last updated: 3/5/08
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Earth Day 2008 at Wharton State Forest
JAR will be participating in Wharton Forest's Earth Day Celebration on Sunday, April 20, 2008. This is an event that brings together many outdoor organizations to offer a variety of activities including hiking, canoeing, kayaking, and nature walks.
JAR will setup an exhibit table near the trailhead with JAR, JORBA and IMBA information. We will also provide guided mountain bike rides on the trails. The event will run from 12 noon to 4:00 p.m. at the Wharton State Forest Annie M. Carter Interpretive Center at Historic Batsto Village. Check photos of last year's event here.
We will need volunteers to man our information table and to lead group rides during the event. If you are interested to help promote NJ mountain biking, please contact Jay at jartread @ aolcom

JAR Winter Jerseys
Orders are now being taken for the Lance Roman designed JAR winter jersey. Check the design here. Look for the email from Spike with all pricing/sizing info and an order form for: long sleeve club jersey, wind shell jacket, thermal jacket and arm warmers. Ordering deadline is March 31.
If you didn't get the email with the order form, ask Spike *waddaboudisjoisey?* or go ahead and download the form here.

2008 JAR - D&Q Skills Clinic Series
February 2008 - Once again we will offer our Skills Clinics. This year we are holding the first and last clinics at Wharton State Forest. And the remainder at Gloucster County Gollege. Our Skills Clinic schedule will be:
Saturday, May 10 - Wharton State Forest
Saturday, June 14 - Gloucestor County College
Saturday, July 12 - Gloucestor County College
Saturday, August 9 - Gloucestor County College
Saturday, September 13 - Clinic Cancelled - Check out the JORBAfest on this date!
Saturday, October 11 - Wharton State Forest
More info on the Skill Clinics page or download the flyer.


Volunteer Recognition
September 2007 - New Jersey's Division of Parks and Forestry presented the Jersey Action Riders with a volunteer recognition certificate for our efforts on the Wharton Bike Trail Project. Much thanks to all that have coming out and working on the trail!

Subaru/IMBA Trail Maintenance School
September 2007 - Much thanks to all that came to the September 8 & 9 trail maintenance school taught by Anna Laxague and Jason Wells of the Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew. The trail maintenance done that weekend will provide some new giggles while riding ou there.
Special thanks to REI for hosting the Thursday night workshop. And to both REI and Danzeisen & Quiqley for supplying food and refreshments for the weekend (mmm mmm good). Along with the IMBA items awarded to those that correctly answered trail maintenance questions posed by the Trail Care Crew. Raffle items were graciously donated by REI, Danzeisen & Quiqley, PrincetonTec and the Jersey Off-Road Bicycle Association.

Green Trail Bridge Rebuilt
June 2007 - Thanks to a hard working crew and Mike Newman's planning, pre-cutting and copious power tool selection, the Green Trail bridge was rebuilt in short order. Photos are on the WhartonTrails page.

Wharton State Forest, Earth Day 2007
April 2007 - Thanks to everyone for coming out and making the Wharton Earth Day event a great success. We even attracted the press to cover the event.
During our brief ribbon cutting ceremony, we presented Gil Mika, Wharton State Forest's Natural Resource Interpreter, with a copy of IMBA's Trails Solutions book and the companion DVD for his vision and support in including mountain bikers in Wharton. Special thanks went to fellow club member Kurt Widmaier for his oversight and coordination of the Wharton Trail Project. We also thanked REI for their continued support of the trail project. We then cut the ribbon (trail marker tape) to a frenzied paparazzi.
I have to say that I think the most significant event of the day happened after most people left. Gil replaced a sign that said "no bikes" with a large sign that directed visitors to the short (kids) bike loop and to the main trailhead that leads to the bike trails. The few of us left did take some photos with the new sign. It kinda says mountain bikes are now officially a legit and meaningful stakeholder in the largest state forest east of the Mississippi!
Much thanks to Chris Aterburn, Joe Barolin, Jay Jones, Jeff Martin, Jim McCabe, Mike Newman, Zach Newman, John Tannock, Kurt Widmaier, John Williams, "Texas" Larry and Judy "Tandem" who have worked over 170 volunteer hours for the first four months of 2007 developing the Batsto Bike Trails.
Keep an eye on http://whartontrails.jerseyactionriders.org for maps, photos and future work days.