Bikes, brats and beer fest to support work on bike trails

The Bike Michiana Coalition has spent this year trying to “reignite” its own forces to advocate for more bike trails. Its new president, Jo Broden, says its reframed mission seeks “healthy connected communities.”

That’s why there’s a bigger purpose to BMC’s Love Biketober Fest on Oct. 9 than the multiple routes to bike, the outdoor brat-and-beer feast and the Bavarian flair.

You can even just come to hike and eat at Love Creek County Park in Berrien Center. Chat with a handful of local bike groups like the Michiana Bicycle Association, which offers rides for anyone throughout the week on routes across the region ― so you don’t have to ride alone.

Or come learn what you can do to help advance trails. Mostly, Broden says, the BMC (bikemichiana.org) needs to get more of us on bikes since “it builds awareness.”

Hence, this fest, where you can choose from a range of scenic paved and gravel road options by farms, lakes and wetlands, from 13 to 51 miles, or ride the 3.5 miles of beginner mountain bike trails at Love Creek. If you don’t have a fat-tire or mountain bike, you can use one from the park’s rental fleet for free that day (one hour max, only in the park).

And just on Oct. 9, park manager Derek Pelc says he’ll open an extra three-quarters of a mile of trail through the scenic ravine, normally reserved for hiking, so you can mountain bike it, too.

The fest is back after a two-year pandemic hiatus. But the registration numbers were low as of last week, barely 100, not like 2019 when it was about 350. Many other organized bike rides also have suffered from much lower participation in 2021 and 2022, even as other public events have rallied.

The hiatus and lack of cash flow from the fest ― which is split between the group and Love Creek ― also slowed BMC’s work for two years.

“We stalled out in COVID, as everyone did,” BMC Vice President J.V. Peacock, who’s been with the group since it began in 2008, says.

Over the past 12 years, BMC reports having donated $160,700 to various projects, including the Mishawaka-to-Niles trail, the Mary Gibbard Bike Park in Mishawaka, the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail, Granger Paths and South Bend’s wayfinding signs. It advocated for South Bend’s 3-foot passing law and gave the seed money for MACOG to create the full-time position of active transportation coordinator, among other projects.

This year, Broden says, the BMC provided dollars and help to the all-volunteer South Bend Bike Garage co-op in securing a larger, more visible location by the old St. Joe High School at Indiana 933 and Angela Boulevard. The move drew more volunteers and, Broden says, has been a force for putting more folks on bikes.

As BMC shifts “back in gear again,” Peacock says, “just get like-minded people together, and cool things happen.”

Broden stepped in as president this summer, bringing long-time experience in biking and in nonprofits, as well as being a former South Bend Common Council member.

Also in this column:Updates on East Bank, Auten trails. Plus biking with sandhill cranes.

Many years ago, she was among teams of BMC volunteers who’d go into local third-grade classrooms to teach bike safety and distribute more than 5,000 free bike helmets. The program faded as key volunteers moved away several years ago. Broden was the last coordinator until 2016.

“I loved it, but in terms of the long-term benefit, we can get to a better place by working together, by collaborating (with other organizations),” she says. “Let’s face it, a 15-minute talk about safety is not going to cut it in our community.”

Instead, she foresees a broader effort that gets more people biking safely. That could include parks, afterschool programs, 4-H clubs and youth organizations. Local agencies have refined the safety curriculum, she says, so it can be taken anywhere.

To help bear that work, BMC helped to pay fees for seven local cyclists to be trained as League Cycling Instructors last fall through the League of American Bicyclists, plus another one this year. Some of the funding came from grants that BMC landed.

Ultimately, Broden says, BMC’s now 11-member board and volunteers must reserve their time for their biggest goal: safely connecting the local trail networks.

This year, it hired a consultant to help restructure the board. It’s still trying, Broden adds, to recruit new board members who represent bike advocacy beyond South Bend, from the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail to Granger Paths and to southwest Michigan.

“We want to be a convening organization,” she says.

Here, Broden and Peacock say, are just some of the key trail projects BMC wants to help:

∎ Linking the Niles-to-Mishawaka trail with Elkhart’s city trails, which link toGoshen’s trails, which link to the Pumpkinvine trail. It would mean a paved path, at last, from Niles to Shipshewana ― and to Berrien Springs (an extension that’s still in the works). The Mishawaka-Elkhart gap has been tough to fill, but advocates in Elkhart are seeking to gather area officials and resume talks on how to solve it.

∎ The Marquette Greenway, an ambitious 60-mile trail from New Buffalo to Chicago, now with the majority of funding in hand, that seeks dollars to build the final few miles.

November 2021:Trail from Chicago to New Buffalo wins $18 million federal grant for final portions

∎ The Pumpkinvine’s final missing piece, an on-road segment that will be replaced with a half-mile segment of trail.

∎ Improvements to the Ontario Road trailhead on the Niles-to-Mishawaka trail. Niles Charter Township has asked BMC to help offset its local match to a state grant. Township parks board member Jill DeLucia says the township hopes to hire a contractor and begin construction next year, delayed from 2022 because state funding didn’t arrive until July.

∎ Growing the mountain bike trails at Love Creek, where Pelc hopes to add two to three miles for intermediate skills. Nothing has been officially designed or approved yet.

∎ Love Biketober Fest: Oct. 9 at Love Creek County Park, 9292 Huckleberry Road in Berrien Center. Registration is at 9 a.m. Riding can start at 10 a.m. or afterward. Evil Czech Brewery will serve its brats and beer and other food options from noon to 4 p.m. The Northern Indiana Mountain Bike Association will run mountain bike clinics at 11 a.m. and at 1 and 3 p.m., plus a kids clinic at noon. In the “Beat the Ranger” challenge on the mountain bike trail, those who beat the park manager’s time will be entered into a raffle. Cost is $50 in advance, $55 at the event. T-shirts cost $28-$30. Visit lovebiketoberfest.com.

Find columnist Joseph Dits on Facebook at SBTOutdoorAdventures or 574-235-6158 or jdits@sbtinfo.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Bikes brats beer fest at Love Creek aid Bike Michiana Coalition trails