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In this issue...
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Michelle
leads a Beginners Ride along the Sin Nombre Trail in
Pt.
Mugu State Park last month. The next Beginners Ride
will be on Sunday, June 10
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Proper Trail Etiquette
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New on the CORBA Website
A Message from CORBA’s President
By Mark Langton: In My Backyard (IMBY)
Please slow down on Rosewood Trail |
You might not know that in addition to being President of CORBA, I am
also the chair of the Conejo Open Space Trails Advisory Committee
(COSTAC), a Thousand Oaks city-appointed committee to the Conejo Open
Space Conservation Agency (COSCA). So while I ride all over the Santa
Monica mountains and beyond, COSCA is IMBY.
At our most recent COSTAC meeting, a member of the public brought to
our attention that several local residents who use the Santa Rosa Trail
off Lynn Road on a frequent basis have been seeing increased speed and
discourteous behavior by mountain bikers coming downhill on the trail.
The Santa Rosa Trail just so happens to be the closest trail to my house
and I literally ride it at least once a week, if not more. So this is really IMBY!
One of the more disturbing reports was that riders are not slowing
down while passing hikers and other mountain bikers. All I can say is,
please slow down on Rosewood Trail and the Los Robles Trail as well (aka
Switchbacks or Space Mountain).
Rangers will be increasing their presence on these routes and
reminding people to slow down when approaching corners and around other
users. While they are not usually prone to writing citations, they do
have the authority to do so. Please respect COSCA’s shared use policies
and ride respectfully around other users on these and all shared use
trails. Thanks! CORBA Nominated for the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame
 We’re
proud to announce that CORBA has been nominated for inclusion in the
Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame, located in Crested Butte,
Colorado, celebrates the contributions of the many who have shaped and
guided our sport’s history.
Among CORBA’s past and current board members, volunteers and founders
are three current inductees in the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. Kurt Loheit, Jim Hasenauer, Dr. Al Farrell and the late Charlie Litsky
have all been inducted for their roles as individuals, but all
contributed to CORBA’s growth and successes, along with numerous other
stalwart advocates.
This nomination could not have come at a more appropriate time, as
CORBA celebrates 25 years of mountain bike advocacy in 2012. We
sincerely appreciate and are deeply honored by Dr. Al Farrell’s
nomination, which can be viewed online on the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame web site.
Past inductees, press and current voting members of the non-profit
Hall of Fame are sent ballots to vote on this year’s nominees. Membership is $20 per year,
and allows you to vote on the current nominees. When in Crested Butte, a
visit to the museum is a great lesson in the sport’s history. Each year
between three and seven individuals or groups are inducted from a slate
of nominees.
Voting will take place over the summer, with the 2012 induction
ceremony to be held at Interbike on September 21. Of course we’d
appreciate your vote, and are honored to be listed alongside several
other well-deserving nominees in the Advocacy category.
Recreational
Rides
For a list of upcoming recreational rides, please visit the CORBA
Calendar.
CORBA’s Recreational Rides calendar provides a full
monthly schedule of mountain bike rides for all skill levels. Mountain bike
rides are organized by CORBA member clubs and led by experienced and
knowledgeable guides. Recreational rides are a fun and social way to experience
a variety of trails in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, and beyond.
 Upcoming
and Recent Trailwork
For many years, most trailwork has been done by volunteers because of budget
cutbacks at our parks systems. So come out and help CORBA and
other volunteers keep our trails in top riding shape! You can learn
more about what to expect and what you'll need to bring with you
on our Trailwork
web page. Keep in mind that CORBA now provides prizes and lunch
after the event for volunteers who register
in advance! And by registering in advance, you'll help us prepare
by knowing how many volunteers to expect. If you come out to two
or more trailwork days in a year, we'll give you a cool long-sleeved
CORBA trail crew shirt - be sure to ask for yours!
Saturday June 2: Redbox in the Angeles National Forest
for National Trails Day
Join CORBA, the Mount Wilson Bicycling Association, the National Forest
Foundation and the Boy Scouts of America on National Trails Day, June
2nd. We'll be working on the Gabrielino trail between redbox and
switzers, and/or the Strawberry Peak trail. REI is sponsoring the event
by providing lunch. For more details and help out, visit our online
registration page.
To see all trailwork dates, including those of other groups,
visit the CORBA
trailwork calendar.
Join our mailing list to get updates on trailwork
opportunities!
Send an email to Trailwork-Volunteers+subscribe@corbamtb.com
General
News
Recommended Wilderness Proposals in our National Forests
In response to a lawsuit, the four Southern California Forests
are proposing amendments to their 2006 plans. They are proposing new
Backcountry Non Motorized Recreation zones as well as new Recommended
Wilderness designations. Mountain biking is not allowed in Wilderness or Recommended
Wilderness areas.
