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In this issue...
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Ride
And Mingle 2 on December 28
Thanks to all who showed up to show their support
of CORBA!
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Proper Trail Etiquette
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News from the CORBA Website
Blog
Learn how to get our blog articles delivered
to you when they are published!
A Message from CORBA’s President
by Mark Langton
As we say goodbye to 2013 and look forward to another
year of trail advocacy, I can’t help but reflect on the last year. To me the
most significant thing was the loss of our dear friend Danusia Bennett-Taber. I
am reminded of her almost daily, whether it’s with her involvement with the
CORBA board of directors, or the Mountain Bike Unit, or simply riding on one of
our local trails that she so enjoyed. Girlz Gone Riding keeps her memory alive
with the first annual Danusia Memorial Ride on May 31. Danusia leaves a legacy
of trail stewardship and volunteerism that is unmatched.
Speaking of Girlz Gone
Riding, the group had its most successful year ever with great turnouts for
their rides and the annual Rocktober XC Gala. We have to give them a big Thank
You for helping raise funds and awareness for CORBA and its programs.
CORBA’s programs achieved
much success in 2013. Our Trail Crew was extra busy with extensive work in
fire-damaged Point Mugu State Park, helping to reestablish damaged trails and
do much needed repair work to Guadalasca Trail. Cooperative work with groups
throughout greater Los Angeles county, Pasadena, and Thousand Oaks (to name a
few) ensure that the public trails remain in shape for shared use.
Our Youth Adventures and
Kids Club programs were a little lean this year, yet we still had many outings
with kids enjoying the outdoors on mountain bikes. We are in need of more adult
coorinators for our Kids Club outings, so if you are interested in leading
groups of adults and kids once a month, please send an email to me at info@corbamtb.com.
 Our free Introduction to
Mountain Bike Skills Class was once again a tremendous success, with more than
300 participants–and that was only 11 classes since December was rained out.
Remember, it’s always on the first Saturday of the month at Malibu Creek State
Park in Calabasas, and it’s always free!
As an advocacy group, we
assisted the Santa Clarita Valley Trail Users in regaining access to the Canyon
Trail in Placerita Canyon after Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation closed
the trail in late 2012. CORBA continues to monitor and give input to a variety
of public open space policy projects that threaten to exclude bicycles.
One of the most exciting
prospects for the coming year is the emergence of several pump tracks and bike
parks that CORBA is consulting on and helping to move forward. The City
of Thousand Oaks, Los Angeles county, and the City of Fillmore have enlisted
our expertise for installing pump tracks, and we have been working with the
County of Ventura and a newly formed bicycle organization in the Heritage
Valley (Fillmore, Santa Paula, Piru) to develop a bike park with flow trails,
jumps, and a pump track at Toland Park. This 212 acre parcel could very well
become a regional destination for off-road bicycle activities.
 Being inducted into the
Mountain Bike Hall of Fame this year was both an affirmation and a call to
action. Even though it’s hard to believe CORBA has been doing this for more
than 26 years, it’s also astounding that there is still more to do! We will
continue to push for more access to trails, since as we’ve said time and again,
the more you disperse users, the less conflicts there will be!
As always, CORBA will
promote the concept of “slow is the solution”: Simply slow down around others
as you pass, and you solve the issue of people disliking bikes going too fast
around them.
See you on the trails.
Show Us Your Smile
 Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. We have created this message tag with the help of BikeTags (biketag.wordpress.com) so that we can spread the message of goodwill, peace, and harmony throughout the world. Or maybe just the message “don’t worry, be happy.” The idea is to show other trail users that we belong, we care, and we can coexist. Similar to the SoCal High School Cycling League’s “spirit of howdy”, it’s a way to remember to slow down and smell the sage brush.
We’ll be making the CORBA Smile Tags available to anyone who wants one, just send an email request to info@corbamtb.com. We’ll be giving away prizes for the best photos of the tags on your bikes while on the trail. Photos will be judged on originality, creativity, and overall quality. (Details to follow in the coming weeks). The grand prize will be a Niner full suspension frameset, donated by Niner. OK, so maybe putting the Smile Tag on your bike won’t save the world. But a lot of times a little smile can go a long way.
