Shuttle Smith: A Bike Shuttle from Aptos to SDSF/Nisene

Dave Smith has been mountain biking for a long time and used to work in the construction industry. With the downturn in construction he started a new business to called "Shuttle Smith" which provides a service to shuttle riders from Aptos to Buzzard Lagoon road near the East entrance of Nisene Marks. Dave converted his cube van and can securely carry 9 bikes and riders.

The goal is to provide a way that riders can get to SDSF and upper Nisene Marks without driving. After a loop or two in SDSF then you can ride down the Nisene Marks fireroad back down to Aptos. Or you can ride over to Aptos to catch the shuttle and meet some friends at  SDSF.

The service costs $15 and starts June 5th 2010 with pickup next to Epicenter Cycling in Aptos Station at 9:00 am, 11 am, 1:30 pm and 3:30 pm. See the Shuttle Smith flyer for more details.

Dave is quite flexible to provide shuttle services for other locations or you can rent Dave and his van for special events.

I applaud Dave's entrepreneurial spirit and he recognizes there is a market for mountain bike tourism and services.

Call Dave at 831-234-3383 to make a reservation.

New(er) Soquel Demo State Forest Map

MBOSC has been working with the Santa Cruz County RTC to update the commuter bike map to show mountain biking trails in the local parks and forests. The map will not be adequate to navigate the trails but our goal is to show that mountain biking trails exists in these parks. The new edition of the commuter bike map should be available later this summer.

We have been passing a lot of documents by email and I was given a nice representation of the SDSF trails and roads. I also got a copy of the March 2010 SDSF brochure from CDF and we recognized that this is the same (official?) map.

Enjoy the map and we would like to remind people that there will be trail work at SDSF this Saturday. Sign up and we would love to meet you!

Soquel Demo State Forest Trailwork May 8th

Hey all you trail riders and trail workers out there,

Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz is sponsoring the next trail work day at the Soquel Demonstration State Forest. We will be providing coffee and pastries, and FREE SCHWAG for those who sign up at www.trailworkers.com, a free raffle and post work snacks and beers!

Now, that’s an offer you just can’t refuse!

First, please sign up at www.trailworkers.com so we know how many tools and food and free stuff we will need to bring. Next show up on Saturday May 8 at the Demo parking lot by 9:00AM to get your free stuff and to sign in. We will be opening the parking lot for trail workers only so don’t be late if you want to park inside the gate. Bring a lunch with you because we won’t make it back to our vehicles until sometime between 2:30 and 3:30.

View Soquel Demo State Forest Parking Lot in a larger map

We will be working on Ridge and Corral so bring your gloves, comfy boots and your great attitude and let’s get’r done!

This could be one of the last trail work days of the season at Demo so let’s make it a good one!

MBOSC at the Sea Otter Classic 2010

Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz (MBOSC) was really busy at the Sea Otter Classic this year. I think it was the biggest year yet for us. The weather was the best I have ever experienced in the 13 years of attending the Sea Otter. Lots of fun was had by all of those who attended. How can you not have fun when in an immersive environment surrounded by shiny bikes, pro events and 20,000 of your closest friends?

The success of this organization is a testament to the volunteers and officers who make it happen. No one draws a salary and there are very little benefits to this type of work. At the end of the day it's people like you and I who want to improve mountain biking in Santa Cruz. We do it because of the passion for the sport and we love to ride in Santa Cruz County. There are a lot of people to thank and one concern about a note like this is that someone will be left behind.

MBOSC provided all the volunteer course marshals for the Dual Slalom races and they went off really smoothly. This is a testament to the organization of Megan Zemney who did an amazing job of co-ordinating the volunteers for the DS and the booth. Megan really stepped it up this year to lead many initiatives. She is an effective leader and really took ownership of many tasks and drove them to completion. Not only that but she managed to practice and race downhill and took 4th in her category! That's a podium folks! Thank you Megan for your passion and energy and driving MBOSC in a really fun direction. She also needed some downtime and went off the grid last weekend in Yosemite.

There were so many volunteers on the DS course who really stepped up and represented MBOSC in a very professional and courteous manner. There are too many to name but I would like to give a big shout out and thank you the guys who worked multiple shifts and on the long day on Sunday. This included Dwight Follien, Alan Strahsburg, Kevin Brouwers, Dan Abernethy, Rich Henthorn, Bob Walden, Buff and James Bradley. I would like to especially thank Tracy Cotten for all the shifts on the swaile and stepping up to lead the crew on Sunday when we wanted to give him the day off. That Sunday shift was pretty brutal and went 2.5 hours overtime. We'll make it up to you guys!

The raffle for the Titus El Guapo was held on the last day of the Otter and we successfully met our goals. We raised over $5500 - which is more than enough to pay for the SDSF parking lot project and managed to implement electronic memberships during the process. We are really happy to say that we signed up and/or renewed 27 memberships during this campaign. Thank you all for your generous support!

The raffle couldn't have been executed without the help of some very key people. First of all, Sebastien Praly developed the online payment system and web pages. Things were a little tense when PayPal shut us down for a while and we had to work out some bugs but he managed to get it back on track. Michelle Lamelin did all the posters and graphics and worked closely with Rick Graves at Cluch Couriers for doing all the printing. We highly recommend using Clutch Couriers services for fast, effective printing at a reasonable price.

