News and Events 2007

October 21, 2007

Ryan and Kristin from the IMBA Trail Care Crew visited Santa Cruz last Thursday through Sunday and it was quite an amazing experience. We hosted the crew at our house and it was a real pleasure to get to know them better.

Some of the highlights include:

• IMBA Club Care Session at Giro. We learn how to build a sustainable club.
• Group Ride at Wilder Ranch. Well attended by regulars, newbies, kids, gray haired guys and women.
• 10th Anniversary Party at Seabright Brewery
• $3000 Donation to IMBA California. Good for trail karma.

It was an intense 4 days of BBQs, bike porn and non-stop beer. The BBQ, firepit, chairs and ice chests full of beer were utilized by the myriad of wandering bikers just dropping in throughout the weekend. There were 4 waves of attendees showing up at the "after party" following the Seabright party. Some pictures of the festivities here

Having Ryan and Kristin stay allowed us to immerse ourselves in the introspective process of determining the direction of the club. Eve is the treasurer and Daryl (the interim VP) stayed at our house for a night. Having many of the club officers present for the many of the breakfast, lunch and dinner sessions created valuable opportunities for discussion.

Slow speed Sunday morning came and the weather was nice and sunny but a huge mental fog wafted over my brain from all the alcohol the day before. Ryan and Kristin were planning to hang out on some beach for a few hours before heading up the coast to San Francisco for their next visit.

It was fun hosting Ryan and Kristin of the IMBA Trail Care Crew. They are a fun couple and great ambassadors of mountain biking. Ryan and Kristin turned their passion for advocacy and riding into a career. They spread the goodness of mountain biking to communities all over North America like Johnny Appleseed. Mountain biking is awesome not just for the cool bikes and the great places to ride but also for the great people you meet. I'm hoping to see them again soon.

October 21, 2007

Tom Ward from IMBA California was one of the honored guests who attended the MBOSC 10th Anniversary party at Seabright Brewery.

Tom retired as the manager of recreation at California State Parks in Sacramento a few years ago. His position as California policy analyst for IMBA was originally underwritten by Specialized in early 2006.

He is working on policy issues which impact mountain bikers in all of California including Wilderness designation boundaries which will maintain existing and future mtb trail networks, lowering the red tape for trail projects, lobbying State Parks for more trail access and building coalitions with equestrian groups. He has a lot of connections in Sacramento and he's a guy who can get the meetings with decision makers and push the mountain biking agenda. He is great at articulating the mountain bikers point of view and he has an Teflon coated bull s**t detector. He is the best thing to happen to mountain biking in California since the Marin County Repack races in the 70's.

During the announcements, MBOSC issued a donation of $3,000 to support Tom's efforts in Sacramento. The future of MBOSC and other clubs will leverage the great work done by IMBA California. We recognize the importance of Tom Ward and IMBA to create more riding opportunities for mountain biking which will benefit all riders in California. We support IMBA California and so should you.

October 6, 2007

The third annual Santa Cruz Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day was held at DeLaveaga Park this year and it was a great success. The kids had a lot of fun.

After registration and bike and helmet check, the kids went on the skills course to learn braking, bike control and balance. We would observe the kids on the challenging terrain and adjust their bikes to fit them better for off road riding. After a safety talk and a group picture, the kids split into two groups and rode the trails at DeLaveaga.

The kids got a real redwood forest single track mountain biking adventure. The little kids rode the fireroad uphill to the quarry, played and then did a gentle fireroad downhill back to the picnic area. The bigger kids did the more challenging lower loop trail. After getting familiar with the trail on the first lap, they did another loop with more confidence and control. After the ride, the kids and parents came back to the picnic area for snacks, drinks and schwag.

MBOSC would like to thank the Elayna at Fox Racing Shox and Mike and Juli at Santa Cruz Bikes for donating hats, T-shirts and stickers. Saskia at BikeSmart for letting us use the cones/pylons. Piet and Bonnie at Bike2Work for donating orange juice, bagels and strawberries. Also, we would like to thank IMBA for promoting this event nationally and ClifBar for the energy bars.

We would also like to thank our volunteers for helping to build the skills course, leading the rides and encouraging the kids: Rich, Dan,Daryl, Sebastien, Becky and Matt. I would really like to give a special thanks to my wife Eve who picked up so many pieces and details and ensured that all the mundane stuff like waivers, insurance, first aid and other logistical minutiae were properly dealt with.

Finally, I would like to thank the parents and the kids for showing up at our little event. I'm very pleased that you brought your kids to experience real mountain biking. Mountain biking brings kids into nature and challenges them physically and mentally - which builds self confidence in their abilities. It offers them a really fun outdoor adventure while giving them an effective workout. We believe that mountain biking is good for the mind, body and soul and it was nice to share with your kids this very positive activity that we all love to do.

Pictures of the event can be seen here:

Bike Week Santa Cruz was from May 12 - 20, 2007. The theme was Pedal for Global Cooling. MBoSC supports all bike related events and offered two rides on Sunday May 13th as part of Bike Week Santa Cruz: a beginner ride at Wilder and an intermediate ride at Soquel Demo Forest.

MBoSC had a booth at Bike Fest hosted by the Bicycle Trip on Sunday May 20th. The booth was a great way to connect with the community and tell them all the great things MBOSC is doing on behalf of Santa Cruz mountain bikers.

May 5, 2007

It was a wonderful day to enjoy Wilder Ranch State Park with our Equestrian and equine friends. We were high up on the Horse Camp marine terrace with great views of the ocean and the back country. It was sunny, warm and clear. Perfect spring weather on the central coast.

