Mark Reynolds Memorial Fund

Mark Reynolds was a family man, tech guy and avid mountain biker in the Bay Area. His passion for the sport inspired him to create his company Wicked Racin to create high quality products for gravity riders. He was racing Downhill at the Sea Otter on April 19th and he never made it to the finish line.

While I did not know Mark personally, his life, career path and passion for mountain biking is similar to my own and describes the many mountain bikers that I have the privilege of knowing in the Bay Area. I have been contacted by close friends and family of Mark and I have learned so much about his life in these past few weeks. I feel saddened by the fact that I may have ridden with him in the past but I never really got to know him.

Mark was passionate about mountain biking and wanted to bring more people into the sport. He was generous with his time, teaching his friends how to jump and be better riders. Mark's family have set up a memorial fund to honor his memory. The fund will raise money towards a freeride/jump park/pump track that will be named after Mark so that people of all levels can enjoy the sport of mountain biking.

There will be raffle at the CCCX DH season finale in June which will benefit the memorial fund. Raffle tickets will be sold at the races and other locations.

To contribute to the Mark Reynolds memorial fund, please visit the Wicked Racin site: http://www.wickedracin.com

As a friend and mountain biker I'm asking you to contribute to the Mark Reynolds Memorial fund. I believe that his generosity to the sport will benefit all Northern Californian mountain bikers and visitors to our region. A thriving mountain biking community, great trails and parks is an honorable legacy to Mark.

Thank you for your support.

--Mark

Mark Davidson - President
Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz
http://www.mbosc.org

Kranked 7 at the Rio May 1st

... and another event from the Bike Trip...

Kranked 7 “The Cackle Factor”

GET KRANKED!

We’re hosting the Santa Cruz premiere of Kranked 7 “The Cackle Factor”, a Radical Films production featuring epic riding sets from top riders like Jamie Goldman, Nathan Rennie, Steve Romaniuk, Mike Kinrade and Eric Porter… filmed in Alaska, British Columbia, California, Vermont, Switzerland and France.

7 PM on Thursday, May 1^st,  2008 (doors open at 6:30 PM)

Rio Theatre,
1205 Soquel Ave in Santa Cruz, CA

Event proceeds will benefit non-profit community bicycle education programs Bike Smart and Bike Shop At School.

The Bike Fest Jump Jam May 10-11

Sweet Bike Week festivities...  Oh yea, baby got hang time.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

20th Anniversary of Seabright Brewery

May 14th represents the 20th anniversary of Seabright Brewery. Seabright has been an incredible sponsor and host for the MBOSC meetings for many years. Happy Anniversary!

Speaking of Seabright...

MBOSC will have a meeting this 7 pm Monday April 14th at Seabright Brewery.
The Sea Otter is a week away (where did the last 3 weeks go?!) and we arein the thick of preparations. MBOSC will have a booth at the Sea Otter and will be co-ordinating the volunteer course marshals on the Dual Slalom course. The agenda for the meeting on Monday is to discuss the Sea Otter and drink some great beer.

• We could use some additional help with the DS course on Thursday and Friday. We would appreciate it if you could help out. If you want to work on the weekend then we may be able to accommodate that as well.
• Booth duty. If you are interested in hanging out at the MBOSC booth and telling people about the wonderful world of mountain biking then please contact me or come to the meeting. I could use a hand. It's pretty low key work, flexible hours. We're sharing the booth with MORCA.

Hope to see you on Monday 7pm at Seabright!

We have free beer at our meetings courtesy of Seabright.

Jacquie Phelan at Seabright Brewery Sunday April 6th

Life gets in the way

I'm not dead yet. Just resting.

I can't believe that it has been over 2 months since I last posted to this blog. A lot has happened over the past 2 months in my life. The biggest thing is that I got a job which requires me to travel over the hill to Santa Clara 5 days a week. I barely have time to ride my bike much less advocate for more trails and do good things for the community. I really enjoy my work but it is pretty demanding and exhausting. My evenings are quiet and I spend my time with my family and retire early.

