The voice of off-road bicyclists

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A Message from CORBA’s President by Mark Langton

I’d Like to Thank… When I learned that CORBA would be inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame, my first reaction was, “where do we begin to start thanking people?” If you go back to the inception of CORBA, it all started with a 1987 Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy (SMMC) meeting where one of the agenda items was to consider adopting California State Parks’ policy of single track trails being closed to bicycles. So I guess you could say that CORBA owes a debt of gratitude to the SMMC for considering closing trails to bikes.

There were quite a few mountain bikers at that SMMC meeting, myself included. We sat patiently while the committee members discussed the pros and cons of allowing this “new” recreation on their public trails. They decided to adopt the State Parks policy, but they would continue dialogue with “the bike group” to see if bicycles could be integrated into the trail system. The cyclists in the audience looked around and silently acknowledged that “I guess we’re the bike group.” A legal pad was passed around and the list of people collected at that meeting became the impetus for CORBA. (Since then SMMC has adopted an inclusive policy toward mountain bikes.)

Twenty-six years later, we are still having to address issues of whether or not bicycles can coexist on public open space trails, mostly on State Parks’ trails. It’s like when snowboarding became popular at ski resorts. There was a lot of animosity leveled at snowboarders by skiers. A partial solution was to create separate areas where snowboarders could do their thing and skiers knew to stay away from those areas. But with public open space trails, we don’t necessarily have that luxury. If we want to share the trails, we have to behave accordingly and expect that there may be hikers, equestrians, and other (less experienced) cyclists on those trails.

The sport of mountain biking is evolving much like the sport of skiing has evolved to include snowboard riders. Separate areas are being developed to accommodate “gravity” mountain biking, and CORBA is working with land managers in our region to develop mountain bike parks that allow for more aggressive riding, including jumps, drops, and technical features. We will be announcing some very exciting news within the next few months regarding these new areas!

If you want something to last, you have to be willing to commit to the long haul. I’m not sure if that’s what the founders of CORBA set out to do, but thanks to them and everyone who got involved from then until now, we have a lasting legacy and solid foundation that will serve the next generation of mountain bikers in the greater Los Angeles and Eastern Ventura Counties.

And when we accept the award on behalf of CORBA for being inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame, you can be sure that everyone on that stage will be feeling the pride of all of those who have supported CORBA over the last 26 years.

CORBA recently received a generous donation of framekits from Niner Bikes.

Some of these sweet Niner frames will be put into CORBA’s Youth Adventures fleet, where at-risk youth are given the opportunity to experience the joy of cycling on trails in our State Parks. Others will be raffled off to reward volunteers who come out for CORBA’s trailwork days, or to raise funds to support our programs. The generous donation will also benefit our neighboring IMBA Chapters, including the Santa Barbara Mountain Bike Trail Volunteers, Mount Wilson Bicycling Association, SHARE Mountain Bike Club and the San Diego Mountain Bike Association.

Niner has a strong history of supporting mountain biking advocacy. They truly understand that more trail opportunities helps grow the sport, and everyone benefits. As an Above and Beyond IMBA Corporate Member their custom IMBA-themed bikes have generated many thousands of dollars for IMBA at the national level. For many years they have also been there to support CORBA’s efforts at the local level.

They also understand mountain bikes themselves, making some of the sweetest mountain bikes available. Niner were among the original proponents of 29 inch wheels, and have helped advance the state-of-the-art in off-road bicycle design.

We thank Niner for their generous and ongoing support, which will ultimately benefit trails and mountain bikers throughout Southern California.

Recreational Rides

A recent Beginners' Ride had 16 participants. Would you or a new rider you know like to join us too?

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

• The next CORBA Kids Club ride will be Saturday August 3rd at 9:00 am. We have started using Meetup events for the Kids Clubs ride and we request that you register there so we have an idea of how many people to expect, and so we can alert you to changes or cancellations. For more information, email the CORBA Kids Club at kidsclub@corbamtb.com

Upcoming Beginner - Intermediate Rides (follow the link for details and to sign up!)

• August 4: Advanced Beginners Ride: Sycamore Canyon Trail to the Beach
• August 17: Beginners Ride: Grasslands to the Dam
• August 18: Beginners Ride: Sycamore Canyon from the Beach - Two Foxes & Wood Canyon

See our Rides Calendar for details and for other beginner-level rides. Many thanks to North Ranch Mountain Bikers Michelle and Kevin for leading these rides!

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.

We generally don't do trailwork in July and August because of the temperature, and we haven't scheduled any for the cooler fall months yet.

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

GirlzGoneRiding News for August by Wendy Engelberg

On Sunday we had 16 awesome GGR girlz participating in the Wenches with Wrenches workshop at Newbury Park Bike Shop. http://www.npbikeshop.com/. These clinics are limited to typically only 15 GGR members,

Dorothy Twitchell, the events director of NPBS greeted us with our own clinic space, a valet for our bikes and breakfast goodies!

Shane, the GM held the clinic while Dorothy and Ben were there to help in any way they could. The clinic’s focus was to simulate things that can happen on the trail and repair them enough so we don’t have to walk our bikes out of the trail.

The clinic started out with a pre ride check list that was very thorough and led us to MANY other things. We discussed the most important things to put in our packs, how to repair a broken chain, re thread the chain, what to do when a spoke brakes, rim is bent, suspension set up and more.

For those who wanted more, there was a separate clinic for pulling out and changing your brake pads and even repairing flats. Check our our blog article for more...