So its probably time someone who knows should address all the questions people have been having about the CDCC. The board members of the CDCC took everyones money and moved to Paraguay where they have a secret DH sanctuary.
All right, how about everyone became overwhelmed with what they had taken on, and the reality of real life and real work set in. Anyone who paid money to join, as far as I know that money is still in a bank account. I never had access to it. So this is what I know as a board member and please, if Im wrong about any of my information please let me know. It is not my attention to call anyone out, so to speak, but I do hope that other board members will respond to this thread. The following people of were on the board of the CDCC.
My name is Kent Setsma and many of you know me. I suppose Im as much to blame as anyone else on the board for letting things fall apart as they did. Just real life responsibilities and a lack of interest from other board members. I think having a functioning web-site would have helped but there was more to it than that. Different board members wanted to see different things happen.
Shane Meyer was the chairman of the board. He was also the team captain for Rocky Mountain Descent. In retrospect this may have cause a conflict of interest for him. In the spring of 03 Shane had committed RMD to put on the gravity portion of Battle of the Bear, MSC race. In the early stages of the CDCC I think too much focus was put on the trail in Downieville, but there did seem to be a chance that the land owners there were going to let us build more trails there. One course was built there and the race happened there for two years. For some reason however, the landowners never permitted anymore trails to be built there and the location died out. Shane is also a business owner and I would guess that his work responsibilities also played a part.
CB Dushane had been unemployed during the initial stages of starting the CDCC but eventually took a job at Bicycle Village, which limited the amount of time he could devote.
Josh McGukin was helping to coordinate our web-site.
Jeremiah Huske was helping to coordinate members.
Matt Thompson said that he would help with what he could and provided a lot of swag from Santa Cruz. But it was understood that Matt would not be able not be able to help as much during race season. Still I think Matt could have been a powerful motivator to help us maintain momentum.
Rob Sears was also not going to be able to help as much during the racing season but like Matt I think his voice carries a lot of weight in our community and I think that he could have also helped motivate a lot of people.
Like I said if Im off base with any of this some one let me know.
Hindsight is 20/20, as they say, and in hindsight the seven board members listed above were not enough people to deal with the things we were dealing with.
This may get complicated so let me know if you have questions. As many of you know, there have been some mtb meetings lately in JeffCo. From these meetings riders have resurrected an old local club called Trails Conservation Services (TCS). On the Board of the TCS is a rider named Dave Cohen and he is an mtb representative who sits on the Trail Use Task Force (TUTF). The TUTF is the official body that makes recommendations to the Open Space Advisory Committee (OSAC) and is made up of 5 reps from each of the user groups (mtb, hiker, and equestrian) and JeffCo Open Space employees. As an mtb representative Dave Cohen not only represents TCS members, he also represents all mountain bikers who use JeffCo trails including downhillers.
First Dave asked me to attend a TCS core group meeting, which I did last Thursday night. It was interesting to see how they were organized. They have about six board members and each board member was the head of a sub-committee with about 5 people on each sub-committee. In all there were about 30 people at the meeting and it seemed to by a very effective way to delegate all the responsibilities. Perhaps if the CDCC had used a similar format they could have been more effective.
Now, onto some good stuff. After the meeting I met with Dave and we discussed what was going on with the dh scene. He told me that there was a TUTF meeting coming up on April 21st and he wanted me to attend on behalf of the CDCC to report on the state of the situation. This meeting will be primarily to outline a new action plan among all user groups and all the reps are currently working on putting it together in preparation of this meeting. A major concern for all user groups is overcrowding on popular trails. Hikers in particular are concerned with the traffic on Apex. It also appears, despite constant efforts to let people know it is inappropriate, that shuttling continues there as well. The hikers are willing to endorse separate trails for dh if we can voluntarily stop shuttling multi-use trails.
Also, Dave has told me that the challenge park that Open Space had been planning for north table mountain, has been put on the shelf and that Ralph Schell the director of Open Space has indicated that he is looking for a more feasible solution from the user groups. Dave has also given Ralph a copy of the recent Bootleg Canyon article in MBA and Ralph said he would be interested in seeing something similar in JeffCo. Ralph should also be in attendance at the TUFT meeting.
Personally, Im taking all of this with a grain of salt, but Im glad for the chance we have to be heard.
