Archive for the ‘Free Basic Skills Clinic’ Category

City of Glendale Mountain Bike Patrol Program to Launch

Thursday, November 8th, 2012

The City of Glendale has announced that their Hiking and Mountain Biking Patrol program is ready to launch. They are seeking volunteers interested in spending a few hours per month riding or hiking the trails of the Verdugo Mountains. Applications are available from the City’s Community Services and Parks Department. Mountain bikers will be required to attend the CORBA Free Skills Clinic. Following is the announcement from the City:

 

 

At long last we are pleased to announce that applications are now available for the City of Glendale’s volunteer Trail Safety Patrol (TSP) program.

We ask that, at your earliest convenience, you stop by the Community Services & Parks Department at Glendale City Hall to pick up your application packet.  The Department is open every day from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday; and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday.

At that time, we would like to take a few minutes to get acquainted (this is not a formal interview), then have you pick up your application packet and proceed to our Human Resources office where you will receive information on the mandatory fingerprint and background check that is required of all City volunteers. 

Glendale City Hall is located at 613 East Broadway, Glendale, CA 91206.  The Community Services & Parks Department is located on the first floor in Room 120.  Please ask to speak to Iris Hidalgo.

The Human Services Department is also on the first floor of City Hall, across the lobby, in Room 100.  Please ask to speak to Ando Vardanyan.

Free Visitor Parking is available in the City’s parking structure on Wilson Avenue, north of Broadway and west of Glendale Avenue.

Your application packet will include the following:

  • TSP Application Form
  • TSP Physician Approval Form
  • TSP Insurance Information Form
  • TSP Bike Liability Waiver 
  • TSP Hike Liability Waiver 
  • City Volunteer Registration Form/Conviction History 
  • City Volunteer Agreement Form

Please note that the mandatory fingerprint/background check and the mandatory liability/bike insurance will be obtained at no cost to you. 

You need to sign either the Bike Waiver or the Hike Waiver, not both, depending on which unit you are applying for.  If you are applying for the Hike Unit, you only need to fill out the top portion of the Insurance Information Form.  All other forms must be completely filled out, signed, and dated.

As soon as you have completed all the forms, please return them to the Community Services & Parks Department, 613 East Broadway, Room 120, Glendale, CA  91206.  If we were unable to meet when you picked up the documents, please return them in person so that we have a chance to meet face to face.

The application packet must be returned to us no later than November 30, 2012.

Please note the following important dates:

  • Saturday, December 1, 2012 – members of the Mountain Bike Unit must take the CORBA Mountain Bike Skills class at MalibuCreek State Park from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.  All members of the Mountain Bike Unit must pass this course in order to be part of the Trail Safety Patrol.   

      Please go to:  http://corbamtb.com/programs/skills.shtml for more information.

  • Sunday, December 2, 2012 – members of the Hike Unit must meet in Brand Park at 9 a.m. for the hike test up the Brand Motorway.  All members of the Hike Unit must hike the 6.2 mile route of the Verdugo Mountains 10K in under 2.5 hours.

·        Saturday, December 8, 2012 – all volunteers must undergo the mandatory 8-hour training program to be held in the Glendale Police Department’s Community Room from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.  The Police Department is located at 131 North Isabel Street, Glendale, CA  91206.  A free visitor parking lot is across the street from the station.      

We know this is a lot to digest, so if you have any questions, or if there are any problems, please feel free to call me at the number below or simply reply to this email.  If you have any friends or colleagues with mountain biking or hiking skills who you think might be interested in participating, please have them contact me.  We can always use more excellent volunteers.

We look forward to working with you to make this an outstanding program that benefits all those who use Glendale’s trails and open space.

Skills Clinic Photos for November 3, 2012

Saturday, November 3rd, 2012

It was a perfect day to be riding in Malibu Creek State Park to participate in this month’s basic skills clinic. This month we had 18 riders and I’m sure eveyone had a great time! The creek is dry, of course, but maybe next month we’ll be back to riding through the water. You can see the photos in the November Skills Clinic Photo Gallery.

Girlz Gone Riding Event Was Fabulous, Dawlings!

