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An Utterly Typical Example of Trail Conflict Caused by Mountain biking



 
 
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Old December 17th 13, 04:32 AM posted to alt.mountain-bike
Mike Vandeman[_4_]
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Default An Utterly Typical Example of Trail Conflict Caused by Mountain biking

Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2013 08:44:15 -0800
Subject: Fwd: Mountain bikers flock to Santa Cruz for illegal trails
From: [a friend]

my note and opinion:: according to my daughter, Wilder State Park has
such heavy and unregulated bike use that the next-door stable clients
do not ride there. Speeding bikes are the rule, not the exception.
When my daughter rode there, mountain bikers regularly speed right
next to her horse, not slowing down or saying anything. The equestrian
community is scared to death to say anything under fear the horses
will be shut out. This is a classic example of displacement of a
historic trail users with no recourse and no consideration at all from
State Parks.

As far as Pogonip, it was heavily contested and fought as about the
ONLY park last left for quiet hiking without mountain bikes whizzing
by.

Camp Tamarancho is an environmental nightmare, with banked hard trails
curving around the native trees and steep hillside...compaction of
tree roots and dirt built up into the root and trunk zone. By putting
in "head high berms and jumps" as the article mentions; you are
creating a BMX course, not a trail

The entire article is about the mountain bikers pushing for access. I
see no inclination to make things safer for other user groups.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: [a friend]
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2013 22:20:55 -0800
Subject: Mountain bikers flock to Santa Cruz for illegal trails

So why do mountain bikers still flock to the area to ride? Quite
frankly it’s because riding illegally in Surf City is the accepted
practice. Extensive illegally built trail networks crisscross the
hills above the town. Linking these illegally built trails with other
trails closed to mountain bikes makes for some of the best riding in
California. And while the riding in Santa Cruz is extensive, the
quality of the trails vary widely, as many of these pirate trails have
built been built with little concern for sustainability and only see
sporadic maintenance. Riders also risk hefty fines if they are caught
riding in certain areas.

http://adventuresportsjournal.com/bi...ia-singletrack

The Dawn of a Golden Age for California Singletrack?

Mountain Bike Trail Groups Gain Access for Riders Throughout the State

By Matthew De Young

I grew up mountain biking in the San Francisco Bay Area, a place that
has been simultaneously a mountain biker’s promised land and a kind of
purgatory. While there is a huge amount of public land and miles of
trails easily accessible from most points in the Bay Area, many parks
and trails are closed to mountain bikers. As a teenager I became
acutely aware that as mountain bikers my friends and I were the “black
sheep” of the trail user community. The singletrack we rode was often
built illegally and we were never certain how long any given trail
would last before it was “erased” by land managers. Even trails
officially open to mountain bikers could be an unpleasant experience.
Rangers hiding in the bushes with radar guns ready to issue speeding
tickets were not unheard of. Hikers often eyed us with a wary
distaste, and addressed us with cold words. In typical teenage fashion
we embraced our outlaw reputation, and this did nothing to help the
cycle of marginalization.

Eventually I left California for Colorado to work for a company that
specialized in building trails catering to mountain bikers. Our
clients were mostly public land managers, the counterparts of those I
had demonized through my youth in California. I found that I had to
let go of the chip on my shoulder as rangers, hikers, and horseback
riders in most instances seemed to regard cyclists as their equals on
the trail. Most of the trails we built in Colorado were multi-use
trails, laid out with the intention of reducing user conflict while
still providing an enjoyable experience for all. This was achieved by
maximizing sight distance and incorporating features that limit biker
speed while still providing some excitement. We also built trails
designed for the sole use of mountain bikers, trails that allowed for
high speeds with jumps, berms, and other technical features. I could
not get over the fact that we were building these progressive trails
in city parks, in state parks, and on Federal Lands where they were
easily and conveniently accessible to local residents. If this was
becoming the norm in Colorado, what was the major malfunction in
California?

What I came to realize is that mountain bikers in Colorado had not
simply been handed these facilities out of the blue, but had put in
serious effort in terms of painstaking diplomacy to make sure land
managers addressed their needs.

After a couple years in Colorado, I moved back to California. I was
keen to get involved with local trail advocates and to find out what
was going on statewide. What I found was that there is a growing
culture of trail advocacy among mountain bikers in California, and
that while the State is lagging behind many parts of the U.S. and
Canada in terms of opportunities for mountain bikers, various groups
are working to change that in a hurry. Here is a regional breakdown of
some of the progress.

Santa Cruz


New trail tools ready for work in Santa Cruz. Photo: Root One Productions
While Santa Cruz is widely regarded as a mountain bike Mecca, a first
time visitor would be curiously hard-pressed to find much in the way
of riding. Looking at a trail map of the Santa Cruz area a mountain
biker might be left sorely disheartened to note that legitimate trail
access opportunities are limited. In fact, most of the public lands
surrounding Santa Cruz aren’t open to mountain bikers or only allow
them on fire roads.

