June 25 accounting

dusty sandy;
nice day on a horse
mine is steel



rain struggles
woods quiet climb
singletrack flow



aspen green
and columbine blue...
flat tire okay

IMBA Summit in Whistler

Hey all,

I just got home from the 2006 IMBA Summit/World Mountain Bike Conference in Whistler, British Columbia. First off, the riding in B.C. kicks some serious a$$! I had much fun and got to see some of the most intense natural, enhanced natural, and man made trail features on the planet. I'll add some pics to this post when I get them in. There was lots of learning to be had, but most importantly from a bike patrol perspective, I spent a good bit of time riding and making friends with Barbara, the director of the Diamond Peaks Bike Patrol in Fort Collins.

For those of you that have "big vision" for cooperation of front range bike patrols, we've got at least three patrol directors open to the idea: me, Barbara of Diamond Peaks, and Keith Clark of the Front Range Moutnain Bike Patrol. I hope to keep these contacts going and increase cooperation over time. But those of you with the vision should send me a line or post your ideas. Once we're serious and have good reason to meet up, I might be able to schedule a ride with all these patrol directors to see what everyone thinks about cooperating at some greater level of organization - maybe a federation of front range patrols. I already intend on applying for a grant through the RTP program for the Boulder Mountain Bike Patrol, perhaps this is somehing that should be incorporated then. Importantly, the human and financial resources of each patrol differs significantly. E.g. while the Boulder Mountain Bike Patrol might benefit from some financial resources, the Diamond Peaks patrol has a good source of revenue already. This could present challenges or opportunities for cooperation. Mull it over and post your thoughts.

On a side note, my final day of riding in Whistler included a massive wreck. I've got the skin on the left side of my body pretty well shaved off and painful impacts to my ankle, hip, and rib cage. The skin is healing up quickly, but the ribs and hip feel pretty bad and may take longer to heal. I'll post a good pick of my injuries when I get it as well. It's pretty gnarly!

June 3 pictures

Yeah, this is way late, but here are some pictures from June 3. Mitch and I had a fun, uneventful day- just answered some directional questions. Came across the 355I reroute- the bit of wide/road/berms at the end are closed with a new bit of singletrack to access.





Mitch rolling on Hobbit/Habit.

Boulder Mountain Bike Patrol

Saturday June 17 afternoon

Lovely day in West Mag - dry as hell.... saw a steady stream of riders today and one mechanical that required some help. A rear v-brake had a broken spring on one side and was rubbing into the rim. We did the best we could to make it ridable but there wasn't much to do except limp back to their car.

Fire is gonna be an issue. I was asked by some campers if campfires in the designated sites are okay.... the answer is NO. I even came upon a smouldering cigarette butt lying in the duff along the road; a motorcycle had just driven by.

We can't look the other way with fire. phone the sheriff at 303 441 4444 if you see one during this fire ban. For me, it's a zero tolerance situation.

June 18th patrol

Lotsa friendly folks out on the West Magnolia system on a beautiful clear day. Trails were in decent shape but could use some rain, getting very loose and dusty for this early on in the season. Also the horse stables are firing on all cyclinders so the trails near that operation are starting to fill in with horse crap. Seems like the horses like to lighten the load right before a climb, which makes sense to me. Didn't see a whole lot of traffic while riding but every rest stop saw about a dozen bikers roll past. Andria and I gave out a dozen maps or so and were thanked by at least three seperate groups for being out there. One good suggestion was to name the trails vs the numbering system. The new gate is up on the south side and looks tank-proof. Another sign which might be useful would show the various parking areas. Cars were double parked and jammed in the corners at the Peak to Peak-West Mag lot while the other lots were almost completely empty. -Matthew

Hello, my name is Matthew and I'll be your patroller today! Please keep your hand inside the windows at all times, do not feed the bears or Rainbow Family members and ride all stunts at your own risk. After three or four weekday patrols I'm ready to go for my first 'official' 2006 tour, in fact I'm gonna patrol the sh*t out of West Mag so get ready Andria. Bring it on!

Galen and I rode patrol today.... 4.5 hours out on the trail. We met lots of riders and handed out around 15 maps. Tried to rain twice, but failed to really open up and give the ground a drink. It's mid-August conditions.... not good

Boulder Mountain Bike Patrol

Latest Info About the School Bus Trail

While on patrol on sunday the 4th, I rode up to the Champion Mine/Phoenix to visit with Fred and his wife, the owners of the site.

They are generally pleased with the mountain bikers; they have embraced the trail reroute and visits to the mine site has dropped off considerably. They continue to have problems with motorized users and are working with the Gilpin Sheriff to address it.

Fred told me that members of the Toll family paid him a visit recently to "lecture" him about how he was letting mountain bikers across his property and into their property. Fred saw it as an attempt at intimidation, which didn't work.

He was told that The Toll family is hiring off duty sheriffs to patrol and write $200 trespassing tickets. We don't know if this is real or blowing smoke, but it is worth spreading the information to other users. The situation seems to be escalating.

The root cause of this problem is a wonderful trail dead ends into private property. We need to find out where the public land ends and private property starts, and then route the trail away from that private property and stay on public land.

I am pressing the Boulder Ranger District for that information. Stay tuned...

BTW, lots of people on the trails Sunday, I saw that in campsite #2 there were freshly fabricated gates laying there waiting to be installed. the evolution continues....