Wednesday, October 31st, 2012

On Sunday, October 28th, GGR (Girlz Gone Riding), had it’s annual big event at Malibu Creek State Park with 100 girlz attending! GGR is a group of mountain bike girlz of all skill levels from beginner to Pro. We post all of our upcoming activities including rides, hikes, races and more on the GGR Face Book page here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/350083721682365/

100 riders plus volunteers and vendors enjoyed the day at Malibu Creek State Park

The annual GGR event was a very special day for women only and our mountain bikes! A day of learning new skills, networking, support, guest speakers, demo’ing bikes, learning new trails, finding new women to ride with, and getting some AWESOME swag and raffle goodies! We had 5 levels of cross country rides, mini skills clinics, raffles, auctions, a swap meet, demo bikes, free tech support to adjust your bike, fabulous swag and MUCH more!

This event we tried some new things that were a huge success and everyone seemed to just love!

The biggest hit of the day was a new element introduced during the event. A mini beginner skills clinic! The 1st event, we noticed that many of the beginner girlz needed help with everything from proper position, braking, shifting and more. Since the 1st GGR event turned out to be 50% beginner riders, we really pushed to make this happen. And thanks to our own GGR coach spectacular Christine Hirst….it happened. Christine knows her skills and is an outstanding instructor! She is a pro down hiller and certified Better Ride Instructor.

We had over 50 beginner girlz signed up for clinics, so we split them up. The advanced beginners went on their ride first, while the beginner girlz learned some new skills to work on prior to their ride! We had 8 year old girlz to women in their late 60’s and everyone of them looked like a different rider at the end of their clinic! It was so amazing to see everyone smiling, having fun and REALLY improving their basic skill set so they can not only apply it on the trails, but now have more confidence and fun because they have those skills.

For the advanced riders this year we added the NEW MILLENIUM trail and finally got a NEW, Updated switch back count! Drum roll please………………………….91! YES! I said 91 switchbacks! O yeah, u girlz asked for a challenge! You got one! WELL DONE!

Also new this year was a swap meet which was such a huge success that instead of going under 1 tent it ended up getting spread out over a MUCH larger area! EVERYONE brought stuff! We swapped gear and got some SMOKIN deals on everything from armor, tubes, jersey’s , forks and more! We will need 3 tents for the swap meet NEXT year!

We were also lucky enough to receive so many incredible product donations this event, we were able to have a silent auction! Darn wish I got to bid! Great stuff!

Thanks to CORBA & Hammer Nutrition, & Thorne Performance, we were able to have a FUEL station this year too! Ice water, fruit, cookies and lots of incredible drink mixes from Hammer Nutrition and Thorne Performance!

Yet one more incredible addition this GGR event was the LIV/GIANT demo truck! Liv/Giant brought a TON of all WOMEN SPECIFIC demo bikes for the ladies to try INCLUDING women’s 29rs!!!!!! It is virtually IMPOSSIBLE to try ANY women’s specific bike at our local shops, so this was such a treat!

There were so many wonderful supporters for this event, I have to mention them all. I thank them so very much for supporting women’s cycling & this incredible annual event for women!

CORBA, Cycle World Chatsworth, LIV/Giant, Hammer, Thorn Performance, Ryders Eye Wear, Luna, Shredly, Loeka, G-LOVES, Skin Car by Marla, Road ID, Dirty Girl Designs, Trek Woman, Cotz Skin Care, Lara Weithorn MFR, Paceline Products, Fogtech, Zoic Clothing, Polar, Team Sparkle.

CORBA has photo galleries of this event for you to view.

To purchase your incredible pictures from the event, please go to one of the following websites and support the wonderful photographers who volunteered their entire day to capture these moments for us!

http://www.precisemomentsphotography.com/girlzgoneriding2012

http://auphotographysales.net/#/gallery/girls-gone-riding/au-ggr-2/

From Wendy Engelberg and Kim Cofield, GGR Event Coordinators.

October Skills Clinic Photos

Friday, October 19th, 2012

The October Skills Clinic photos have been published.

