TCC Attends IMBA's Global Advocacy Summit
October 1997
Hello again!
It's hard to believe that another month has passed us by. Today we're in Portland, Oregon, eating chocolate that we smuggled back from Switzerland. Yes, Switzerland - more about that in a minute.
We spent the better part of August tooling around Colorado. We met many enthusiastic cyclists and land managers who were more than happy to share their trails and move some dirt with us. We were lucky to have a few days off to take our Outback camping in Rocky Mountain National Park. They don't allow mountain biking on the trails there, but the views and the hiking were great. During a climb up 13,000-foot Mt. Chiquita, we spotted several huge elk, a couple of grouse with baby chicks, and some very friendly mule deer.
All too quickly it was time to go back to work, so we headed south to Salida. This beautiful town in central Colorado is part of a region that's known as "Colorado's banana belt" because of its mild climate. We met with some great folks from the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. We also rode the Monarch Crest Trail - maybe our best ride of the year - more than 30 miles of high elevation singletrack.
After a great, two-day backcountry project with the Crested Butte Mountain Bike Association and the Forest Service we headed to southern California (Anaheim) for Interbike, which is the largest annual U.S. bike industry show. We saw so many people we've worked with this year; it was like a Trail Care Crew reunion! After spending entirely too much money on bike stuff, we boarded a plane and headed to Europe to attend IMBA's Global Advocacy Summit at the Haut-Lac Center in Les Sciernes, Switzerland.
At the end of August, we headed to southern California - Anaheim - for Interbike, which is the largest annual U.S. bike industry show. We saw so many people we've worked with this year: It was like a trail workers' reunion! After spending entirely too much money on "bike stuff," we boarded a plane and headed to Europe to attend IMBA's Global Advocacy Summit at the Haut-Lac Center in Les Sciernes, Switzerland.
The Summit was attended by 47 representatives from at least 10 nations. We were amazed to find that we share many similar issues and challenges around the world. We presented a slide show that pictured many of the places we've visited this year as well as some of our trail projects. It included a lot of shots of our faithful Outback in different settings. The slide show was a big hit and everyone was impressed with the Subaru and the project.
We couldn't leave the Alps without doing some sightseeing so we headed to Chamonix, France, where we rode a speedy cable car to the shoulder of Mont Blanc and then across to the Italian side of the Alps. The views of the glaciers were awesome, but the extreme elevation left us gasping.
We were sad to leave Switzerland but it's good to get back to the comfort of our Subaru. So now we're back on the road and off to Portland, which returns us to the beginning of this letter. You'll have to excuse us...our chocolate calls.
Happy Trails,
Jan & Mike
Statistics:
Ho-Hos consumed - 1 (OK, so nobody's perfect.)
Flat tires on bike - Mike, 2 (I'm back!) Jan, 0