Eve Davidson did a stellar job of doing the back office work of member, raffle fulfillment and accounting. She is the reason that MBOSC continues to run so smoothly and effectively and she ensures that the organization is compliant and efficient. I don't thank her enough for all that she does and she has managed to put up with my bike advocacy "hobby" for all these years.

There are so many who helped with the raffle in so many ways. Steven Gemelos, Bob Walden, Jo Rathbun and Daryl Breuninger for their work in promoting and supporting the raffle. I would also like to thank our shop partners Lars Thompsen at Trail Head Cyclery in San Jose and Wade Hall and Matt Potter at The Spokesman Bicycles for selling tickets and hosting the El Guapo for all to see. Thanks to Michele Lamelin, Alan Strahsburg, Josh Moore, Jo Mutch, Daniel Abernethy, Marty Abaurrea and especially the man in the top hat Steve Cooper ("Cooper"!) for driving ticket sales during the Sea Otter. It was phenomenal and impressive how much raffle tickets we sold in the last 2 days of the Sea Otter.

A very special thanks to Jason, Jeff and Mike at Titus Bikes who believe in what we are doing and support our goals. We really appreciate your partnership and look forward to the next event where we can work together.

Camping at the Sea Otter was a blast and it was great to get to know our fellow mountain bikers. Initially MBOSC bought 3 campsites and offered free spots to members and volunteers. Camping was pretty sparse this year so we managed to spread out (take over?) 2 additional sites. We must have had at least 35-40 members and affiliates of MBOSC camping with us. I think we have firmly cemented the reputation of Santa Cruz mountain bikers as ones who have the most fun at the Sea Otter campsites. It was quite a party. Firewalking, bonfires, and propane fireballs. Beer and fire probably don't mix but there was never any concerns about safety. Needless to say the cops seem to think that we had the funnest campsites because they kept visiting us... at least charges weren't laid and no one got hurt.

We would like to thank Charlie Meehan, Jason the brewmaster the crew at Seabright Brewery for making sure that at the end of a hard day at work we had enough delicious IPA to make things right again. Charlie has been a loyal supporter of MBOSC over the year and we really appreciate his patronage. The fuel of bike advocacy is great beer and Seabright Brewery delivers the goods.

Finally, there were numerous people who dropped by the booth to say hello, buy raffle tickets and have renewed your membership over the past month. The MBOSC officers and volunteers appreciate your expression of support and we thank you, thank you, thank you! Together we have accomplished a lot of great things to improve mountain biking in this County. We are starting to get some momentum and it's building into something big. There are so many people who are passionate about mountain biking in Santa Cruz and MBOSC represents a small fraction of those enthusiasts. Imagine what we can accomplish if we represented all the mountain bikers who enjoy Santa Cruz County? Tell your friends about us! Encourage them to get informed on the issues. There is so much to grow and there is so much potential. Collectively we can turn Santa Cruz County in a world class mountain bike playground.

Thank you all for making MBOSC a stronger club! Whew! I'm glad that's over. I can't wait until next year.

--Mark

President, MBOSC

Titus El Guapo Raffle at the Sea Otter Classic

The raffle for the Titus El Guapo was held on the last day of the Sea Otter. It was a very successful campaign. We managed to raise about $5500 with raffle sales and we also used this bike raffle as a motivation to do online memberships - which is something we have been wanting to do for a few of years.

We had an amusing way of conducting the raffle at the MBOSC Sea Otter booth. Cooper was a great barker/host who really drew the crowd in and pumped them up. I gave a pitch for MBOSC, thanked the audience, Sea Otter and Titus and mentioned why we are raising funds. Then I held my blindfolded 7 year old daughter upside down in the raffle bin. She shuffled the tickets and the crowd told her when to pick the winner. There should be no doubt in anyone's mind about the randomness of the drawing.

The winner was Mark Woodhead - a Santa Cruz local and one of the founding members of MBOSC. Mark is no longer active with MBOSC leadership but he does lead the weekly ride. Winning the bike was good karma for him and he has promised to be more active in the future. I wasn't surprised that a good friend won the bike (since a lot of my good friends bought multiple raffle tickets) but I'm pretty impressed at how many tickets we sold at the Sea Otter. Titus has a great reputation and a strong enthusiast base. Many bought tickets to support MBOSC and the cause. But many out of towners bought tickets because they love Titus and wanted to win the El Guapo.

Thank you all for participating. We raised about enough money to fully fund the SDSF parking lot environmental mitigation project. We're golden. All mountain bikers of Santa Cruz County and the visitors to Soquel Demo State Forest are winners!

May 15th Jump Jam at Depot Park in Santa Cruz

The City of Santa Cruz, The Bicycle Trip and Barry Swenson Builders are hosting a Jump Jam at Depot Park in Santa Cruz with a cash purse.

Come celebrate Bike Week Santa Cruz and rail and trail day. There will be booths (including MBOSC) and food and drinks and bike valet parking provided by People Power.