The good news is that bike advocacy in Santa Cruz is bigger than me and many people have been stepping up. There have been progress on many fronts. Here are some initiatives that we are working on for 2008:

• State Parks Trail conversion with IMBA California: Opening trails in local state parks to mountain bike use. Tom Ward our man in Sacramento has been making significant progress.
• Opening Coast Dairies: Still waiting for BLM to get the land. Some snags but some progress as well. We'll be ready when they need us.
  
• Creating a sustainable organization: We got a couple of fresh new faces on our board.
• Bike and Beer fest 2008: Look for the celebration of the mountain bike - Santa Cruz style - this fall!

We are all looking forward to a great 2008!

ROMP Christmas Party with guest Joe Breeze

The ROMP Christmas party will be Friday November 30th in Mountain View, California. The special guest this year will be Joe Breeze. Details for the party:

This year's party will be at Michael's at Shoreline Park in Mountain View. Dinner will be served banquet style around 7:30, starting with drinks and appetizers at 6 PM. This year Joe Breeze will be our guest of honor.

Joe Breeze was one of the central figures in the development of mountain biking. He's probably best known as the designer-builder of the first successful modern mountain bikes. Joe became a leading designer and proponent of a sport that has gotten more people on bikes in the western world than at any time since the 1890s. Joe attributes his successes with mountain biking to his passion for bicycling, evident in his oft-quoted line, "We were just havin' fun." Joe has made bicycles his life's work--as rider, racer, designer, builder, and advocate.

More details can be found at http://www.romp.org.

My wife and I have been attending the past few ROMP Xmas parties and have always had a great time. Great attendees, good food and the guests are always interesting. It's a good time in the for Bay Area mountain bikers and an opportunity to dress up, look sharp and party with the legends of mountain biking.

Summary: IMBA Trail Care Crew Visits Santa Cruz

Ryan and Kristin from the IMBA Trail Care Crew visited Santa Cruz last Thursday through Sunday and it was quite an amazing experience. We hosted the crew at our house and it was a real pleasure to get to know them better.

Some of the highlights include:

• IMBA Club Care Session at Giro. We learn how to build a sustainable club.
• Group Ride at Wilder Ranch. Well attended by regulars, newbies, kids, gray haired guys and women.
• 10th Anniversary Party at Seabright Brewery
• $3000 Donation to IMBA California. Good for trail karma.

It was an intense 4 days of BBQs, bike porn and non-stop beer. The BBQ, firepit, chairs and ice chests full of beer were utilized by the myriad of wandering bikers just dropping in throughout the weekend. There were 4 waves of attendees showing up at the "after party" following the Seabright party. Some pictures of the festivities are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/mark.davidson.sc/IMBAClubCareVisit.

Having Ryan and Kristin stay allowed us to immerse ourselves in the introspective process of determining the direction of the club. Eve is the treasurer and Daryl (the interim VP) stayed at our house for a night. Having many of the club officers present for the many of the breakfast, lunch and dinner sessions created valuable opportunities for discussion.

Slow speed Sunday morning came and the weather was nice and sunny but a huge mental fog wafted over my brain from all the alcohol the day before. Ryan and Kristin were planning to hang out on some beach for a few hours before heading up the coast to San Francisco for their next visit. A few days later Kristin sent me the following email:

Howdy Mark,

I just wanted to thank you for organizing such a great weekend and for your work over the past several years. We had a fantastic time meeting so many different types of folks from the Santa Cruz community, everyone from industry folks, a huge female turnout at the group ride, to the smoking rider. Oh, we even got to see Umbrella Man on our way out of town. We officially heart Santa Cruz.

And a big thanks to Eve for the best home cooking we've had in the past two years and to Jade for fully appreciating the undeniable awesomeness of the Pegacorn.

-Kristin

It was fun hosting Ryan and Kristin of the IMBA Trail Care Crew. They are a fun couple and great ambassadors of mountain biking. Ryan and Kristin turned their passion for advocacy and riding into a career. They spread the goodness of mountain biking to communities all over North America like Johnny Appleseed. Mountain biking is awesome not just for the cool bikes and the great places to ride but also for the great people you meet. I'm hoping to see them again soon.