Guest photographer Graham Martin filled in for Steve this month who was leading another event to commemorate National Trails Day. As always, there was a good group at Malibu Creek State Park for the Skills Clinic. The weather started out cloudy but cleared by the end of the class. You can see the June photos in the June 2014 photo gallery.
Archive for the ‘Rides and Events’ Category
June Skills Clinic photos posted Sunday, June 8
Sunday, June 8th, 2014President’s Message: The Station Fire
Thursday, June 5th, 2014
It has been almost five years since the Station Fire was set by arsonists along Highway 2 near the base of Mount Lukens. I was there on August 26, 2009 when it started. I was also there last week when the Station Fire General Closure Order expired. This opened up Strawberry Peak loop, a trail system that has been the focus of several different groups for the past eighteen months. Though it’s a significant milestone, there is much more to be done.
Mountain Bike Magazine Station Fire
This takes me back to a June 2010 Mountain Bike Magazine article about the Station Fire. While the magazine is no longer published, a copy of the story is archived on our web site. Reading it will help you realize what has been accomplished since.
We all wish that things could have happened faster, but the assumptions of the article have held up. Matt Lay/Mount Wilson Bicycling Association (MWBA), and I were featured in the article as mountain bikers on a mission to help restore the trails. Both CORBA and the MWBA have lived up to that promise, with many trails affected by the fire now open due (at least in part) to our efforts. We have to thank our volunteers, our members, and REI for their generous support, all of whom helped make it possible.
Of course, mountain bikers were not alone in the effort to restore trails. Many nonprofit groups, trail user groups, and individual volunteers continue to make significant contributions to restoration and maintenance. Professional crews including Bellfree Contractors and the LA Conservation Corps have also been involved.
As mentioned, the work is not yet done. The general closure expired and was replaced by a much more manageable list of closed trails. Among them are several fire roads and at least two local mountain biking favorites: a section of the Gabrielino Trail and the Ken Burton Trail. CORBA and the MWBA have pending work plans for both trails, and the Forest Service is working to reopen the fire roads. Stay tuned.
And there will always be a need to do trail maintenance, above and beyond restoration efforts.
Trails don’t maintain themselves. Join us.
– Steve Messer
Danusia Memorial Ride
Wednesday, June 4th, 2014
Danusia Memorial Ride
Last weekend, on the May 31st one-year anniversary of Danusia Bennett-Tabor’s passing, an informal memorial service/ride was held at Malibu Creek State Park. It was a solemn but cheerful event, organized by Wendy Engelberg and the Girlz Gone Riding volunteers, a group that started with Kim Cofield, Wendy and Danusia. Wendy also wrote a wonderful report about the memorial ride with photos by Jesse Ettinger and others. Read it on the GGR blog.
There were many cheerful moments, interspersed with a few tears, as friends told stories about their wonderful experiences with Danusia. Steve Messer made sure everyone appreciated how much she did for CORBA, and how her work continues to guide us.
Recently, CBS did a special report on the cancer and procedures that ultimately took Danusia’s life. Her husband Don told her story in the CBS report on Leiomyosarcoma. Almost $1000 in donations were accepted on behalf of the Sarcoma Alliance, followed by the real celebration: riding.
Thanks to everyone who came to Malibu Creek to remember Danusia.
Girlz Gone Riding News for June 2014
Tuesday, June 3rd, 2014
Please keep an eye out for GGR’s new website that will be up in the next few weeks! The website will have the Google calendar of events that matches the Facebook events, the entire line of GGR cycling clothes to purchase, blog, an email sign up to keep up with announcements and events, and the MOST important a FORUM! GGR’s Face Book page is so busy that we needed to create a forum so posts won’t get lost. The forum will be open to all GGR members to post and respond. Threads can be relative to cycling, fitness, nutrition, etc.
