[jej]

Just a reminder:

Trail work at Ted Williams is this Saturday ( January 30th) at 9pm
We'll have a raffle and some swag,
Thanks to Greg Minaar, Imountain bike, Intense, BikeBling (and maybe some others I forgot) for their support.

R.S.V.P.

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We have scheduled an official date to get some work done at Ted
Williams. we need everyone help so that we can accomplish what needs
to get done.

***Saturday January 30th, 2010 > starting at 9am***

As we all know, there are plenty of unused sections of trail that
criss-cross the land at Teds, part of our agreement with the land
managers of the DFG land is to close these unused sections down and
let them grow back. In reality they arent asking for much, just some
small consistent closures of the unused stuff.
Keep in mind, we are NOT closing down any of the good trails (ie.
4gies, Insanity, berms, etc.).
Please show up and help us with this. All we need is for everyone to
show up and put in a few good strong hours of reconstructive work,
this will show the land managers that we are serious about riding
there and that we want to keep riding there and are willing to put in
some work to keep this priviledge.
After we accomplish this, we will work on getting approval to
'improve' the drainage issues with the good trail (ie. geting rid of
the nasty ruts on the good trails).
Please spread the word and show up, bring plenty of water and some gloves.
if you plan on attending please email us back so we can have an idea
of how many people we should expect.
Remember guys, it's time for us to put some foot to ass and get some
work done the right way.
If we want to be able to continue riding at Ted Williams, we need to
show them that we want it.

 

[2gungho]

I have shown up there during the middle of the week, on recent and prior occassions. I work for the Feds in LA, and I work on Saturdays, so please allow my absence to be accepted.

Can this be put out there to other sites, STR??

 

[lamp]

I am tentatively excited to see where this is going to go. We have manpower and energy, and there is potential for improvement in the area.

But, put it this way, I dont think it was very nice to call the 'unofficial' / original trailbuilders "cooks" or to imply that they built the trails unintelligently. Especially when we are cutting up banked turns in the name of drainage when there is no water damage in that area (after the heavy rains this week . . .). Especially when one volunteer suggested that the trails be ridden "downhill, at night, without lights" as a way to make them more difficult.

I ride here regularly on a downhill bike. If you dont, please keep in the back of your head that others do, and that different users look at trails differently. I know there are guidelines to be adhered to, but generally I think that a lot can be accomplished with a light touch. No need to rearrange a ton of dirt. The key to sustainability lies above all in a core of users who are willing to do maintainence when needed, and I think this is something present in this area.

And maybe I am just being irrational here, but I get the impression that people are holding back as far as feedback is concerned. I think there is a fear that certain questions and suggestions would be construed as negative and uncooperative, when in reality they might spark some useful discussion. Right now, being negative and uncooperative is a Very Bad Thing. So talk to people in person, send emails, send PMs, do not stop talking.

 

[jej]

2gungho,
thanks for your support. Maybe you'll be able to come next time. We cross posted on different website. I think STR got rid of our post, I believe there's something wrong going on between them Ted Williams...

 

[jej]

First off, a huge thank you to all who showed up today!
50 people signed in and did an amazing work.

Special thanks to SDMBA, iMountainbike, North of the Border, Intense Cycles, Bike Bling, Lambert Photo, Greg Minnar( and his jersey), the guy who donated the pair of 2.5 DH Nevegals...(sorry i forgot your name), MTB LOCOS and especially the young riders that show up (because they are the future of this sport)

All in all, i think today was a MASSIVE success. we set out initially with the goal of closing down ONE unused trail and repair some water/erosion issues nearby...we actually closed TWO large unused trails and repaired countless ruts that were only making the erosion problem worse. we managed to put enough water bars and diversions in to make IMBA happy .
If you sit at the bottom of tw, (meadowbrook ln./parking area) you can no longer see 2 giant fall lines that were causing such an eye sore and causing so much water damage.....GREAT JOB EVERYONE!
this is exactly what happens when people put their differences aside, work together.


Our highpoint today;
watching old and young, XC and DH, riders and non-riders work together and perform actual habitat restoration work that we will all get to enjoy.........and will make a loud statement to land management agencies; we are not a careless group of people, we can, we will, and we want to make a difference! and we want to keep riding our 'difference', so give us more legal trails in the future...sanitized and non-sanitized trails.

- Mtb Locos

 

[jej]

Lamp,
On a side note,

I appologize if you felt offended by something we said, I think it was in the context while trying to explain that we should pay more attention in trail design and especially erosion control, no only because rain will ruin the trails but also because it's the condition to keep the trails open.
I have lots of respect for the people who built trails and I already told them. They keep the sport alive. The MTB locos mission is just to help them to keep the trails they built. Mtb Locos just want to work for you and with you. Keep in mind it was our first trail work and we had a mix of different people, I was actually stocked to see different type of trail builders, different type of riders, different generations working together, exchanging and learning from each other.
As far as I know it was the first time the whole mtb community was working together (especially the DHer) at TW.
You are maybe a bit irrational ;-p because really all the feedback are appreciated, feel free to shoot us an email at contact@mtblocos.com whenever you feel it's needed. The more eveybody is involved and proactive, the better.
Again, we are not perfect and it's a learning process so don't feel offended by anything we can do or say. We'll take into account any friendly feedback.
At the end of the day, we just all want to be able to shred great trails the next day.

- Jerome