Sorry for the long post but these issues need to be addressed.
Comments?
All right, how about everyone became overwhelmed with what they had taken on, and the reality of real life and real work set in. Anyone who paid money to join, as far as I know that money is still in a bank account. I never had access to it. So this is what I know as a board member and please, if Im wrong about any of my information please let me know. It is not my attention to call anyone out, so to speak, but I do hope that other board members will respond to this thread. The following people of were on the board of the CDCC.
My name is Kent Setsma and many of you know me. I suppose Im as much to blame as anyone else on the board for letting things fall apart as they did. Just real life responsibilities and a lack of interest from other board members. I think having a functioning web-site would have helped but there was more to it than that. Different board members wanted to see different things happen.
Shane Meyer was the chairman of the board. He was also the team captain for Rocky Mountain Descent. In retrospect this may have cause a conflict of interest for him. In the spring of 03 Shane had committed RMD to put on the gravity portion of Battle of the Bear, MSC race. In the early stages of the CDCC I think too much focus was put on the trail in Downieville, but there did seem to be a chance that the land owners there were going to let us build more trails there. One course was built there and the race happened there for two years. For some reason however, the landowners never permitted anymore trails to be built there and the location died out. Shane is also a business owner and I would guess that his work responsibilities also played a part.
CB Dushane had been unemployed during the initial stages of starting the CDCC but eventually took a job at Bicycle Village, which limited the amount of time he could devote.
Josh McGukin was helping to coordinate our web-site.
Jeremiah Huske was helping to coordinate members.
Matt Thompson said that he would help with what he could and provided a lot of swag from Santa Cruz. But it was understood that Matt would not be able not be able to help as much during race season. Still I think Matt could have been a powerful motivator to help us maintain momentum.
Rob Sears was also not going to be able to help as much during the racing season but like Matt I think his voice carries a lot of weight in our community and I think that he could have also helped motivate a lot of people.
Like I said if Im off base with any of this some one let me know.
Hindsight is 20/20, as they say, and in hindsight the seven board members listed above were not enough people to deal with the things we were dealing with.
This may get complicated so let me know if you have questions. As many of you know, there have been some mtb meetings lately in JeffCo. From these meetings riders have resurrected an old local club called Trails Conservation Services (TCS). On the Board of the TCS is a rider named Dave Cohen and he is an mtb representative who sits on the Trail Use Task Force (TUTF). The TUTF is the official body that makes recommendations to the Open Space Advisory Committee (OSAC) and is made up of 5 reps from each of the user groups (mtb, hiker, and equestrian) and JeffCo Open Space employees. As an mtb representative Dave Cohen not only represents TCS members, he also represents all mountain bikers who use JeffCo trails including downhillers.
First Dave asked me to attend a TCS core group meeting, which I did last Thursday night. It was interesting to see how they were organized. They have about six board members and each board member was the head of a sub-committee with about 5 people on each sub-committee. In all there were about 30 people at the meeting and it seemed to by a very effective way to delegate all the responsibilities. Perhaps if the CDCC had used a similar format they could have been more effective.
Now, onto some good stuff. After the meeting I met with Dave and we discussed what was going on with the dh scene. He told me that there was a TUTF meeting coming up on April 21st and he wanted me to attend on behalf of the CDCC to report on the state of the situation. This meeting will be primarily to outline a new action plan among all user groups and all the reps are currently working on putting it together in preparation of this meeting. A major concern for all user groups is overcrowding on popular trails. Hikers in particular are concerned with the traffic on Apex. It also appears, despite constant efforts to let people know it is inappropriate, that shuttling continues there as well. The hikers are willing to endorse separate trails for dh if we can voluntarily stop shuttling multi-use trails.
Also, Dave has told me that the challenge park that Open Space had been planning for north table mountain, has been put on the shelf and that Ralph Schell the director of Open Space has indicated that he is looking for a more feasible solution from the user groups. Dave has also given Ralph a copy of the recent Bootleg Canyon article in MBA and Ralph said he would be interested in seeing something similar in JeffCo. Ralph should also be in attendance at the TUFT meeting.
Personally, Im taking all of this with a grain of salt, but Im glad for the chance we have to be heard.
Sorry for the long post but these issues need to be addressed.
Comments?