The Wenches with Wrenches workshop scheduled THIS Sunday is now cancelled due to Vince from JRA Bikes & Brew breaking his ankle. JRA was hosting the workshop. We wish him a speedy recovery! This workshop will be rescheduled at a later date.
Please sign up for our quarterly ride in Reseda June 21st! ALL LEVELS WELCOMED! Sign up here: https://www.facebook.com/events/682243968509473/
Submitted by Wendy Engelberg, http://www.girlzgoneriding.com/
Photos from Danusia’s May 31 Memorial and Rides
Tuesday, June 3rd, 2014Photos from Jesse Ettinger and Wendy Engelberg have been assembled into a photo gallery. If you missed the event, you can see some of the happenings in the photo gallery.
Malibu Adventure Games May 17
Friday, May 2nd, 2014
The Malibu Adventure Games return to Malibu Creek State Park May 17 with added mountain biking activities. Along with a poker ride with two different distances, there will also be a family blackjack ride where participants can win prizes by beating the dealer at various stations. CORBA’s Mark Langton will also be providing a free skills clinic prior to the poker rides.
Also at the event will be activities for the whole family including a climbing wall, nature walks, kids XTERRA 1-mile fun run, yoga classes, and a fitness expo.
Also taking place during the event are the XTERRA 22K and 6K trail runs. Proceeds from the event go to the Malibu Creek Docents to support Malibu Creek State Park. For more information go to malibuadventuregames.com.
2014 Santa Monica Mountains Trail Days Trailwork Report and Photo Galleries
Monday, April 28th, 2014
Rangers serve the barbecue on Saturday night. As well as hot dogs, there was chicken, tri-tip beef and veggie-burgers.
This past weekend, a large number of volunteers from CORBA, the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council, the Sierra Club and other organizations, and individuals gathered for the 33rd annual Santa Monica Mountains Trail Days at the Danielson campground in Pt Mugu State Park. Folks could arrive Friday evening, camp overnight, help with the trails on Saturday, enjoy the barbecue dinner prepared by park staff, win some cool swag in the prize give-away during dinner, camp overnight, help with the trails on Sunday, have lunch back at the campground, then depart for home. Of course only a few people stayed for the whole weekend, but many camped for at least one night, and most stayed for the Saturday BBQ and prize give-away.
On Saturday, there were about 110 volunteers who split into five groups. The largest groups worked on Old Boney Trail in the State Wilderness Area and Sage Trail. Others went to the top of Hidden Pond Trail and youngsters under 10 cleared small rockfalls off the Sin Nombre and Two Foxes Trails. A dozen hardy souls (with hardy soles) hiked almost three miles (and up about 1400′) carrying tools to work on the Chamberlain Trail, also in the wilderness area.
The group of about 30 volunteers who worked on Sage consisted of CORBA folks, a few geocachers, and others. The trail had just been SWECO’d (plowed by a small trail-sized bulldozer) to level the trail, smooth out the ruts, and narrow it. The trail is narrower now because it used to be the full width of a fire road, and now the travel surface is about half as wide. The SWECO is only able to get so close to the edge, so the work consisted of pulling down the berm (pile of dirt) the machine left at the outside edge of the trail, sloping the trail about 5-degrees to the outside so rainwater will run off, rather than down the middle, and removing the larger rocks.
Putting the finishing touches on the Sage Trail on Saturday after it was leveled, smoothed and narrowed by the SWECO trail bulldozer.
There were also a few spots of severe erosion and rutting on the side of the trail where rain water had run off, taking some of the trail with it. In one case, the erosion extended about half-way into the trail. To prevent future rain from extending these ruts and eventually washing the trail away completely, we built rock walls down the ruts to reinforce the side next to the trail. The idea is that the water will run off the trail and down the rock wall, protecting the dirt underneath from being washed away. The rocks will also slow and disperse the water, so it doesn’t wash away the dirt below the wall and undermine it.
Overall we worked about 2300 feet of trail, from the bottom to where the now-closed Art’s Trail joins it.