Recreational
Rides
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A
recent
Beginners' Ride had 16 participants. Would you or
a new rider you know like to join us too?
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For a list of upcoming recreational rides, please visit the CORBA
Calendar.
There will be no CORBA Kids Club ride held
in January
Upcoming Rides: Starting this month, more North
Ranch Mountain Biker rides will be listed on the CORBA Meetup
group, not just the beginner to easy intermediate ones. As such,
there are too many to list them all individually here. Visit our
Meetup
Calendar to see all the rides and other activities!
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!
Children
must be over 7-years old to attend, and children under 14 must be constantly
and directly supervised by their parent or guardian who brought them.
January 25th, 2014: Backbone Trail from Latigo Canyon Road. Join
CORBA and the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council as we return to the the Backbone Trail near Latigo Canyon Road. This time we’ll mostly be clearing brush along the 1.5 miles from the trailhead to Newton Motorway (AKA, The Saddle). We’ll also be touching up some of the drainage nicks we put in during our last visit here, and possibly adding a few more.
For full details and to register, see our 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
MBU Training for 2014 Starts January 25
 Calling all mountain bikers age 18 and over! The Mountain Bike Unit (MBU) is currently recruiting for its 2014 New Recruit Training Class. If you enjoy mountain biking and are interested in giving back to the community by volunteering some time to assist our understaffed Park Rangers in patrolling the parks, then the MBU may be just what you are looking for. The MBU supports and are sponsored by the National Park Service (NPS), California State Parks (CSP), and the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA).
Here’s what it’s all about. The MBU assists in providing park visitors with a quality outdoor experience and preserving natural resources while patrolling over 60,000 acres of public parkland in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. Beginning in late January 2014, training will include visitor contact skills, State and National park radio use, park rules and regulations, first aid and CPR training, and field training exercises.
For full details, see our blog
article on 2014 MBU training...
Sullivan Canyon Pipeline Work Begins January 6;
Trail to be closed during work hours
Starting January 6 and lasting for about 8 weeks, the north end
of the Sullivan
Canyon Trail will be closed during weekdays so that Southern
California Gas Co can perform maintenance on their pipelines.
Since 1960, Southern California Gas Company has owned much of the land that comprises Sullivan Canyon (more than 4 miles in length). This property is used as a corridor for two transmission pipelines that provide Los Angeles residents with a safe and reliable supply of natural gas.
For full details, see the
press release in our blog...
GGR Holiday Fun Ride & January 2014 Events!
by Wendy Engelberg
So whats new for January you ask?? There are many events already in da books! Please go to our FB page and sign up for the events of your choice! https://www.facebook.com/groups/350083721682365/events/
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Girlz
Wendy and Kim
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On January 4th, kicks off a new, fun, beginner friendly cross country race series called: http://www.racepedalfest.com/. This is a fun, non techy course good for all levels of riders including kids! Want to see if racing is in your future? Give it a try! THIS is the course to have your 1st racing adventure on! GGR will be interviewing all female racers on that day at the GGR/CORBA booth!
January 11th is another fun GGR ride at Reseda especially for beginners and intermediates! Sign up here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1400671183510664/ January 18th is the 2nd race for http://www.racepedalfest.com/ AND the 12 hours of Temecula! http://www.socalendurance.net/12–6-hours-of-temecula.html January 25th is GGR/CORBA Trail work day! We ask all GGR members to participate in at least 2 trail work days per year! At THIS year’s Roctober event, we will be giving out a special award for the GGR girl who participates in the MOST trail work days! WHO’S IT GONNA BE?? You need 4 trail work days to qualify. Sign up here: http://www.meetup.com/CORBAmtb/events/154081722/ A very special announcement! We have the date already booked for the 2014 GGR Rocktober Gala! October 19th at MCSP! The 1st to sign on the same day as our last event was of course LIV/GIANT! Liv/Giant introduced their entire line of women’s 27.5
bikes at our last event and they were a HUGE hit!
To view the December wrap-up and see the photos, visit Wendy's
full
blog article.
Free Mountain Biking
Skills Clinic
 Saturday January
4th 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 Meetup, 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. Join
our events on Meetup meetup.com/CORBAmtb
and 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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