DATE: Saturday, .May 15th 2010

TIME: 11am – 2pm

WHERE: Depot Bicycle Trip Jump Park Santa Cruz (Big Bike festival, post rail trail road ride)

ENTRY PRO JAM DEMO ADMISSION: free for demo (invitation only)

COMBINED CLASS PRIZE MONEY: 1^st place = $ 500.00, 2^nd place = $ 300.00, 3^rd place = $ 200.00,

CLASSES: small wheel 20” BMX and big wheel 26” mt. bike (invite only)

EVENT JUDGES: general Public Voting (ballots and pens and pencils)

PRE-EVENT SET UP: Saturday, May 15th 8:00 to 11:00

SATURDAY EVENT SCHEDULE / 26” WHEEL (24” wheel are OK)

8:00am to 11:00	Set up: contest + Sound Equipment
10 – 11:00am	Registration + Safety Check + practice schedule
10:00 to 10:30	Bicycle group Leaving Depot park on the train
11:00am to 12:00	Start practice schedule
11:00 to 10:30	Bicycle group Leaving Roaring camp ride down
11:30 to 12:00	Bicycle group rolls in to the park
12:30 – 1:00pm	26” big wheel Pro demo (1/2 hr)
1:00 – 1:30pm	20” big wheel Pro demo (1/2 hr)
1:30 pm -2:00 pm	Combination Pro jump competition (1/2 hr)
2:00 to 3:00	Breakdown and clean up

Your Donations at Work: Wilder Ranch Trailhead Sign

Back in September MBOSC held a showing of Freedom Riders to raise funds to pay for a new trail head sign at Wilder Ranch State Park. The mountain biking community was proud to donate $3,500 towards the design and construction of this interpretive sign.

The sign is important to the mountain biking community and mountain bikers of Santa Cruz. We start our all inclusive weekly Saturday ride at this sign and it's a great way to orient visitors to the park. The old sign didn't reflect the current status of the trails or the park boundaries. Also, this new sign was falling apart and was an embarrassment. It was not up to the high standards of a California State Park.

We are happy to preview one of the latest layout for the new sign. This was a collaborative process which involved many members of the State Parks and interpretive community. One of the pending changes is to replace the road biker and child with renderings of mountain bikers. We hope that the sign will be installed by the end of May.

Thank you all once again for supporting our fundraisers. Your donations help improve mountain biking facilities in Santa Cruz County.

Your Donations at Work: Soquel Demonstration State Forest Parking Lot

Soquel Demonstration State Forest (a.k.a Demo, SDF or SDSF) has some of the most legal technical trails in the Bay Area and is managed by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (a.k.a Cal Fire or CDF). The forest manager, Ed Orre, is supportive of mountain biking so it's a place where a lot of mountain bikers and advocates like to invest their time and efforts to make the trails first rate. Unfortunately, CDF is a state agency and is impacted by the same dysfunctional budgeting process that all state agencies must face.

Back in November we learned there was a lot of pressure on SDSF from a variety of sources.

• The budget had been severely cut and staffing levels had been reduced by at least 80% since 2006
• The parking lot has been the site of a lot of weekend raves and parties
• Fish and Game had concerns about sediment runoff from the parking lot entering Soquel creek
• Redwood Empire owns the parking lot (SDSF has an easement) and are indifferent to the needs of mountain bikers.
• Both Redwood Empire and CDF will be doing timer harvesting this spring and summer and will use the parking lot as a staging area.

Mountain bikers have enjoyed the use of the Redwood Empire parking lot as a safe and secure way to get ready for a ride and enjoy a post ride beverage with friends. The parking lot is also the scene of great bike demos hosted by local shops like Trail Head Cyclery which include beer and BBQs. Unfortunately, due to some of the issues outlined above the parking lot is currently closed and we must take our chances by parking along Highland Way.

Fortunately, the mountain biking community are doing things to mitigate some of these problem. We held the first Santa Cruz Mountain Bike Festival featuring the California premier of Women of Dirt to raise money for the parking lot environmental mitigation project.

We are happy to say that we are putting your money to work in order to address the parking lot issues. MBOSC Vice-President Daryl Breuninger, Forest Manager Ed Orre and Erosion Control Professional Steve Butler met in January to assess the scope of the environmental mitigation project. MBOSC member and volunteer Drew Perkins provided detailed topographic maps of the parking lot based on elevation data using a very precise GPS in an airplane shooting a laser at the ground many tens of thousands of times a second. These topo maps were created by Drew and donated to the erosion control specialist. Thanks Drew!

The contractor Steve Butler came up with an erosion control plan and submitted it to Ed, Stewards of Soquel Forest and MBOSC. The solution includes re-graveling the surface, installing parking control logs to prevent "wild driving" (which creates sedimentation), constraining parking areas and adding culverts to direct the runoff. Your donations from the Bike Festival allowed us to make a down payment on the plan and the work.

Unfortunately, we didn't raise enough funds from the Bike Festival to cover the costs of this project. We still regard the Santa Cruz Mountain Bike Festival a huge success since we met a lot of our social and organizational goals. We made a profit and met our minimum fundraising goals but we could have made a lot more given the value of the donated goods. Our expenses for the festival were high yet we didn't charge anyone for participating. All the Festival income came from movie ticket sales and the raffle. We had a lot of people and companies donate goods and we offered complementary tickets to these companies and the Pro riders who participated. In all we comped over 100 tickets ($1000!!) and we also handicapped ourselves by not allowing the MBOSC officers and event organizers to participate in the raffle (good for about $500-700). We had a lot of fun and brought the community together and established the reputation of MBOSC to run logistically complicated event in very little time (it was 6 weeks from inception to execution!). However, a movie and raffle is not the most effective mechanism to raise funds. We are still learning about effective fund raising. We will probably use a silent auction to raise money from some of the big ticket donations so we can raise more funds next time. Anyway, I digress...

MBOSC is committed to fund the environmental mitigation project for the parking lot regardless of the funding source. This can be through increased memberships or by donations. Titus has generously donated a Titus El Guapo (a ~$4700 bike!) to help us raise funds for the SDSF parking lot project.

