Archive for the ‘Rides and Events’ Category

CORBA’s April Free Skills Clinic Canceled

Friday, March 27th, 2020

Mark won’t be teach CORBA’s free skills clinic in April.

For only the second time since 1992, we must cancel the CORBA Free Skills Clinic, which would have taken place on Saturday, April 4.  At this point, it looks likely we’ll need to also cancel May’s class.

The first time we had to cancel was just last year, in the wake of the Woolsey fire. In both, the circumstances are beyond our control.

We thank Mark Langton, our lead instructor, for his ongoing commitment to this program. We know that if it were possible, he would still hold the clinic.

In the meantime, please keep yourself and your loved ones safe. If you do choose to ride, remember to keep it local, slow it down, only ride open trails and keep your social distance. We’ll get through this.

 

 

CORBA Membership Drive and Ride Feb 23

Friday, February 7th, 2020

 

Join us on February 23 for CORBA’s Membership Drive and Ride. Guided rides will be available for all skill levels.  Registration is required. The guided rides are free. You’ll have the opportunity to speak to CORBA Board members about issues that you care about.

Register for free at:  https://www.eventbrite.com

February 23rd, Sunday. Meet at 9am at the TOP of Reseda. Be ready to ride at 9:30am. Please arrive early at the CORBA table to renew or purchase a CORBA membership. One lucky member who renews at or before the event will win a CORBA jersey.

Renew your CORBA membership or join TODAY for as little as $39 for the year! https://www.imba.com/join/chapter/corba

WHO IS CORBA? WHY JOIN?

Concerned Off-Road Bicyclists Association was founded in 1987 to serve the mountain bicycling community of Los Angeles and surrounding areas including southern Ventura County. CORBA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization committed to gaining and maintaining public trail access for mountain cyclists and the public at-large. CORBA encourages and promotes the safe and environmentally responsible use of unpaved roads and trails for bicycling and to educate the public about all aspects of off-road cycling and trails. Become a member to support CORBA’s ongoing efforts to improve bicycle access to trails. CORBA depends on membership dollars to fund our advocacy efforts and ongoing programs.

Backbone Trail Bridge Repair Fund

Tuesday, February 4th, 2020

With generous support from REI, CORBA has put $10,000 towards the National Park Service recovery efforts to rebuild bridges on the Backbone Trail that were burned in the Woolsey Fire.

In the wake of the Woolsey Fire, three bridges along the Backbone National Recreation trail were destroyed. It was some time before the National Park Service was able to assess the remaining abutments and determine when it would begin to replace the bridges. There have been many higher priority recovery efforts underway.  Knowing people were eager to get back on the trails, the Backbone trail was reopened with temporary stream crossings where the bridges once spanned. These are meant as temporary measures until the bridges are rebuilt and opened.

Steve Messer and Charlotte Parry, of SAMO Fund

Steve Messer and Charlotte Parry, of SAMO Fund

REI allowed CORBA to coordinate our fundraising with the Santa Monica Mountains Fund. The SAMO Fund also received a grant from REI.  REI’s Vote with your Purchase campaign added to that fund to benefit all trail users in recovering the Backbone trail to pre-fire conditions.

Combined, those funds from REI, CORBA and the Santa Monica Mountains Fund are being used to leverage additional revenue streams to meet the bridge replacement costs. The National Park Service is hoping to have the remaining funding in place, and the bridges under construction this year. While the grant was funded last summer, it has taken time for the NPS to get to this stage.

The remaining grant funding has supported volunteer work days, trailwork tool repair and replacement for the benefit of trails. We also thank the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council, and the Conejo Open Space foundation, with whom CORBA volunteers have partnered on a number of projects in the fire-ravaged Santa Monica Mountains and Conejo Valleys over the past year.

We appreciate the ongoing support from REI and thank them for efforts.

 

February Skills Clinic photos posted February 3rd

Monday, February 3rd, 2020

On a sunny and warm day, we had a large turnout of 15 participants who were eager to learn (or brush up on) the basic skills of mountain biking.

The Basic Skills Clinic is always held the first Saturday of the month at Malibu Creek State Park.

You can see the photos in our February photo gallery.

Trail Construction by SCV Trail Users

Thursday, January 30th, 2020

New trail!

CORBA is proud to have the Santa Clarita Valley Trail Users (SCVTU) out furthuring CORBA’s mission, by advocating for new trails, and doing trail maintenance and construction in the Santa Clarita Valley.   SCVTU became a committee of CORBA in 2017, and have been making great strides in advocacy and volunteerism.

Currently, they are building out a new trail network at East Walker Ranch and Golden Valley Ranch. These two properties were acquired by the City to preserve as open space. They have an existing network of old ranch roads, but few singletrack options. The ranch roads are also unsustainably steep in some places, and don’t provide the trail experience that most people look for when hiking or mountain biking. The City has seen the need for new trails to accommodate their growing population, and we’re happy to help.

The trail network will eventually connect SCV neighborhoods to the Placerita Canyon nature center, the Angeles National Forest, and to other open spaces managed by the City.

