Archive for the ‘Rides and Events’ Category

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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.

Posted in Free Basic Skills Clinic, GirlzGoneRiding, Rides and Events, Santa Monica Mountains | Comments Closed

IMBA Trail Care Crew comes to the Angeles National Forest

Wednesday, October 31st, 2012

The weekend of October 20, together with the Mount Wilson Bicycling Association, CORBA hosted the IMBA Trail Care Crew for a visit to the Angeles National Forest. By all measurements, the visit was a great success, even as over 180 volunteers, 30 of them from CORBA, helped build trails in the Conejo Open Space on a conflicting event.

IMBA Trail Care Crew Visit with CORBA

IMBA Trail Care Crew Visit with CORBA

 

Jesse and Lori, Night Ride

Jesse and Lori, natives of Missouri, are six months into their two-year tour as the IMBA Trail Care crew.  Their visit to the San Gabriels started with a Thursday Night ride on the most recently re-opened singletrack trail in the San Gabriels, the Rim of the Valley Trail on Mount Lukens. This trail has undergone extensive restoration by a dedicated crew of City of Glendale volunteers, with earlier work done by CORBA’s former Trail Crew leader, Hans Kiefer a professional trailbuilding contractor and owner of Bellfree Contractors. The trail was in the best condition it has ever been in, aside from a burnt and mangled bridge near the bottom. The volunteer crew were able to cut a narrow trail around the bridge, though for most it will be a hike-a-bike. It’s a steep trail, with lots of very tight switchbacks and cliff-side exposure, definitely not for everyone.

Friday, October 19, day two of the visit, Steve Messer, and the TCC’s Jesse and Lori were joined by Gabriel Wanderley who is touring the country to learn about trail issues to take back to his native Brazil. He is hoping to get IMBA Brazil up and running over the coming year, expanding IMBA’s international presence. The four went up to Strawberry Peak Trail, for which CORBA has received a generous grant from REI to help rebuild, to map out a re-route. Messer had previously hiked the general corridor of the re-route with the Forest Service archaeologist, after the previous planned re-route was found to pass through a sensitive area.  As the crew familiarized themselves with the terrain, the general route was marked and rough-flagged in prep for the following day’s class.

 

 

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Posted in IMBA News, Rides and Events, San Gabriel Mountains, Trail Building and Restoration, Trail Crew | Comments Closed

First Girlz Gone Riding Photos Posted

Monday, October 29th, 2012

The Girlz Gone Riding event, held October 28 at Malibu Creek State Park, was a huge success! If you were unable to attend, you can get a feeling for the excitement through the photo:

Other galleries of photos will be published over the next few days so keep an eye on the photo galleries home page to catch the updates!

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

Posted in GirlzGoneRiding, Rides and Events, Santa Monica Mountains | Comments Closed

CORBA Using Meetup.com for Managing Events

Friday, October 26th, 2012

CORBA has started using the facilities of Meetup.com to manage and publicize our events. You can get to our Meetup group at http://www.meetup.com/CORBAmtb/. We plan to use this Meetup group for events like recreational rides, trailwork days and fundraisers. Currently we are not planning to use it for the monthly free basic skills clinic.

The first Meetup has already been added for the Ride and Mingle event on November 17th at Topanga State Park.

Group members (people who have joined CORBA’s Meetup group) will enjoy these capabilities:

  • Recieve email notices of upcoming events
  • See all your friends who have already RSVP’d (registered) for an event
  • Once you have RSVP’d for an event, you’ll recieve an email reminder of the event a day or two beforehand
  • You can change your RSVP at any time before the event starts
  • You can make comments and ask questions about the event
  • You can receive email copies of questions and comments on events you’ve shown an interest in (RSVP’d for or made a comment on)
  • When an event is finished, you can make comments on how much you enjoyed the event (hopefully a lot!) and you can upload your photos to share with other participants
  • You can make comments on your photos and those of others, and reply to others’ comments

Of course this is all free!

In order to join our Meetup group, go to http://www.meetup.com/CORBAmtb/ and click on the “Join Us” button. Fill out the requested information (it’s very short) and click on the “Submit” button at the bottom. If you are already a Meetup member for another group, make sure you’re logged in first so Meetup knows who you are.

Once you’ve joined us on Meetup, you won’t miss hearing about any of our fantastic activities!

Posted in CORBA News, Rides and Events | Comments Closed

COSCA Trail Work Day Oct. 2012 Turns Out Big Numbers: Report and Photo Gallery

Saturday, October 20th, 2012

Steve Clark of CORBA and the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council pauses during work on the re-routed section of Hawk Canyon Trail.

