Celebrate Mountain Biking, Have Your Say, and a Whole Lot More

MOUNTAIN BIKERS CELEBRATE!

It’s time to CELEBRATE! Why? Because we live in mountain bike heaven and we take it for granted. We’re spoiled. Seriously. With hundreds of miles of trails within a short ride/drive from town, great relationships with the land managers who look after our wonderful trails, limited trail-user conflicts, and a great bike culture, we have it good.


Don’t believe me? Drive down to Jefferson County and ask the mountain bikers about the trails they have to fight to keep open. Pick up one of the monthly mountain bike mags and someone’s always working to keep their trails open. We’ve got it good.


And that’s why we’re CELEBRATING. We’re celebrating the RIDE, the TRAILS, the FUN, and the FRIENDS. Oh, and don’t forget the ANTICIPATION of an upcoming season when the snow is gone and the trails are begging us to roll our knobbies over them.

What’s in it for you? Well, for an hour and a half of your time, you’ll get:

• Area mountain biking 411
• The ability to network with other local mountain bikers
• A clear understanding of who Overland Mountain Bike Club is and what we do. From Group Rides to Trail Days. From Patrolling to Kids Days and Silliness. We’ll cover it all.
• A bit of food and refreshments
• And much, much more.

(By the way, if you're even considering joining the club, which, I don’t know why any of you wouldn’t, throw a $20.00 bill in your pocket. Or, sign your household up for $35.00. Best deal in town. Just ask Pete.)


Miramont Cycling Extravaganza!

As one of our Outreach Events and to get people fired up about mountain biking, we’re joining Miramont Athletic Club on Saturday, March 6th for their ‘Cycling Fair’. We need volunteers in two hour shifts to help run the booth. You’ll meet and greet, tell people about Overland and Diamond Peaks, and pass out some goodies. Sign up on our website and let Monty Seitz know what shift works for you. Email him at montyseitz (at) gmail.com. Set up starts around 7:15. The event runs until 3.

"Have A Say In How You'll Play"

This is huge. This is big. Would you like to see more Mountain Bike Opportunities in our State Parks? Show up to, “Have a Say in How You’ll Play”. Every mountain biker in our region would benefit by showing up to this event. Come out in force!

Colorado State Parks invites the public to “Have a Say in How You’ll Play” by attending one of five public meetings scheduled in the state’s major metropolitan regions during the month of March. Public input is needed to help guide development of the state parks’ 2010-2014 Strategic Plan, which will outline the agency’s top priorities and objectives for the next five years.

In developing the strategic plan, Colorado State Parks will also use the public comments to clarify constituent needs and improve services and programs. The strategic plan will be finalized in late summer 2010. Our local scheduled meeting:

• Fort Collins/Loveland: Thursday, March 11, 2010, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Harmony Library, 4616 South Shields, Fort Collins.

All meetings are free and open to the public—there is no need to RSVP. For more information, visit our website at www.colorado.gov/parks and click the heading “Have Say in How You’ll Play.” Or, call Scott Babcock, Colorado State Parks’ Planning Manager, at (303) 866-3203, ext. 4306.

Mountain Bike Patrolling is Fun
Find out more on March 22nd


Why do people Patrol the trails they ride? Because it’s fun. That’s right, it’s fun. I've been a Certified Mountain Bike Patroller for 3 years now and each ride I've had has been fun. Besides, there are added benefits. 1. You always have a partner to ride with. 2. You get to help:

• Help the land managers understand who’s out using the trails
• Help people who show up unprepared or who get lost or get hurt
• Help report problems that could cause dangerous situations on the trail.

And really, for most of us, it’s not different from anything we’d normally do on the trail anyways. It’s just a little more formal. The training’s a little more in depth. And you have to keep your eyes and ears open a little bit more when you’re on the trail. It’s not about enforcement, it’s about education. And it’s riding. And no matter how you slice and dice it, riding’s always fun. (And, we give out cool stuff to patrollers throughout the season.)


When: March 22nd at New Belgium Brewing Company. 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. Snacks and Refreshments will be served.

High School Mountain Biking UPDATE

This is from Jason Trujillo: There are people in our community who are already working on and thinking about the new Colorado High School Cycling League - please read this ARTICLE - which is new this year and a part of the rapidly growing National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA)  Unfortunately, we are all like “Islands” that need to come together and form one alliance. Ryan Scalva, Rob Nobl, and I want to bring interested parties together and form that alliance.


With the help of a group called NCCE (Northern Colorado Cycling Events) we hope to build a foundation this summer and over the next few years that will help all schools towards having their own sustainable programs in the future. If you're interested, contact Jason Trujillo. You can reach him at: jtrujillo (at) newbelgium.com

Two Mountain Bike Summits
The Colorado Mountain Bike Summit is supposed to be happening the first weekend in April in Salida. IMBA’s hosting it. We’re planning on having some representatives down there. Plan on attending. More details soon...

The National Mountain Bike Summit also sponsored by IMBA hits Georgia the first weekend in May. Read the whole article.  We’re planning on having a rep or two there also. We attended one a couple of years back and it was very worthwhile.

And last, but not least, IMBA's offering a chance to win one of 10 free bikes. 

That's all for now folks. See you real soon.