good job and made many more
people aware of
the
situation. We just do not want to hear
it. But guess what, there are a lot of
people out in the world that did hear it, who don’t understand our recreation
and don’t understand that there are responsible people on both sides.
In
case you didn’t know, and I bet a lot of you didn’t, Off Road Motorcycle (ORM)
and ATVs are put essentially in the same ballpark and under the same umbrella.
WHO ARE THOSE GUYS on the
other side and WHAT DO THEY WANT? Those
guys are Minnesotans for Responsible Recreation (MRR). They are the so called “tree huggers,” but
who are they? In a nut shell, they are
a well-organized organization whose mission is “To restore, protect, and
preserve peace and quiet, fresh air, personal safety and healthy environments
on Minnesota’s
trails and waterways” and, right now, they have the ears of the public and
legislators (the guys who make the rules).
I consider myself a Minnesotan
in favor of responsible recreation and I truly think 99% plus of ATV and ORM
people out there are in favor of that too. The difference between us and them, the MRR,
more than likely arises from the fact that we realize that the trails/land we
use are a limited commodity that must be used in a responsible manner while
they feel that all the trails/land should limited (their definition of
responsible) for their use only which is bird watching, hiking, horseback
riding, etc. (nothing wrong with that, but it isn’t the type of recreation I
enjoy (each person needs to figure out what their definition of recreation
is)). The big difference between us and
those guys is, I’ll just say it, we have to, and will, compromise to use the
trails/land we need for our recreation and they won’t—they want it all. That’s the bottom line.
Now that I’ve answered the
first two questions, “who are those guys and what do they want,” let’s look at
the final question, “do we have the right stuff to win the fight?” For Butch and Sundance, they were ready for
the fight and speaking for most of us outdoor, doing people with a little bit
of a competitive spirit, our first reaction would be to fight so we are ready
in that regard. But what Butch and
Sundance really needed were more guns, and so do we. We need the kind of guns that can bring an
informed, united and strong defense against the legislative changes proposed by
the MRR. Ray Bohn, an individual
lobbying on behalf of the District 23, is working his butt off to do just
that. So when someone, somewhere asks
you to pony up a few more bucks for the legislative fund – do not hesitate, we
are fighting the fight. However, what are
we really doing? Are we organized? Informed? Or our we
in that just wait and see phase? I think
a little bit of each. All of us know in
our hearts we should and want to do more.
The good news is that just a little more from each of us and we can help
preserve our recreation for years to come.
Down deep we all have a little
dislike of rules. One of the reasons we
like to ride a motorcycle is to hold the thing wide open and see if we can hang
on. Admit it,
it’s a blast, even if the rules of gravity always win. Speaking of rules, District 23 ARMCA has
implemented a new rule in regards to bonus year end points and year-end
awards. Go to the Norsemen website at www.norsemenmc.org to check out the new
rule. Hint: The Norsemen website has all the Enduro and
Hare Scramble event times and trail bosses to contact. The rule can be simplified as such:
Work an event, and be a club member of a
District 23 ARMCA club.
Don’t follow this rule and
don’t you dare come to any of us doers later and ask “why aren’t there any Enduros or Hare Scrambles anymore?” or say “that’s the only
place I can ride anymore because my favorite riding place is now closed.” The bullets should not be flying between us
guys. We need to all work together and
be in the same stride and fight and that fight is not against each other, it’s
against those other guys.
You may ask, “Why? Why do we need a rule like this? Why do I have to be a member of a club or
work an event?” Hey guys, this whole
effort is a volunteer organization and if we all do a little, a lot will get
done. We work to make money and pay the
bills; we ride our bikes to do a little living.
I do not like rules that force involvement either--any semblance of
social engineering and the hair on the back of my neck gets life. But let’s try it.
The MRR and the other so
called other “responsible people” of our State may live in the same world as we
do, however, their sky may be a different color. They are well organized and are coming after
us with guns a blazing. Our best
response is not to fire barbs or insults at them, or at each other. Our best response is to get as many people
involved and informed and armed as we can.
Go to the club meetings and be part of the discussions of what it takes
to put an event on, and be part of informed discussions about our sport’s
survival--it will enlighten you.
In the movie “Butch Cassidy
and the Sundance Kid,” Newman’s and Redford’s
characters kept asking each other “WHO ARE THOSE GUYS?” All the way to the end of the movie they kept
trying to figure this question out, and low and behold they went at it all
alone at the end. If you saw the movie
you know the ending. Ask the question to
yourself when it comes to our beloved sport:
WHO
ARE THOSE GUYS?
Answer: WE ARE!!
By: Rex Greenwald
2002 Schedule
April 27 & 28 Trail
Ride Millville Hi Winders 9:00
a.m.
May
5 Hare Scrambles Monticello Norsemen MC Mini’s
Saturday; Quad’s Sunday
May
12 Hare Scrambles Millville Hi
Winders Mini’s &
Quad’s Saturday
May
18 & 19 Trail Ride Thielman Golden Eagles 8:00 a.m.
June
2 Enduro Huntersville RVER Mini’s
Saturday
June
15 Hare Scrambles Akeley Norsemen
MC Quad’s ONLY
June
16 Enduro Akeley East Norsemen MC Mini’s
Saturday
June
30 Enduro Grand Rapids Range
Riders Mini’s Saturday
July
14 Enduro Akeley West Norsemen MC Mini’s
Saturday
July
28 Enduro Mora Norsemen MC Mini’s Saturday
August 3 & 4 Trail
Ride Akeley Twin Cities Trail Riders 9:00 a.m.
August
11 Enduro Holyoke Straight
Arrows Mini’s Saturday
August
25 Hare Scrambles Akeley Norsemen
MC Mini’s & Quad’s
Saturday
September
7 & 8 Trail Ride Thielman Golden Eagles 8:00 a.m.
September
15 Hare Scrambles Millville Pine Island Offroad Mini’s &
Quad’s Saturday
September 21 & 22 Trail
Ride Nickerson Straight Arrows 9:00 a.m.
September
29 Hare Scrambles Cambridge Norsemen MC Mini’s
& Quad’s Saturday
October
13 Dual Sport Mora Norsemen MC
October
20 Hare Scrambles Mazeppa Golden Eagles Mini’s
& Quad’s Saturday
November 2 & 3 Trail
Ride Millville Hi Winders 9:00
a.m.
November 9 & 10 Trail
Ride Millville Hi Winders 9:00
a.m.