We headed back to the campground at about 2:00 pm, although crew leader Virginia from the Trails Council stayed about a half hour longer, and CORBA’s Steve Messer stayed even longer. Some people just won’t quit until the job is finished!
We always have a much smaller group for the Sunday work day, so all 30 of us returned to Sage Trail to finish off the top 1700′. It only took until about noon to get this shorter section completed.
Sage Trail is a little loose after our trailwork, but it’s not too loose to ride. It should be packed down in two or three weeks, as Guadalasca Trail was after we did the same work there last spring. The trail will also regain its single-track width after enough people have ridden it to define a preferred course.
CORBA, the Trails Council, local chapters of the Sierra Club, California State Park, the National Park Service and other would like to give a tremendous Thank-You to all the volunteers who helped over the weekend, both working on the trails to keep them in top shape, and organizing and coordinating in the camping and registration area!
You can view more photos of the trailwork in the Saturday photo gallery and the Sunday photo gallery.
Join the Danusia Taber Memorial Ride May 31st
Friday, April 18th, 2014Please join us for the 1st annual Danusia Taber Memorial ride at MCSP (Malibu Creek State Park) at 9AM on May 31st. This ride will be to honor Danusia Taber who passed away in May of 2013 of Leimyosarcoma, a rare cancer. This is also a fund raiser ride for the Sarcoma Alliance the non profit that helped Danusia in her time of need. Please donate prior to the ride in Danusia’s Memory here: http://sarcomaalliance.org/donate/donate-now/
You can also bring cash or a check made out to The Sarcoma Alliance and turn it into me at the Memorial site at 9am.
Danusia was instrumental in getting GGR off the ground. She was there from the beginning with direction, motivation and helping with partnerships such as CORBA. She was a CORBA board member, an MBU patroller, a mentor and great friend to many. Before she passed, she approved the Danusia Bell program. These are small bells to place on your bike or pack alerting other trail users you are there. 100% of these profits also go to the Sarcoma Alliance per Danusia. You can purchase your Danusia bells here: http://www.girlzgoneriding.com/ggr_products/
or here: http://corbamtb.com/store/store.shtml.
Danusia riding on the Wood Canyon Trail in Pt Mugu State Park
We will have 3 levels of rides:
• Beginner & Advanced Beginner: Riding to the dam and back: about 8 miles
• Intermediate: Short Bull dog loop & Grasslands: about 15 miles with 1500 feet of climbing
• Advanced: New Millennium Loop & Grasslands: about 19 miles with 3400 feet of climbing.
All riders will meet at the Memorial spot at 9am to have a brief revisit of Danusia’s life and why we are there for her and the fund raising efforts. If you have a story to tell about Danusia, I will open up the area to anyone who does. We would love to hear it! She was a character and we all have many great stories!
Please meet at the SOUTH end of Mott Motorway where the memorial service was held last year: http://www.venturacountytrails.org/TrailMaps/MalibuCreek/AreaTrails.htm#Map. Mott is #7 on the Map.
You can further show your support by signing up for this event on our Meetup group here http://www.meetup.com/CORBAmtb/events/153915552/ and encouraging all your friends to come along!
If you have any questions on the event or ride, please contact Wendy Engelberg: wendy@girlzgoneriding.com
I thank you so very much in advance for supporting this event. GGR Girl and Proud CORBA member Wendy E
April Skills Clinic photos published Saturday, April 5
Saturday, April 5th, 2014The April 2014 Skills Clinic Skills Clinic at Malibu Creek State Park, on a sunny but cool day, was made up of 25 riders. There was a small amount of water in the stream crossing this month, but we didn’t ride across because of the large number of hikers wandering back and forth. Maybe they were looking for tadpoles. So we didn’t get a chance to ride through the stream yet again. You can see the April photos in the April 2014 photo gallery.
