Last month, a new club was formed in Millbrook. Founded by Brad Cathrae, John Frizzle, and David D’Agostino, Millbrook MTB was born.
The club is set up as a not-for-profit corporation and backed by a $5M group insurance policy with the International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA). Its goals are to promote and advocate for high quality local mountain biking trails; design, construct, and maintain new and existing trails; organize social events and group mountain bike rides; and fund raise for mountain biking related projects in Millbrook and the surrounding area.
Both John and David are current members of the Millbrook Valley Trails Committee. All three of the club’s founders live and are raising families in the Millbrook area and have been helping, in some capacity, to grow the mountain biking community here for years now. They can all regularly be found out maintaining and enjoying our local trails.
The club is membership based, with fees ranging from $25 to $65, for individuals and families, respectively. While the trails will always remain free to use, the membership fee covers the cost of insuring club events, such as group rides and clinics, administrative expenses, and tools. Leftover funds are filtered back into the trails themselves where they can be spent on trail maintenance efforts as well as trail improvements.
The club hopes to work closely with the Millbrook Valley Trails Committee to continue to improve the trail offerings and experiences here in the village. However, by being insured for trail building and maintenance themselves, they are ready to step in as needed to fill any gaps that don’t fall under the umbrella of that committee.
Millbrook MTB also plans to advocate and fundraise for more bike friendly infrastructure and amenities here in the village of Millbrook.
The club’s founders have a history of working closely with the Millbrook BIA, the Millbrook Valley Trails Committee, the Township, and the County of Peterborough. Those efforts have led to the installation of bike racks downtown, re-painting of the lines in front of the school, and the creation of some of the Millbrook Valley Trails’ newest and most popular trails, including Station Trail and Ganny Transit. The group also donated close to $1000 to the Millbrook Valley Trails Committee this past summer, resulting from t-shirt and hat sales.
Now, working as Millbrook MTB, they plan to continue to improve Millbrook’s bike friendliness on and off the trails with hopes of building more kid- and beginner-friendly trail options within the Millbrook Valley Trails network as well as continuing to work with the Township on projects like the proposed creation of a pump track here in the village.
The club hopes to be able to fund the majority of its day-to-day operations through the sale of memberships and apparel. Donations are also graciously accepted. Any additional money received will most certainly trickle back into the trails.
For more information on how to join or support the club, visit millbrookmtb.com.
A Singletrack Mind by David D’Agostino