So why do mountain bikers still flock to the area to ride? Quite
frankly it’s because riding illegally in Surf City is the accepted
practice. Extensive illegally built trail networks crisscross the
hills above the town. Linking these illegally built trails with other
trails closed to mountain bikes makes for some of the best riding in
California. And while the riding in Santa Cruz is extensive, the
quality of the trails vary widely, as many of these pirate trails have
built been built with little concern for sustainability and only see
sporadic maintenance. Riders also risk hefty fines if they are caught
riding in certain areas.

Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz (MBOSC) was formed in 1997 with the goal
of changing the situation promoting mountain biking as a legitimate
form of recreation in the area. MBOSC has been instrumental in
maintaining mountain bike access to trails, bringing riders together
to perform trail maintenance, and collaborating with land managers to
provide new access opportunities for mountain bikers.


Volunteers shaping a berm on the Emma McCrary Trail in Santa Cruz.
Photo: Root One Productions
One of MBOSC’s most notable successes has been the approval and
ongoing construction of a new multi-use trail linking the city of
Santa Cruz with surrounding State Parks and UC Santa Cruz. The trail,
dubbed “The Emma McCrary Trail” after the recently passed stalwart
fixture of the Santa Cruz Trail community, traverses Pogonip, a Santa
Cruz city park historically closed to mountain bikers. The approval
and construction of this trail is a watershed event for MBOSC who
faced entrenched and fierce opposition from land managers, city
council members and other user groups in its efforts to establish
trail access for cyclists through Pogonip.

Nearly 2,200 volunteer hours have gone into trail construction thus
far, according to Drew Perkins, MBOSC’s trails officer, who has been
hired by the City of Santa Cruz to oversee trail construction. The
trail is slated to open in the spring of 2013 and will be open to
hikers, bikers, and equestrians. MBOSC has plans to build on this
success with the construction of new trails in nearby Soquel
Demonstration Forest and the reconstruction of trails in De Laveaga
City Park.

Marin

Marin County has been the stage for some of the fiercest anti-mountain
bike battles in the state, and likely the nation. The National Park
Service set the precedent for land manager’s exclusion of mountain
bikers when it shut down trails to riders in the Golden Gate National
Recreation Area in Marin, the sport’s birthplace(!), in the 1980s.
Equestrian, hiking, and environmental groups have provided consistent
opposition to any attempts made by cyclists to establish mountain bike
access on public lands. While the mountain bike community continues to
work with public land managers with limited success to establish
mountain bike access, riders have found an ally in the local Boy Scout
Council.

Camp Tamarancho is a Boy Scout Camp just outside of Fairfax. In 1996,
Jim Jacobsen, then President of the Bicycle Trails Council of Marin
and a professional trail builder, approached the Marin Council of the
Boy Scouts of America about building mountain bike oriented trails at
their Camp Tamarancho property. The Boy Scouts were receptive to the
idea and thus began a six-year campaign of trail construction. Over
10,000 volunteer hours went into the creation of an 8.2 mile network
of singletrack. Not only do these trails serve as a playground for Boy
Scouts, but they are open to the public as well for a nominal fee. The
Boy Scouts charge riders $5 for a day pass or $40 for an annual pass.
These revenues go directly back into camp operations and also support
the Friends of Tamarancho volunteer group, who maintain and take
charge of new trail projects.

The Friends of Tamarancho are currently working on a new trail
extension that employs progressive, mountain bike specific trail
construction, the first of its kind open for public access in the
region. The extension will be approximately two thirds of a mile of
head-high berms and large rolling jumps. It will link up to an
adjacent skills park with log rides and other technical features.
While this may sound like an experts only affair, it is being built to
appeal to most riders. The features are designed so that they can
provide advanced riders with the opportunity to catch some air while
still allowing beginners and intermediate riders the opportunity to
keep their wheels on the dirt. The trail will be directional, with
only downhill traffic permitted.

San Luis Obispo


New trail at Montana de Oro State Park near San Luis Obispo. Photo: CCCMB/FTA
Trail access for mountain bikers in San Luis Obispo County is
expanding rapidly. This is largely due to the efforts of the Central
Coast Concerned Mountain Bikers. CCCMB was founded in 1987 in response
to trail closures at Montana de Oro State Park just south of Morro
Bay. Since then CCCMB has collaborated with State Parks, the U.S.
Forest Service, the City of San Luis Obispo, and San Luis Obispo
County to promote mountain biking. Not only has CCCMB preserved
mountain bike access to lands managed by the aforementioned land
managers, it has been the driving force behind new trail construction
on their lands as well. CCCMB has a large volunteer base and regularly
draws sixty plus volunteers to its workdays. On the last annual Super
Bowl Sunday Trail Workday, 245 people showed up to volunteer. This
large labor force has given CCCMB the ability to push projects
forwards even as land managers are cutting staff and scaling back
operations by backfilling their losses with volunteer labor.