The 22nd COSCA Trail Work Day had one of the largest turnouts in history this past Saturday with 160 volunteers helping build nearly a mile of new trail in the Western Plateau area to the west of Wildwood Park. An entirely new section of trail was installed which re-routed the existing trail away from an unstable stream-side exposure.

Blake Donley (left) won the grand prize Giant Revel 4 mountain bike, donated by Giant Bicycles, at the Trail Work Day opportunity drawing.

The staging location was new this year, with volunteers meeting at the new Santa Rosa Park facility off Sant Rosa Road in Santa Rosa Valley. The Western Plateau area of the Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency will be getting many more miles of trails installed within the next several years.

See our photo gallery to see all the goings on!

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Posted in Conejo Valley, Trail Building and Restoration | 1 Comment »

October Skills Clinic Photos

Friday, October 19th, 2012

The October Skills Clinic photos have been published.

Posted in Free Basic Skills Clinic, Santa Monica Mountains | Comments Closed

Ride And Mingle (RAM) Nov 17 Building Momentum

Saturday, October 6th, 2012

In celebration of CORBA’s 25th Anniversary, on November 17 we will Ride up to The Hub in Topanga State Park and Mingle for a photo opportunity to show land managers and the trail user community that mountain bikers can and do coexist on the trails. We are hoping for 250 (or more) riders. Save the date and spread the word!

We’ll meet at 10am and around 10:30 we’ll take the group shot. We’ll then hand out cash prizes, with the top cash amount being $1,000. We’ll also be having a 50/50 drawing, so bring $20 in cash and put it into the pot, with the lucky winner getting half of whatever is collected and the other half going to CORBA.

How do you get to The Hub? There are several trail head locations you can start from. Reseda Blvd., Trippet Ranch, Sullivan Canyon, Mulholland Drive (dirt) from the east (Encino) or west (Woodland Hills), Will Rogers State Historic Park, Westridge Fireroad, and San Vicente Mountain Park (Nike Site), to name a few.

Check this map with all the trails and trailheads. The Hub is marked with a blue dot and the letter “z.”

Or, download this map. The Hub and the major trailheads are circled. Print it and bring it with you so you don’t get lost!

Though no RSVP is required, you can let us know you’re planning to Ride and Mingle on CORBA’s Meetup group.

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Posted in Advocacy, Rides and Events, Santa Monica Mountains | Comments Closed

CORBA Presentation for Land Managers, October 19, 2012

Monday, October 1st, 2012

CORBA and our neighboring IMBA chapter, the Mount Wilson Bicycling Association, will be co-hosting the IMBA Trail Care Crew for a visit to our local mountains. As a part of their visit, we are together hosting a session for Land Managers. The session will introduce you to IMBA as an organization. Attendees will learn how we, as local IMBA Chapters, can help land managers with their trails and open space programs, as well as up-to-date techniques and principles of trail design and construction. Additionally the Trail Care Crew will teach a one-day trailbuilding and maintenance class for volunteers.

The IMBA Trail Care Crew is world-renowned for their expertise in trail design, maintenance, and other issues. This is a unique opportunity to learn from those who live, breathe, and eat multi-use trails year-round, and to exchange ideas about trail construction, conflict resolution and other issues shared by most land managers.

The session is being held at the Angeles National Forest headquarters.

From the IMBA web site: “The Land Manager training educates land managers on IMBA and the practice of designing, building and maintaining sustainable trails; as well as the importance of partnerships with local mountain biking organizations to achieve great trails. The curriculum is geared toward land managers who oversee land that is either provides, or has the potential to provide mountain biking opportunities. This presentation is essential to inform land managers and community leaders on how to partner with clubs to build responsible, thoughtful trails. This presentation helps grow local group’s trust in IMBA, trail building and mountain biking.”

Besides the United States Forest Service, California State Parks, and Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation, we cordially invite all local government agencies and trail advocacy organizations in our area. The session size is limited to 30 people.

Please RSVP or email any questions to steve at corbamtb.com, or call 323-743-3682. 

IMBA Trail Care Crew with CORBA and MWBA
Land Managers’ Workshop
Friday, October 19, 2012, 1pm – 4pm.
Angeles National Forest Headquarters
701 N. Santa Anita Ave,
Arcadia, CA 91006

Directions: Google Map. If you are on the 210 freeway heading east, exit Santa Anita Avenue, and turn right at the off-ramp. Then turn immediately right into the ANF Headquarters, just a few yards south of the off-ramp. From the 210 west, turn left, proceed under the freeeway, and look for the first driveway after passing the eastbound freeway off ramp.