Please support SDSF by becoming a member or donating to MBOSC and the El Guapo raffle. You can donate to MBOSC at http://mbosc.org/join.html. We will do the drawing for the bike at the MBOSC Booth #239 at the Sea Otter Classic.

Thank you for supporting mountain biking in Santa Cruz County! We love mountain biking and we love Santa Cruz. Mountain biking in Santa Cruz is the best and it's up to the mountain biking community to keep it that way.

Monthly Soquel Demo ride with Titus bikes on Saturday

The 2010 Sea Otter Classic is around the corner (hope for sun!) and the big bike companies are coming to our area full of demo vans of nice shiny bikes.

Titus has been an awesome supporter of MBOSC and will be at our monthly SDSF ride this Saturday April 10th at 10 am. You should probably show up at 9:15 - 9:30 to get a bike. Let me know if you want to reserve one of these bikes and I will put it in the spreadsheet:

• X Carbon Medium Black
• X Carbon Medium Black/Yellow
• X Aluminum Medium Red
• X Aluminum Large Red
• Rockstar Medium White
• FTM Carbon Small Black/Red
• FTM Carbon Medium Blue/Silver
• FTM Carbon Large Black/Red
• FTM Aluminum X Small Blue
• FTM Aluminum Small Blue
• FTM Aluminum Medium Blue
• FTM Aluminum Large Blue
• FTM Aluminum Large Blue
• El Guapo Small Orange
• El Guapo Medium Orange
• El Guapo Large Orange

You can learn more about these bikes by checking out the Titus website

Titus has graciously donated an Orange El Guapo (a $4700 value) to MBOSC as a fund raiser. The bike is currently on display in the front window of Trail Head Cyclery. We are raising funds to pay for the parking lot environmental mitigation project at SDSF. If you want to support demo as a place to ride with a safe place to park then please support MBOSC and our fundraiser!

Raffle tickets for the El Guapo can be purchased online or at Trail Head Cyclery in San Jose or The Spokesman in Santa Cruz. You can buy raffle tickets online at http://mbosc.org/join.html.

We will also be selling raffle tickets at the demo at Demo on Sunday at the MBOSC booth and at the MBOSC booth #239 at the Sea Otter Classic.

Come out and buy lots of raffle tickets! Support MBOSC, SDSF and bike advocacy in Santa Cruz County!

Get to know the "El Guapo": An MBOSC membership drive

Folks have been requesting electronic memberships for many years and we have finally delivered. We are proud to introduce a method for doing online memberships using PayPal at: http://mbosc.org/join.html. In celebration of online memberships we have a special offer until April 17th.

Titus has graciously donated an El Guapo all mountain bike (in orange) to MBOSC to help promote memberships and fund raising. This fine machine is worth about $4,700 and is is a great machine for navigating the trails of SDSF.

You have a chance to get to know the El Guapo better and take it home if you are the lucky ticket holder in a drawing. You can sign up for memberships online and make a donation to be part of the El Guapo drawing. For every $5 over the basic annual membership of $25 you can get a ticket for the drawing. If you are already a member (or don't want to be a member) then you can buy tickets for the drawing at $5 each. We will draw the wining ticket at the MBOSC/MORCA booth 239 at the Sea Otter expo on Sun April 18th at 1 pm. Full rules and conditions are at http://mbosc.org/join.html.

If you want to be part of the El Guapo drawing but don't want to do electronic payment then you can purchase tickets for the drawing at The Spokesman Bicycles in downtown Santa Cruz or at Trail Head Cyclery in San Jose. You can check out the orange MBOSC El Guapo currently on display at The Spokesman Bicycles in downtown Santa Cruz. It will be moved to Trail Head Cyclery in San Jose later this week.

All membership funds and donations help with our costs for events, operations and we donate to organizations and projects which support the expansion of mountain biking in Santa Cruz County.

Recently, your donations have been put to great use. In the past 6 months we have donated $3,500 to Wilder Ranch State Park to update their back country trail head sign. We have been involved in the design of this sign and it should be completed in May. We have also written a check for $2,000 as a down payment for the environmental mitigation project for the SDSF parking lot. The initial survey and work assessment and estimate has been submitted and the parking lot project should be completed in Sept/Oct.

Thanks for your support of expanding mountain biking in Santa Cruz county!

Castle Rock Trail Plan Meeting Monday March 8th

A meeting between California State Parks officials and mountain bikers concerning the Castle Rock Trail Plan is scheduled for 7 pm Monday March 8th at the Zayante Fire Station located at: 7700 E Zayante Rd, Felton, CA 95018-8704. No preparation needed. Just show up.

View Larger Map

The Castle Rock Trail Plan and the Big Basin General Plan are VERY positive for mountain biking and - if successful - they will result in the expansion of legal mountain biking trails in these parks. Expanding mountain biking in both of these parks essentially gives us a legal skyline to sea trail in the North part of the County.

However, there is no guarantee of success. There are a lot of groups who are opposed to mountain biking in Santa Cruz County and they are better funded and more organized than us.

We need to have community support for mountain biking in both of these plans. It is important to get these comments into the public record. It can be easy as firing off a quick email, making a phone call or showing up and asking questions. It's a small commitment on your time which can pay off big in the long term.

The meeting in Felton is between the mountain biking community and State Parks planning officials, trail gurus, mountain sector superintendent and perhaps the district superintendent. All the big guns. They will give a presentation on the Castle Rock Trail Plan and will engage us with a discussion.

