Archive for the ‘GirlzGoneRiding’ Category

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.

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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Crags Rd trailwork summary from April 20.

Monday, April 22nd, 2019

This past Saturday, about 40 volunteers gathered at the M*A*S*H site in Malibu Creek State Park to fix up the Crags Rd trail section fondly known as the “Rock Garden” or “Creek of Doom” just before you arrive at the M*A*S*H site from the main entrance to the park on Malibu Canyon Rd.

Smoothing out the tread to fill in between the rocks sticking up.

Volunteers hailed from CORBA, the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council, Girlz Gone Riding and the Mountain Bike Unit.

Overall the trail was in pretty good shape after the Woolsey Fire burned all the hillside brush in November and then winter rains flooded everything, but there were a few very serious problems that we needed to address. The worst was a 3-foot culvert that was uprooted and deposited in the middle of the trail, blocking it, and leaving a deep rut where it had been. Also, a large oak tree was uprooted and fell across the trail.

The serious issues were dealt with as best we could with hand tools, and the whole trail was generally brushed to widen it, the tread was smoothed and debris was removed. Overall we restored about a half-mile of trail in 4.25 hours, including lunch (subway sandwiches provided by CORBA) and shuttling to and from the work site.

Thanks to all the volunteers who worked hard and did such a great job of restoring this trail in record time! You can view the rest of the photos in the Crags Rd trailwork photo gallery.

Crags Road Trail Restoration and lunch in MCSP on April 20, 2019

Friday, April 12th, 2019

Crags Road, also known as “The Rock Garden” or “The Creek of Doom,” suffered major blows this winter, first by the Woolsey Fire that decimated the hillsides, then rainstorms that tore the trail up pretty badly and covered parts with rock slides. We worked on this section not far from the M*A*S*H site in November 2017 (see photo above) and now we’re going back to fix it again.

This is a combined project between California State Parks, the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council, CORBA and Girlz Gone Riding.

All tools will be provided, as well as instructions on how to use them safely and effectively, by experienced trail crew leaders. No experience needed – everyone works at a rate they’re comfortable with and takes lots of breaks. Bring a snack to eat on the trail; CORBA will provide lunch after the event for those who sign up here.

Wear sturdy hiking boots with good lugs, long pants, a long-sleeved shirt, sunglasses, sunblock and a hat, and bring water, snacks. Bring work gloves if you have them. We have a few pairs we can loan to people without.

You can learn more about trail restoration work here http://corbamtb.com/programs/trail-crew.shtml and here http://smmtc.org/trailwork/voltips.php

Parents/guardians are responsible for minors at all times, and they must constantly and directly supervise children under 14. Children must be over 7-years old to attend. Please leave your four-legged friends at home!

Online signup is requested to help us plan the number of tools and the amount of lunch food we’ll need. Sign up at our Meetup page for this event https://www.meetup.com/CORBAmtb/events/259311989/

Map: http://tinyurl.com/3q6z8bm

IMBA Uprising Women’s Summit

Wednesday, March 28th, 2018

I was thrilled and honored that CORBA sent me to the very first IMBA Uprising women’s summit in Bentonville, AR. It was held at The Record from March 22nd-March 25th and was the brain child of Aimee Ross.

What is Uprising?
“IMBA’s UPRISING is a two-and-a-half day, hands-on, collaborative summit among female mountain bike leaders from all across the U.S.

This event is for women who want to make change in their communities by getting more women involved in mountain biking. This event is also for women who want to be on the forefront of shaping IMBA’s community outreach and organizing efforts in this space. We want to be an aggregator of the best information, resources and inspiration to engage more women in mountain biking, and we want to hear from those already doing it and those who want to. Help us shape our efforts in the best possible way to affect positive change.

The event will highlight the best women’s riding efforts happening across the country. UPRISING is centered around four guiding principles: Build, Ride, Learn and Engage. Come to learn best practices, get inspired, gather resources and network with the women who are influencing the mountain bike evolution.” (from the IMBA Uprising website: IMBA Uprising)

And true to it’s definition it was. WHAT an inspiring 3 days of amazing community leaders and aspiring leaders across the US.

I arrived Thursday night, never being to Bentonville, AR. Such a tiny airport, my favorite. I knew the town was bike friendly when one of the enormous signs inside the airport was of a mountain biker riding the trails. I ran into Jill Hamilton of Petal Power and Kamala Slight our GGR SD Chapter Director also just arriving heading to baggage claim. Outside the airport, Liz Kurtz and Tamara Napier, 2 of my leadership team members were waiting to pick me up. Tam and Liz were in the middle of a huge road trip covering many states and getting in some pretty rad biking.

