Thursday, January 14, 2010

Monkey Around With The Guerrilla Trail Crew

What are you doing Sunday? Maybe you'll be recovering from a good pedal mashing on sunny and warm (high 30s?) Saturday. Maybe you'll be wanting to finally get out of the house after weeks of being snowbound and stir crazy.

If you want some easy riding that includes some upper body strength training and lots of comradery, consider spending a few hours monkeying around with the Guerrilla Trail Crew? In addition to working out your arms and back slinging wet, heavy snow with a shovel, you'll be working out your heart by giving a little something to the community.

Maybe you don't ride trails, but a lot of people do; for fitness, recreation, and transportation. This sort of volunteer action also helps send a message to the community and to local officials that people care about access to the trails all year long.

Learn more about Sunday's Guerrilla Trail Crew action at their website, guerrillatrailcrew.blogspot.com.

Get up to the minute information on the GTC on Twitter: @OmahaTrailCrew.

7 comments:

Douglas said...

Thanks for posting this Scott.

To those considering helping, or wondering WHY the hell we're doing this, consider this for a moment. This is an unprecedented time in Omaha. The city is broke, the economy is down, people are fighting over Bike rights and alternative transportation and you rarely hear much positive news regarding citizen activism. Attention is being focused on snow removal and budget problems in Omaha. Even FEMA is apparently coming to Omaha and Lincoln. Imagine the impact we will have if we can pull this off. We've already seen some media response to our actions. There is a chance we'll receive more this coming Sunday. Wouldn't you like to play a roll in this movement? Even if we're not completely successful, at least we tried. What matters most, in my opinion, is that the cycling community is receiving positive attention from the public when learning of our efforts on the Keystone. If I could forward all of the emails and posts I've received over the past week you'd see that our efforts last Sunday have resonated throughout Omaha and beyond. This all stems from just a few hours of work on behalf of five volunteers. Now imagine if we had 50 volunteers.

In a time where more and more people are relying on our government to solve all of their problems, the volunteers behind the GTC idea are not. We don't stall on the notion that it's not our responsibility. Regardless if our taxes pay for the service of snow removal or not, if it's not getting done I'm not going to end my fight with just a phone call to the mayor's hot-line. I, and other GTC volunteers choose to take action.

Please consider joining us or organizing your own trail pose.

theunicycleguy said...

This does sound like a great idea! There's a two-foot wind-row the snowplows at Nebraska Furniture Mart put onto the trail. I discovered this on my first ride of the season yesterday and expect to get to know this pile of snow a little better this weekend.

I'll work dense sections of the trail between dodge and west center road late tomorrow morning. enjoy the nice weather, ladies.

jp

RD said...

I will be out of town this weekend but I would like to invite all of you to thor meeting which will be sometimes in february... while the group focuses mainly on off road trail there might be some cross opportunities in future

Douglas said...

RD: I've already sat down with THOR and have been told they won't touch the GTC with a 10-feet pole. They did offer up some advice on 501c(3), but beyond that there won't be any cross involvement, unless of course you're referring to volunteer sharing. In that case I would love to see THOR members lend a hand on pavement. I already plan to help out with Tranquility trail work in 2010.

TUG: Thanks for addressing this section on the Keystone. This blockage is what stopped us last Sunday. It needed a blower or plow. Way too big of a section for 5 men with shovels.

theunicycleguy said...

i feel like a politician - over promise and under deliver

all i had time to do this weekend was clear the ice from the bridge between College of St Mary and the Scott Tech Center. i also removed some ice from areas under the bridge at pine street. I didn’t take any pictures and I don’t plan to blog much about it, so it may not have really happened. But a biker did pass me on the bridge and say thanks, that was nice.

jp

Douglas said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Douglas said...

JP: What you did is exactly the idea behind the GTC. It's people taking action. I don't think any of us are expecting thanks and praise, but when we do hear it it makes it all worth while.

Every little but helps.