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In an earlier blog post we announced the passing of CORBA member, and Mountain Bike Unit founding member and coordinator Ross Blasman on December 31, 2010. A celebration of his life took place at Paramount Ranch in Agoura Hills on January 29. Here are few pictures.
From Matt Gunnell, Executive Director, SoCal High School Cycling League
The SoCal High School Cycling League has its first ever fundraising ride on Saturday February 19th at the historic Paramount Ranch which is part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in Agoura Hills.
Registration is now open at the event website! You can get more information and then register online, or you can find the website linked from the SoCal League website by looking under the “Events” tab.
To register we are asking adults to commit to raising a minimum of $125 and youth to raising a minimum of $75. There is no additional registration fee on top of that commitment! You will receive snacks while riding, an event t-shirt, a BBQ supper after the ride, and live music during much of the ride and at the BBQ. You’ll even find Bob Foster (our race EMT) and his crew roaming the event on horseback.
Once you register, you will be emailed a link to your personal pledge page. You can email the link to supporters or post it on facebook. Your supporters will be able to pledge funds for your ride, and be recognized, directly from your page.
The ride is suitable for team riders, parents, coaches, friends, family, and anyone who supports the sustainability of high school cycling in SoCal. Clubs have the opportunity to raise funds for their own clubs without having to put on their own fundraiser. Be sure to tell your supporters to enter the name of your club when registering. All funds raised over the first $25 will be split 50/50 between the League and your club! Ambitious clubs can really help take care of a lot of season expenses.
The ride takes place on a 2.5 mile dirt loop of single and double track. Each loop brings riders back through the main street of an old west town movie set. The goal is not to complete the most laps. The goal is to ride for 3 hours straight (noon to 3:00 pm) while building fitness and connecting with great folks who support the League.
KTLA news recently did a profile piece on Paramount Ranch. Click HERE to watch it.
Santa Monica Mountains Cyclery is Woodland Hills’ newest bike shop. With a great location at 21526 Ventura Blvd in Woodland Hills, the store is a strong supporter of advocacy and outreach for the cycling community. They are ideally situated for that last-minute bike part or accessory you might need before you head up Topanga and into the Santa Monica Mountains.
SMM Cyclery will donate up to 5% of pre-tax profits to advocacy groups, including CORBA. CORBA members will also receive a 10% discount on store purchases at the Cyclery.
We’re excited to have the support of Santa Monica Mountains Cyclery and welcome them into CORBA’s retail discount member benefits program.
CORBA representatives will be on hand at the grand opening, on Friday, January 7 from 5:00 to 9:00 pm at the store’s Woodland Hills location.
For more info about the store visit http://smmcyclery.com or Like them on Facebook.
Most CORBA members, and the general mountain bike community, probably don’t know the name Russ Okawa. However, to anyone who worked in the bicycle industry, his name is legendary, as was his tireless work ethic and dedication to whatever bicycle-related company he worked for. He literally helped change the course of the industry, first with his involvement with the BMX boom, and later with the mountain bike explosion. His most recent involvement with Giant Bicycles for more than 10 years helped shape a new era of the way bicycle companies do business. Russ passed away in his sleep on Monday January 3 from complications due to open heart surgery. Click here for a story that appears on the Bicycle Retailer and Industry News website.
Russ was also a friend of the cycling community, an ever present supporter of bicycles and cycling in all its forms. His persistence in supporting CORBA’s Fat Tire Festival through Giant’s presence was unwavering.
Ardent CORBA member, Mountain Bike Unit founding member and organizer, and originator of CORBA’s Introduction to Mountain Biking Skills class died on December 31 after a three year battle with cancer. He was 59.
Ross’ contributions to the Santa Monica Mountains mountain bike community, as well as the local surfing community as an avid surfer and member of the Surfrider Foundation, are immeasurable.
A memorial service will be held at Paramount Ranch in Agoura Hills in the coming weeks, and we will post the information.
Ross Blasman (center) was a member of CORBA's first MBU class of 1988.
Most trails in our local riding area don’t respond well to rain. They have a high content of clay that turns into sticky, slippery muck that binds to everything it touches. It builds up on the tires, like a snowball rolling downhill, until it jams on the frame and the wheels won’t budge. Some models of clipless pedals refuse to yield when full of this mud, resulting in the bike and the attached rider lying sideways in a puddle.