Castle Rock State Park will never be seen as a "destination" State Park for mountain biking along the lines of Wilder or Coe State Parks. (This is largely because most of the interior of the park is a State Natural Preserve, and also because most - if not all - new trails opened to bikes there will be fireroads, rather than singletrack).

Nonetheless, Castle Rock State Park is very important to us because of its connectivity to Sanborn County Park, MROSD (Saratoga Gap and Long Ridge OSPs), and especially Big Basin State Park. In particular:

1. The Skyline Trail (which runs parallel to Highway 35, on its northern side) passes through not only Castle Rock State Park, but also Sanborn County Park and MROSD Saratoga Gap OSP. This trail has been designated part of the Bay Area Ridge Trail, and it's important that it - like most of the rest of the Bay Area Ridge Trail - be opened to bikes.

2. The Saratoga Toll Road is a long, scenic trail that runs from Saratoga Gap down (southwards) to Waterman Gap, roughly parallel to Highway 9. (Although it is fireroad-width, it is actually (IMHO) much more scenic and more pleasant than the corresponding section of the Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail, which runs very close to Highway 9 in several places.

The Castle Rock Trail Plan allows for (but - because of the anti-bike members of the committee - does not specifically call for) bike access to the Saratoga Toll Road, along with a connecting trail that would connect to the Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail in Big Basin (near Highway 236). Bike access to the Saratoga Toll Road (plus connecting trail) would make possible a scenic, off-road route from Saratoga Gap through to Big Basin (and hopefully from there to the ocean eventually).

There is no rational reason - beyond historical exclusion, hiker/equestrian fear and NIMBYism - for the Saratoga Toll Road to be closed to our use. It is very important that we correct this, by making clear to State Parks - at Monday's meeting - that we want and expect access to the Saratoga Toll Road (and Skyline Trail).

I would like to emphasize that this meeting is between State Parks officials and mountain bikers. We represent a significant user group in this process. We don't have to defend ourselves from other user groups in this meeting. This is a great opportunity for mountain bikers to engage these officials on our issues and concerns within State Parks.

The meeting room at the Zayante Fire Station has a capacity for at least 100 so lets try to pack the meeting with mountain bikers!

Comments for Big Basin General Plan Due Soon

Big Basin is the oldest state park in the system yet it doesn't have a general plan. After starts and stops the Big Basin General Plan process is starting up again.

We have a great opportunity to expand mountain bike access in Big Basin. You may view drafts of some planning concepts. Alternative #1 seems to be the most friendly to expanding access for bikes.

This version of the plan proposes: "Provide a continuous trail from the ridge tops to the coast (outside of the wilderness) for bicycle access to natural areas and scenic points of interest". We submitted a proposal to our State Parks District a few years ago which requests bicycle access to a number of equestrian/hiker only trails. We intend
to continue to ask that the trails we propose be addressed during the general plan process.

Please write comments Comments in support of mountain biking for the Big Basin General Plan are due Saturday March 6th. Please write, phone, email your comments to the following places:

California State Parks
Planning Division
P.O. Box 942896
Sacramento, CA
94296-0001

Stuart Hong, Manager
General Plans Section
(916) 653-9644
shong@parks.ca.gov

Here are a few talking points that can help you craft your comments:

• We support Alternative #1 of the plan to expand more recreation in the park
• We wish to have legal access from skyline road (from Castle Rock) to the coast
• We are willing to share trail access on alternating days (mitigate trail conflict concerns)
• Mountain biking is a fun activity for kids and an alternative to electronic entertainment good and mitigates childhood obesity.
• Mountain biking is a healthy activity. May be easier on the knees and feet than hiking for some people.
• Women's participation in mountain biking has been steadily growing.
• Brings more people out to the parks, can increase tourism revenue and create more park advocates.
• Mountain bikers are willing to help with trail design, trail construction and maintenance.
• Mountain biking is a global activity and brings people from all over the world to enjoy our natural resources. This provide economic opportunities for local businesses.

You may wish to relate your own personal experiences with mountain biking and why you want more access for legal mountain biking in these parks.

Both the Castle Rock Trail Plan and the Big Basin General Plan are very positive for mountain biking and if successful - they will result in the expansion of legal mountain biking trails in these parks. Expanding mountain biking in both of these parks essentially gives us a legal skyline to sea trail in the North part of the County.

However, there is no guarantee of success. There are a lot of groups who are opposed to mountain biking in Santa Cruz County and they are better funded and more organized than us.

We need to have comments and attendance from the community which support mountain biking in both of these plans. It is important to get these comments into the public record. It can be easy as firing off a quick email, making a phone call or showing up and asking questions. It's a small commitment on your time which can pay off big in the long term.

Thank you for your support of mountain biking in Santa Cruz County!

Titus El Guapo Group Ride Saturday is CANCELLED

We regret to inform that we have decided to cancel the SDSF group ride and BBQ on Saturday Feb 27th.

There was a significant rain storm which rolled into the area on Tuesday which dumped 3" of rain in the Santa Cruz mountains. The event planning committee looked at the existing trail conditions today and the weather forecast over the next couple of days calls for an additional 1.5-3" of rain and high winds for Friday continuing into Saturday. We feel that the trail conditions are way too saturated to hold a mountain biking event.

We recognize that planning an outdoor event in February is a gamble with the weather and we rolled the dice and lost.

