[Zark]

OK I was looking at the Oakley thread in the So-Cal forum http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=104369
and had an idea. What about riders getting together to buy or rent land for the purpose of building trails. It would eliminate the main problems in mountain biking: places to ride and build. So what does it take to do this?

1. How many people would have to buy in to make it happen? Obviously this depends on how much land, where you want it, etc. Santa Barbara has many issues with trail users and like most places if build stunts they always get torn down. And land is pricey and hard to come by, so it might take a lot of people and a lot of money.

2. Liability. Working out who can ride there, what it would take for a non co-op member to ride there and not get sued when they eat it. I'm assuming this also might mean insurance.

3. Who's the boss? And I'm not talking about Tony Danza. You need some executive to run it. I guess they can be elected by the investors. Can anyone dig there? There has to be a "trail boss" to dictate design to make things are built right and safe enough to not totally kill you


Is this even sound possible? Anyone heard of anything like this where a bike club has bought land to make a park? Do BMX tracks do this anywhere? I'm open to ideas here please give me some feedback on this. I I just thought it would be cool to have parks where we all can do what our bikes are made to do!

 

[Spunger]

Back in the day, when I use to race BMX (mid 90's) there use to be a spot on the upper west side of town sorta going over to the mesa. We had all kinds of jumps up there and no problems from the owners etc...until they sold it and the new owners put fences up etc... That sucked

But I agree. I'd pay fee's to a membership if it had a shuttle access road and trails that MTB'ers got to mess with and play with. I'm with Zark on this one. Our trails have use issues so bad it's almost to the point where we can ride every other day type thing. It's good in it's own ways but sucks in others.

I dunno how much it would cost to rent land. Probably more than I make, and you make, and like 50 others make combined SB land is too expensive. I'd like the idea of some old rich fart allowing MTB'ers to ride on his land for a membership fee or something along those lines. You just think how hard would it be to have say cold springs be rented? That seems hard to make.

You gotta figure too a jump park/skate park/BMX park doesn't require a ton of space. Our skate park is pretty useless because 1. no bikes allowed and 2. not even open at night. Sure it's public and outdoors but whoopty, we can't use it. The BMX track charges like $5 for practice and $7 or $8 to race I think. Not bad price wise for some hours of fun. I think Skate Street in Ventura is $150 for a year membership and like $8-12 a session which is like 2-3hrs long. They are big but not giant big.

Once developers get their hands on more mesa and the ellwood bluffs we're totally screwed for jump places and sorta free-ride trails in town. It is just all a matter of time. Sorta makes you wish you lived near a ski resort where in the summer time you can ride enough to make up for the times you can't due to shuttles or weather etc...

 

[jackalope]

Seems like it would be very doable...I live way down yonder in the land of Dixie, and one things for certain: there are a ton of hunting clubs around here that rent large tracts of land throughout the year. I really don't think liability would be major issue, seeing as hunting is potentially every bit as dangerous (or moreso really) than mountain biking...Plus, I think most states have contributory negligence laws which basically say "if you knowingly engage in an inherently dangerous activity on someone else's property, it's your ass on the line - not the owner's"...Now of course, I'm generalizing here, but that's the basic gist...Although, the above law(s) still don't prevent the landowner from being sued, but it certainly provides a pretty fail safe defense...But, I'm no blood sucking parasitic attorney, so p'raps someone else can expound on that subject...Anyway, if hunting clubs can organize themselves and rent property, then I don't see why we can't...Now, I can envision where some landowners are olde school and don't want anything to do with cyclist on their property - but, there are some others who don't want half drunk necks waving shotguns around (man, I love stereotyping rednecks) their property either, but still wouldn't mind renting out the land to someone...That seems like where we can fit in...

All that said, the main problem (at least around here), is biker solidarity...It's like trying to herd cats...But hopefully the west coast bike scene is little more organized about something like this, and can actually get something done...
EDIT: Although, I think a mountain bike group up in Mass. got together and made Vietnam their own (not sure if they're renting or if they own it)...
Thanks Butch for clearing that up...

 

[bizutch]

Contact NEMBA! THey bought Vietnam. They can tell you everything it takes.

 

[joelsman]

I have thought about this too, having a place that bikers control would be sweet.

1. get a nonprofit or co op orginization going
2. get donations
3. set up fund raisers
4. find some land that fits your needs

 

[W4S]

I can tell you that it's already being done in 'The OC', just can't give you the specifics as it's confidential right now. In less than a year we will have a Dh/Fr park with possibly even a chairlift. All organized on private property by a bicycle group.

Good-bye multi-use BS headaches, hello techy trails.

 

[buildyourown]

We've talked about this too. The idea of the co-op would make everyone a partial owner. Maybe every member would buy in with a yearly membership. By not having a single liable owner, you get out of the lawsuit issue. I'm sure you would need to talk to a laywer about this, but it's hard to sue yourself.

Good luck, and let us know if you figure it out so others can get something going.

 

[Zark]

I'm sure you would need to talk to a laywer about this, but it's hard to sue yourself.

Bwahaha! I'm sure there is a way in California law you can actually sue yourself

It sounds like this is being done and is fairly possible, I'll look more into this and report back soon, keep feedback coming!

How about a Ridemonkey park? Call it the Monkeycage

 

[buildyourown]

Bwahaha! I'm sure there is a way in California law you can actually sue yourself

You can't sue yourself, but I've heard of people getting in car accidents that were thier own fault, and sueing thier insurance company for pain and suffering. How F'ed is that?

 

[Slugman]

You can't sue yourself, but I've heard of people getting in car accidents that were thier own fault, and sueing thier insurance company for pain and suffering. How F'ed is that?

Ex-grilfreind's brother sued his mother when he was a passenger in her car during an accident...