Most wet trails don’t respond well to bikers, hikers or equestrians until they’ve had time to dry out. Hikers and horses make holes and ridges in the trail that become as hard as concrete when the trail dries. These holes and ridges are good for twisting ankles of trail users who aren’t constantly watching their step.
On wet trails, bikes make grooves down the middle. These grooves collect water when it rains again, turning first into little channels to move the water downhill, then into little ruts, then large ruts that destroy the trail. You’ve heard about the beat of a butterfly wing that causes a hurricane? Then remember the tire track that turns a tail into one large rut!
And the mud is particularly hard to remove. It sticks to the bike and shoes, no matter the efforts to remove it, rubbing off on the bike rack, car carpet and floor pedals. Once home, it takes the careful use of a garden hose to remove the mud but not force water into the sensitive parts of the bike.
For these reasons, riders are well advised to stay off the trails after a rain until they have dried. How long to stay off? That depends on a number of factors including the particular trail, how much rain it received, how much sun it gets after the rain (is it in the shade or face south?), how warm and windy the weather is, and so on. After an isolated light rain you can probably ride the next day. After a heavy rain, you should wait several days. This is something where common sense and experience will help.
But if the trails are soaking, all is not lost if you need to ride! There are a few trails that hold up well when wet because they have more sand and rock that doesn’t hold the water. Here are a few you should know about:
–Space Mountain (Los Robles West) to the picnic table is almost always rideable, even right after a big storm. However, it can be pretty mucky from the picnic table to Potrero Road.
–Rosewood Trail is pretty good, but not quite as resiliant as Space Mountain.
–Zuma Ridge Motorway from Encinal (the bottom in Malibu is muddy)
–Dirt Mulholland around Topanga State Park.
-Brown Mountain Fireroad
-Most San Gabriel Mountains trails made up of decomposed granite
-Beaudry Fireroad
-Hostetter Fireroad
-Mt. Lukens
From Dash Stolarz, Director of Public Affairs Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority.
Topanga and Calabasas, California, December 17, 2010 — The Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA) announced today its acquisition of more than 100 acres of prime Santa Monica Mountains open space that straddles Topanga Canyon and San Fernando Valley watershed divide. The purchase was made with Los Angeles County funding sources offered by 3rd District Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky to expand the Los County Trail system in the Santa Monica Mountains.
The new 101-acre parkland, which is accessible from Old Topanga Road, bolsters public ownership of existing trail networks in Topanga Canyon near the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy-owned Summit Valley Ed Edelman Park. The principal trail is the Summit-to-Summit Motorway, a historic fire road that connects the Calabasas Peak Motorway on the west side of Old Topanga Canyon Road eastward to the Henry Ridge Trail and ultimately to Topanga Canyon Boulevard. These trails have been recognized since the County adopted its Trail Master Plan in 1980. They are all wide with easy grades, making them accessible to almost all potential users.
“Zev’s commitment to the preserving open space and creating accessible public parkland is rock solid,” said Joseph T. Edmiston, Executive Director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.
The long-coveted open space and trail network are part of a large habitat area that abuts the southern boundary of the City of Calabasas and descends into Topanga State Park. The oak and walnut forested property offers stunning views of the San Fernando Valley and the many rugged peaks and valleys of the more interior Santa Monica Mountains. This new parkland provides optimal habitat for people and the full complement of mammals, reptiles and birds that occupy the Santa Monica Mountains, National Recreation Area.
The MRCA is a Joint Powers Agency of the State of California which includes the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District, and the Conejo Recreation and Park District. The MRCA provides natural resources and scientific expertise, critical regional planning services, park construction services, park operations, fire prevention, ranger services, educational and leadership programs for thousands of youth each year, and is one of the lead agencies providing for the revitalization of the Los Angeles River.
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From Julian Serles of the Mountain Bike Unit
Calling all mountain bikers age 18 and over! The Mountain Bike Unit (MBU) is currently recruiting for its 2011 New Recruit Training Class. If you enjoy mountain biking and are interested in giving back to the community by volunteering some time to assist our understaffed Park Rangers in patrolling the parks, then the MBU may be just what you are looking for. The MBU supports and are sponsored by the National Park Service (NPS), California State Parks (CSP), and the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA).
Here’s what it’s all about. The MBU assists in providing park visitors with a quality outdoor experience and preserving natural resources while patrolling over 60,000 acres of public parkland in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. Beginning in February 2011, training will include visitor contact skills, State and National park radio use, park rules and regulations, first aid and CPR training, and field training exercises.
