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CORBA eTerraTimes for September 2014

eTerraTimes Archive


 

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In this issue...


Riding the Sin Nombre Trail in Pt Mugu State Park (Sycamore Canyon), thinking about pancakes at Michael's Bikes for
CORBA's ride and Pancake Breakfast September 28th.
See details...

Rules of the Trail - Click for details
Proper Trail Etiquette

News from the CORBA Website Blog since the previous eTerraTimes

Come join us for a RAM (Ride and Mingle) morning! Ride beautiful Sycamore Canyon in Pt. Mugu State Park with your buddies, or join one of the guided beginner, intermediate or advanced rides. Then pop over to Michael’s Bicycles in Newbury Park at 10:30am for pancakes! Please sign up in advance so ...
Come out and join the Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency (COSCA), CORBA, the Santa Monica Trails Council and other volunteers for the 24th Annual COSCA Trailwork Day in Thousand Oaks on October 18, 2014. The trail we will be building/repairing will be announced soon. COSCA will treat participa...
GGR’s Rocktober XC Gala Registration is UP! We are almost at our cut off of 150 riders! For event info & registration: http://www.girlzgoneriding.com/rocktober-2014.html October 19th at Malibu Creek State Park. 8am-4pm. This is a FREE event for all GGR members Registration is cut off at 150 women...
Last night an overflowing crowd packed into the Baldwin Park Performing Arts Center to hear from a panel of “experts” about the future of the San Gabriel Mountains. Among the honored guests and panel of experts were Robert Bonnie, the undersecretary for the Department of Agriculture, Tom Tidwell,...
From our Friends to the north, Santa Clarita Valley Trail Users: Dear Friends, Congressman “Buck” McKeon is holding a Town Hall meeting to discuss a proposal to designate approximately 40,000 acres just north of Castaic Lake as a federally protected Wilderness area. This proposed Wilderness area ...
From SoCal Gas: Sullivan Canyon will be closed to visitors Tuesday August 12 th for a Hydro-Static Pressure test of the natural gas transmission pipelines. Please schedule your visit accordingly. This closure if for safety reasons so please do not access the canyon from any of the side trails. Th...
Guest photographer Graham Martin filled in for Steve again this month. The weather was very hot and there was a small but enthusiastic group at Malibu Creek State Park for the Skills Clinic this Fourth of July weekend. You can see the July photos in the July 2014 photo gallery . Bookmark It Hide ...
The latest news from Mike Harriel of So Cal Gas regarding construction as they move closer to the mandated test on its pipelines in Sullivan Canyon. Beginning July 8 th · We will conduct a bird survey to determine if any nesting birds are in the area of our work. If there are, the project will be...
Wendy Engelberg joins CORBA’s Board of Directors On Monday, June 9, 2014, CORBA’s board of directors unanimously approved the addition of Wendy Engelberg to the board. We’re more than excited to have her “on board” (pun intended). Wendy’s life was forever changed when she attended CORBA’s Fat Tir...
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 th...

A Message from CORBA’s President by Steve Messer

Recently created Fort Ord National Monument ensures continued bicycle access
Recently created Fort Ord National Monument ensures continued bicycle acces

A National Monument? Just two weeks ago the public learned of a movement to have the San Gabriel Mountains declared a National Monument. The news came as a surprise, and we had little time to look deeper into what this meant. Last week’s public meeting did serve one purpose well, to get the discussion–and the emotions–going. The sudden announcement caught everyone’s attention, all the way up to the Undersecretary for the Department of Agriculture. This meant that it was happening quickly, and the process was already underway. It’s in all our best interest to be a part of that process, whether or not the final outcome is a new National Monument.

Since last week’s public meeting, we’ve had time to begin a dialog with conservationists and other stakeholders and to do some research of our own. We now understand the Forest Service would continue to manage the land under a National Monument designation. We learned that recently declared For Ord National Monument has language specifically mentioning bicyclists as legitimate trail users, and directs that bicycles are accommodated in a transportation/trail plan. This is an extremely positive precedent which encourages us. We’ve had several verbal assurances that mountain biking access would not be impacted, and that similar language could be developed for this proposal.

As we begin to be involved in the development of that language, we are working with our fellow chapters, IMBA staff, and other stakeholders to ensure our continued ability to ride mountain bikes on the trails and fire roads we love, and to improve overall conditions in the forest (through better protections and additional funding). A well-written National Monument proclamation and any additional funding it brings may be preferable to the Angeles NF continuing to be underfunded and understaffed, or even a wilderness bill that would close off access to trails.

There are many competing interests for National Forest land. There are those interested in protecting it, developing it, and just recreating in it. The challenge will be to get the balance between those interests right. If a National Monument proclamation does move forward, as it appears to be, we need to be involved in its development and included in the outcome.

In the meantime remember to make time to ride. Every time we do so we remind ourselves why our local mountains are important to us. They’re important enough to protect, and important enough to want to ensure that our grandkids can enjoy similar trail experiences, and similar ways to connect with nature.

Join our Ride and Mingle (RAM)/Pancake Breakfast September 28th

PancakesCome join us for a RAM (Ride and Mingle) morning! Ride beautiful Sycamore Canyon in Pt. Mugu State Park with your buddies, or join one of the guided beginner, intermediate or advanced rides.

Then pop over to Michael’s Bicycles in Newbury Park at 10:30am for pancakes!

Please sign up in advance so we’ll know how much batter to have on hand for hungry riders!

You can sign up on the CORBA Meetup page or the CORBA Face Book page.

Suggested donation for the Pancake breakfast is $10.

