mountain bike advocacy news

Well, first off, not really Lyons, but those of you registered to vote in Boulder may find this interesting. Since former Councilman Will Toor had to leave his post to hold up the status quo that Ron Stewart is leaving behind as county commissioner, his council seat is up for grabs. There will be a special election in April to decide who the new council person will be.

I got this email from BOA today:
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BOA endorses Suzy Ageton for City Council

Will Toor resigned his City Council seat in November to take on his new job with the Boulder County Commissioners. There is a special election underway to fill his City Council position. The biggest issue that this Council person will face is the Open Space and Mountain Parks Visitor Master Plan (VMP). Of the six candidates running only Suzy Ageton or Lisa Morzel have a realistic chance of being elected. For more trails and better access to OSMP properties the mountain biking community should support Suzy.

If you are registered to vote in this election, you should have received your ballot in the mail by now. We ask that you consider this election to be a turning point in City politics, one where we can open a new chapter of collaboration and positi ve progress with OSMP.



After six years of stops and starts and over one million dollars spent, the City Boulder Open Space &Mountain Parks (OSMP) has released its Final Draft. It's due for submission to the City Council in April. BOA was an active participant throughout the six year process and worked to represent mountain biking access in this plan. During this period, BOA, along with dog owners, runners, rock climbers, equestrians, hang gliders and paragliders became involved politically like never before. We interviewed City Council candidates in 2004 to voice our concerns with the VMP. The current City Council now understands our issues and our desire to create a plan that both provides access while protecting the lands.

What does the plan look like?

For starters, we encourage everyone who enjoys Boulder's fine open space s to look for themselves at the OSMP website: http://www.ci.boulder.co.us/openspace/plan.htm

We are happy to report that this plan is a good one. The tone of the plan places the user experience as a valued goal for OSMP. There are specific goals laid out, there are metrics to see how they are doing, and there is a feedback process to help with an adaptive management approach. And yes, mountain biking access is in there as well.

Is it perfect? Of course not. There are still several issues regarding "on-trail only" use in certain areas and nighttime visitation. But taken as a whole, this plan is a guide that will enhance the user experience AND protect the natural resources.

Are we done? Is there anything you can do about it?

Yes! Vote in the spe cial election and support Suzy Ageton. The VMP is scheduled to go before the City Council for approval on April 5, 2005. We need Suzy on the City Council.

Suzy acknowledges the problems we've had with OSMP and the Board of Trustees. She seeks a more balanced representation on the Board of Trustees. Ms. Morzel represents the more reactionary facets of Boulder politics, the type of approach that we have seen throughout the 1990's, where preservation trumped recreation at every turn.

There are candidates that are more pro-recreation to be sure. But we feel every vote for someone other than Suzy Ageton is really a vote for Liza Morzel, who has been endorsed by PLAN-Boulder and the Sierra Club.

Getting to this point in the process has indeed been a long, strange trip. Please consider our points and then go vote
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Thanks for reading this far. In other news, although it's a couple weeks old, check out this press release from IMBA regarding mountain biking and Wilderness. It's good to have a little backing in this area. A little more background info his here. Interesting, to say the least.

Thanks, more as I hear it!

upcoming rides

Thurs night at the shop at 7:30pm. We usually bs for a bit then decide where to ride. We usually end up driving. Bring good lights.

Also, how about a Sunday morning tour of Left Hand Canyon, given all of the recent fuss about the place. We can meet up at LHC at 7:30am. Plenty of time to ride before the shop opens!

The Sunday ride is subject to a time change. I'll repost here later with more firm details.

Weekday Group Rides to Start Soon

Howdy. In a couple more weeks, it will be light enough to start after work rides. I'm hoping that by mid March, we can start gathering once a week at 6pm at the shop to ride Hall or elsewhere. For now, we'll have to bring lights, but we'll use them less as the days get longer. Last year group rides were every Thursday.

The bad thing about Thurs is that Lyons has concerts in the park on Thursdays in the summer. Lots of folks like to stick around town and jam to some free music so we're rescheduling the night to ride.

I'll take a vote - is there any preference for Tuesdays or Wednesdays? If I don't hear from anyone, it'll be Tuesday. Post here or email.

dave
dave@redstonecyclery.com

thanks!