The great news is that the weather is looking good for Sunday so the Jump Jam at Depot Park is still a go! Also, make sure to come out to the California premier of Women of Dirt on Sunday Feb 28th at 7 pm. For details about the events on Sunday please see the Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz home page.

For those planning to attend, we thank you for your support. We hope to present a similar ride and festival in the future - perhaps when the weather is more consistent.

We would like to thank all the volunteers who signed up to help with the BBQ and act as ride leaders and sweeps. You now have your Saturday back!

We would also like to thank Mike and Jason from Titus Bikes for hauling the demo trailer all the way to Santa Cruz. They recognize that planning a winter event in California is dependent on the weather. Titus will still have a booth and their bikes on display at the Jump Jam in Depot Park on Sunday.

Santa Cruz Mountain Bike Festival Raffle is growing and growing...

The raffle after the Women of Dirt film premier on Feb 28th is gathering steam. We have OVER $15,000 in raffle donations to giveaway. Yes, that's right. We will be giving away over $15,000 of merchandise on Sunday Feb 28th - all for $1/ticket. This does NOT include the ~$4,700 El Guapo that Titus has donated for a separate raffle (we will draw for the bike at the Sea Otter). Most of the proceeds from the film and raffle will go towards an environmental mitigation project at Soquel Demonstration State Forest.

The big ticket items include an Intense 5.5 EVP frame donated by Trailhead Cyclery. A Fox 36 Talas RC2 donated by Fox Racing Shox. A Black Market MOB frame (Chrome) donated by Black Market Bikes.

Thank you to the bike industry, local bike shops and local businesses for your generosity. I would love to call out the following companies and businesses for being above and beyond supporters:

• Titus Bikes
• Trailhead Cyclery in San Jose
• Fox Racing Shox
• Black Market Bikes
• The Spokesman in downtown Santa Cruz
• Luna Sports Gear
• Gamut USA
• Kali Protectives
• CamelBak
• Light and Motion
• Robert Mann
• Giro Sport Design
• Aptos Core Care Chiropractic (Buff),

A special mention to:

• Jamis Bikes
• Epicenter Cycling
• Aptos Bike Station
• Family Cycling Center
• Surfrider Cafe
• Seabright Brewery
• Lola Addictions
• Barry Swenson Builders

Thank you for supporting our event for your support of mountain biking in Santa Cruz County. We hope the membership will consider supporting these companies and local businesses.

Please come out to the film premier on Feb 28th and buy raffle tickets so you can be a part of all this goodness. Tickets can be bought at the best bike shops in the Santa Cruz area. Look for our event poster with the bright "Tickets Sold Here" stickers.

10% off BlkMrkt Products for Delivery at Santa Cruz MTB Festival

Our good friends from BlkMrkt Bikes are offering a 10% off in stock items purchased from their online store for delivery in Santa Cruz at the Jump Jam on Feb 28th. This is a special deal for participants in the Santa Cruz Mountain Bike Festival.

BlkMrkt will have few bikes to demo at the Jump Jam held at Depot Park and they have also graciously donated a Chrome Mob Frame for the event raffle after the premier of "Awesome Land: Women of Dirt".

Introducing the Santa Cruz Mountain Bike Festival!

Two-Day Mountain Bike Festival in Santa Cruz Brings Professional Female Mountain Bike Riders Including Lisa Myklak, Emily Johnston, Tammy Donahugh and Kathy Pruitt.

Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz has teamed up with Bones Over Metal to host the California Premier of Awesome Land: Women of Dirt. The event is scheduled to take place on Feb 28, 2010, at the Rio Theater in Santa Cruz at 7 pm. This unique film spotlights some of the most talented women on knobby tires and the lifestyles that allow them to ride. Tickets can be purchased at the door or most local bike shops in Santa Cruz.

The film Awesome Land: Women Of Dirt looks through the eyes of the wondrous women that have helped grow the sports of gravity mountain biking, downhill racing, dirt jumping and free riding. Featured riders Lisa Myklak, Emily Johnston, Tammy Donahugh and Kathy Pruitt will be present at the premier, along with the filmmaker Mark Brent. There will be a Q&A session with the guests moderated Karen Kefauver, a freelance sports and travel journalist who authors the cycling column, Spin City for the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

"Our goal is to support local riding groups like MBoSC and cycling non-profits to host regional shows and share the 'awesomeness' the mountain bike has to offer. We want to give back to the community, and we want to do this in a way that the local organizations and promoters get to keep all the funds raised," said film producer Mark Brent.

The film premier is just one event tied to a greater two-day Mountain Bike Festival, sponsored by MBoSC and several others, including Fox Racing Shox, Black Market Racing, Gamut USA, Lights and Motion, Barry Swenson Builder, Trailhead Cycleryand a number of local bike shops including Bike Station Aptos, Epicenter Cycling and The Bicycle Trip.

Pending good weather, events held in conjunction with the premier include an open group ride through the Soquel Demonstration Forest and Demo Day at Bike Station Aptos on Feb. 27, and a Jump Jam with the pro ladies on Feb 28th.

Proceeds from the festivities will go directly toward efforts to rebuild and reopen the SDF parking lot, which has been closed due to environmental issues.

You will be able to get tickets before the show at local bike shops. Details later....

Summary of 2009 and a look ahead to 2010

2009 was an odd year but MBOSC knocked it out of the park. It was a year of growth and opportunity for us even in a collapsing and stagnant economy. When times are tough we can look to our trusty metal/aluminum/titanium/carbon steeds to give us perspective about the most important things in our lives: friends, family and health.

