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Mountain Bikers Upset Over Losing their Illegally-Built Trails!
Locked gate now restricts access to land near airport
By Michael Burge UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER November 25, 2006 CARLSBAD – A group of mountain-bike riders who used a clandestine web of trails for two decades is trying to save them, even as the paths are being fenced off and bulldozed away. CRISSY PASCUAL / Union-Tribune Josh Lenahan (left) and Stefan Rest (right) stopped to talk to Michael Hansen of San Marcos. The two are trying to save some mountain-bike trails. Called Flightline, for their proximity to McClellan-Palomar Airport, the trails had been fashioned over time by riders who built bridges and other features on brush-covered hills that, to them, were of questionable ownership. That ownership is no longer in question, as 300 acres recently was transferred by the county to the nonprofit Center for Natural Lands Management. The Fallbrook-based nonprofit administers the property east of El Camino Real and north of Palomar Airport Road, preserving it as natural habitat. Much of the land was owned by the county, and when developers of the nearby 195-acre Carlsbad Oaks North business park won approval for their project in 2002, the land was set aside as permanent open space with restricted use. Hearing of the land switch, the mountain bikers began corresponding with Markus Spiegelberg, the San Diego manager for the land management center, about preserving the trails. Two weeks ago, the bikers found a fence and a locked gate at the trailhead. “This is him working with us,” Josh Lenahan, a trail rider from Carlsbad, said sarcastically as he stood at the sealed trailhead on Orion Way near the Carlsbad skate park. “There have been hundreds of hours (put into) the trails here,” he said, adding that people who built them tried to respect the natural environment, and now their work has been obliterated. Stefan Rest, a mountain biker upset by the trails' demise, has dedicated a Web site, www.rideflightline.com., to saving them. His online petition has more than 1,300 names, including some from Canada and France, and even from Jersey, an island in the English Channel. He said there's nothing comparable in the county, even in the backcountry. Rest discouraged riders from using the trails while his group worked with Spiegelberg to retain access, and posted signs warning people they risked a fine and the loss of their bike if they rode in the area. He saw Spiegelberg's fence as a betrayal. “We're upset that this guy told us to work with (him), get everybody to stop riding, and all of a sudden we stop getting correspondence and the chain link went up,” Rest said. Spiegelberg said 100 acres east of the Carlsbad Safety Center near the city's skate park is controlled by an agreement, called a conservation easement, that bars biking, horseback riding and motorcycling. That's why the fence went up. Spiegelberg said he found some interesting features when he walked through the property recently before taking it over. “One (trail) was pretty intense. It had bridges and switchbacks and lots of cleared vegetation,” he said, all potential violations of state or federal law. “I posted it and said you're on the land illegally, stop, and I got 5,000 e-mails.” Mountain bikers weren't the only ones taking advantage of the natural space. Employees of local businesses and business owners hiked, ran or rode there on a regular basis. Spiegelberg also found encampments of homeless people. A wild-west attitude had prevailed that the land was open to anyone to use. “You get this history of use,” Spiegelberg said. “Nobody kicks them off. A motorcycle would go through there, or a mountain biker.” He said it would have been better if people who used the trails were involved when the Carlsbad Oaks North project processed its environmental impact report, so they could have been considered. But because such people usually aren't organized, they learn about such a process after decisions are made. Rest and his group are learning that now. “The uniqueness of this is it's in the middle of where we all live,” Rest, a Carlsbad resident, said. “There aren't many places in the county where you can pay $600,000 for your starter home and learn you can't ride in your backyard.” Spiegelberg has engaged the riders in e-mail conversations on their Web site, calling it “a very friendly back and forth.” But for the mountain bikers to use the land, they would have to work with the county to rewrite the property agreement, he said. “If they're going to come back in here and develop a trail, we'll develop a trail that's sturdy and safe,” he said. And he said he hopes everyone can get through this rough patch. “A lot of people are really mad at us but essentially we're all on the same page,” he said. “We're trying to find the last pieces of land and manage it.” That didn't help Michael Hansen, who was disappointed when he showed up to ride last week and encountered that gate. “I've been coaching for three or four years and riding since '88,” said Hansen, 39, a semi-pro rider who works for American Airlines. “That's the reason we moved to this area. Now we're losing this, too.” Michael Burge: (760) 476-8230; === I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to humans ("pure habitat"). Want to help? (I spent the previous 8 years fighting auto dependence and road construction.) Please don't put a cell phone next to any part of your body that you are fond of! http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande |
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#2
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Mountain Bikers Upset Over Losing their Illegally-Built Trails!
