[Snacks]

its holding up better than spots on two seven..thats for sure...and it gets much more traffic than two seven. so someone is doing something right out there

this just makes my week suck more...and its only monday...WTF?!

27 is a totally different trail. 38 has been ridden so much that it's all the way down to the rock base, so it can't get blown out anymore. In that since, yes it is holding up better now, but when it was newer it was is as bad of shape as 27 currently is.

 

[bibs]

No way, you mean to tell me trails change after they get ridden? Wow!

Im calling bull**** one that one, trailcop thats alie! bold face lie!! I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL!!!

 

[seand]

true true.

27 doesnt have a rockbase to wear down to though...itll just work into a rut and eventually find the sandy layer that is 5ish feet down.

ahhh well...lunch time

 

[juice]

Not enough people know this, but BBTC is going to bat for freeriding and DH, not just xc.

We need to find a legal place to build DH trails, so if any of you want to put some time into this, give me a call at the BBTC World Headquarters. 206-524-2900. It would be great to have freeride advocates meet on a regular basis, maybe every other month.

A bunch of us have been working hard behind the scenes, and we're making progress, but we still haven't found a chunk of land that is good for DH or real freeride. We'll soon start building Colonnade and another "skills park" in King County (think River Runs Through it combined with SST, some xc trails and some DJ's), but these won't meet all of the need or give us the technical vert that we want.

All we need is a land manager that will work with us and has a couple hundred acres with 1000 ft of vert and good rocky soils. Simple, huh? Or with a couple hundred thousand dollars we could buy some land from a timber company and just do it ourselves. Anyone related to Paul Allen? In all seriousness, we could write some grants to buy some land and put it into a conservation easement that allows biking. There's ways to make this happen, we just need to find the place to do it.

edit: contact info

Justin Vander Pol
BBTC Executive Director and freerider
206-524-2900
justin@bbtc.org

 

[seand]

justin man, its not going to happen until gov't realizes there is a constant money stream coming in from this strange form of biking...once they see that, they will "allow" it...look at the shore...millions of dollars a year in revenue, and they are still fighting to keep a sport around that has its roots there...

we have quite the battle ahead of us :/

 

[oly]

Who cares.... whistler opens on April 9th.......

(kidding, i do care, just wanted to plug that i heard whistler opens sooner.... from the nsmb forums...)

It is true tho that one of the battles WA faces is its proximity to the great white norf. I think Oregon and south have stronger bike groups because the worlds greatest riding is not day trippable. Thats not to say we dont have the people and drive to do get our "Dorritos and Mtn Dew" Extreme lifstyles legal, but it does make it harder for sure.....

 

[Snacks]

Who cares.... whistler opens on April 9th.......

(kidding, i do care, just wanted to plug that i heard whistler opens sooner.... from the nsmb forums...)

It is true tho that one of the battles WA faces is its proximity to the great white norf. I think Oregon and south have stronger bike groups because the worlds greatest riding is not day trippable. Thats not to say we dont have the people and drive to do get our "Dorritos and Mtn Dew" Extreme lifstyles legal, but it does make it harder for sure.....

Does it really open on the 9th? Humm maybe head up there after a few days in Moab.

 

[Freak]

Does it really open on the 9th? Humm maybe head up there after a few days in Moab.

Weekends Only: April 30 - May 15, 2005
Daily: May 21 to October 10, 2005

 

[oly]

Weekends Only: April 30 - May 15, 2005
Daily: May 21 to October 10, 2005

The chatter is that they are planning on earlier. The troops are being prepared....

With PA and Spokane in April, i dont plan my first trip till May sometime......

 

[Freak]

The chatter is that they are planning on earlier. The troops are being prepared....

With PA and Spokane in April, i dont plan my first trip till May sometime......

Yea, I'm just going off of what's on their site.....if they open earlier, that would be awesome!

 

[Bullitrider]

It's funny I was out there with some guys a few weeks ago and after our shuttle fest we decided we would dig out the culvert that was plugged(causing the water to overrun and wash out the road) and used the dirt to patch the hole in the landing of the last jump. We found what was plugging the hole was branches from when the forest dudes cut back the growth overhanging the road. :angry:

 

[Universe]

Life goes on!! Time to move to Canada!

Stay outta my country.

 

[Freak]

Stay outta my country.

 

[Universe]

 

[Str8OutaBallard]

Well, a few of us were up at 38, and the Forest Service lady showed up, and basically kicked us off of the trails.

She was fairly nice, and a mtn biker herself, but she's getting pressure from higher ups.

So here's what she told us.

1. They will be posting signs stating that the trails are illegal.

2. They will start with warnings, then start to fine people that they catch. The fines could be anywhere from $100 - $5,000. I believed her on this one as she had just finished fining some people mudding in 4WD's.