We had a very active year and accomplished quite a bit. It started with a "crisis" which threatened to take away the riding areas that we hold dear but it's ending with a better organization and more engaged volunteers and officers.

• UC/Henry Cowell enforcement crisis was turned into opportunity. We negotiated with the District State Parks leadership to change their enforcement program to education.
• Introduced the inclusive monthly slow ride in February. This ride as has been a huge hit and has been a great way to welcome women and beginners to mountain biking.
• The District State Parks are finally moving forward with addressing our trail conversion proposal. Our trail proposal is the highest priority of the Mountain Sector Superintendent
• MBOSC represented Santa Cruz and mountain biking at the Bike Summit in Washington, DC.
• MBOSC went to Sacramento for Park Advocacy Day to support our local State Parks.
• Provided Dual Slalom course marshals for the Sea Otter
• All active MBOSC officers attended the IMBA California summit at the Sea Otter
• We donated $1000 to IMBA California
• MBOSC was part of a bunch of NorCal clubs who went to Lake Tahoe to ride, ride, ride... and build trail. 70-80 trail builders (26 from MBOSC) helped to build 860 ft of full bench cut single track on the Donner Lake Rim trail
• Our first film presentation: We presented Freedom Riders at the Rio Theatre.
• Raised over $4500 through 3 fundraisers: Freedom Riders, Micks Automotive, Surfrider Cafe
• We donated $3500 to Wilder Ranch for a new trail head sign.
• Helped to facilitate the re-engagement of the mountain biking community to Soquel Demo Forest
• MBOSC had a build team for Turning Wheels for Kids and built about 26 out of 2,300 new bikes which were given to needy kids as Christmas gifts.
• Membership: we gained 53 new paid members and 45 renewed memberships. This despite the hassle of printing a form, writing a check, finding a stamp and mailing an envelope. Thank you all!
• 96 people joined our email list this year. Our email list now has 345 members.

Some projects we will be working on for 2010

• Will be hosting the California premier of Awesome Land: Women of Dirt on Feb 28th. You will be hearing more about this in the next couple of months.
• Signature gathering for ballot measure to support State Parks funding initiative
• Coast Dairies: We have a subcommittee of very engaged people who will help push TPL and BLM towards conveyance and transference.
• Sea Otter: We will be providing the DS course marshals, will have a booth in the grassy area of the expo (next to the IMBA booth) and will be camping.
• Bike Festival. The city of Santa Cruz would like to have a bike festival in May to co-incide with the Santa Cruz stage of the Amgen Tour of California.
• New Wilder Ranch sign: Should be completed and installed by May
• Annual Tahoe trip: Will be in August again. Perhaps south shore.
• Electronic online memberships and payments via PayPal. Membership database conversion to FileMaker.

I would personally like to thank all the active officers of MBOSC: Daryl Breuninger (Vice-President), Eve Davidson (Treasurer), Sebastien Praly (Equestrian Relations, Brewmaster), Johauna Rathbun (Secretary), Megan Zemny (Social Coordinator), Steven Gemeolos (Event Coordinator). It was wonderful working with you all this year. You all really stepped up and helped develop the capacity of the club to get things done.

We would also like to thank the local bike industry, the local bike shops and other local businesses for supporting our events and members. We are really blessed to have such a concentration of world class industries in the playgrounds of our backyards.

Finally I would like to thank our membership. We are a volunteer organization and many of you supported our events and volunteered to help out. It's been a pleasure to meet many of you at rides and meetings and I'm proud of the quality of people within this mountain biking community.

2010 looks like it will be another good year for MBOSC and I hope you be there with us!

Suspension Rebuild Benefit for MBOSC

Our good friends at Epicenter Cycling at the foot of Nisene Marks is the newest bike shop in the Santa Cruz area. They have generously offered a suspension rebuild program which will benefit MBOSC for the month of January 2010.

Here is a summary of the program:

* $70 for fork rebuild, $40 for the rear shock

* $10 of each rebuild will be donated to MBOSC

* Oil is included in the rebuilt but parts are extra (seals, etc...).

* Card carrying members of MBOSC get a 10% discount on parts

Epicenter Cycling

8035 Soquel Dr, Aptos, CA 95003

(831) 662-8100

Suspension is an important part of the modern mountain biking experience. Improperly tuned and maintained suspension system could lead to high expenses later on. At the very least it could make your riding sub-optimal and at it's worse it could be dangerous.

Make it your New Years' resolution to let Epicenter Cycling maintain your fork and help benefit local mountain bike advocacy. Please call 831-662-8100 to book your suspension rebuild appointment.

The Word on Soquel Demo Forest Issues

This summary about the state of SDF was written by Patty Ciesla which was sent on the Passion Trail Bikes mailing list.

The Passion mailing list is an excellent source of information about mountain bike advocacy in the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California. Definitely not spam.

A number of email lists and web forums have posted stories on one or more variations of the theme "Soquel Forest is Threatened!" Well, here's the word on Soquel Forest. Soquel Demonstration State Forest is owned by the State of California, and managed by CDF, aka CalFire, as a working, timber producing forest. It is not a park and not subject to the use and management restrictions found in California State Parks. Unfortunately, as CDF is a state agency, its operations are heavily impacted by the awful state of the CA Budget process.