Burley Action

Today was one of the best rides I've had in a few weeks. We slept in today and headed into town for a mid morning ride thru the park. I took the hardtail out today, and had daughter Zoe in tow in the Burley. We left from the bike shop and road out South St Vrain to the far end bridge. We took a little detour up Red Gulch Road, where we ran into Greg on his new Orbea Onix. That is a very sweet bike. Full carbon and 10sp Dura Ace. This was his 2nd ride on it. He was all smiles. After riding a bit with Greg, we went back to the park to play in the sand and on the swings. Ride time was maybe 40 minutes, but it's quality, not quantity! Zoe had a great time. "Again Daddy!"

migz rockin the 29er on Saturday's am ride

nothing to see here...

Well, at least it's the weekend. The day started with a little group ride at the shop at 7:30am. The idea was to make it up and lap around Hall before the thaw. Well, it didn't quite work out 100%. We left the shop closer to eight and made it to the top bench without incident. It was definitely chilly when we went up, but the sun was peeking out from the clouds and sections of trail were very slightly starting to soften up. Backside of the bench was great - 100% snow. It was a slippery slide down to the next bench. From there, though, it just got muddier and muddier. We called it and headed down Antelope. Another fun one, it was about 90$ snow covered and the rest was really getting soft. I rolled back to town to open the shop, but the rest of the crew went back up and over to Hwy7. I saw them at the end of their ride. Apparently, the main trail had received a bunch of sun and was quite muddy.

Lots of bikes that were mounted on cars today heading out of Lyons were super mud caked. Thankfully, there were not many. In many ways, we've been cursed with lots of snow this season, making off road riding not a worthwhile endeavor. On the other hand, consider this wet time to be a blessing. You will be thankful for it come July and August when the trails are at their driest. Remember, the ruts we make today will become concreted in the trail when the weather dries things out, but enough of the rant.

Tomorrow may be a road bike day. Last Sunday was a fantastic day out on the road. Up 7 to the P-P highway and back. A short little climbing out and back, but a fun ride none-the-less. 50mph descents help, too.

Let's hope for sunnier skies out for Sunday and drier trails to come soon. Right now, the wind is absolutely howling - maybe that'll help the moisture go away sooner than later. Good or bad? You can make the call. Enjoy the rest of the weekend and have a great ride!

save this date

Sunday, July 31 2005.

Laramie

Enduro

111k

Night Ride Tues/Left Hand Canyon time for Action

The Left Hand Canyon USFS management meeting is this Tuesday, 2/15 at 5:30 Please show up and be heard. There's ton's of opportunity for mountain bikers here.

Many of us are planning to night ride at LHC after the meeting. Email me if you can't make the meeting but still want to ride!

Hey Dave,  

Road Ride on Sunday

The trails around here are in sloptacular condition, so it's time to break out the skinny tires. Meet up at the shop (NE corner of 4th and Broadway across from the visitor's center) at 8:45 am. I'd say 8:45 sharp, but I'm pretty dull that time of day. We'll ride for a couple hours at a not too tough pace. The route will be decided at the time.

come on out!

The Turner Demos are ready to be ridden!


The 5 Spot Demo


The Flux Demo

I've spent some time on both bikes and I am super impressed. You've got to check them out to believe how great they ride!

Ride - Thurs 2/10

We plan to do it up again this Thursday eve. Who know's where we'll end up or how late we'll be out, but the plan is to meet up at the shop at 7:30pm. Bring lights and warm weather gear. Last week, there was talk of meeting up a little earlier, but I'll post up if that materializes at all.

See you there!

Thursday's Night Ride

was a blast. We'll probably do it again this Thurs. I'll post up info when it's finalized.



Also, most folks are familiar with it, but we've got local trail conditions posted here, too. Right now, Hall is a muddy mess. Maybe next week!

Schwinn/GT on the way!

Just got the paperwork all turned in. Redstone is now an official Schwinn/GT dealer. It's been in the works for a bit now and it feels good to have everything finalized. The new bikes will arrive in a few weeks. We won't be bringing in a ton - we're no UBikes here. We will, however be taking requests if anyone would like to see anything special. Check 'em out here - SCHWINN, GT.

It'll be a little wierd going from past employment with Schwinn/GT to selling them in my own shop!

Redstone gets the new sign!

Finally got the new sign. All that's left is dealing with the town on the sign permit (easier said than done) and getting it mounted up. Special thanks to Scott from Bergen Designs for the awesome work!