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In this issue...
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You
could win a Niner frame like this one from CORBA!
Trailwork
volunteers now have a chance to win a Niner frame and other
great swag. See story...
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Proper Trail Etiquette
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News from the CORBA Website
Blog
Station fire damage to Strawberry Peak trailStrawberry Peak is one of the most loved areas in the Angeles National Forest. It suffered devastating damage during the El Niño storms following the Station Fire. After the fire the trail was impassable and has remained closed to all users, even as muc... GGR is strong as ever and is gearing up for many upcoming events!This last month, GGR held it’s quarterly ride at Sycamore Canyon in Newbury park with over 30 female riders attending. We had 3 levels of rides, Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced with the beginner group being the largest as always... This past weekend I had the good fortune of attending the 26th Annual Keyesville Classic. There are some great singletrack trails throughout the Keyesville and Kern Valley areas. These singletracks are open to horses, bikes, hikers and motorcycles, but closed to quads and other wider OHV’s. Our g... 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, .5% of all eligible purchases made through http://smile.amazon.com will go to CORBA. There’s no additional cost to you. You can st... Long-time CORBA supporter Ergon has again come through with a generous donation of their popular grips and saddles. These items will be used as rewards for volunteers who participate in CORBA trail work events (click here for more details), as well as other events.This latest Ergon donation inclu... Could it be YOU who wins a frame like this Niner?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, ... Once a year we have an opportunity to work on the trails and then BBQ and camp at Danielson Ranch in Pt Mugu State Park. It is opened annually for the Santa Monica Trail Days! This is a unique opportunity to work on the trails that we enjoy so much in Sycamore Canyon, and the Saturday workday is ... This past Saturday, March 22, roughly 60 volunteers converged on Wildflower Park for a short hike to the work area at the bottom of the new trail. By noon, the volunteers had built the 0.25-mile long Castillo Trail that now connects Wildwood Trail in the canyon to Castillo Circle on the mesa abov... By Mike Harriel, Southern California Gas CompanySo Cal Gas has completed mandated maintenance work on the pipelines in Sullivan Canyon. The canyon is now open for use.As I have mentioned before. There is another maintenance project occurring in the canyon in early May 2014. I will inform you abou... Kathline King introduces the SSMTMPAt last weeks second public meeting on the Santa Susana Mountains Trails Master Plan, the County presented a comprehensive map showing their planned trails, the existing trails, and the relevant delineations of private, public and utility lands. While public com... This past Sunday, 12 CORBA volunteers and two COSCA rangers headed up the “Space Mountain” section of the Los Robles Trail in Thousand Oaks to fix up the 1.7-miles long switchbacks part of this singletrack trail before the winter rains worsen the ruts.Clearing slough from the trailBy all standard... In 2012, CORBA attended public meetings to give input on L.A. County’s Santa Susana Mountains trails master plan. The County has taken the input we and many others gave, and will present their draft Trail Master Plan at a public meeting on March 6 in Granada Hills. They will also seek additional ... The February 2014 Skills Clinic Skills Clinic at Malibu Creek State Park on a sunny but very cool day. The group was made up of 13 riders. As has been the case for the past year, there was no water in the stream crossing. Hopefully we’ll have some rain before next month’s class so people will get... On Friday, January 31, 2014, CORBA was notified that the long-awaited Santa Monica Mountains Draft Trail Management Plan (TMP) had been released in draft form for review. In developing the plan, NPS supposedly inventoried all existing trails, including “unofficial” or “volunteer” trails, and lay... Learn how to get our blog articles delivered
to you when they are published!
A Message from CORBA’s President
by Steve Messer
Shared Experiences This past weekend I had
the good fortune of attending the 26th Annual Keyesville Classic.
There are some great singletrack trails throughout the Keyesville
and Kern Valley areas. These singletracks are open to horses, bikes,
hikers and motorcycles, but closed to quads and other wider OHV’s.
Our group had two encounters with motorcycles while riding outside
the event course.
We were enjoying near-perfect weather, great traction, spring
flowers, great views and some amazing Southern Sierra singletrack.
One solo motorcyclist came by. He yielded to us–as proper etiquette
dictates–pulling off to the side. He left his engine running, and
appeared impatient for us to get out of his way. He didn’t say anything,
even after I thanked him. I got the sense that we were invading
his space, disrupting his day. In turn, he was invading ours.
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This
shared-use trail allows motorcycles
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Another group of four motorcycles came by a little later. They
pulled off to the side of the trail well in advance of us, turned
off their engines and the leader took off his full-face helmet.
My friends were a little way back so I stopped to talk to them.
Once everyone caught up our two groups had a great conversation
about the wonderful new re-route on the trail and the perfect weather.
We talked about how much we loved the trail, despite our different
mode of travel.
Our conversation turned the encounter from an “invasion of each
other’s space” to a “shared experience.” Both our groups came away
from the encounter knowing there are other trail users who are respectful
and who share a common love of the public lands on which we recreate.
It was a much different encounter to the first.
I’m sure some hikers and equestrians see mountain bikers as invading
their space. Some mountain bikers might feel the same about hikers,
equestrians, or even others on bikes. It comes from a sense of entitlement:
“this is MY trail and MY day to enjoy it.” This attitude of entitlement
has no place on shared-use trails on our public lands.
At the same time, I realized how easy it is to turn an invasion
of space into a shared experience. Just be respectful, use proper
trail etiquette by yielding or stopping, and strike up a conversation.
Even a simple “enjoy your hike,” “hello,” or “thank you” can turn
an encounter with another trail user into a more positive shared
experience. Celebrate your mutual love of the trail and respect
for others enjoying the same. You’ll come away from the encounter
just a little bit happier in the knowledge that others care about
the trail–and others on it–as much as you do.
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
(see the photo at the top of this newsletter), 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. eTerraTimes Publication to Become Bimonthly
This web- and email-based publication, the eTerraTimes, will be only
published every other month, starting with the February 2014 issue. Future important messages
will be sent by email, rather than using the eTerraTimes to distribute
them. Please feel free to send in items of interest
for inclusion in the eTerraTimes to info@corbamtb.com.
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A
recent
Beginners' Ride had 16 participants. Would you like to join us too?
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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. 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.
February 16, 2014: Strawberry Peak Trailwork Day Report.
CORBA and Mount
Wilson Bicycling Association volunteers worked on Strawberry Peak trail for our
February and March trailwork days. We've been coordinating with many different
groups, including the National Forest Foundation, Sierra Club and Los Angeles
Conservation Corps to restore the trail from the Station Fire damage. Much has
been accomplished to restore the trail, but it remains closed to all users for
the time being. Read the full report
on our blog... February 23, 2014: Space Mountain Trailwork Day Report. Twelve CORBA volunteers and two COSCA rangers headed up the “Space Mountain” section of the Los Robles Trail in Thousand Oaks to fix up the 1.7-miles long switchbacks part of this singletrack trail before the winter rains worsen the ruts.
By all standards, the work was a tremendous success! We cleared slough from 230 yards of trail, installed about a dozen new drainage nicks, cleaned debris out of about a dozen existing drainages, and whacked out about 20 stumps. See
the full
article and photos in our blog...
March 22, 2014: COSCA Spring Trailwork Day Report. About 60 volunteers converged on Wildflower Park for a short hike to the work area at the bottom of what
would be a new trail. By noon, the volunteers had built the 0.25-mile long Castillo Trail that now connects Wildwood Trail in the canyon to Castillo Circle on the mesa above.
See the full
article and photos in our blog...
April 25 - 27, 2014: Annual Santa Monica Mountains Trailwork
Days in Point Mugu State Park. Plan to help fix up the trails
in Sycamore Canyon on Saturday and/or Sunday, win great swag and,
if you want, camp overnight at Danielson Multipurpose Area
in the center of the park.
The rumors are that we'll be returning to the Wood Canyon Vista
(Backbone) Trail to clean out the drainage nicks we made last year.
They have filled with silt after the one hard rain we had this
winter. Also, there is some work to be done on Sage Trail. Registration
in advance is required so we'll know how many people to expect for
overnight camping and Saturday's barbecue dinner. Online registration
by April 21st would be appreciated!
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
Sullivan Canyon Officially Re-opens
So Cal Gas has completed mandated maintenance work on the pipelines in Sullivan Canyon. The canyon is now open for use.
There will be another maintenance project occurring in the canyon in early May 2014. Please be aware; at the end of the Sullivan Fire Road north of Mulholland Drive, Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas®) will soon be working in the area to perform a pressure test on one of the natural gas pipelines. You will see SoCalGas and its Contractor’s trucks, water tanks, and heavy equipment.
SoCalGas expects that the road will not be completely blocked so you will be able to pass through. Work will begin late March 2014, and last until approximately early in May 2014, although weather and other factors affecting safe working conditions could change the schedule. SoCalGas
thanks you for your patience regarding Sullivan Canyon closures. Sullivan Canyon is private property, owned solely by the Southern California gas company. Its primary function is a corridor for two high pressure gas lines. Because of its natural beauty, SoCalGas makes it available for public use. Periodically, they must complete state and federally mandated maintenance on this pipeline to insure its integrity and public safety. This maintenance may require partial or complete shutdown of the canyon, depending on the nature of the work. They try to keep the public informed of this work, scheduling and user impact.
Girlz Gone Riding News for Spring 2014
GGR is strong as ever and is gearing up for many upcoming events! This last month, GGR held it’s quarterly ride at Sycamore Canyon in Newbury park with over 30 female riders attending. We had 3 levels of rides, Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced with the beginner group being the largest as always lead by GGR girl Michelle Friend who does an outstanding job with our beginners! GGR has picked up some new club sponsors that we are really excited about! These shops support women’s cycling..please support them too! - Michael’s Bicycles Newbury Park
- Kramp Krushers
- Loaded Precision Components
- Hero Kit
- JRA Bikes & Brew
- Bike Warrior
GGR has some exciting events coming up too! New rides posted all the time, please check the FB events page! April 26th is the R50 charity ride to support Rwanda causes! GGR will be having a booth and sharing it with our sister club/Race Team So Cal Endurance Ladies! This is an awesome, fun charity event to participate in! http://50mr.com
To see the other upcoming
events and photo of the results of "Project EngelBling,"
see Wendy's article on our blog...
Free Mountain Biking
Skills Clinic
 Saturday April
5th 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
- Holmes Body Shop: Get that dent fixed and help CORBA
(Click on the links above to get more details!)
CORBA
News eMail List
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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