Upper Midwest Trials Association

I plan to start a fresh Used Bikes page starting September 15.

If your bike is listed and not yet sold, please contact me with the details. Otherwise, I’ll assume it’s been sold and it’ll be removed from the list.

Sounds harsh, I know, but in order to keep the listing useful (and free), it’s got to stay fresh. And early fall is a good time to clean house, with new bikes in the manufacturers’ pipelines.

Steve Anderson alerted me to this. Comments need to be sent by Aug. 29.

Eveleth to Gilbert All-Terrain Vehicle, Off-Highway Motorcycle Trail

Off-highway vehicle grant-in-aid trail project proposal

July 25, 2003

By e-mail

scott.kelling@dnr.state.mn.us

An FAQ

WHAT IS THIS EVENT?

UMTA’s Tenth Annual Haggis Basher Two-Day Observed Trial

WHEN IS IT?

Saturday August 9 and Sunday August 10

WHAT TIME?

Saturday: riders’ meeting at 11:30 am, event starts at noon;

Sunday: riders’ meeting at 10:30 am, event starts at 11 am.

WHERE IS IT?

At the UMTA club grounds near Faribault, MN. See our directions page.

IS THERE CAMPING AVAILABLE?

There’s free primitive camping in the club pit area. We do have an outhouse but no running water.

WHAT’S WITH THE NAME ‘HAGGIS’?

Haggis is Scotland’s traditional food. The two-day trial was brought to the UMTA by



Scottish expatriate Stuart McLuckie.

And here’s a photo of



club grounds landowner Evelyn Piper carving up a Haggis last year while her two lovely assistants, Tim Hunt and Mike Hendrickson, look on. We’ll have an ample supply of Haggis for dinner on Saturday night for all riders and their families.

HEY, THOSE GUYS ARE CUTE. ANY OTHER ENTERTAINMENT?

You betcha. The Haggis dinner opens with a bagpipes march, led by

world-renown David McLuckie and fellow bagpipers. A big campfire follows dinner. Some people even bring beer to drink. See the Haggis Basher 2002 photo gallery for more.

WHAT ABOUT THE TRIAL ITSELF?

It’s actually two separate events. Attend one or both days. We’ll ride three or four loops, depending on the heat index. As for the riding area, the UMTA club grounds has a little of everything in a compact, 30 acre site. Griff Wigley (Trialsmaster), Marty Hicks, and Mike O’Donnell have laid out an event that will use it all: sandpits, a rock quarry, some steep hills, a swamp, rock gullies, and fresh logs.

FRESH LOGS?

Yep. We had Paul Bunyan and



this crew of lumberjacks haul in and arrange a load of logs last week.

CLASSES?

Championship/Expert/Super Sport/Advanced/Intermediate/Novice/Youth/Vintage

ENTRY FEES?

WOTA/UMTA members: $15.00 ($25 for both days)

Non-Members: $20.00 ($35.00 for both days)

YOU GUYS STILL USE THOSE DAMN FLAGS?

We’re getting better. For this event, we’ve deployed over 100,000 yards of red, blue, and yellow ribbon to mark section boundaries and splits. We promise, you won’t get lost in a section. Tangled, maybe, but not lost.



Here’s a sample ribbon-job on the logs.

OKAY, LOOKS GOOD. ANYTHING ELSE?

That’s it. Contact Us if you have questions.

Here’s what we ended up with after the truck dumped the logs earlier this week.

Today, Jim Blount and I handrolled two down into the sand pit and two others over to the small grove of trees closer to the parking lot.

Tomorrow, Jim will have his truck and some chains and we’ll try to make the pile a little more rideable. Right now, it’s just Bradable.

WOTA Expert class rider David Smage, practicing after the Hixton 2 Day. See a full report on the event by Craig Gernhardt on the Trials Action site. Photo by Bill Smage, David’s uncle.