First fully accessible bike trail at Jungle

Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
I've been thinking about the paved->accessible conversion for a couple days now.

This isn't horrible. Now that the ball is rolling, I'd advocate for our riders who would benefit to come up with a build out plan. There is enough to make this a destination, and turn it into a racing destination. Including adaptive trail running.

Land management has been looking for a niche for jungle.
 
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serviceguy

Well-Known Member
You know, I haven’t seen any article on PB about this yet. I think a link to one of the news video could suffice to get some attention but I’ve no idea how content is published on PB.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I have never used any of the "free stuff", which don't say much...

But you live in Vermont. We went to 4 of the 5 DH parks last year, so the VMBA membership beyond pays for itself. We also convinced at least 3 friends to buy it, and they went to 3 of the 4 with us.

The DH parks make VMBA membership a no-brainer. I would likely buy it anyway, but with the parks, I don't even have to think about thinking about it.

Also, can I have your DH tickets next year?
 

UtahJoe

Team Workhorse
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I think I used almost all of my "free stuff" from my VMBA membership....pretty sweet deal...I even got a discount at highland with my VMBA membership....so a NJ rider is using a VT card to get a discount in NH :)
 

stb222

Love Drunk
Jerk Squad
It could be a simple as you get a ton of free stuff with a VMBA membership.
A free lift ticket to each of 5 downhill parks more than pays for the membership.
I don't think Mountain Creek even gives a jorba discount anymore.
The VT resorts also help promote VMBA. They frequently have a promo table set up at Killington.
And they are large resorts, mountain creek is great and the bike park is top notch, but even though Killington’s bike park isn’t huge, the winter sports are what pays the bills and creek can’t even remotely hold a candle to Killington in that respect. So to give members a free lift ticket basically just increases the probability they fill
Up the hotel or at least spend money on site.

You guys aren’t buying the membership to support VT trails, you are buying it for free stuff. The numbers comparison is somewhat useless for one reason: Nj Isnt VT. I was going to say about how many people are Jorba members from out of state, as I sit here in PA, but for real, how many Jorba members are from out of state? Probably not that many. 9.2 million compared to .6 in VT and VT is a destination for outdoor (huge percentage of
Member are likely from out of state), NJ really isn’t even though we know it could be.

I don’t know how to fix this, and everyone knows this: Jorba isn’t cool. We see the value (I think?) and know a lot of people do good work, but where are the projects to say “shit, I need to ride that”.

Like trexler:
65A2E014-4029-4DB0-87F0-56608ACAAB7F.jpeg

You just look at that and want to ride it and this is just the latest project.
What is the trexler of NJ?

Creek is a huge draw.
Maybe Jorba should build a trail there and promote it. Fair warning, it needs to be freaking awesome.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
You guys aren’t buying the membership to support VT trails, you are buying it for free stuff.

In my case this isn’t true. I was a VMBA member before I knew I got all that shit for free. I’m also member of KT and NEMBA as well as JORBA because I support the shit I ride. Sadly 99% of NJ riders don’t buy into that.

That said your post is mostly hard to debate.
 

Frank

Sasquatch
New Jersey is the problem. If land managers were not afraid to deal with frivolous lawsuits we would be much better off and have more riding opportunities. And JORBA is indeed cool, actually badass considering what they have to deal with. We can help by supporting them.
 

Cassinonorth

Well-Known Member
Is the most ambitious building going on at Dickerson Mine right now?

There's doubles, drops and berms built by machines. It kills me the place isn't bigger cause it could be amazing. Is the difference the fact it's a town as the land owner and not the state?

I find the advocacy and process fascinating personally.
 

JPark

Well-Known Member
And they are large resorts, mountain creek is great and the bike park is top notch, but even though Killington’s bike park isn’t huge, the winter sports are what pays the bills and creek can’t even remotely hold a candle to Killington in that respect. So to give members a free lift ticket basically just increases the probability they fill
Up the hotel or at least spend money on site.

You guys aren’t buying the membership to support VT trails, you are buying it for free stuff. The numbers comparison is somewhat useless for one reason: Nj Isnt VT. I was going to say about how many people are Jorba members from out of state, as I sit here in PA, but for real, how many Jorba members are from out of state? Probably not that many. 9.2 million compared to .6 in VT and VT is a destination for outdoor (huge percentage of
Member are likely from out of state), NJ really isn’t even though we know it could be.

I don’t know how to fix this, and everyone knows this: Jorba isn’t cool. We see the value (I think?) and know a lot of people do good work, but where are the projects to say “shit, I need to ride that”.

Like trexler:
View attachment 200732
You just look at that and want to ride it and this is just the latest project.
What is the trexler of NJ?

Creek is a huge draw.
Maybe Jorba should build a trail there and promote it. Fair warning, it needs to be freaking awesome.
Seems like most parks in NJ have the same attitude as ski resorts in the 80s: Build a jump and we clip your ticket
 

gmb3

JORBA: Sourlands
JORBA.ORG
Is the most ambitious building going on at Dickerson Mine right now?