State Parks Rulemaking Comments
Friday, April 4th, 2014Today was the deadline for comments on the draft State Parks Rules concerning trail use. The proposed rule would hinder the process of gaining access to more trails for bicycles in State Parks.
We understand that hundreds of letters were written by our IMBA Alert recipients, for which we thank you.
Below are comments submitted by CORBA.
________________
April 3, 2014
Alexandra Stehl, Statewide Trails Program Manager
California Department of Parks and Recreation
PO Box, 942896
Sacramento, CA 94296
Alexandra.Stehl@parks.ca.gov
Re: State Parks Proposed RuleMaking Comments
Dear Ms. Stehl,
I am submitting these comments on behalf of the Concerned Off Road Bicyclists Association (CORBA), a chapter of the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA). We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit representing offroad cyclists in the Los Angeles and Ventura County region. We have been working closely with State Parks on trailrelated issues since our founding in 1987. Our volunteer trail crews have contributed many thousands of hours of labor to trail maintenance efforts in State Parks. We serve as a bridge between land managers and the mountain biking community, educating and encouraging trail users on proper trail etiquette and responsible trail use, while at the same time advocating for protection of public lands and equitable access to the trails by which the public enjoys those resources for all trail users.
Despite comments from CORBA and many others calling for language of inclusion for § 4360 Trail Use in both the first round of private discussions and the subsequent round of public comments, we were once again dismayed to read the same policies of inequality and exclusion, favoring one group (Hikers) over two others (Equestrians and Cyclists).
We still stand by the language suggested by IMBA in the last round of comments as follows:
§ 4360 Trail Use
State park trails are open to nonmotorized users including hikers, bicyclists, and equestrians unless otherwise designated. Trail use designations are established based upon user needs, visitor safety and environmental sustainability. This includes access to trails in Reserves and Preserves, as defined in PRC Sections 5019.65, 5019.71 and 5019.74, where particular emphasis will be placed upon importance of public access to the area, or desirability of providing important connections to other trails, provided impacts to special resources for which the area was established will be less than significant.
Such a policy of inclusion would give the most welcoming signals to the broadest population; it would allow policies regarding all non-motorized trail users to be developed from an equal starting point. It would help change the perceived tone of State Parks where “NO…. “ signs sometimes seem to outnumber signs with a more positive message.
Gross inequities still exist in the allocation of singletrack trails to shared use including bicycles vs. trails open to equestrians and hikers. It has been clearly stated that whatever the outcome of this rulemaking, nothing on the ground will change without going through the already approved formal Change in Use process. It would, however, help guide us into a more equitable future.
If fact, the CIU-PEIR Appendices have the most clear and current research on user conflict, finding that perceived conflict is relatively rare, and actual confict rarer still. Other research shows that the trail impacts of bicycles is similar to that of hikers, and less than that of equestrians. If protection of the resources are a priority, it makes little sense to allow a user group that has a greater impact on trails than one with a lesser impact.
The former director of State Parks once stated that “we need to engage our youth and get them excited about our parks.” Consider the phenomenal growth of the High School Mountain Bike League. There are now well over 1000 high school students, and now Middle School students (pilot program), who are participating in competitive cross country mountain bike races on school-based teams in California. The Southern California League started 6 years ago with about 70 high school students racing. This year there are over 500 students registered in the league from more than 40 teams. A very large proportion of these student-athletes are mountain biking for the first time when they start riding with their school team. These students have taken to mountain biking, and many will continue to enjoy the great outdoors by bicycle far beyond their school years. The high school league promotes stewardship, encouraging their student-athletes to give back to the trails in the form of volunteer trailwork. Most teams have done so. The proposed rule sends the wrong message to these kids, that they are not welcome at State Parks with their bicycles. Is this policy of exclusion how the agency can best engage a new generation of State Park visitors, our upcoming stewards of the land?
As a group we advocate for shareduse trails, and feel that the message sent by the proposed exclusionary and negative language sends the wrong message to State Park unit superintendents and managers. It sets the wrong example for other land management agencies who may be influenced by State Park rules and policies.