Thanks for the link - I will pass this on to other mountain bikers to
help the cause for biking... Mike Vandeman wrote: Locked gate now restricts access to land near airport By Michael Burge UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER November 25, 2006 CARLSBAD – A group of mountain-bike riders who used a clandestine web of trails for two decades is trying to save them, even as the paths are being fenced off and bulldozed away. CRISSY PASCUAL / Union-Tribune Josh Lenahan (left) and Stefan Rest (right) stopped to talk to Michael Hansen of San Marcos. The two are trying to save some mountain-bike trails. Called Flightline, for their proximity to McClellan-Palomar Airport, the trails had been fashioned over time by riders who built bridges and other features on brush-covered hills that, to them, were of questionable ownership. That ownership is no longer in question, as 300 acres recently was transferred by the county to the nonprofit Center for Natural Lands Management. The Fallbrook-based nonprofit administers the property east of El Camino Real and north of Palomar Airport Road, preserving it as natural habitat. Much of the land was owned by the county, and when developers of the nearby 195-acre Carlsbad Oaks North business park won approval for their project in 2002, the land was set aside as permanent open space with restricted use. Hearing of the land switch, the mountain bikers began corresponding with Markus Spiegelberg, the San Diego manager for the land management center, about preserving the trails. Two weeks ago, the bikers found a fence and a locked gate at the trailhead. “This is him working with us,” Josh Lenahan, a trail rider from Carlsbad, said sarcastically as he stood at the sealed trailhead on Orion Way near the Carlsbad skate park. “There have been hundreds of hours (put into) the trails here,” he said, adding that people who built them tried to respect the natural environment, and now their work has been obliterated. Stefan Rest, a mountain biker upset by the trails' demise, has dedicated a Web site, www.rideflightline.com., to saving them. His online petition has more than 1,300 names, including some from Canada and France, and even from Jersey, an island in the English Channel. He said there's nothing comparable in the county, even in the backcountry. Rest discouraged riders from using the trails while his group worked with Spiegelberg to retain access, and posted signs warning people they risked a fine and the loss of their bike if they rode in the area. He saw Spiegelberg's fence as a betrayal. “We're upset that this guy told us to work with (him), get everybody to stop riding, and all of a sudden we stop getting correspondence and the chain link went up,” Rest said. Spiegelberg said 100 acres east of the Carlsbad Safety Center near the city's skate park is controlled by an agreement, called a conservation easement, that bars biking, horseback riding and motorcycling. That's why the fence went up. Spiegelberg said he found some interesting features when he walked through the property recently before taking it over. “One (trail) was pretty intense. It had bridges and switchbacks and lots of cleared vegetation,” he said, all potential violations of state or federal law. “I posted it and said you're on the land illegally, stop, and I got 5,000 e-mails.” Mountain bikers weren't the only ones taking advantage of the natural space. Employees of local businesses and business owners hiked, ran or rode there on a regular basis. Spiegelberg also found encampments of homeless people. A wild-west attitude had prevailed that the land was open to anyone to use. “You get this history of use,” Spiegelberg said. “Nobody kicks them off. A motorcycle would go through there, or a mountain biker.” He said it would have been better if people who used the trails were involved when the Carlsbad Oaks North project processed its environmental impact report, so they could have been considered. But because such people usually aren't organized, they learn about such a process after decisions are made. Rest and his group are learning that now. “The uniqueness of this is it's in the middle of where we all live,” Rest, a Carlsbad resident, said. “There aren't many places in the county where you can pay $600,000 for your starter home and learn you can't ride in your backyard.” Spiegelberg has engaged the riders in e-mail conversations on their Web site, calling it “a very friendly back and forth.” But for the mountain bikers to use the land, they would have to work with the county to rewrite the property agreement, he said. “If they're going to come back in here and develop a trail, we'll develop a trail that's sturdy and safe,” he said. And he said he hopes everyone can get through this rough patch. “A lot of people are really mad at us but essentially we're all on the same page,” he said. “We're trying to find the last pieces of land and manage it.” That didn't help Michael Hansen, who was disappointed when he showed up to ride last week and encountered that gate. “I've been coaching for three or four years and riding since '88,” said Hansen, 39, a semi-pro rider who works for American Airlines. “That's the reason we moved to this area. Now we're losing this, too.” Michael Burge: (760) 476-8230; === I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to humans ("pure habitat"). Want to help? (I spent the previous 8 years fighting auto dependence and road construction.) Please don't put a cell phone next to any part of your body that you are fond of! http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande |
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Mountain Bikers Upset Over Losing their Illegally-Built Trails!
Environ wrote: Thanks for the link - I will pass this on to other mountain bikers to help the cause for biking... What do you mean "other mountain bikers"? The dorks who built those "trails" are a bunch of morons who were a)trespassing b)damaging private property and c)propagating a negative image for those who choose to mountain bike. If the property owner asked me to help tear that crap down, I'd volunteer. JD |
#4
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Mountain Bikers Upset Over Losing their Illegally-Built Trails!