Patrol areas and opportunities include the following:
-National Park Service parks: Cheeseboro/Palo Comado, Zuma/Trancas Canyons, Rancho Sierra Vista, and Circle X Ranch
-California State Park locations: Malibu Creek, Will Rogers, Point Mugu, and Topanga
-We also patrol MRCA areas near metropolitan Los Angeles, such as Franklin Canyon and Upper Las Virgines Open Space Preserve
-In addition, we volunteer to patrol and support other events such as the LA and Malibu Marathons, Wheels to the Sea, the Ventura County Fair, and CORBA’s Fat Tire Festival
-The MBU also helps support CORBA’s Youth Adventure Program, which offers disadvantaged youth the opportunity to enjoy the mountain biking experience in our beautiful parks
All MBU patrols require at least two patrollers. All rides are self scheduled on our website. We ask each of our volunteers for 100 patrol hours annually (roughly two four-hour patrols per month).
Would you like to learn more? We invite you to come to King Gillette Ranch Auditorium at 9:00 am on Saturday, February 05, 2011 for an indoor orientation meeting where we will share with you more details about this wonderful program and what patrolling with the MBU is all about. We encourage you to bring your bike and helmet because we plan to take potential recruits on a ride-along (sorted by ability) after the presentation, weather permitting. Visit the MBU training web page for more details, or to contact the MBU via e-mail (admin@mountainbikeunit.com). To see the MBU in action, view our gallery of MBU photos.
From Sharon O’Rourke at The Gas Company
We have completed the pipeline work and currently demobilizing the equipment. We should be out by Friday and the Canyon will be re-open to the public as of Saturday, 12/18. This took longer than anticipated, and the rains we experienced delayed our construction.
The black line shows the contour of trail. The green line shows the contour of an ideal rolling dip. The purple line shows how we try to construct them. Click the image to view a larger one.
Many or most of the drainage dips that volunteers constructed during trailwork on the Wood Canyon Vista (Backbone) Trail in Point Mugu State Park last month have been vandalized, de-constructed, and otherwise left ineffective. Downhill ramps were dragged into the uphill dip, greatly reducing their ability to prevent rainwater carving ruts down the middle of the trail. Hopefully we will get little rain this season so that the drainage dips are not overwhelmed. Extensive rain rutting will likely require the State Parks to run a Sweco bulldozer up the trail, as they did this spring, which will result in a loose, unstable trail surface that angered so many people at the time.
As we explained in a blog article on water damage to the trails, these kinds of dips prevent water from running down the trail without obstructing bikers, hikers and equestrians.
The photograph shows one of the drainage dips after being vandalized, with lines overlaid to represent contours. The features of the dip are exaggerated when first constructed built, especially the downhill ramp. This is to accommodate compaction, wear and deposition of silt, with the hope that the feature will last for several years before having to be rebuilt. Expectations of these constructs are about 80% of the ideal structure within two to three weeks as the downhill ramp gets packed down.
Based on comments we heard shortly after the trail work, some people thought these features were built to slow bicycles on the trails. One or more individual(s) seem to have taken it upon themselves to undo our work. The unfortunate result is not only that the trail will probably experience needless erosion this winter, but mountain bikers in general will also suffer in the view of State Parks staff and park visitors because the assumption may be that mountain bikers were responsible for the damage, whether they were or not.
We also heard that some people believe that State Parks staff partially obliterated the structures the day after they were built. We have received confirmation that State Parks had no involvement with the de-construction. Volunteers, which included experienced members of CORBA’s Trail Crew and the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council, used prescribed trail maintenance guidelines and methods to install the drains and therefore there would be no need for State Parks to go in and “fix” any work that was done. (We’d love it if the State Parks had the staff for this as it would mean that they have the staff to properly maintain and repair the trails themselves. Volunteer trailworkers would much rather spend the weekends enjoying the trails with everyone else and leave the trailwork to paid employees.)
In summary, it appears that some thoughtless and selfish individual(s) have damaged the trail to the detriment of all trail users. As always, CORBA’s main goal is to maintain and create additional mountain biking opportunities in the Santa Monica Mountain National Recreation Area and surrounding areas. CORBA does trail work as a good faith partner in the trail user community. It would be most disappointing if ignorant, renegade mountain bikers were undermining the positive efforts of CORBA and responsible mountain bikers. Also keep in mind that unauthorized work on trails carries significant penalties including but not limited to fines and court appearances.
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