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Our crew pioneered preparing the trail for winter riding years before it became popular. We held <br /> the first winter mountain bike race in the state 10 years ago! We have had trails as far away as <br /> Alaska contact us for advice about how best to groom trails for winter riding. <br /> Other projects and tasks <br /> Dual slalom <br /> More improvements were made to this ongoing major project this year and the first race was held <br /> in June,which people drove all the way from Duluth to attend, on a Wed night. It is the only dual <br /> slalom mtb course in the state currently and we are very fortunate to have expert riders on our <br /> crew qualified to build this. <br /> Held 6 races including a state series race and a 25 hour race <br /> Others included a time trial, short track,the afore mentioned dual slalom and the historic winter <br /> race we pioneered 10 years ago that continues to be a favorite with racers from all over the region. <br /> Each of these races requires many hours of preparation on the organizational level <br /> (communication with sponsors, securing prizes, promotion, planning the course, organizing <br /> volunteers&vendors, etc)and physical on the ground work—marking the course properly, setting <br /> up the registration and timing areas, dealing with parking, emceeing,etc. The winter race requires <br /> huge amounts of firewood be collected from all over the park, split and stacked for multiple <br /> bonfires. Our crew made a fire ring as well as several fire barrels and donated them to the park. <br /> Holding events like this can only be done successfully with very experienced race directors running <br /> the show in cooperation with a very dedicated trail crew. The races are one of the park's most <br /> powerful promotional tools. People come from all over the state to race at Hillside, and they buy <br /> gas and eat and shop in Elk River when they do. It has been said Hillside wins"mean more". <br /> I should add that our sponsors support racing at Hillside specifically because of DirtWirx's, and our <br /> race director Rich Omdahl's reputation and credibility in the mtb community and they have made <br /> this very clear to us. <br /> Researching dirt <br /> You read that right. Dirt, is apparently, not just dirt, but comes in many forms and configurations. <br /> This year,the type we've been getting from Plaistad's for the last 10 years ran out and had to be <br /> replaced with something new. A lot of time was spent meeting with Plaistad's trying to find the right <br /> formula for Hillside. This involved several trips to their plant to inspect dirt piles in person to ensure <br /> the city did not waste money on dirt that would not be suitable for our uses. It was much more <br /> complicated than we imagined but we have it nearly dialed in now. <br /> Tool modification <br /> One of the tools we use most is called a McLeod. It's a tool for packing dirt. The large nut on the <br /> bottom has always been problematic, so this year I finally just took them all home and removed the <br /> nut and welded the bottom plates to the handles and repainted them. No charge. <br /> Educational efforts <br /> This is one of the most important tasks we have in terms of protecting the trail and enhancing <br /> users experiences at the trail. Each year we put a lot of thought into how we can improve our <br />