After settling in our house and doing a little shopping, we headed over to the Record, a beautiful venue in downtown Bentonville where the summit was being held. We signed in, went to the open bar for some vino and started mingling. The rest of the leadership team that was able to attend was already there. Doris Dunn and Susie Murphy. There were 7 of us from the GGR leadership team attending. I was so very excited to talk to women from all over the US about everything from trail building, advocacy, leading rides, how to get more women biking and much more.

Saturday!
This was the 1st full day of the summit. Aimee Ross started the day off welcoming everyone and sharing her story of her brain child….IMBA Uprising.
Then we were lucky enough to have The Queen of Pain herself speak Rebecca Rusch. Rebecca was an enormous part of the Uprising summit. She spoke, showed her movie Blood Road, road with us and answered any questions you may have had about anything!
There were many great talks throughout the day. GGR even got to speak to a room full of curious women on how to engage their community and their club. With the help of Jill Hamilton, we spoke about engagement and starting your own club in their respective communities. We were super stoked to be approached by women in Missouri, Wisconsin, Tennessee and Northern California that wanted to learn more about starting their own GGR chapter or their own club.
For all the speakers, check out the list here: IMBA Uprising Speakers

Friday late afternoon it was time to ride and check out the amazing local trails in Bentonville. Bentonville is FULL of cyclists and all about mountain biking! They LOVE cyclists there and are constantly building new trails. The trails were super flowey and well groomed. We had a blast!

Finally, Friday evening, all of us were lucky to view Blood Road. This is Rebecca Rusch’s moving about her expedition to locate where her fathers plane went down in the war. She then stayed for Q&A after. She and her riding partner rode 1200 miles on this adventure!

Saturday was my favorite day.
We had panels, interactive talks and of course got to shred some RAD flow lines in Bentonville! People for Bikes put on a Draft event after the rides. One of the events was each woman on a panel had 3 minutes to speak, then was able to take questions. These were all industry leaders that spoke about different topics.
IMBA then provided dinner! A buffet with open bar. We then said our good bye’s and walked over to the Church for drinks and chit chat. Yes Church! There is a super cool Church in town with stained glass windows that have bikes in the designs. They turned the bottom floor into a bar! So many of us checked it out and enjoyed martini’s and vino.

Sunday I decided to sleep in and do some job hunting. Tam and Liz went riding with some of the group and Susie, Jill and Kamala went to the museum. I reflected on all the empowerment I felt over the last few days and was disappointed to get on a plane and come home.

This women’s summit gave me empowerment, friendship, riding and hope for our future. I’ve been mountain biking for 13 years now. After every single ride, even after 13 years, riding still makes me feel like I can conquer anything. This is why I ride and this is why I want more women to ride.

Until the next IMBA Uprising women’s summit, let’s build more trails, attend more trail work, engage our communities and educate those on trail etiquette and what is going on with our cycling communities.

I thank IMBA, Aimee Ross and CORBA for this wonderful adventure and opportunity.

Wendy Engelberg, GGR & CORBA
GGR: Girlz Gone RidingGGR: Girlz Gone Riding

 

Girlz Gone Riding on October 29th holds their 7th Rocktober Festival and CORBA membership Drive!

Wednesday, August 30th, 2017

The 7th annual Rocktober Restival will be held on October 29th from 8am-3pm at Castaic Lake, Castaic, CA. This is a FREE event for all participants and is a ladies only cross country event and CORBA Membership drive. The day consists of guided, no drop rides for ALL levels! Beginner/Greenie riders are welcomed with opened arms!

  • Kids ride!
  • Skills Clinics
  • Raffles
  • Demo Bikes
  • Exhibitors
  • Awards

For the full event schedule, go to the GGR website here: http://www.girlzgoneriding.com/event-schedule.html

You MUST register for this event! Registration will go live Thursday, August 31st on Event Brite:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rocktober-festival-corba-membership-drive-2017-tickets-36671733141

Look for news on these upcoming events:

  • November: CORBA Pancake breakfast at Michael’s Bicycles presented by GGR (date to be determined)
  • November 11th: Trail work day on Crags Road in MCSP. Online registration requested!
  • December: GGR’s annual XMAS party: CO ED

2016: A Busy, Productive Year

Wednesday, January 4th, 2017

2016 is behind us, and what a year it was for CORBA and mountain bikers! We were extremely busy last year, cutting trails, cutting trees, and working on behalf of the mountain bike community to ensure continued and improved access to mountain biking in the greater Los Angeles and Eastern Ventura County areas.

Jim Burton cuts the ceremonial ribbon, as Steve Messer, Matt Lay and Jenny Johnson of MWBA, and Ken's daughters Heather and Tania look on.

