Organized and hosted the Santa Cruz Mountain Bike Festival in Aptos. This free event included a mix of athletic events, an expo and beer garden featuring all 6 county craft brewers. This event raised over $15,000 towards a permanent bike park in Aptos through fees, beer sales, sponsorships and raffles.
Raffled off a complete carbon fiber bike donated from Santa Cruz Bicycles and raised $11,000 towards the costs of implementing the Pogonip multi-use trail.
Raised and donated $2,500 towards a multi-use trail conversion project at Castle Rock State Park. This Skyline Trail, a part of the Bay Area Ridge Trail, will connect Saratoga Gap with Skyline Sanborn Park.
Raised and donated $3,500 towards the design and construction of a new sign the back country entrance at Wilder Ranch State Park.
Raised over $8000 via a few fundraisers (1st bike festival, bike raffle) towards an environmental mitigation project at Soquel Demonstration State Forest
Helped to plan, fund raise and organize several trips to Lake Tahoe over the past several years to help build and maintain trails. Our club was instrumental in pulling together many Northern California mountian bike clubs and have built several thousands of feet of trail on the Tahoe Rim Trail and the Donner Lake Rim trail.
Helped form in 2010, fund raise and lead rides for a Trips for Kids chapter in Santa Cruz. The mission of Trips for Kids Santa Cruz is to provide at-risk youth positive outdoor experiences and to overcome the challenges of learning new skills through mountain biking. We are focusing on empowering youth in Santa Cruz and Watsonville.
Participated in the Turning Wheels for Kids program in San Jose since 2007. MBOSC members have donated thousands of dollars and built dozens of bikes over the years in support of this cause.
MBOSC raised over $30,000 through raffles and donations towards the purchase of Gray Whale Ranch. We have held several joint fund raising events with the Santa Cruz County Horseman’s Association to help improve trails in Wilder Ranch State Park and protect riparian habitats and the red legged frog.
MBOSC were invited by CA State Parks to serve on the Gray Whale Advisory Committee (GWAC) to help decide which trails to open in Gray Whale Rance and what precautions were necessary to prevent negative environmental and social impacts.
MBOSC prepared a detailed topographic map surveyed with GPS which shows the existing trails in Wilder Ranch State Park and Gray Whale Ranch. This map was used throughout the GWAC process to allow proper discussion of the trails and any environmentally sensitive areas.
MBOSC partnered with the Santa Cruz County Horseman’s Association (SCCHA) and the Association of Concerned Trailriders (ACT) to advocate and construct the U-Con trail in the city of Santa Cruz’s Pogonip park. The first multi-use trail in Pogonip that connects Henry Cowell State Park through Pogonip Park to UCSC. This trail provides an important connection for all users from the San Lorenzo Valley all the way to the ocean. This trail and collaboration has been written up in Sunset Magazine and others as a model for other user groups in the county.
MBOSC has sponsored monthly trail workdays in Wilder Ranch State Park since 1997 to improve and protect the trails for all users. In 2000, the management of trail work projects was taken over by Trailworkers.com. MBOSC has supported the efforts of Trailworkers.com though volunteers and donations.
MBOSC and SCCHA has held Carrot Fest workshops to help educate bikers how to interact with horses on the trails and to de-sensitize horses to bikes. This involved practicing several scenarios in an controlled setting with bikers feeding carrots to horses and has been extremely successful.
MBOSC has conducted information stations to promote responsible mountain biking at local CA state parks and at the UCSC campus natural reserve.
