Welcome to the MEMBAVerse!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Michigan’s Edge Mountain Biking Association (MEMBA) to Discontinue all Physical Reality Operations and Redirect All Efforts and Resources Towards Building The MEMBAVerse in Virtual Reality
West Michigan – Newly appointed MEMBA President, Joe Lampen, is announcing today that, effective immediately, all resources collected and the efforts of the board, trail coordinators, and community volunteers will be redirected towards building the MEMBAVerse, a virtual reality world for people to enjoy the sport of mountain biking. “The future of mountain biking is not actually outside mountain biking” said Lampen. “The MEMBAVerse will be THE place for people to pursue a healthy lifestyle in virtual reality.”
The new MEMBAVerse will be built on the Ethereum blockchain in order to allow for the creation of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT’s) for trail segments and bike equipment. Developers will be given the opportunity to create trail segments and earn Builtcoin or issue an NFT for the segment that financial sponsors will be able to purchase. Virtual riders will be able to earn Fitcoin by riding trail segments, which will also create new Builtcoins that will be issued to the developer of that trail segment and the name of the holder of the NFT for the trail segment will be presented as the sponsor (ad) to the rider while they ride the segment. Fitcoins will be able to be exchanged for beer, coffee, or, well…. virtually anything.
Bike shops will have an opportunity to participate in the new MEMBAVerse as well. They will be able to sell the bikes and equipment in the new virtual world in exchange for Bitscoin. Bikes will also have NFT’s attached to them to validate authenticity and ownership of the bike. Bitscoin will also be able to be exchanged for bike ‘bits’ necessary to maintain the bike’s NFT value. Bitscoin can be purchased from MEMBA (details coming) and will be shared with the bike shops.
Bike events will also be held in the MEMBAVerse by allowing event managers to create scheduled events where riders can sign up and show up for events like bike races. Lampen commented on how those events would be managed by explaining “MEMBAVerse races will become available for participants by uploading their biometric data and ability level to appropriately place into competitive race classes. We trust people will be honest about their information.”
“Current physical reality riders will be able to participate in the new MEMBAVerse as well”, Lampen added. All MEMBA members (MEMBAs) as of April 3, 2022 will become permanently enshrined as founding MEMBAs of the MEMBAVerse giving them perpetual recognition for helping to fund the fun for generations to come.
Happy April. Fool. But seriously…we’d love it if you became a physical MEMBA by April 3…
2020 Q2 Board Meeting Minutes
Hello Members!
Click here to download our 2020 Q2 board meeting minutes, albeit a tad late ? Sorry about that.
2020 Q1 Board Meeting Minutes
Hello members!
We had our Q1 board meeting on January 28th, 2020 and had a great discussion about the awesome things we’re going to work on in 2020. Go MEMBA!
Click here to download the meeting minutes and read for yourself!
Welcome Kirk Walter as our new President
It is official! Please help us welcome Kirk Walter as the incoming MEMBA President. We look forward to working with him as he puts his talents, experience, and love of riding to work for the benefit of mountain biking along Lake Michigan’s Edge.
We would also like to thank Brian Land’s willingness to serve and are hopeful that we will be able to leverage his gifts in the future as well.
Finally, we again would like to thank Randy Knapp for his many years of leadership and energy that has helped make MEMBA what it is today.
We’re looking forward to another great year of riding, promoting, advocating, building, and then riding some more!
MEMBA is now on AmazonSmile
Want to help out your local trails while buying gifts this holiday season? Now you can!
MEMBA is now available as a charity on AmazonSmile!
Click on the following link to set MEMBA as your charity of choice on AmazonSmile, then all you have to do is buy those holiday gifts on smile.amazon.com and a small percentage of your purchase will be donated to MEMBA. Nice thing is, it’s at no cost to you!
We like to call that a win-win-win 🙂
https://smile.amazon.com/ch/46-1098779
MEMBA President Nominations
Michigan’s Edge Mountain Bike Association (MEMBA) would like to thank Randy Knapp for his 8 years of hard work and ‘roll up your sleeves’ leadership. Without Randy, MEMBA wouldn’t exist, nor be as successful as it is. Under Randy’s leadership, MEMBA was formed; Owasippe was re-opened; Mosquito Creek was approved and is being built; and relationships with many state and local landowners were established. While Randy will not be ‘riding off into the sunset’, he would like to be able to focus more specifically on a couple of distinct trails and projects. SO, MEMBA is calling on its members for nominations for President. And we’re not just looking for anyone. We’re looking for someone who:
- is a strong advocate for the sport of mountain biking;
- has a passion to grow the sport of mountain biking in our region (Allegan, Ottawa, Muskegon, Oceana counties) by:
- developing strategic partnerships with local bike shops, running clubs, K-12 cycling clubs, cycling groups/clubs,
- assist in the formation of new cycling groups;
- is passionate about the outdoors and sustaining the natural resources utilized for trails;
- is an ambassador with local the local businesses and governmental agencies;
- has capacity to be involved with landowner and stakeholder meetings when needed;
- is familiar with MEMBA, the MMBA, IMBA, and the relationships between them;
- has past leadership experience that would be useful in directing and cultivating a strong, decentralized volunteer board;
- has good organizational skills;
- has the ability and network to attract talent for term board positions;
- and can cultivate MEMBA’s leadership pipeline.
The President’s role is a (2) year commitment but a lifetime value. If you or someone you know might be a good fit, please forward a nomination, bio, and brief supporting statement to membatreasurer@gmail.com. We will be collecting nominations until November 15 and members will vote via electronic survey in late November (members keep your eyes peeled for an email). We are working on a December Member Meeting (tentatively planned for December 7, Global Fatbike Day at two locations) where we plan to announce the next President.
Thank you,
MEMBA
MEMBA Membership Meeting and Trails Update
We have all been enjoying the great mountain biking in West Michigan and along Michigan’s Edge. Now it is time to get down to business to advocate for mountain biking and get the “Edge” more trails.
On Monday August 29th at 7:00 PM we will be having an All MEMBA Membership meeting at Upper Mac. Arrive early and enjoy the trails and be sure to ride the new trail section designed & built by Alex Stewart!
Our IMBA Chapter is actively looking for individuals interested in serving nominations as future board members. (Future President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Web-site/Social Media, MMBA representative…etc.)
Other News:
Owasippe: Opening Day is Sunday August 14th, visit www.ooec.org/trails for more info. Vehicles passes can be purchased on-line or at the trailhead kiosk. Please note that Owasippe is “private property” and not a public park. The owners (Pathway to Adventure Council of the Boy Scouts of America) allow the public to use the trails as a privilege. The vehicle pass money helps pay the camps property tax bill and can provide funds for any trail needs.
Bass River: Welcomes the new Trail Coordinator Matt Jacobson
Shore Acres Bike Park: October & Bike-tober Thursday night races will be here before we know it.
Allegan Trail: Phase II of their new urban trail begins soon.
Register Today for Michigan’s Edge Challenge, a MEMBA fundraiser race to be held on Owasippe’s big loop. This year’s fall XC race is Saturday October 29th. (ICEMAN warm-up?)
https://www.racemine.com/Igniteyoureventcom/events/2016/michigans-edge-challenge
Sincerely,
Randy Knapp, President
Michigan’s Edge Mountain Biking Association