Opening of Ken Burton Trail

In 2016, the Gabrielino Trail Restoration project, with REI, Bellfree Contractors, and Los Angeles Conservation Corps, was completed.  Ken Burton Trail restoration with MWBA was completed, opening the Ken Burton trail and a popular loop after seven years of closure, thousands of volunteer hours, and nearly three years of planning.

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GGR: Girlz Gone Riding Year in Review

Friday, December 30th, 2016

2016 marked a year not only in immense growth in the women’s mountain biking movement and GGR, but was a true year in growth for my own adventures on the bike.

Highlights!
GGR added 2 new chapters in 2016!
Kern County headed up by Tracy Jones! Kern County GGR Chapter

Mojave Desert Chapter headed up by an awesome leadership team of Kingman, AZ locals!Mojave Desert Chapter

Specialized and Cynergy Cycles presented me with a 2016 Specialized ERA Expert for the 2016 season! WHAT an honor to ride this incredible machine! This bike earned me many podium spots and incredible adventures! I was so very honored to have ridden this bike for the season!

Another super fun and successful Women’s Only Weekend in Big Bear! Every August, GGR & Bear Valley Bikes Bear Valley Bikes hosts a women’s only weekend in Big Bear. I think this summer’s was by far my favorite. Since we had more vet ride volunteer leaders for Saturday’s Down Hill at Snow Summit, we were able to now add a beginner’s DH group. So all of the riders groups were perfectly matched in speed and ability so all ladies just crushed it! We had a huge group dinner Saturday night and Sunday half the ladies went to XC in Fawnskin and the rest got an INTRO to Enduro day thanks to Bev at Rim Nordic! Rim Nordic Mountain Bike Park

On a personal note, I had the most incredible and adventurist summer of racing bikes with friends. I had the amazing opportunity to race XC at the super fun summer series Pedalfest: Pedal Fest Enduro at Rim Nordic: Rim Nordic Bike Park and race on teams for 6 and 12 hour endurance events hosted by SoCal Endurance who always, always encourage women to race! SoCal Endurance

The highlight every year for GGR is of course our annual Rocktober Festival. This year was different….new location….Castaic Lake and pouring rain. We still had well over 200 women that not only showed up but stayed the day. They rode around the lake, demo’d bikes, took a skills clinic and shopped at all the vendors. RST Suspension and REI were the title sponsors for this year’s festival. BOTH companies are very involved in their communities and support women’s mountain biking. This year’s community award went to The Squeaky Wheel Bike shop! The Squeaky Wheel Bike Shop. The most improved rider for 2016 went to Anne Yeoh of the Inland Empire chapter! Leigh Donovan was back again as head coach leading our skills clinic from I Choose Bikes.
The date is set for the 2017 Rocktober Festival! October 8th at Castaic Lake! Registration opens August 18th. This is a FREE event for all women mountain bikers!

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GGR ended the year with our annual CO ED holiday ride and luncheon. January brings on a new and exciting year! Chapter rides, endurance races and January 28th, we have the REI ALL OUT/OPT OUTSIDE event at Malibu Creek State Park. REI has asked CORBA and GGR to run the mountain bike portion of their event! We are so very excited and honored to be a part of this day! Spots are limited, so get signed up now! It’s free! REI All Out Event January 28th 2017

Until next time….we at GGR wish all of you a bright new year of prosperity, health, happiness and most important…epic riding!

Join our Board Meeting every 4th Monday

Tuesday, March 1st, 2016

Come and join us to learn about current issues and let us know what concerns you! Always open to the public, the CORBA Board of Directors’ meeting is held the 4th Monday of the month in Woodland Hills. REI is kind enough to let us use their meeting room, for which we thank them profusely!

Every month (except December, when we have no meeting), we discuss these topics:

  • Issues of trail access for mountain bikers
  • Mountain bike advocacy and ambassadorship
  • Public involvement
  • The latest news from the land managers, including State Parks and National Park Service
  • Trail building and restoration
  • Furthering woman’s mountain biking
  • Bike parks and other dedicated mountain bike facilities or trails
  • Education and etiquette
  • Anything brought forward by members of the public

The meetings are 6:30 – 8 pm at the REI in Woodland Hills:

6220 Topanga Canyon Blvd
Woodland Hills, CA 91367
P: (818) 703-5300

Google Map and Directions

We look forward to seeing you there!

January 2016 Skills Clinic and Beginners’ Ride Photos Posted December 3

Sunday, January 3rd, 2016

Malibu Creek State Park was busy with visitors on the second day of 2016. The morning started off overcast and chilly for 15 riders at the Basic Skills Clinic.  The clinic is always held the first Saturday of the month. You can see the photos in our January photo gallery. This month, the clinic was followed by a Beginners’ Ride, sponsored by Cynergy Cycles and led by CORBA and GGR Director Wendy Engelberg. Photos of the ride can be seen at the end of the skills clinic photo gallery.