Soquel Forest has experienced some of the worst reductions in funding in its history in recent months, and after several years of budget cuts, this is a real blow. Longtime Forest Manager Thom Sutfin retired, and his position is being left unfilled. Their seasonal forestry aids are being let go for the winter and perhaps indefinitely. This leaves CDF with one full time Assistant Forest Manager (Ed Orre), and a half-time Office Assistant. So they basically are having to deal with something like an 80% staff reduction from their 2006 levels.

Ed Orre cuts an angled edge into a future technical trail feature, Feb 21, 2009

Recently, the parking lot has been the scene of raves, drunken slob fests, vehicular breakings and other unsavory behavior. The porta potty was recently knocked over and damaged, right before a senior CDF forester came to inspect a timber harvest area planned for the Redwood Empire land next door to the forest. The porta potty, incidentally, has been 100% paid for by Specialized in Morgan Hill for something like 10 years now. At any rate, it got knocked over by the gate, and its tank contents spilled right next to a small tributary to Soquel Creek. The parking lot doesn't belong to CDF, it belongs to Redwood Empire. CDF has a deeded road easement through it for access to the forest, but use as a parking lot has been negotiated. And Redwood Empire wants to do a small harvest in the area uphill of the parking lot, and use the lot for its trucks during timber harvest operations. Hence, the inspectors.

So now they are talking about closing the lot and chaining off the road at the bridge, which would require visitors to park on the side of Highland Way. Not in itself such a huge deal, but with all the break-ins, the road is a lot less secure. And the inspectors also have concerns about the sediment runoff from the parking lot, which has become of increased concern since Coho Salmon fry have been found for the first time in Soquel Creek this spring, in addition to the established Steelhead Trout populations, making the creek health super important for these threatened and endangered species. One possible way to address this is to build in some bio-swales to collect runoff and allow silt to settle out before the water drains into the creek.

Ed and Stewards of Soquel Forest volunteer crew leader Scott Robinson inspect the approach to the finished log ride

CDF has also been planning a timber harvest for the north side of Soquel Creek, in an area called Fern Gulch, and after almost 10 years of planning it is nearly ready to be approved. It is likely they will start harvesting operations in the Spring. In addition, they are doing the preliminary work for a harvest on the south side of Hihn's Mill Road, probably involving trees on either side of Tractor Trail. Tractor Trail is actually an old road, and the road bed is in moderate to good condition, with the singletrack snaking down the center of it. While the plan is not complete, it may involve re-establishing the road, which would destroy the singletrack characteristics of this trail. Ed believes that they can incorporate a new parallel trail with true singletrack qualities (like the upper parts of Corral and Sawpit) into the post-harvest site remediation plan, but it seems likely that we would lose access to Tractor Trail during the harvest, and kiss its long-known narrow feeling curves and dips goodbye. Since many of us are just really unhappy with these kinds of changes, this news is fairly disturbing. And we don't know what this new trail would really be like.

One other thing related to the timber harvests is that CDF will be conducting tours of the harvest operations. Our trail use and trail impacts will be more closely observed than usual, and by people with strong environmental interests. Keeping the trails in really good shape will be imperative so that our use of the forest will not create any concerns that could impact our access.

The Stewards of Soquel Forest is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that was formed in 2000 during the effort to prevent the closure of the illegally-built Braille Trail. This organization is responsible for maintaining the trails in Soquel Forest, and has been working closely with CDF over the years to put in many of the improvements you've seen on the trails of this amazing riding destination. Well, like many other non-profits, it's seen varying levels of commitment and enthusiasm, and right now could really use an infusion of new blood and leadership to help it fulfill its role in keeping Soquel Forest and awesome place to ride. We are looking for people who could help lead trail maintenance crews, help with patrolling the forest through the NMBP program, and help with other functions, such as updating and managing its website, renewing memberships, and planning the annual year-end volunteer appreciation party and shuttle fest.

Patty and Charles, along with Daryl, Scott, Shane, Nigel, and others, are very active in the Stewards. If you would like to get involved, please shoot an email to Patty at patty@passiontrailbikes.com, and ask to be put on the Stewards list for future notifications. Also, stay tuned for trailwork dates that are being set now for this fall and winter.

MBOSC donates $3,500 to Wilder Ranch State Park

I am really pleased to announce that MBOSC has donated $3,500 to Wilder Ranch State Park. Due to the success of our recent fund raising efforts we decided to increase our donation from $2,000 to $3,500. We really appreciate the generosity of the mountain biking community in supporting our efforts to help our local State Parks during these
difficult budgetary times.

The funds will be earmarked for a new sign at the entrance to the Wilder Ranch back country near the Cowboy Coral. There are a lot of out of town visitors to Wilder Ranch so we feel that good signage is valuable to help orient our guests in the park. A high quality sign is also a visible demonstration that the facilities are well kept. The old sign was dated, faded, falling apart - and a bit of an embarrassment (see image).

The new sign will be built by Wildways Illustrated. You have probably seen their work all over the Monterey Bay area. We will be starting the design process soon and a representative from MBOSC will be on the committee to help oversee the design. We hope to have the sign completed by next spring.

We are also interested in funding two more park signs at Wilder: one at 4 Corners (where Enchanted Loop meets Eucalyptus Loop) and another near Empire Grade.

Mountain bikers have been volunteering our labor to help maintain the local trails for decades. This financial contribution represents another avenue for which the mountain biking community contributes to the maintenance of our parks resources.

Thank you all very much for helping us make a generous contribution to our local parks!