Skills Clinic Photos for September 1, 2012

Sunday, September 2nd, 2012

It was a perfect day to be riding in Malibu Creek State Park to participate in this month’s basic skills clinic. This month we had 19 riders, but Mark had to leave early so we skipped a couple of the exercises. If you really want to ride though the dry streambed, you’ll just have to come back next month! You can see the photos in the September Skills Clinic Photo Gallery.

Skills Clinic Photos for August 4, 2012

Saturday, August 4th, 2012

What a turnout today – 43 riders! That’s as large a group as we’ve seen in probably several years. It was another beautiful day to be riding in Malibu Creek State Park to participate in this month’s basic skills clinic. Because of the large group, all the exercises took longer than usual, so this month we skipped the steps. You can see the photos in the August Skills Clinic Photo Gallery.

Skills Clinic Photos for July 7, 2012

Saturday, July 7th, 2012

It was another beautiful day to be riding in Malibu Creek State Park! Twenty-three riders came out to enjoy the fabulous weather today and participate in this month’s basic skills clinic. This month we skipped the steps. You can see the photos in the July Skills Clinic Photo Gallery. And there was another photographer there for the early part of the session. She was from the local weekly newspaper, The Acorn. Perhaps there will be a photo and article about the class in next week’s edition.

Boy Scouts Take on Mountain Biking

Friday, June 15th, 2012

Over the past three years, CORBA’s trail crew has assisted in several eagle scout projects. Most were from eagle scout candidates who were also involved in the High School Mountain Bike League.   After discussions with local Boy Scout Troops and Councils, we put together a suggested set of requirements for a Mountain Biking Merit Badge in 2010. Apparently demand for a mountain biking badge was more widespread than what we saw locally, and the BSA leaders have listened.

During the 1990’s, IMBA and CORBA had approached the BSA about this very issue. At the time mountain biking wasn’t a mainstream sport, and wasn’t nearly as popular as it is now, especially with the younger generations, and the requests and suggestions fell on deaf ears.

How times have changed. Mountain biking has gone mainstream, and been legitimized as an Olympic sport. NICA is making great strives towards establishing the sports as a legitimate high school sport. The time is ripe for things to change.

According to a June 5 post by Scouting Magazine blogger Bryan Wendell, “The trail to Cycling merit badge just got a bit rougher.”  He explained: “The BSA has approved a mountain biking option for Cycling, a merit badge mainstay since 1911. So for the first time, Scouts who prefer fat tires instead of thin can earn the badge.”

We’re excited about this news, and commend the BSA for listening to their membership’s needs. Because the Boy Scouts like to keep a relatively steady number of available badges, it was much easier to have a mountain biking option added to the existing cycling merit badge instead of adding a new badge. This makes complete sense, as there is a lot of overlap in the skills, fitness, basic mechanical knowledge and safety aspects in both cycling disciplines.

We also feel that mountain biking has a definite place in the Scouting movement, as many of the scouting principles can be directly applied to the sport. Mountain bikers must be prepared, they need to be kind and exercise good trail etiquette to share trails with other users, the sport encourages health and fitness, and stewardship of our public lands.

CORBA invites any and all boy scouts (and the general public) to our free Skills Clinics, offered on the first Saturday of each month at Malibu Creek State Park. These free clinics will help get new riders the basic skills to get started in mountain biking.  IMBA also offers a youth-oriented publication, aimed at teen mountain bikers.

 

Skills Clinic Photos for June 2, 2012

Sunday, June 3rd, 2012

Many thanks to Graham Martin who took over taking photos from Steve this month, who had another commitment for National Trails Day. It started off overcast but cleared for another beautiful day to be riding in Malibu Creek State Park! About 10 riders came out to participate in this month’s basic skills clinic. You can see them in the May Skills Clinic Photo Gallery.

Skills Clinic Photos for May 5, 2012

Saturday, May 5th, 2012

It was another beautiful day to be riding in Malibu Creek State Park! Eighteen riders came out to enjoy the fabulous weather today and participate in this month’s basic skills clinic. About eight were Mountain Bike Unit recruits. You can see them in the May Skills Clinic Photo Gallery.