CORBA Home Page
The voice of off-road bicyclists

 

CORBA eNews

CORBA eTerraTimes for June 2012

eTerraTimes Archive


 

If this email message is not displaying correctly, it will display properly for you on this web page.

In this issue...


Michelle leads a Beginners Ride along the Sin Nombre Trail in
Pt. Mugu State Park last month. The next Beginners Ride will be on Sunday, June 10

Rules of the Trail - Click for details
Proper Trail Etiquette

New on the CORBA Website
 

A Message from CORBA’s President

By Mark Langton: In My Backyard (IMBY)

Please slow down on Rosewood Trail

You might not know that in addition to being President of CORBA, I am also the chair of the Conejo Open Space Trails Advisory Committee (COSTAC), a Thousand Oaks city-appointed committee to the Conejo Open Space  Conservation Agency (COSCA).  So while I ride all over the Santa Monica mountains and beyond, COSCA is IMBY.

At our most recent COSTAC meeting, a member of the public brought to our attention that several local residents who use the Santa Rosa Trail off Lynn Road on a frequent basis have been seeing increased speed and discourteous behavior by mountain bikers coming downhill on the trail. The Santa Rosa Trail just so happens to be the closest trail to my house and I literally ride it at least once a week, if not more. So this is really IMBY!

One of the more disturbing reports was that riders are not slowing down while passing hikers and other mountain bikers. All I can say is, please slow down on Rosewood Trail and the Los Robles Trail as well (aka Switchbacks or Space Mountain).

Rangers will be increasing their presence on these routes and reminding people to slow down when approaching corners and around other users. While they are not usually prone to writing citations, they do have the authority to do so. Please respect COSCA’s shared use policies and ride respectfully around other users on these and all shared use trails. Thanks!

CORBA Nominated for the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame

We’re proud to announce that CORBA has been nominated for inclusion in the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame, located in Crested Butte, Colorado, celebrates the contributions of the many who have shaped and guided our sport’s history.

Among CORBA’s past and current board members, volunteers and founders are three current inductees in the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. Kurt Loheit, Jim Hasenauer, Dr. Al Farrell and the late Charlie Litsky have all been inducted for their roles as individuals, but all contributed to CORBA’s growth and successes, along with numerous other stalwart advocates.

This nomination could not have come at a more appropriate time, as CORBA celebrates 25 years of mountain bike advocacy in 2012.  We sincerely appreciate and are deeply honored by Dr. Al Farrell’s nomination, which can be viewed online on the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame web site.

Past inductees, press and current voting members of the non-profit Hall of Fame are sent ballots to vote on this year’s nominees. Membership is $20 per year, and allows you to vote on the current nominees. When in Crested Butte, a visit to the museum is a great lesson in the sport’s history. Each year between three and seven individuals or groups are inducted from a slate of nominees.

Voting will take place over the summer, with the 2012 induction ceremony to be held at Interbike on September 21. Of course we’d appreciate your vote, and are honored to be listed alongside several other well-deserving nominees in the Advocacy category.


Recreational Rides

For a list of upcoming recreational rides, please visit the CORBA Calendar.

CORBA’s Recreational Rides calendar provides a full monthly schedule of mountain bike rides for all skill levels. Mountain bike rides are organized by CORBA member clubs and led by experienced and knowledgeable guides. Recreational rides are a fun and social way to experience a variety of trails in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, and beyond.


Upcoming and Recent Trailwork

For many years, most trailwork has been done by volunteers because of budget cutbacks at our parks systems. So come out and help CORBA and other volunteers keep our trails in top riding shape! You can learn more about what to expect and what you'll need to bring with you on our Trailwork web page. Keep in mind that CORBA now provides prizes and lunch after the event for volunteers who register in advance! And by registering in advance, you'll help us prepare by knowing how many volunteers to expect. If you come out to two or more trailwork days in a year, we'll give you a cool long-sleeved CORBA trail crew shirt - be sure to ask for yours!

Saturday June 2: Redbox in the Angeles National Forest for National Trails Day

Join CORBA, the Mount Wilson Bicycling Association, the National Forest Foundation and the Boy Scouts of America on National Trails Day, June 2nd. We'll be working on the Gabrielino trail between redbox and switzers, and/or the Strawberry Peak trail. REI is sponsoring the event by providing lunch. For more details and help out, visit our online registration page.

To see all trailwork dates, including those of other groups, visit the CORBA trailwork calendar.

Join our mailing list to get updates on trailwork opportunities!
Send an email to Trailwork-Volunteers+subscribe@corbamtb.com


General News

Recommended Wilderness Proposals in our National Forests

In response to a lawsuit, the four Southern California Forests are proposing amendments to their 2006 plans. They are proposing new Backcountry Non Motorized Recreation zones as well as new Recommended Wilderness designations. Mountain biking is not allowed in Wilderness or Recommended Wilderness areas.