CCCMB has had success in partnering with other user groups, an area
where many advocacy groups struggle. Its board of directors includes
equestrians and hikers. Equestrian and hiking groups have donated
money to CCCMB for trail construction and maintenance and have
collaborated to fund environmental assessment for new trail projects
for cash strapped land managers. This unity among user groups has
resulted in increased trail access for all.

CCCMB is currently working on an extensive trail project at Montana de
Oro State Park. After the initial closure to bikes in the 1980s, it
was determined that a portion the park would be open to bikes, while
the other portion would be reserved for hikers and equestrians. State
Parks approached CCCMB in 2008 with hopes of utilizing CCCMB’s trail
design and construction expertise for some trail reroutes on some
badly eroded trails in the part of the park closed to bikers. As a
token of good will CCCMB dove into the project and undertook design
and construction. It has since been determined that bikes will in fact
be allowed on much of the new trail construction.

The project includes rerouting the four-mile Oats Peak with seven
miles of sustainably constructed trail as well as the construction of
several miles of new trail. CCCMB volunteers, the California
Conservation Corps, and the Forest Trails Alliance (FTA) have
performed construction. FTA, a non-profit mountain bike trail advocacy
based out of Forest City, has performed all of the mechanized
construction on the project utilizing a mini-excavator and a skid
steer. Their fees have been paid by State Parks with money furnished
by AT&T as mitigation for construction performed within the park. The
San Luis Obispo Parks Open Space and Trails Foundation (SLOPOST) have
covered additional expenses. As a non-profit, FTA’s revenues will go
directly back into trail advocacy in the Forest City area.

Humboldt

While Humboldt County has huge tracts of public lands, historically
mountain bike access has been limited. The Bigfoot Bicycle Club based
out of the Arcata-Eureka area has been hard at work to change this.
After years of working with various land managers, Humboldt County
mountain bikers are achieving great success, as evidenced by the
number of trail projects underway and in the pipeline.


The California Conservation Corps transporting a culvert during
construction of the Paradise Royale Trail in Humboldt County. Photo:
Gary Pritchard-Petersen
The construction of the Paradise Royale Trail in the King’s Range
National Conservation Area, on southern Humboldt’s Lost Coast, was a
major success for local mountain bikers. When the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) opened its land management plan review for the King’s
Range NCA for public comment, mountain bikers showed up, some
affiliated with the Bigfoot Club, and voiced their desire for trails
open to mountain bike use. Gary Pritchard-Petersen, the manager of the
Kings Range NCA recognized the need for legitimate bike access and
engaged the cycling community to meet their needs. Local mountain
bikers, the Bigfoot Cycling Club, and IMBA became involved, and the
Paradise Royale trail was born.

The Paradise Royale Trail is a treat. The views of the Pacific nearly
2,000 feet below are epic, you can ride from your campsite, and the
campground has its own skills park. The Paradise Royale Trail is a
perfect example of well-designed singletrack. There are no awkward
turns requiring the rider to dump a bunch of speed with a fistful of
brake, all of the switchbacks are rideable, and you are constantly
kept on your toes. It is worth the trip.

Farther north, twenty miles northeast of Eureka, lies the Lacks Creek
Management Area, a nearly 9,000 acre piece of land also managed by the
BLM. The Bigfoot Bicycle Club as well as the Humboldt Trails Council
have been working with the BLM to open up trail access to the
property. Environmental assessments have been performed, clearing the
way for nearly thirty miles of trail construction. This will include
ten miles of mountain bike specific trail, including a downhill
specific trail, and fifteen to twenty miles of multi-use trail, of
which a few miles have already been constructed.

The Arcata Community Forest, is a 2,350 acre forest owned by the City
of Arcata. The forest sits directly adjacent to the City as well as
Humboldt State University. Sustainable logging revenues fund forest
management, habitat restoration, and creation and upkeep of recreation
facilities in the forest. The forest features just over eleven miles
of mostly multi-use trails. The city recently purchased an adjoining
piece of property known as the Sunny Brae Forest, which had been the
site of several illegally built mountain bike trails. Bigfoot Cycling
Club has worked closely with the city on the trail development plan
for this new acquisition. Several miles of multi-use trail will link
the Sunny Brae Forest to the Arcata Community Forest, and construction
on these trails began in the fall of 2012. Plans have also been made
for the construction of directional mountain bike specific trails
catering to every skill level.

These victories are just a few examples of what mountain bikers can
achieve when they organize themselves, even in the face of staunch
resistance. By working with land managers and with other trail users,
these groups have provided increased trail access not only for
cyclists but in many cases for hikers and equestrians as well. Turning
mountain bike access from a divisive issue into an opportunity for
community growth has been an additional success story for these
advocacy group.
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