State Parks now has a policy favoring multi-use trails over single or dual-use. The mission of State Parks includes “creating opportunities for high-quality outdoor recreation.” This policy is not supported by the proposed rule.
This policy is also in direct opposition to the findings and efforts of the Parks Forward Committee. Responsiveness to community needs is one of the goals of that committee. Clearly, when cyclists comprise a large proportion of trail users (on the trails they are permitted), and the gross inequities in trails open to bicycles still exist, that is not meeting community needs.
While some user groups have complained about the “excessive” number of bicycles on some trails, increasing perceived conflict, a rule and policy allowing access to a greater range of trails will help disperse cyclists across more trails, reducing the social impacts on any particular trail.
Those who would rather use trails where bicycles are prohibited still have many trails to choose from, including all of those in designated State wildernesses, the Pacific Crest trail, and many other City trails (here in Los Angeles).
The proposed language has the potential to further and compound perceived user conflict by giving one user group a sense of “superiority” over other user groups; it legitimizes and reinforces this perceived conflict, and discourages the sharing of multiuse trails. As outlined in the State Parks Trail Change In Use PEIR, Appendix A, even perceived conflict is rare, and actual incidents are rarer still. The language we are proposing will help promote a sense of community, sharing of trails, and is in line with State Parks’ stated goals of providing more trail opportunities to offroad cyclists.
Again, we encourage you to consider the language proposed by IMBA, or some variation that indicates trails are open to all users, unless they have been ordered closed.
Minimum Tool Use
We understand the intent of the term “non-mechanized” as used in the Minimum Tool use for Preserves and Reeserves is to apply to tool use only, and not to trail users. However, the perception by anyone familiar with the Wilderness Act is that bicycles are not permitted. The context in which it is used fails to clearly indicate that this does not mean bicycles are prohibited from preserves and reserves. A cursory reading by a State Park employee might lead to that wrong conclusion. It certainly does that to the public, again creating an unwelcoming message to bicyclists.
Language from the Wilderness Act is specific to the management of wilderness. Park units that are managed under a different desgination and for different purpose to Wilderness should have language specific to that designation. How can a cultural preserve, whose mission is to preserve and protect man-made historically significant artifacts or structures, be managed in the same way as Wilderness, whose mission is to preserve and protect pristine habitats? So once again, we would like to see language other than “non-mechanized” used in this context for Preserves and Reserves.
For Minimum Tool use we might suggest the following language, or something similar: “using the tools and methods with the least resource impacts possible to get the task done, and excluding motorized or mechanized equipment.”
If you have any questions about the above suggestions and comments, please feel free to contact me. I urge and look forward to another round of drafts for public review.
Sincerely,
Steve Messer
President, Concerned Off-Road Bicyclists Association
323-743-3682
CC: Major General Anthony Jackson, Director, California State Parks
John Laird, Secretary, Natural Resources Agency
Lousi Nastro, Assistant to the California State Park and Recreation Commission
Fran Pavley, District 27 State Senator
Matthew Dababneh, District 45 Assembly Member
About CORBA: The Concerned Off-Road Bicyclists Association (CORBA) is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and a chapter of the International Mountain Bicyclists Association (IMBA). Formed in 1987, CORBA works with land managers and the off-road cycling community at large to foster off-road cycling as a healthy, sustainable outdoor recreation in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. CORBA is dedicated to preserving open space, maintaining public access to public lands, and creating more trail opportunities for all to enjoy. CORBA works with California State Parks, National Park Service, National Forest Service, Mountains Recreation Conservation Authority, Conejo Open Space Agency, as well as other local City and County government agencies. Our Volunteer Trail Crew, Youth Adventures, Free Skills Clinics, CORBA Kids Club and other programs promote off-road cycling recreation, and the responsible use and stewardship of our trails and open spaces.