Please support your local community of mountain bikers by supporting CORBA: http://www.corbamtb.com/join/

Directions to the trail head in Newbury Park: Take the 101 Freeway to the Wendy exit in Newbury Park. At the end of the off-ramp proceed south on Wendy until it dead-ends at Potrero Road. Park in the adjacent dirt parking area.

Wendy Engleberg joins CORBA's BoardWendy Engelberg joins CORBA’s Board of Directors

On Monday, June 9, 2014, CORBA’s board of directors unanimously  approved the addition of Wendy Engelberg to the board. We’re more than excited to have her “on board” (pun intended).

Wendy’s life was forever changed when she attended CORBA’s Fat Tire Fest at Malibu Creek State Park in 2005. It was her first introduction to mountain biking, and the start of an incredible life journey for her. She was instantly hooked on mountain biking, and before long was encouraging her friends to get involved. She began riding with the Dirt Chix and the North Ranch Riders mountain bike club soon thereafter, finding her place within the mountain biking community of which we’re all a part. See our blog entry for the entire story...

Niner Bike Frame is Grand Prize for Trailwork Volunteers

As part of the thank-you for volunteers who help with maintaining our trails in good riding order, CORBA has been giving away mountain biking swag at the end of each event. To speed things up on trailwork days, and to allow some really great  (ie, expensive!) prizes to be given away, we will instead have a drawing at the end of the year for all the volunteers who come out during that year.

We have a Niner frame waiting for some lucky volunteer, plus other great prizes including grips and saddles from Ergon!

In order to be eligible for the drawing, volunteers must register for events in advance on our Meetup group, show up at the event and sign the standard waiver form. At the end of the year, we’ll go back through all the Meetup events and count the number of times each volunteer helped out. Everyone will get one chance in the drawing for each time they participated.

Now by helping to keep our trails in good shape, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you’re giving back to the trails community, of contributing to the enjoyment that others have in our open spaces, and also having a chance at scoring a sweet ride from CORBA and Niner!

Good luck and thanks for helping out!

Support CORBA with your Amazon Purchases

Amazon Smile is a program that allows Amazon customers to support CORBA through their Amazon purchases. Once you designate CORBA as your non-profit charity of choice, 0.5% of all eligible purchases made through http://smile.amazon.com will go to CORBA. There’s no additional cost to you. You can still use your Amazon Prime to get free shipping and other benefits.

It’s easy to set up. Go to http://smile.amazon.com/ch/95-4124454 to select CORBA as your beneficiary.  Then bookmark http://smile.amazon.com and remember to start your shopping there.

The funds raised will go to CORBA’s general fund, supporting our Youth, Advocacy and Outreach programs as well as our Volunteer Trail Crew. CORBA is volunteer-run, and all of the funds raised will go towards these programs.



    A recent Beginners' Ride had 16 participants. Would you like to join us too?

Recreational Rides

For a list of upcoming recreational rides, please visit the CORBA Calendar.

Upcoming Rides: Visit our Meetup Calendar to see all the rides and other activities!

CORBA’s Club 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 Trailwork and Reports on Past Workdays

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.

CORBA will provide lunch for participants after the workday is finished. As a special thank-you, we will have a drawing at the end of the year for prizes for those who have signed up in advance with our Meetup group. The grand prize is a Niner frame and there will be other great give-aways, so make sure you register in advance! By registering in advance, you'll help us prepare by knowing how many volunteers to expect. And... 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.

October 18, 2014: COSCA Annual Trailwork Day. Come out and join the Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency (COSCA), CORBA, the Santa Monica Trails Council and other volunteers for the 24th Annual COSCA Trailwork Day in Thousand Oaks. The trail we will be building/repairing will be announced soon. For full details and to register, see our registration page.

November 8, 2014: Backbone Trail. We'll be working on the Backbone Trail between Mulholland and Etz Meloy Fireroad, along with the crew from the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council. Save the date; details will be forthcoming but online registration is available..

To see all trailwork dates, including those of other groups, visit the CORBA calendar.

Join our mailing list to get updates on trailwork opportunities!
Send an email to Trailwork-Volunteers+subscribe@corbamtb.com


General News

Girlz Gone Riding’s Rocktober XC Gala Registration is UP! We are almost at our cut off of 150 riders!

For event info & registration: http://www.girlzgoneriding.com/rocktober-2014.html October 19th at Malibu Creek State Park. 8am-4pm. This is a FREE event for all GGR members

  • Registration is cut off at 150 women so sign up now!
  • Women’s Specific Demo bikes!
  • Beginner skills clinics
  • Guided rides
  • Guest speakers
  • Raffles, silent auctions, goody bags and more

Rocktober

Save the Dates for more GGR activities!

November 16th: Wenches with Wrenches at Michael’s Bikes in Newbury Park: Sign up here: https://www.facebook.com/events/714888711867255/

December 20th: GGR Holiday Ride & Lunch! Juliana Bikes will have their demo truck there for us! Sign up here: https://www.facebook.com/events/248744028643192/

Interbike!

September 8th-12th in Las Vegas! The biggest industry bike event! New products, outdoor demos, networking, a cross race, everything you can imagine relative to the cycling industry! Wanna meet with GGR & get involved in the women’s mountain bike community? Looking to sponsor a PRO ENDURO FEMALE RIDER? Then contact Wendy Engelberg, GGR Director to set up an appointment or ride at Interbike! wendy@girlzgoneriding.com
http://www.interbike.com/


Free Mountain Biking Skills Clinic

Saturday September 6th 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
  • Amazon.com: Buy online and Amazon will donate to CORBA through their Smile program
  • Holmes Body Shop: Get that dent fixed and help CORBA

(Click on the links above to get more details!)


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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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