"Mike Vandeman" wrote in message ... Locked gate now restricts access to land near airport By Michael Burge UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER November 25, 2006 CARLSBAD - A group of mountain-bike riders who used a clandestine web of trails for two decades is trying to save them, even as the paths are being fenced off and bulldozed away. A narrow biking trail is being removed with a bulldozer? Now folks, that's the government way to do things, and Mike approves of it. |
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Mountain Bikers Upset Over Losing their Illegally-Built Trails!
di wrote: "Mike Vandeman" wrote in message ... Locked gate now restricts access to land near airport By Michael Burge UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER November 25, 2006 CARLSBAD - A group of mountain-bike riders who used a clandestine web of trails for two decades is trying to save them, even as the paths are being fenced off and bulldozed away. A narrow biking trail is being removed with a bulldozer? Now folks, that's the government way to do things, and Mike approves of it. Maybe the tunnel vision cause by your severe anti-vandamnan attitude kept you from reading the fact that it was PRIVATE PROPERTY, not government lands as you have erroneously indicated. Yes, you are a dumbass. Almost as much of a dumbass as those idiots who cried after their crap was torn down and are now building more crap on private land that will only get torn down again, causing another torrent of dip**** tears. **** you and **** them too. JD |
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Mountain Bikers Upset Over Losing their Illegally-Built Trails!
"JD" wrote in message ups.com... di wrote: "Mike Vandeman" wrote in message ... Locked gate now restricts access to land near airport By Michael Burge UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER November 25, 2006 CARLSBAD - A group of mountain-bike riders who used a clandestine web of trails for two decades is trying to save them, even as the paths are being fenced off and bulldozed away. A narrow biking trail is being removed with a bulldozer? Now folks, that's the government way to do things, and Mike approves of it. Maybe the tunnel vision cause by your severe anti-vandamnan attitude kept you from reading the fact that it was PRIVATE PROPERTY, not government lands as you have erroneously indicated. Yes, you are a dumbass. Almost as much of a dumbass as those idiots who cried after their crap was torn down and are now building more crap on private land that will only get torn down again, causing another torrent of dip**** tears. **** you and **** them too. JD calm down and take a pill, the way I read it is it was county property which was tuned over to a non-profit trust for management, now who's paying for the clean-up, improvements, or restoration, the county or trust? Whoever is doing it, using a bulldozer to remove a bike trail is overkill, hardly benefiting the environment. |
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Mountain Bikers Upset Over Losing their Illegally-Built Trails!
"JustaDick" wrote in message oups.com... Environ wrote: Thanks for the link - I will pass this on to other mountain bikers to help the cause for biking... What do you mean "other mountain bikers"? The dorks who built those "trails" are a bunch of morons who were a)trespassing b)damaging private property and c)propagating a negative image for those who choose to mountain bike. BWAHHAHAHA, define irony! you do more harm in this regard daily by your posts than some stupid stunts would ever do...you've got a ****ed up noodle bud! If the property owner asked me to help tear that crap down, I'd volunteer. but he'd have to ask first?...what a MAROON! JustaDick |
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Mountain Bikers Upset Over Losing their Illegally-Built Trails!
"di" wrote in message ... "JD" wrote in message ups.com... di wrote: "Mike Vandeman" wrote in message ... Locked gate now restricts access to land near airport By Michael Burge UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER November 25, 2006 CARLSBAD - A group of mountain-bike riders who used a clandestine web of trails for two decades is trying to save them, even as the paths are being fenced off and bulldozed away. A narrow biking trail is being removed with a bulldozer? Now folks, that's the government way to do things, and Mike approves of it. Maybe the tunnel vision cause by your severe anti-vandamnan attitude kept you from reading the fact that it was PRIVATE PROPERTY, not government lands as you have erroneously indicated. Yes, you are a dumbass. Almost as much of a dumbass as those idiots who cried after their crap was torn down and are now building more crap on private land that will only get torn down again, causing another torrent of dip**** tears. **** you and **** them too. JD calm down and take a pill, the way I read it is it was county property which was tuned over to a non-profit trust for management, now who's paying for the clean-up, improvements, or restoration, the county or trust? Whoever is doing it, using a bulldozer to remove a bike trail is overkill, hardly benefiting the environment. Hey, never let the truth get in the way of idiots that can't read and reason. Anyone that backs up mickey must have some screws loose. ps mickey, bob jumped, just to get away from your BS. |
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Mountain Bikers Upset Over Losing their Illegally-Built Trails!
It is pretty clear from this article that the land is set aside as
biological mitigation land for an environmental impact to one or more special status species or sensitive habitats. If that is the case, and the CNLM is going to be the manager of this land under some sort of grant arrangement, it is a foregone conclusion that bike riding, and probably most other activities that are potentially harmful to the specific species being protected, will be restricted. In other words, this land is for the use of endangered critters, not for people. And yes, in the process of environmental restoration, sometimes you use a bulldozer to get to an improved end product. Won't be the first time, nor the last. Bruce Jensen |
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