Posted in Angeles National Forest, IMBA News, San Gabriel Mountains, Trail Building and Restoration, Trail Crew, Verdugo Mountains | Comments Closed

CORBA Parties Like It’s 1987

Monday, October 1st, 2012

Diane Kolvenbach is presented her new Specialized Carve donated by Cycle World and Specialized, by former CORBA Board of Director Peter Heumann

CORBA’s 25th Anniversary Party at Founders Hall in Calabasas on September 29 was a mix of nostalgia and looking toward the future. Past accomplishments were highlighted, including the miles of trails that are open to cycling in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SMMNRA) thanks to CORBA, as well as CORBA’s programs: Trail Crew, Youth Adventures, Kid’s Club, Free Skills Class, and Advocacy. Special recognition awards were given to those individuals who have made a substantial difference to CORBA and its programs: Lance Biscoe (MBU, Youth Adventures), Danny Ybarra (Youth Adventures), Dave Dwyer (Youth Adventures), and Jim Shanman (Advocacy, graphic design). Achievement Awards were given to individuals for their outstanding contributions over 25 years: Al Farrell (philanthropy, advocacy), Troy Braswell (advocacy), Mark Langton (CORBA Skills Class), and Jack Dwyer (MBU).

A highlight of the event, whose guests included representatives from National Park Service, California Department of Parks and Recreation, National Forest Service, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, Los Angeles County, and Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, was a special proclamation presented by City of Calabasas Mayor Mary Sue Maurer in appreciation of CORBA’s 25 years of advocacy.

The evening’s keynote speaker was Jim Hasenauer, CORBA founder and member of the Governing Board of the Mountain Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA). Hasenauer emphasized there is still much work to do. With the SMMNRA’s impending Interagency Trail Management Plan, as well as a  public comment period opening up in 2013 to address shared use on the Pacific Crest Trail, the need for public input and involvement from the mountain biking community will be greater than ever. Hasenaur pointed out that because of CORBA, mountain bikers are seen as partners in the backcountry open space community instead of outsiders.

CORBA also premiered a new video: CORBA’s 25th Anniversary Salute, a collection of images, anecdotes and congratulations from CORBA’s founders, volunteers, and our agency partners.

CORBA 25th Anniversary Salute  from CORBA on Vimeo.
After the awards and video, the evening ended with a nice raffle. Six signed copies of Where to Bike, Los Angeles Mountain Biking were raffled off, courtesy of Bicycling Australia.  Bill Humphries donated a beautiful, signed copy of The Jersey Project. Niner came through with a sweet E.M.D. 9 Frame. The culmination of the evening was a drawing for a Specialized Carve 29er mountain bike, donated by Cycle World of Chatsworth and Northridge.  We thank all these great companies for supporting CORBA’s efforts, and helping ensure a great evening for all.  A gallery of photos from the event is available at CORBA’s Smugmug photo site (slideshow below), and through our Facebook page.

 

Posted in Rides and Events | Comments Closed

CORBA Announces MTB Ride And Mingle Nov. 17

Monday, October 1st, 2012

While there will be no Fat Tire Festival for 2012, CORBA will be organizing a group Ride And Mingle (RAM) on November 17, 2012 (rain date Dec. 2) to support and promote the ongoing efforts of its programs. But most of all, it’s a chance to mingle with our members and do what we love most: RIDE! In celebration of its 25th anniversary, CORBA hopes to turn out at least 250 mountain bikers in a show of solidarity for mountain biking and responsible cycling. Ride in then meet at The Hub in Topanga State Park at 10am. There will be some cash prizes (yes, you can win CASH), but mostly it will be a chance for a photo opportunity and to mingle among our riding brethren. Riders are encouraged to ride from their local trail heads.

Recent comments overheard at a public meeting got us to thinking that we need to show the land managers and open space trails community at large that responsible riders comprise the vast majority of mountain bikers. Unfortunately, a small percentage of people riding too fast at the wrong time is giving the off-road bicycling community at large a bad rap. The RAM will give mountain bikers a chance to show that we can and do coexist on trails.

We are also asking that you ride what you were riding in 1987 (if you have it) or any vintage mountain bike (pre-1992). If not, no worries, just come and enjoy a ride in one of the most beautiful places in the country.

 

Posted in Rides and Events, Santa Monica Mountains | Comments Closed

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