There's doubles, drops and berms built by machines. It kills me the place isn't bigger cause it could be amazing. Is the difference the fact it's a town as the land owner and not the state?

I find the advocacy and process fascinating personally.
Most "ambitious" building is the free public bike park - High Bridge Flow Trails (if that's your definition). The name is deceiving bc they're legit jump trails.

I'd call the Stags project and all the mechanized dirt moving at 6MR pretty damn ambitious too. Starting a whole new trail system from scratch in Perrinville - also ambitious (though not sure JORBA initiated).
 

UtahJoe

Team Workhorse
Team MTBNJ Halter's
you guys aren’t buying the membership to support VT trails, you are buying it for free stuff.
Well speaking for myself...I rode probably about 300+ miles on Vermont trails last year...Really, I feel like im ripping kingdom off for what it costs. Especially if you are a skier and are used to dealing with lift ticket prices. So the discounts are nice, but vermont gives me my moneys worth.

With regards to Jorba.....For myself as a formerly overweight person whose father died at 47 from a heart attack, and fathers father died at 52 from the same thing.....I like to think about our New Jersey trails this way. Finding mountain biking most likely has and will have saved my life....it is the only physical I have ever found that I just never get sick of and never feels like exercise to me.....So having the really unbelievable amount of options to ride within 30min of my door is like having a free gym membership....But the gym doesnt suck, and it keeps getting bigger and better every year. So yes, I would LOVE the trexler stuff somewhere nearby, but I agree with @Frank...its just not so simple. But goddam, we have some awesome trails in NJ....and they are getting better everyday.
 

stb222

Love Drunk
Jerk Squad
Well speaking for myself...I rode probably about 300+ miles on Vermont trails last year...Really, I feel like im ripping kingdom off for what it costs. Especially if you are a skier and are used to dealing with lift ticket prices. So the discounts are nice, but vermont gives me my moneys worth.

With regards to Jorba.....For myself as a formerly overweight person whose father died at 47 from a heart attack, and fathers father died at 52 from the same thing.....I like to think about our New Jersey trails this way. Finding mountain biking most likely has and will have saved my life....it is the only physical I have ever found that I just never get sick of and never feels like exercise to me.....So having the really unbelievable amount of options to ride within 30min of my door is like having a free gym membership....But the gym doesnt suck, and it keeps getting bigger and better every year. So yes, I would LOVE the trexler stuff somewhere nearby, but I agree with @Frank...its just not so simple. But goddam, we have some awesome trails in NJ....and they are getting better everyday.
I have always said that one think NJ got "right" is open space and place for trails. The number of parks is down right amazing compared to how other states did their open space. Like PA for example, tons of open space that is all private. I ride in NJ just as much as the state I am a resident in. However my TM hours do tip slightly to PA because politics in NJ don't allow me to do more.

I am not discounting the work JORBA has done, or has in the works and I know first hand how hard it is to get anything approved.

But to stay on topic, why isn't JORBA bigger then?
 

KenS

JORBA: Director
JORBA.ORG
Re: Trexler, make no mistake - those new trails are advanced bike park-esque level risk and skill level. Massive speed and massive air, much like the public stuff all over NWArkansas. They "kind of" have progression on the existing trails at trex, but not really. I am curious to see how it unfolds from a risk management perspective. NWA is already dealing with exponential increased injury rates, but landowner liability is pretty sound and they have the thing that no one else does, Walton Funding.

NJ is behind on this style of building, with the HB flow trails being the only current public land/legit jump lines. Alexandria had a jump line that was smaller, resembling DJ trail sets. With JORBA effectively being the land manager through a lease agreement, we got bit by the trip and fall lawsuit. Creek is pay to play and the only spot outside of private land or under the radar places to get this style of riding.

What this mean? We need more members to turn the dial. How do we attract more members? Chicken, egg. This has been the dilemma since we opened paid membership. The Executive Committee of JORBA is tossing around the idea of a bylaws updates, member incentives, etc. and my personal opinion is that we must develop a budget which annualizes a salary for a paid director (not me). Until this happens we are expecting a 100% volunteer based organization to put in full time work from multiple (tired and already overworked) folks to develop more membership. This is unrealistic at best, foolish at worst.
 
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roc

Well-Known Member
In my case this isn’t true. I was a VMBA member before I knew I got all that shit for free. I’m also member of KT and NEMBA as well as JORBA because I support the shit I ride. Sadly 99% of NJ riders don’t buy into that.

That said your post is mostly hard to debate.
I think the 99% is a little high, maybe 95.99%
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I think the 99% is a little high, maybe 95.99%

I have no way to even back-of-the-napkin estimate how many people ride MTBs in this state. Not able to find even a thread of data to back anything.

Anyway yeah 99% may be high.
 

roc

Well-Known Member
I have no way to even back-of-the-napkin estimate how many people ride MTBs in this state. Not able to find even a thread of data to back anything.

Anyway yeah 99% may be high.
If you join VMBA, do you get free ski tickets? Just curious
 

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