3. She wants us to spread the word about 38, so here is the info.

The funny thing is she told us we should just go to Canada to ride...

Oh well, another place getting shut down. I guess they don't realize that more trails are just gonna get built once they force people away from 38.

Life goes on!! Time to move to Canada!

I was up there like 3 or 4 weeks ago on a friday around 2pm and this guy from the fisheries branch of the forest service said the same stuff... the lady in the cherokee didn't say anything that time... I was there and bumped into some other riders from the W. Wa scene (one races for the Downhill Zone) and we all listened to what the fish/ranger guy had to say... he's a cross country rider... anyway I kept it on the down low because I'm still a newby and didn't want to get accused of getting the place shut down...

 

[Skookum]

justin man, its not going to happen until gov't realizes there is a constant money stream coming in from this strange form of biking...once they see that, they will "allow" it...look at the shore...millions of dollars a year in revenue, and they are still fighting to keep a sport around that has its roots there...

we have quite the battle ahead of us :/

Yah one of the battles is you making any sense......

 

[Gex]

you can call me jack officer jack mehoff

 

[bibs]

Stay outta my country.

hehehehe

 

[thesacrifice]

April 9th is my birthday, this is an omen...I will learn something gnarly this season


Although BC is sometimes grouped in with the "Pacific Northwest" it is actually the Canadian Southwest, so as a trade for posting in our forum, we ride your stunts

 

[Corporatefailure]

mines the 4th lookin forward to that.

 

[seand]

Yah one of the battles is you making any sense......

*begin tongue in cheek response*

maybe use your babelfish?

let me make it simpler for you...

riders want legal trail systems here that are comprised..no wait...made up of... more than xc circuits. land owners, local municipalities (governments) see this as a serious liability (risk). Where is the payoff for them to allow such activities (freeriding/dhing)?

up in canadia there is an established (been there for a while..since the 80s actually) system of trails which is also under the same magnifying glass (careful watch) by the districts (local government) that we have here.

The difference? Up there biking brings in a ton of money from tourism, as well as merchandise (bikes, components, etc). So they have the payout, the millions (yes millions) of dollars a year that biking brings in, yet in north van, west van, watershed, etc, you see a constant battle with the powers that be to acknowledge this type of biking. Atleast in squamish it is not only accepted and acknowledged, but its actually supported.

So what would be the deciding factor for king county, skykomish county, or any other WA county to allow FR/DH? There is basically zero revenue from the sports, the risk of lawsuits is HUGE, and since there are no legal "extreme" trails, everyone is forced to build illegal ones..which only makes the cycle more vicious...


*end tongue in cheek*


in all seriousness...all i was getting at was the fact that there is no driving force behind fr/dh that would make any government here say the trails we are building, riding, enjoying are okay. Snoqualmie stopped offering lift accessible dh...if an already established resort cant swing any money out of it, where does that leave the greedy folks in olympia?

 

[Snacks]

up in canadia there is an established (been there for a while..since the 80s actually) system of trails which is also under the same magnifying glass (careful watch) by the districts (local government) that we have here.

The difference? Up there biking brings in a ton of money from tourism, as well as merchandise (bikes, components, etc). So they have the payout, the millions (yes millions) of dollars a year that biking brings in, yet in north van, west van, watershed, etc, you see a constant battle with the powers that be to acknowledge this type of biking. Atleast in squamish it is not only accepted and acknowledged, but its actually supported.

I think we should stop going on about how great the riding community is up north, and start working with our local representatives down here. Canada is a wonderful place to ride and visit. I love the fact that it's just a short drive north, but Washington is never go to be Canada along the lines of trail access. The liability down here is too high.

 

[oly]

hey, leave us Olympia folks out of this...... oh wait, you meant in the Gubment..... carry on.....

 

[Corporatefailure]

people like to sew. and thats what gets the local government in hot water.
and they cant aford it.

 

[Universe]

hehehehe

You too Yankee!!

Ok, you can come.

 

[seand]

snacks - fair enough

oly - yah, the guberment..not the local yokel riders


im going to be really upset if we get to our trailhead this weekend and see an DNR sign posted...

i had a long talk with a guy in revoutions coffee shop who approached me because of the hoodie i was wearing and came right out and asked what i thought about 38. i never met the guy, but he assumed i even knew about 38 and its current situation. he said he thought tearing down the signs and riding anyways was the answer. took a long time to educate him that this was a less than good idear...

why do people think actions like this will solve anything?

 

[Skookum]

i had a long talk with a guy in revoutions coffee shop who approached me because of the hoodie i was wearing and came right out and asked what i thought about 38. i never met the guy, but he assumed i even knew about 38 and its current situation.

haha you have a stalker. :heart:

 

[oly]

haha you have a stalker. :heart:

but at least he has been educated.......