We have concerns about the Fish Canyon Trail (1GW05) and the Burnt Peak Trail (1GW02) in the Angeles National Forest. These run generally north-south right in the middle of what would be the new Wilderness area. We heard from several people that these trails may be overgrown and quite deteriorated. We need to know if riders have ridden them and are currently riding them. Despite their current condition, if they become Wilderness, bikes will be excluded and the trails will likely never be restored. We might lose a significant future opportunity for a ride in a wild landscape. If you have information about these trails, let Steve Messer (steve@corbamtb.com) and Jim Hasenauer (imbajim@aol.com) know.

There are also many changes including Recommended Wilderness Proposals in the Cleveland National Forest, the Los Padres National Forest, and the San Bernadino National Forest. If you are concerned about changes in these forests, it will be necessary to attend Forest Service meetings. Mountain bike advocates are monitoring the meetings and will soon have talking points for your comments. The deadline for comments is June 11, 2012.

Information about the Forest Manamagement Plan revision process can be found at http://www.fs.fed.us/nepa/nepa_project_exp.php?project=35130

To see more information on this topic, please visit our full blog article.

Bikers Beware

From our friend Bryan Gordon:

Fellow Cyclepaths, it appears that those who covet our bicycles have a clever way to know where some of us live and what kind of rig we ride…

This excerpt is from the Local section of yesterday’s LA Times:

Detectives said the thieves scanned Craigslist and Facebook to identify targets, making away with designer racing bikes worth $2,000 to $15,000 each.

They allegedly preyed on the growing online community of Los Angeles bike enthusiasts who share photos about rides and their latest bike acquisitions on various websites and look for parts on Craigslist.

50% of Station Fire Closure to Re-open

Angeles National Forest supervisor Tom Contreras and District Ranger Mike McIntyre, on Wednesday announced that they were hoping to get approval from the regional director to open approximately 50% of the Station Fire closure area. It only requires a review and a signature, and we hope to have that on Thursday [May 24], in time for the Memorial Day weekend.

The area slated for opening includes everything west of Fall Creek fire road (3N27), which descends from Mount Gleason Road to Big Tujunga Canyon.  Trails in the newly opened area include Stone Canyon, Condor Peak, Trail Canyon and Mendenhall Ridge. Some work has been done on Stone Canyon, Condor Peak trail, and Trail Canyon trail, though their readiness for bicycling is unknown. If these or other trails are not in safe enough condition for public use, the trails will be signed as closed, even though the area is technically open. Read our blog article for more details, and see the list of open and closed trails.

 


Free Mountain Biking Skills Clinic

Saturday June 2nd is the next skills clinic.

The CORBA free skills clinic is held on the first Saturday of every month at Malibu Creek State Park.

Mountain biking is a lot like tennis or skiing. Just a few minor adjustments in technique can make a huge difference in your control and proficiency. If you want to get better faster, you need to know the fundamentals of mountain biking technique. Whether you're just  getting into mountain biking or have been riding for years, you'll learn some valuable tips from our Introduction to Mountain Biking  skills class that is offered each month. Check out our Skills Clinic web page for all the information. After the clinic, see photos of your new skills on the CORBA web site that you can share with your family and friends!


Follow CORBA on Twitter and Facebook

We have set up accounts with Twitter and Facebook to help keep people informed of the latest developments in our trail advocacy, recreational rides and trailwork days. Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/CORBAmtb and Facebook at facebook.com/CORBAMTB.

Get Our Blog Articles Delivered to Your Desktop

Have you ever wished you could get our blog articles without having to check the CORBA website every day to see if there’s anything new? Well, you can! Even though our blog software won’t send articles by email, you can still get them delivered to the inbox of most email readers like Microsoft Outlook. You use the “RSS feed” functionality for this. In fact, you can read our articles in any software that receives RSS feeds, such as Internet Explorer and other web browsers. This blog article on RSS feeds shows you how.


Support CORBA

Join or Renew your membership today on our membership web page.

Join Our Team! Do you have any ideas about mountain biking recreation in the L.A. region? Would you like to apply your skills and manage projects that contribute to the sport and lifestyle that you love? Is there an advocate in you? We are recruiting motivated individuals who work well with others. Send an email to info@corbamtb.com or come to a monthly Members Meeting to find out more about what we do and how you can help. Check the calendar for the next meeting.

Other simple ways to support CORBA

  • REI: Use the link at left and REI will donate 5% of the purchase price to CORBA
  • Holmes Body Shop: Get that dent fixed and help CORBA

(Click on the links above to get more details!)


CORBA News eMail List

Please do not reply to this email as the corbanews mailbox is not monitored by people. To contact CORBA, email to info@corbamtb.com or visit our 'Contact Us' page for other addresses.


 Home

About

Membership

Info

Galleries

  Visit CORBA on Twitter!   Visit CORBA on Facebook!

 Site-Map

Activities

Blog & News

Calendar

Buy Stuff


Copyright 1987-2020 CORBA. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy