News Briefs

IMBA Trail News
Volume 13, Number 4
Fall 2000

Trails Closed in Bay Area

Despite the tireless work of the Bay Area's Responsible Organized Mountain Pedalers (ROMP), land managers have approved new bike restrictions in several open space preserves along the San Francisco Peninsula. The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District will ban bikes from seven of their 23 preserves, closing 13.6 miles of the 165 trail miles open to cyclists. Citing long-standing user conflict as the reason for the restrictions, district staff reported 18 hiker/biker incidents in the past three years, 10 of which involved injury. More than one million people visit the Midpen preserves each year. The District also voted to reduce the system-wide percentage of trails open to bikes from 70% to 60%-65%. To learn more and help prevent future closures, get involved at www.romp.org.

CARA Reaches Final Step

As IMBA Trail News goes to press, the Conservation and Reinvestment Act (CARA) has just one more big step to go: the floor of the United States Senate. If passed, CARA will create thousands of acres of new public land - much of which will include trails open to mountain bikes. In May CARA passed the House of Representatives by an overwhelming 315-102 vote, and in July it passed the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee by a vote of 13-7. Four Republicans on the committee joined nine Democrats to advance the bill to the full Senate. The Senate reconvenes Sept. 6 and the target adjournment date for the year is Oct. 6, leaving only about 15-20 legislative days for final action on CARA. For more info: www.imba.com or www.ahrinfo.org.

Bikes Banned from Bench

The well known Pollack Bench trail near Grand Junction, CO, was closed to mountain bike use on July 31 by the Colorado office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The trail, which has long been one of the most popular rides on Colorado's western slope, lies within the Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness Study Area, which may be considered for official Wilderness designation this fall by the U.S. Senate. In announcing its decision, the BLM said "the trail is becoming wider in many places and off-road tracks are very numerous...This [mountain bike] use has created impairment of the area's wilderness values as defined in the BLM's Interim Management Policy and Guidelines for Lands Under Wilderness Review." The Colorado Plateau Mountain Bike Association (www.copmoba.com) and Mesa County Cycling Association (970-858-7220) - both IMBA affiliates - have been working for years to promote low-impact desert riding techniques on this and all other Grand Junction trails. The clubs were surprised by the timing of this closure and have questioned the BLM's impact conclusions. Other BLM trails in the area aren't affected by this ruling.

New Midwest Singletrack

Illinois mountain bikers will soon be able to ride a new singletrack loop in Jim Edgar Panther Creek State Fish and Wildlife Area. Construction on the 17-mile loop that circles a lake within the park was started this summer. Volunteers from IMBA affiliate Springfield Area Mountain Bike Association (SAMBA) have contributed hundreds of hours of work. Located about 30 miles northwest of Springfield, the park offers a wide range of recreational activities, including road and off-road cycling. Springfield's Mayor, Karen Hasara, supports recreation, including mountain biking. The trail is slated to open sometime in the next eight months. For info: www.cityscape.net/~samba

NMBP Conference in California

The National Mountain Bike Patrol will hold its 4th annual Instructor Training Conference October 6-8 in Monterey, CA. The main goal of the conference is to certify NMBP instructors so that they can train patrollers in their home area. This promises to be an educational and fun event for all. For more info and on-line registration, go to www.imba.com/nmbp. Or contact IMBA. We hope to see you there!

25th IMBA Trailbuilding School

The 25th IMBA Trailbuilding School was held Sept. 2-3 in Squamish, British Columbia. Initiated in 1998, the IMBA Trailbuilding School program has taught the essentials of trail development, construction and maintenance to more than 1,000 people. The 2000 IMBA Trailbuilding School program, which is sponsored in part by Specialized, uses a two-day format. Each school combines classroom learning, on-the-trail assessment, and a full day of trail construction to prepare volunteers to become trail crew leaders. Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crews have served as chief instructors at most of these schools. IMBA Trails Resource Director Kurt Loheit has also headed the effort. More info: .

RockShox Grants Awarded

Thanks to generous funding from RockShox, IMBA has awarded the second round of 2000 Club Assistance Grants. The grants are awarded to IMBA affiliated clubs to help fund trail development and maintenance projects. Each organization receives $250. This round's winners are Jersey Off-Road Bicycling Association (Summit, NJ); Colorado Plateau Mountain Bike Association (Grand Junction, CO); Southern Off Road Bicycle Association (Marietta, GA); Batesville Independence Knobby Explorers (Batesville, AR); Rattling Creek Singletrackers (Lykens, PA); and the Michigan Mountain Bike Association (Belmont, MI). Since the inception of the grant program in 1997, RockShox has contributed more than $100,000 to grassroots mountain biking groups. More info: .

Patrol Makes Big Impression in Utah

Southwest Utah's Color Country Cycling Club's volunteer mountain bike patrol (CCCP) is only a year old, but they've already formed a model partnership involving local mountain bikers, a ski resort and federal land management agencies. The CCCP made its debut at the 1999 Brian Head Bash Mountain Bike Festival, providing on-trail information and assistance to festival riders at this burgeoning mountain bike mecca. Last September the group worked with the Interbike industry trade show in Las Vegas to help with the On-Dirt Demo Day. They did a great job and have been invited back for 2000. Like all National Mountain Bike Patrol affiliates, the group's focus is providing volunteer assistance to help keep trails open. More info: www.netutah.com/cccycling

DuPriest Elected to Hall of Fame

Congratulations to former IMBA board member Linda DuPriest on her recent election into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. DuPriest, who served as an IMBA director from '89 to '98, was a pioneer in connecting the bike industry to advocacy. As the bicycle advocacy coordinator for Specialized Bicycle Components, DuPriest worked fulltime on rider education, keeping trails open, improving road cycling conditions and developing kids cycling programs. DuPriest, who is now the bicycle-pedestrian coordinator for the city of Austin, Texas, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame September 25 in Las Vegas during the Interbike trade show. More info: www.mountainbike.co.nz/halloffame/

IMBA Report Card Earns Ink

IMBA's Mountain Bike Access Report Card has earned ink in the mainstream press. The story was picked up by CNN.com on Monday, August 7, and appeared on the CNN.com homepage. The article contained a link to the original press release on IMBA.com, leading to a dramatic jump in traffic on IMBA's site. USA Today, which boasts more than two million daily readers, was planning to run an IMBA Report Card Story in early September (as this edition of ITN went to press). To see how your state fared, visit www.imba.com.

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	News Briefs IMBA Trail News Volume 13, Number 4 Fall 2000 Trails Closed in Bay Area Despite the tireless work of the Bay Area's Responsible Organized Mountain Pedalers (ROMP), land managers have approved new bike restrictions in several open space preserves along the San Francisco Peninsula. The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District will ban bikes from seven of their 23 preserves, closing 13.6 miles of the 165 trail miles open to cyclists. Citing long-standing user conflict as the reason for the restrictions, district staff reported 18 hiker/biker incidents in the past three years, 10 of which involved injury. More than one million people visit the Midpen preserves each year. The District also voted to reduce the system-wide percentage of trails open to bikes from 70% to 60%-65%. To learn more and help prevent future closures, get involved at www.romp.org. CARA Reaches Final Step As IMBA Trail News goes to press, the Conservation and Reinvestment Act (CARA) has just one more big step to go: the floor of the United States Senate. If passed, CARA will create thousands of acres of new public land - much of which will include trails open to mountain bikes. In May CARA passed the House of Representatives by an overwhelming 315-102 vote, and in July it passed the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee by a vote of 13-7. Four Republicans on the committee joined nine Democrats to advance the bill to the full Senate. The Senate reconvenes Sept. 6 and the target adjournment date for the year is Oct. 6, leaving only about 15-20 legislative days for final action on CARA. For more info: www.imba.com or www.ahrinfo.org. Bikes Banned from Bench The well known Pollack Bench trail near Grand Junction, CO, was closed to mountain bike use on July 31 by the Colorado office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The trail, which has long been one of the most popular rides on Colorado's western slope, lies within the Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness Study Area, which may be considered for official Wilderness designation this fall by the U.S. Senate. In announcing its decision, the BLM said "the trail is becoming wider in many places and off-road tracks are very numerous...This [mountain bike] use has created impairment of the area's wilderness values as defined in the BLM's Interim Management Policy and Guidelines for Lands Under Wilderness Review." The Colorado Plateau Mountain Bike Association (www.copmoba.com) and Mesa County Cycling Association (970-858-7220) - both IMBA affiliates - have been working for years to promote low-impact desert riding techniques on this and all other Grand Junction trails. The clubs were surprised by the timing of this closure and have questioned the BLM's impact conclusions. Other BLM trails in the area aren't affected by this ruling. New Midwest Singletrack Illinois mountain bikers will soon be able to ride a new singletrack loop in Jim Edgar Panther Creek State Fish and Wildlife Area. Construction on the 17-mile loop that circles a lake within the park was started this summer. Volunteers from IMBA affiliate Springfield Area Mountain Bike Association (SAMBA) have contributed hundreds of hours of work. Located about 30 miles northwest of Springfield, the park offers a wide range of recreational activities, including road and off-road cycling. Springfield's Mayor, Karen Hasara, supports recreation, including mountain biking. The trail is slated to open sometime in the next eight months. For info: www.cityscape.net/~samba NMBP Conference in California The National Mountain Bike Patrol will hold its 4th annual Instructor Training Conference October 6-8 in Monterey, CA. The main goal of the conference is to certify NMBP instructors so that they can train patrollers in their home area. This promises to be an educational and fun event for all. For more info and on-line registration, go to www.imba.com/nmbp. Or contact IMBA. We hope to see you there! 25th IMBA Trailbuilding School The 25th IMBA Trailbuilding School was held Sept. 2-3 in Squamish, British Columbia. Initiated in 1998, the IMBA Trailbuilding School program has taught the essentials of trail development, construction and maintenance to more than 1,000 people. The 2000 IMBA Trailbuilding School program, which is sponsored in part by Specialized, uses a two-day format. Each school combines classroom learning, on-the-trail assessment, and a full day of trail construction to prepare volunteers to become trail crew leaders. Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crews have served as chief instructors at most of these schools. IMBA Trails Resource Director Kurt Loheit has also headed the effort. More info: . RockShox Grants Awarded Thanks to generous funding from RockShox, IMBA has awarded the second round of 2000 Club Assistance Grants. The grants are awarded to IMBA affiliated clubs to help fund trail development and maintenance projects. Each organization receives $250. This round's winners are Jersey Off-Road Bicycling Association (Summit, NJ); Colorado Plateau Mountain Bike Association (Grand Junction, CO); Southern Off Road Bicycle Association (Marietta, GA); Batesville Independence Knobby Explorers (Batesville, AR); Rattling Creek Singletrackers (Lykens, PA); and the Michigan Mountain Bike Association (Belmont, MI). Since the inception of the grant program in 1997, RockShox has contributed more than $100,000 to grassroots mountain biking groups. More info: . Patrol Makes Big Impression in Utah Southwest Utah's Color Country Cycling Club's volunteer mountain bike patrol (CCCP) is only a year old, but they've already formed a model partnership involving local mountain bikers, a ski resort and federal land management agencies. The CCCP made its debut at the 1999 Brian Head Bash Mountain Bike Festival, providing on-trail information and assistance to festival riders at this burgeoning mountain bike mecca. Last September the group worked with the Interbike industry trade show in Las Vegas to help with the On-Dirt Demo Day. They did a great job and have been invited back for 2000. Like all National Mountain Bike Patrol affiliates, the group's focus is providing volunteer assistance to help keep trails open. More info: www.netutah.com/cccycling DuPriest Elected to Hall of Fame Congratulations to former IMBA board member Linda DuPriest on her recent election into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. DuPriest, who served as an IMBA director from '89 to '98, was a pioneer in connecting the bike industry to advocacy. As the bicycle advocacy coordinator for Specialized Bicycle Components, DuPriest worked fulltime on rider education, keeping trails open, improving road cycling conditions and developing kids cycling programs. DuPriest, who is now the bicycle-pedestrian coordinator for the city of Austin, Texas, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame September 25 in Las Vegas during the Interbike trade show. More info: www.mountainbike.co.nz/halloffame/ IMBA Report Card Earns Ink IMBA's Mountain Bike Access Report Card has earned ink in the mainstream press. The story was picked up by CNN.com on Monday, August 7, and appeared on the CNN.com homepage. The article contained a link to the original press release on IMBA.com, leading to a dramatic jump in traffic on IMBA's site. USA Today, which boasts more than two million daily readers, was planning to run an IMBA Report Card Story in early September (as this edition of ITN went to press). To see how your state fared, visit www.imba.com.


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