September 1, 2009
In an article on the history of IMBA‘s National Mountain Bike Patrol (NMBP), Dirt Rag magazine reviews the role CORBA had in spearheading volunteer mountain bike patrols. To quote:
“Although the NMBP was officially ‘started’ in 1994, volunteer mountain bike patrol’s roots run deep, back to the early days of mountain biking, when trails were rife with user conflict, and blanket mountain bike bans threatened great riding locations from coast to coast. The Concerned Off-Road Bicyclists Association (CORBA) was arguably the first organization to begin volunteer patrol activities with their Mountain Bike Unit (MBU), formed in 1988.
“Based in the Santa Monica Mountains, near Los Angeles, CORBA was at risk of losing many great riding venues. ‘Due to frequent complaints about user conflict, land managers were throwing their hands up,’ explains Blumenthal. ‘The [mountain bike advocacy] toolkit had to be developed quickly.’ So, with support from the National Park Service and the California State Department of Parks and Recreation, the patrol was formed, and became an overnight success, being nominated for the ‘Take Pride in California Award’ in 1991.”
Read the entire article, 15 Years of Service: A Look Back at IMBA’s National Mountain Bike Patrol.