 

[seand]

... i dont want a stalker...make it stop!!!

 

[bibs]

You too Yankee!!

Ok, you can come.

SWEET!!! IM so out of here! crazy americans with your SUV's and building houses on trails! :evil:

 

[bibs]

people like to sew. and thats what gets the local government in hot water.
and they cant aford it.

I need some pants sewn up? do you sew? or crotche'? Oh did you mean sue?

 

[trailhacker]

...he said he thought tearing down the signs and riding anyways was the answer. took a long time to educate him that this was a less than good idear...

why do people think actions like this will solve anything?

So does that mean that signs have been posted or was this a theoretical solution?

 

[seand]

theoretical statement im assuming. unless the signs were posted between when you guys left and he was there...

the way he came across was like this..

him: did you hear about 38?
me: yeah i did...shame huh?
him: the best way to beat this will be to tear down the signs and continue riding to show our presence

so that must mean that IF signs are posted, he intended to rip them down and keep riding...

i didnt think of it as something he had done, but something he WILL do which is why i tried to show him why his logic is funked up.

 

[two1]

*

The difference? Up there biking brings in a ton of money from tourism, as well as merchandise (bikes, components, etc). So they have the payout, the millions (yes millions) of dollars a year that biking brings in, yet in north van, west van, watershed, etc, you see a constant battle with the powers that be to acknowledge this type of biking. Atleast in squamish it is not only accepted and acknowledged, but its actually supported.

So what would be the deciding factor for king county, skykomish county, or any other WA county to allow FR/DH? There is basically zero revenue from the sports

While I agree with you on the tourism side of things I am going to have to disagree with you on the merchandise side of things. You've got Diamondback/Raliegh, Kona, Rotec/GRC, Transition, K2, Sportworks and more companys I'm sure that are in one way or another related to Downhill and Freeride. Not to mention all the Bike shops that all sell Downhill and Freeride bikes, components and assesories. Thats quite an economy making it on DH/FR merchandise.

 

[seand]

that is quite true, but if WA fr/dh went away, how large of a hit would these companies take? I dont think the scene here is large enough to make any impact what so ever on any companies..minus the local shops. if the local shops were truely concerned, they would start to organize a biking organization to protect what trails we have left...no?

JH holds breakfast for each/every nsmba trail day as well as money raising competitions...so does deep cove, steed, and on top...

while I know that the local shops support local events like the gathering, holding clinics, etc...maybe the more important move would be to organize an advocacy group or possibly take one currently in existance (bbtc for example...or even imba) and try and levy their roots in govt to help sustain what we have already?

...just shooting from the hip here. my day at work has been quite unsatisfying and i have 2 more to deal with until the weekend...

 

[oly]

While I agree with you on the tourism side of things I am going to have to disagree with you on the merchandise side of things. You've got Diamondback/Raliegh, Kona, Rotec/GRC, Transition, K2, Sportworks and more companys I'm sure that are in one way or another related to Downhill and Freeride. Not to mention all the Bike shops that all sell Downhill and Freeride bikes, components and assesories. Thats quite an economy making it on DH/FR merchandise.

You can strike one of those guys off that list..... Maybe in the day when they had the gravity team and the shandro, but the Ky2 hasnt been doing anything for DH/FR, and probably, never will.

 

[two1]

I agree fully. I am always disapointed in local bikes shops involvement with the local riding areas legitimacy and growth. While I know alot of shops are just trying to make it selling bikes, etc. Its kinda like like biteing the hand that feeds you. WA has such good terrain and dirt, the potential is endless.

 

[two1]

You can strike one of those guys off that list..... Maybe in the day when they had the gravity team and the shandro, but the Ky2 hasnt been doing anything for DH/FR, and probably, never will.

They have been making the Tirade(definate freerider) all the way up to 04, and they have stopped now, but they still make bikes and I'm sure we have'nt seen the last of them. Freeriding is so hip, K2 wants dollars and after their higher-ups see that Xterra commercial ....forget about it!!

 

[oly]

They have been making the Tirade(definate freerider) all the way up to 04, and they have stopped now, but they still make bikes and I'm sure we have'nt seen the last of them. Freeriding is so hip, K2 wants dollars and after their higher-ups see that Xterra commercial ....forget about it!!

Young man, dont you know the $$ is in comfort bikes?? Untill REI starts blowing TONS of freeride bikes out the door, dont count on seeing much.....

 

[PsychO!1]

I haven't been in thew business for a few years....but i would be very suprised if any local shop was making money with the DH/FR crowd. Of course there mey be a few specialty shops i.e.: DHZ that can make it work, but I beleive for the average shop DH/freeride is just a blip on the financial radar.