The voice of off-road bicyclists

News from the CORBA Website Blog since the previous eTerraTimes

President’s Message: Thank You Mark Langton!

Mark Langton was one of CORBA’s founders in 1987 and one of IMBA’s founders in 1988. He served 13 years on CORBA’s steering committee, and subsequently joined the CORBA Board of Directors. He has served as CORBA’s president, as one of the first volunteer patrollers for the Mountain Bike Unit and he’s taught the CORBA Introduction to Mountain Bike Skills Class every month since 1992. Now after 29 years, he’s stepping down from the CORBA Board as of December 2016.

CORBA’s approach has always been to show up, to participate, to take the high road and to be persistent. Mark has done all that and more. He’s been deeply connected to the sport as a racer and for several years as the editor of Mountain Biking magazine. He was the co-author of Riding Santa Monica Mountains Best Trails with Jim Hasenauer and of Where to Bike Los Angeles Mountain Biking with Jim Hasenauer and Steve Messer. He also wrote the Outdoor Action Guide Mountain Biking, and a skills manual, Mountain Bike Master: Essential Skills and Advanced Techniques Made Easy. He worked as Director of Communication for Giant Bicycles and for the National Off-Road Bicycle Association, before it was absorbed by USA Cycling. His knowledge, his ability to communicate and his industry connections brought national attention and resources to CORBA.

When the Conejo Opens Space Conservation Authority began dealing with the same trail access issues as the nearby Santa Monica Mountains agencies, they took a more open, community-minded approach. They told the complainers “These trails will be shared by the community. Work it out.” Mark was one of the founding members of the new Conejo Open Space Trails Advisory Committee and his efforts built strong alliances with equestrians and hikers. For years, COSTAC has been a model of user cooperation and the power of education in not only reducing user conflict but building a strong, united, and inclusive trail community.

For more details, especially on Mark's early years helping to form CORBA and IMBA, and challenges faced by mountain bikers in those days, (and a few more pictures), read our Thank You Mark blog article.

Save The Date! November 27th is CORBA’s Annual RAM Ride & Pancake Brunch!

CORBA Welcomes Two New Board Members

With Mark Langton leaving CORBA’s Board of Directors, we put out a call for Board nominees. We’re happy to announce that we have welcomed two new board members, Scott Mabbutt and Joyce Deprest.

Scott is a respected filmmaker, storyteller and self-declared cat whisperer. He is a member of the Mountain Bike Unit (MBU), a group of mountain bike volunteer patrollers that work closely with the National Park Service, California State Parks and the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA) patrolling the Santa Monica Mountains to assist and educate visitors on the trail.  Scott can be found somewhere in the Santa Monica mountains every weekend.

Also joining the CORBA board is Joyce Deprest. Joyce is an MBU member and patroller, with her favorite place to ride or patrol being Point Mugu State Park. She has been instrumental in re-introducing MBU members to do trailwork. Joyce is a native San Fernando “Valley Girl.” Her professional life began working in Non-Profit Organizations, including event planning, office management and as the Director of a Synagogue in the San Fernando Valley. During the past 6 years Joyce has rediscovered her love of the mountains, canyons and oceans. To learn more about Scott and Joyce, read our blog on the new board members.

The Rainy, cold 6th annual Rocktober Festival. Oct 30th, 2016 by Wendy Engelberg

Even though the rides got rained out, the festival was still a success and everyone made the best of it. The rain came down pretty hard most of the morning. I know how rough it was at times… yet 237 riders still showed up!

I feel very strongly the right decision was made NOT to ride the trails. Myself and many others pour our heart and souls into this event every year, so this decision not to ride was not made lightly… Not only would we destroy the trails, it could have done a lot of damage to your bikes (clay soil sticks to everything) and it would have become dangerous. We respect the trails; we don’t ride in the mud and destroy the land.

Many of you made comments on how relaxed I was this year. It was because I had 55 extremely competent volunteers. Let the people around you do what they do best, and all will benefit in the end. Read the rest of Wendy's comments on her GGR blog...

And view the almost 250 photos in our photo gallery!

Monthly CORBA Meeting Moves to REI in Woodland Hills

Come and join us to learn about current issues and let us know what concerns you! Always open to the public, the CORBA Board of Directors’ meeting is held the 4th Monday of the month in Woodland Hills. REI is kind enough to let us use their meeting room, for which we thank them profusely!

Every month (except December, when we have no meeting), we discuss these topics:

• Issues of trail access for mountain bikers
• Mountain bike advocacy and ambassadorship
• Public involvement
• The latest news from the land managers, including State Parks and National Park Service
• Trail building and restoration
• Furthering woman’s mountain biking
• Bike parks and other dedicated mountain bike facilities or trails
• Education and etiquette
• Anything brought forward by members of the public

The meetings are 6 – 8 pm at the REI in Woodland Hills (Google Map and Directions):

6220 Topanga Canyon Blvd
Woodland Hills, CA 91367
P: (818) 703-5300

We look forward to seeing you there!

Recreational Rides

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

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

• Visit our Events Calendar to see all the rides and other activities!
• Check our calendar to see when the next CORBA Kids Club ride will be held.

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 Trail Restoration and Reports on Past Workdays

For many years, most trail upkeep 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.

A number of companies and volunteer organizations have asked us if they could do trailwork as a team building exercise, or just to give back to the community. We are happy to work with such groups - shoot us an enquiry at trailwork@corbamtb.com for more information!

For CORBA workdays, we provide lunch for participants after we're finished. Please register in advance to 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. Children under 18 must have their waiver signed by their parent or legal guardian.

Summary of Recent Trailwork

COSCA Annual Trailwork Day, October 15. Continuing a trend from the past few years, we improved and extended trails in the Western Plateau/Conejo Canyons region of Thousand Oaks. Of the 120 volunteers expected for the event, about 60 were put into six crews that worked on building a bypass to the very steep bottom of the Peninsula Trail. The other half were assigned to six crews to work on two other trails leading down to the canyon, but some distance from the Peninsula Trail. The CORBA crew and other mountain bikers worked on the Peninsula Trail. The project was to build a new, much less steep trail that would replace the bottom section of the Peninsula Trail. It was to be about 0.35 miles long. Most of the new trail crossed a fairly steep slope, and some sections of the cross slope were very steep. That meant that we had to dig a lot of dirt out to make a trail. Overall, we must have moved several tons of dirt!

The thank-you barbecue lunch, cooked up by the COSCA rangers, started at noon, and one of the CORBA volunteers won the grand prize, a Giant mountain bike, in the prize give-away at the end. You can see the full report, including a time-lapse video, on our 2016 COSCA Trailwork blog report. And you can directly view the activities at the event photo gallery.

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

Vote for the Backbone Trail

Thousand Oaks approves Sapwi Trails Master Plan, with Bike Park

Next steps will be a planning process for the bike skills park. The master plan only identifies the approximate location of the bike park, and is not a bike park design. The bike park will be planned through a series of public meetings sometime in mid-2017.

One of the Commissioners noted that she felt the City had enough traditional parks and welcomed this plan incorporating several alternative recreation opportunities including mountain biking, cross country running, model glider flying, and frisbee golf. The Plan can be found here, and CORBA’s testimony can be found here.