We have concerns about the Fish Canyon Trail (1GW05) and the Burnt
Peak Trail (1GW02) in the Angeles National Forest. These run generally north-south right in the middle
of what would be the new Wilderness area. We heard from several people
that these trails may be overgrown and quite deteriorated. We need to
know if riders have ridden them and are currently riding them. Despite
their current condition, if they become Wilderness, bikes will be
excluded and the trails will likely never be restored. We might lose a significant future opportunity
for a ride in a wild landscape. If you have information about these
trails, let Steve Messer (steve@corbamtb.com) and Jim Hasenauer
(imbajim@aol.com) know.
There are also many changes including Recommended Wilderness
Proposals in the Cleveland National Forest, the Los Padres National
Forest, and the San Bernadino National Forest. If you are concerned about changes in these forests, it will be
necessary to attend Forest Service meetings. Mountain bike advocates are monitoring the
meetings and will soon have talking points for your comments. The
deadline for comments is June 11, 2012.
Information about the Forest Manamagement Plan revision process can be found at http://www.fs.fed.us/nepa/nepa_project_exp.php?project=35130
To see more information on this topic, please visit our full
blog article.
Bikers Beware
From our friend Bryan Gordon:
Fellow Cyclepaths, it appears that those who covet our bicycles have a
clever way to know where some of us live and what kind of rig we ride…
This excerpt is from the Local section of yesterday’s LA Times:
Detectives said the thieves scanned Craigslist and Facebook to
identify targets, making away with designer racing bikes worth $2,000 to
$15,000 each.
They allegedly preyed on the growing online community of Los Angeles
bike enthusiasts who share photos about rides and their latest bike
acquisitions on various websites and look for parts on Craigslist.
50% of Station Fire Closure to Re-open
Angeles National Forest supervisor Tom Contreras and District
Ranger Mike McIntyre, on Wednesday announced that they were hoping to
get approval from the regional director to open approximately 50% of the
Station Fire closure area. It only requires a review and a signature,
and we hope to have that on Thursday [May 24], in time for the Memorial
Day weekend.
The area slated for opening includes everything west of Fall Creek
fire road (3N27), which descends from Mount Gleason Road to Big Tujunga
Canyon. Trails in the newly opened area include Stone Canyon, Condor
Peak, Trail Canyon and Mendenhall Ridge. Some work has been done on
Stone Canyon, Condor Peak trail, and Trail Canyon trail, though their
readiness for bicycling is unknown. If these or other trails are not in
safe enough condition for public use, the trails will be signed as
closed, even though the area is technically open. Read our
blog article for more details, and see the list
of open and closed trails.
Free Mountain Biking
Skills Clinic
 Saturday June
2nd is the next skills clinic.
The CORBA free skills clinic is held on the first Saturday of
every month at Malibu Creek State Park.
Mountain biking is a lot like tennis or skiing. Just a few minor
adjustments in technique can make a huge difference in your
control and proficiency. If you want to get better faster,
you need to know the fundamentals of mountain biking technique.
Whether you're just getting into mountain biking or have been
riding for years, you'll learn some valuable tips from our Introduction
to Mountain Biking skills class that is offered each month.
Check out our Skills Clinic
web page for all the information. After the clinic, see photos
of your new skills on the CORBA web site that you can share
with your family and friends!
Follow
CORBA on Twitter and Facebook
 We have set up accounts with Twitter and Facebook to help keep people informed
of the latest developments in our trail advocacy, recreational rides and trailwork days. Follow
us on Twitter at twitter.com/CORBAmtb
and Facebook at facebook.com/CORBAMTB.
Get Our Blog Articles Delivered to Your
Desktop
Have you ever wished you could get our blog articles without having
to check
the CORBA website every day to see if there’s anything new? Well, you
can! Even though our blog software won’t send articles by email, you can
still get them delivered to the inbox of most email readers like
Microsoft
Outlook. You use the “RSS feed” functionality for this. In fact, you can
read
our articles in any software that receives RSS feeds, such as Internet
Explorer
and other web browsers. This
blog
article on RSS feeds shows you how.
Support
CORBA
Join or Renew your membership today on our membership
web page. Join Our Team! Do you have any ideas about mountain biking recreation in the
L.A. region? Would you like to apply your skills and manage projects
that contribute to the sport and lifestyle that you love? Is there
an advocate in you? We are recruiting motivated individuals who
work well with others. Send an email to info@corbamtb.com
or come
to a monthly Members Meeting to find out more about what we do and how you
can help. Check the calendar
for the next meeting.
Other simple ways to
support CORBA
- REI:
Use the link at left and REI will donate 5%
of the purchase price to CORBA
- Holmes Body Shop: Get that dent fixed and help CORBA
(Click on the links above to get more details!)
CORBA
News eMail List
Please do not reply to this email as the corbanews mailbox is
not monitored by people. To contact CORBA, email to info@corbamtb.com
or visit our 'Contact Us' page
for other addresses.
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