Gettin' Political, Since 1995!

The Central Ohio Mountain Bike Organization first came together informally in 1995. Dr. Tom Kravec and a small group of local riders saw the need for maintenance on the mountain bike trails at Alum Creek State Park. At the time no one had any experience building or maintaining trails but the need was obvious and any effort was better than none.

Monthly trail work sessions were organized and advertised in local bike shops. on a good weekend we had enough volunteers to "fill a VW bug." Efforts continued to grow and COMBO got exposure in the east coast mountain bike magazine Dirt Rag. Unfortunately, use at the park, combined with very poorly planned trails, spelled disaster for the trails there.

Workin' it at Alum Creek

In 1996 James Buratti took over as COMBO president and arranged a visit by the newly formed IMBA/Subaru Trail Care Crew. Tom Kravec and COMBO played host (picture right) while the Crew gave an assessment of the Alum Creek Trail System. Their advice - close major portions of the trail and replace them with properly designed and built trail.

The following year COMBO continued its trail maintenance and, in the fall, held the largest trail event in Ohio. Over 75 volunteers, 6 bike shops, the CD101 Green Team, and Channel 10 News descended on Alum Creek to complete 4 major projects. A dumpster full of trash was removed from the park, 12 tons of gravel was added to harden the south loop, a major bridge was replaced, and 3/4 mile of new trail was added using the techniques James had learned from IMBA Trail Building Schools.

Road Trips Spreadin' the Word

In the winter of 1997 COMBO was contacted by Tar Hollow State Park to help design and build a new mountain biking trail. COMBO spent the next spring and fall adding a 2 mile loop to this small jewel of a park. The trail was used as an Eagle Scout Project for Micheal Buckley. It also became the first trail in the famous Hocking County to be open to mountain biking.

In the winter of 1998 Doug Berube took over as COMBO President and started a series on great rides in Scioto Trail State Forest. The forest's big hills and gravel roads became the perfect winter riding destination. During Doug's presidency COMBO received a number of IMBA/RockShox Tool grants. Doug also established COMBO's first website getting the word out to the masses.

Learning and Teaching

In the spring on 1999 COMBO again tried to work with Alum Creek hoping to get permission to add new trails to relieve some of the congestion that was swamping the trail system. A survey was made of Alum Creek's users to see what they wanted done to the park's trails. Other parks requested and received COMBO's help including work at Rocky Fork State Park on a new trail in need of some rerouting.

In the late summer of 1999 COMBO hosted the Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew #3 for a first ever Ohio Trail Building School. The school took place over a weekend at Paint Creek State Park and Ranger and mountain biker Butch Peabody played host. The school was followed with a one day Land Mangers Mountain Biking Workshop in Columbus with a visit to Alum Creek. A number of ODNR and municiple land managers attended. The advice for Alum Creek was the same - close, reroute, build.

Horses and Hikers and Bikers, Oh My!

Also in 1999 COMBO became a founding member of the Ohio Trails Partnership, a coalition of Ohio's non-motorized trail users including hikers, bikers, and equestrians. The Buckeye Trail Association, Ohio Horseman's Council, COMBO and NOMBA participated in the OTP Trail-a-Thon, an event designed to raise money and draw attention to Ohio's trails while forming positive relationships between the different trail users.

In the fall of 1999 COMBO hosted with the first annual Halloween ride and party. Over 125 bikers, numerous bike shops, a Schwinn pro trials rider, a pack of dogs, and lots of costumed kiddies spent an evening riding and partying at the Alum Creek trailhead celebrating the sport we love. Many riders got their first taste of night riding that night!

State EIN, AEP, NORBA, NOMBA, MMBA, ABC, Etc...

In the winter of 1999 Mark Van Meter became COMBO president and he set out to formalize COMBO's structure. COMBO applied for and received non-profit status and formalized its elections, procedures, and Board of Directors. The timing was perfect as COMBO received a $500 grant from IMBA and NORBA to be used at Paint Creek State Park.

Early in 2000 COMBO was approached by American Electric Power to explore designing and building trail on the ReCreation Lands, owned by AEP. The land, southeast of Zanesville, offered a diverse environment to build miles and miles of challenging trail. COMBO VP Michael Buckley designed the first trail which will be built this fall.

In a addition to setting up some great rides in Showshoe (picture left), Mark also formalized relationships with a number of bikes shops in Columbus and found great support there. Relationships were also formed with other IMBA affiliated clubs including NOMBA (now known as CAMBA), Athens Bicycle Club, and the MMBA (Michigan Mountain Biking Association). Working together COMBO has attended trail building events organized by ABC helping them complete a new trail at Lake Hope State Park.

Friends in High Places

In the spring of 2000 the 2nd annual OTP Trail-A-Thon was held across the state, with COMBO hosting the central event. At a ceremony on National Trails Day a ceremonial check worth over $27,000 and 11,000 volunteers hours were presented to ODNR officials again showing mountain bikers, along with the Buckeye Trail Association and the Ohio Horsemans Council, give back generously to the trails they use. A great working relationship has formed between COMBO and the Buckeye Trail Association who recognize COMBO as accomplished trail builders and users who have very similar values to the hikers the BTA represents. A joint venture is being planned for 2001.

It was during 2000 that www.joincombo.org came into being, showcasing Mark's web skills. The site created an instant surge in membership and created an online gathering and planning place for COMBO.

Mark, needing to focus on family matters and not content with being able to give anything less than 100%, turned the reigns of COMBO over to Matt Ogle (picture left). Matt, who had been running the AEP project since Micheal Buckley left for college, stepped in to guide COMBO into its seventh year as Ohio's most active mountain bike advocacy organization.

Matt's desire to build a great club and great trail were fired even further by a visit from the Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew #4 in September 2000. A Trail Building School was held at Lake Hope State Park and hosted by the Athens Bicycle Club. A number of new COMBO members completed the school learning the fine art of bench cuts, rolling grade dips, and climbing turns.

Political = Access!

After the school the TCC Crew came up to Columbus and once again assessed Alum Creek. A third crew declared it one of the worst trails they had ever seen and gave the same advice to the park - work with COMBO. After a recent meeting between the park, ODNR officials and COMBO it seems the park may be finally willing to heed the advice. And COMBO will be there.
Get political, baby!

COMBO now

COMBO's current President is Bob Kish. Since Bob has became President COMBO has upgrade many areas of Phase to better handle more riders and improve drainage after rainfall. Phase 2 was officially open shortly after Bob took the reins and many advance technical trail features have become a highlight with regular riders at Phase 2. COMBO has adopted 2 miles of Africa Road as Keep Ohio Beautiful to encourage good citizenship and show the public that we care about our environment. The National Mountain Bike Patrol Central Ohio Chapter is also organized by COMBO and today has 17 patrollers that Inform, Assist and Educate mountain bikers at Alum Creek and AEP trails.

COMBO is a great organization with a very active membership so get involved and join today.