On Sunday, January 26, 2020, more than two dozen volunteers worked on the latest addition to the trail network, garnering some great media coverage from SCV Signal, a local newspaper.

The work is supported by a generous grant from REI, which allowed the committee to acquire tools, support and engage volunteers, and bring in additional expertise to facilitate construction. REI is so invested that a volunteer work day for REI employees was held last year. Another is being planned for later this year.

It was especially rewarding for members of the Santa Clarita Composite Mountain Bike team, who race in the SoCal High School Mountain biking league. Team members and coaches were there to build the trail in the morning, then rode it in the afternoon.

We thank REI, all the volunteers who have given so much to the SCV community, and to our committee members who have led the effort. You should thank them too.

Happy New Decade! A 20-Teens Retrospective

Wednesday, January 1st, 2020

CORBA has a lot to be proud of this last ten years. It feels like the twenty-teens was the decade in which mountain biking really came of age. The sport has grown and we’ve seen tremendous changes and challenges. Mountain bikers are no longer a newcomer to the trails, but we’ve still got a long way to go.

There’s no denying the explosive growth of mountain biking last decade. We’ve all seen more people on trails, and more of them on bikes than ever before. I’ve met more riders with less than five years experience than in any five-year period before the last. Conversely, we’ve seen relatively few new trails constructed in that time. The trail supply is not keeping up with the demand here in Southern California. The agencies and volunteers can’t keep up with maintenance of the supply we already have. That’s one thing that hasn’t changed in ten years, and has gotten worse with agency budget cuts and increasingly severe weather. It’s why we ask you to come out and give a morning back to the trails once or twice a year. You’ll appreciate them so much more after a morning of trailwork.

Let’s take a long look back at what has changed and been accomplished last decade.

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Summary of Backbone Trail restoration held on November 16, 2019

Sunday, November 17th, 2019

The Backbone Trail between Mulholland Hwy and Etz Meloy Mtwy saw about 20 volunteers from CORBA and the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council on Saturday to prepare the trail for upcoming winter rains. The area had burned during the Woolsey Fire a year ago that consumed all the chaparral on the hillside, and there was no brush overgrowing the trail. We focused on building rock retaining walls to support the outside of the trail where water would flow down from above and cross the trail. We also cleaned out drains that had been silted up.

CSUCI students clean out a drain at a switchback.

Three first-time volunteers from CalState Channel Islands joined the CORBA crew in building rock walls and digging out drains. They did a great job!

Thanks to all the volunteers who came out to help. You can view more photos in our photo gallery of this event.

November Skills Clinic photos posted November 4th

Monday, November 4th, 2019

There were only four participants in this month’s Skills Clinic on a very chilly day in the park.

The Basic Skills Clinic is always held the first Saturday of the month at Malibu Creek State Park.

You can see the photos in our November photo gallery.

Summary of the Conejo Fall Trail Work Day held October 19 in the Conejo Canyons Open Space

Tuesday, October 22nd, 2019

Digging to make a drain starts when the vegetation is all gone.

About 80 open space enthusiasts came out to help fix up the trails in the Conejo Canyons in preparation for winter rains. Volunteers came from various organizations such as the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council (SMMTC), CORBA, the El Camino Real charter high school mountain bike team, various Meetup groups and others. The CORBA crew added drains to natural dips in the Hill Canyon Trail so they wouldn’t become muddy bogs when it rains. The other folks hiked up the Canyon Overlook Trail to fill in ruts and remove loose rocks. At noon, the volunteers were rewarded with a taco lunch and prize give-away to thank them for their hard work and generosity in donating their time to open space improvement. COSF, COSCA and the other organizations would like to give a hearty thank-you to all the volunteers!

View some of the workers in our photo gallery!

Help restore trails in the Conejo Canyons during the 2019 Fall Trail Work Day on October 19

Thursday, October 3rd, 2019

Join CORBA, SMMTC, COSCA and other volunteer groups to work on the Conejo Open Space trails in Thousand Oaks.

This year we’ll be repairing and doing preventative maintenance on trails in the Conejo Canyons / Western Plateau area that were damaged last November by the Hill Fire and then subsequent winter rains.

We’ll also be celebrating the re-opening of the Hill Canyon Bridge that was severely damaged by the Hill Fire.

There will be a thank you lunch and prize drawings at noon after the work. This is a great event with lots of like-minded folks to help out. If you use the trails in Thousand Oaks, come out and help build and maintain them! No prior experience is necessary and all volunteers work at their own pace, taking plenty of time to rest and chat with other trail enthusiasts!

This annual Conejo Valley event always helps to put some very sweet trails into good shape. Be sure to stay afterwards for the free lunch and prize give-away.

Registration starts at 7:30 am on Saturday October 19 at the Santa Rosa Valley Park (use this Google Map to find your way), and crews assemble and head to the work sites at 8:00 am.

Please help us by signing up online in advance to we’ll know how many people to prepare for – Thanks!

Things to bring:

• work gloves
• long pants and long sleeved shirt
• water, snack
• sunglasses and sunblock

Tools and instructions on how to use them safely will be provided. There will be a free thank-you lunch and prize give-away afterwards from noon until about 2:00 pm.

Remember to sign up online!