Rebeckah from SCCHA and Sebastien from MBOSC discussed the basics of horse-bike interaction on the trails and hosted an open discussion of experiences and lessons learned when encountering the other user group on the trail. Then we broke into a clinic to help desensitize horses to mountain bikes.

We started the clinic by having the bikers ride in large circles and let the horses follow them. The objective is to make the horse feel like the predator rather than the prey animal so that the horses could get used to the sounds and sights of a mountain bike. Then we placed ourselves in the position of coming up from behind and passing the horse. I was really impressed with the control and confidence of Claudia's horse around bikes. I was pedaling right beside her so closely that I would turn my head and glace into the horses eye.

The most transformational moment was with Soliel (a horse) and Geoff Smith (a mountain biker). Soliel is a 6 year old horse who was never frightened of mountain bikes until recently. The owner didn't think that Soliel had a negative experience with a mountain bike but something recently made her fear the mechanical steeds that we choose to ride. She said it was analogous to a young child who suddenly gains a realization of his own mortality.

We were experimenting and trying to find the boundaries of Soliel's fear of bikes. She wasn't afraid of the cyclists (we could walk up to Soliel with no problems). She wasn't afraid of bikes, since a bike lying on the ground wouldn't spook her. However, if the bike was moving she would tense up. Geoffrey spent most of his time working with Soliel to get her comfortable around bikes.

Geoff would pet, talk to and feed Soliel without his bike to make Soliel feel comfortable with him. Then Geoff picked up his bike - Soliel would immediately tense - but he would hold the bike behind him and go over the same exercises. Then Geoff would move his bike back and forth - again Soliel would tense up - but after a while she would get comfortable with the moving bike. Then Geoff would put the bike between himself and Soliel so that she would have to lean across the bike to get the carrot. Soliel still wasn't completely comfortable with bikes at this stage. She would stay as far from the bike as possible and crane her neck in order to get at the carrot. Geoff would continue working with Soliel on these exercises and after a while Soliel would accept that bikes are not a threat.

After the clinic all the riders headed into the Wilder back country to enjoy the rest of the day on the trails. Bikers Geoff, Sebastien and I rode with equestrians Christina, Katelynn and Rebecka up the fence line dump trail towards Enchanted Loop. The bikers had a bit of a lead on the moderate slope up the trail but when it got steep the horses passed us quite easily. At Enchanted Loop the two user groups split up and the bikers rode clockwise while the equestrians rode counter-clockwise. We met up at the bottom of Enchanted to practice bike/horse interaction.

Soliel showed up a bit later on Enchanted Loop while we were at the bottom, she had improved considerably. Soliel's rider mentioned that a bike had passed her from behind but she stayed still. Previously, Soliel would attempt to run away. Soliel was not fully comfortable with bikes but she had made incredible progress in the clinic. That alone was a great justification for this event.

I treasure the great relationship that exists between mountain bikers and equestrians in Santa Cruz county. Many of the carrot fest participants will take the knowledge that was learned about the other user group and spread it out among the people they ride with. There is a still a lot of work that could be done at the State and Federal level to facilitate communication between user groups. Equestrians and mountain bikers can look at what we have done in Santa Cruz county as an example of how to get along and share the trails. We have a lot of common ground and we are trail users who have a passion to enjoy the open space with our favorite steeds.

More words and pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/lick.the.toad/CarrotFest2007

April 20, 2007

I had a fun filled Sea Otter this year. Camping, schmoozing, working the booth and volunteering for the dual slalom course on Thursday and Friday (but not Saturday!). Surprisingly, this is the first year in 8 that I have not raced or even entertained the idea of racing. I guess those days are over for now.

The booth was a lot of fun and was a great vehicle to build awareness about MBoSC/MORCA/ROMP/VO-cal and issues in Santa Cruz County. We had a great view of the DS course and the kids in the air. It was a great place to call home base.

During the heavy rains, a river was running through the booth and we were pinned down under the EZ-up without beer. Fortunately, someone bartered a big Fox raincoat (a popular item during the rain) for some beer that I would retrieve. I ducted taped the bottom of the coat to construct a makeshift set of chaps. Not only was I waterproof but I looked like something that rode out of a German industrial fetish movie. I rode my bike and bob trailer up to camp in comfort to get beer for everyone!

The beer was a huge hit (thanks, Charlie!). I shared it with volunteers, TWW campers, fellow advocates, bike industry types and people interested in our booth. Beer wise, the Dirt Rag and IMBA booths were well taken care of. Local frame builder Craig Calfee of Calfee Design was in the booth beside IMBA and I set him up some of Seabright's Oatmeal Stout. We had a conversation about local issues and he gave me some great contacts. His carbon bikes are gorgeous works of art and he was showing his new bamboo and hemp hard tail mountain bike. What a novel idea! If you get lost in the woods then you can eat and smoke your frame until you get rescued.

Thanks to Peter and the MORCA folks. You supplied the EZ-up, table, table cloth and chairs and most of the personnel. We only brought the beer - the fuel of mountain bike advocacy. A big thanks to Charlie Meehan of Seabright Brewery for all the great beer. There are a lot more riders in Northern California who are aware Blur, Oatmeal Stout and the ubiquitous "Kenny". I'd also like to thank Daryl and Rich for doing booth duty and all of the Dual Slalom volunteers. Thanks to all for helping out.

More pictures and commentary are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/lick.the.toad/SeaOtterClassic2007