Very Bad!

[jdog]

Fred and I saw that the park people have begun to sanitize the trails..

On the red trail they have begun to cover the nice single-track with 4 ft wide sections of gravel!

WTF!!!

They have also started to widen the trails and remove any log that crosses it.

This is a VERY BAD thing.

Please come along to the meeting on wed night if you ride here!!

http://www.franklintwpnj.org/Trails Advisory Committee to Hold Public hearing.pdf



Gary, you really need to rally up the troops since I know that you have customers that live in this town!!

j

 

[Wobbegong]

Fred and I saw that the park people have begun to sanitize the trails..

On the red trail they have begun to cover the nice single-track with 4 ft wide sections of gravel!

WTF!!!

They have also started to widen the trails and remove any log that crosses it.

This is a VERY BAD thing.

Please come along to the meeting on wed night if you ride here!!

http://www.franklintwpnj.org/Trails Advisory Committee to Hold Public hearing.pdf



Gary, you really need to rally up the troops since I know that you have customers that live in this town!!

j

Its going to be hard to give and ideas about the red trail from a bikers view, since we are banned from that trail. I think that is a hiker only trail if I recall correctly. I hope this doesnt carry over to the rest of the park.😡

 

[Pearl]

If you aren't suppose to be biking on that trail i understand why they would put gravel and remove the logs, it is dangerous for hikers. I highly doubt that they would remove obstacles from biker trails.

Where are the meetings located? I'm available Weds 😉

 

[ArmyOfNone]

they have also done this on the trails that biking is allowed. the start of something very bad

 

[mergs]

Fred and I saw that the park people have begun to sanitize the trails..

On the red trail they have begun to cover the nice single-track with 4 ft wide sections of gravel!

WTF!!!

They have also started to widen the trails and remove any log that crosses it.

This is a VERY BAD thing.

Please come along to the meeting on wed night if you ride here!!

http://www.franklintwpnj.org/Trails Advisory Committee to Hold Public hearing.pdf



Gary, you really need to rally up the troops since I know that you have customers that live in this town!!

j

jdog

Can you get me some contact information for these people:

http://www.franklintwpnj.org/trails_advisory_committee.html

I want to invite them to the VIP Land Manager session of the upcoming IMBA TCC at South Mountain Res. I think that if they can actually see how sustainable trails can be built for many user types -and- be fun and safe, and easier to maintain than dumping a truckload of gravel down, maybe we can turn around the "gravel it", and "chop it and remove it" mentality that they are obviously suffering from.

Word of advice: i hear the passion here, but anyone that does attend the open house, don't attempt to shout down or get into any confronational arguments. You'll achieve nothing that way. You must be calm and you must make your case. If they see mountain bikers as a reasonable and likeable group, they'll invite you to the table. You wont win anything in one meeting but you need to be asked back to the next few. So don't lose it right out of the gate.

 

[jdog]

I believe that Gary from Bike N' Gear said that he knew some of these folks as customers in his store. I do not recognize any of these names.

I am pretty sure that a designation as a JORBA site would help the cause.

j

 

[mergs]

I believe that Gary from Bike N' Gear said that he knew some of these folks as customers in his store. I do not recognize any of these names.

I am pretty sure that a designation as a JORBA site would help the cause.

j

status update: I have called up some folks on the Franklin Township TAC and emailed the mayor an invited them all to the IMBA TCC. I also sent a general email to the twp into their general mailbox but who knows who that goes to and if it will drop into a dead end.

If they are customers in the store, that is a plus... at least they've had "feet on pedals" and thats a good start. Gary, if you see this and you have any insight on these folks, that would be super helpful. Information is power, give it to me and I can try and help you guys out down there at 6 Mile.

As far as JORBA adopting 6 Mile, that's a process we can begin now, but there are some steps to make that happen. Check your PM, Jdog.

 

[Wobbegong]

jdog

Word of advice: i hear the passion here, but anyone that does attend the open house, don't attempt to shout down or get into any confronational arguments. You'll achieve nothing that way. You must be calm and you must make your case. If they see mountain bikers as a reasonable and likeable group, they'll invite you to the table. You wont win anything in one meeting but you need to be asked back to the next few. So don't lose it right out of the gate.

Very true. Rational, intelligent conversation with a strong and valid point will do much more for a cause.

 

[mergs]

Very true. Rational, intelligent conversation with a strong and valid point will do much more for a cause.

cool, thanks for that man...

Another update:

I just spoke to a Ms. Nikki Newby for about 10 minutes. She's a very nice lady on the TAC. She will be there on Wednesday night. I invited her to the IMBA Trailbuilding school and asked her to pass along the invitations that I send to her via email to the other folks on the TAC.

Here's is how I think you guys need to focus your message:

1. Please inform them that you are avid trail riders and you want to give back to the park that you love. You would like to become an active part of the stewardship of the park and focus on making that happen, however that is done in this park. Some parks have adopt a trail, others do not (this one apparently does not) so there is a discussion of a "Friends of..." organization happening (Friends of 6Mile Run for example). This is an excellent opportunity to get into the act early and become the active stewards of the park... talk about it, see how they'd like to proceed. Express your ideas if asked and go from there. you may need 2, 5, 10 more meetings to make the whole thing work but you do need to start with the good first impression and work through things patiently.

The alternative is to do nothing and let them gravel over the whole park, which seems like an easy way out but is actually our worst nightmare as riders, which brings me to:

2. Politely encourage attendance of anyone from the TAC to attend the IMBA TCC: http://www.jorba.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=566

If we can get some of these folks there, as well as thier consultant (John Loos), we may be able to:

- convince them that sustainable singletrack trails can be built for multi-use *without* the dreaded "gravel it all solution"
- convince them that mtb'ers are value adding users to any park and an asset to any network. we can move in and keep a park in top shape because we're trained in this by IMBAs TCC and we ride all the time and we hate crappy trails.

Hopefully Ive given you guys some guidance here that can be used constructively at the Wednesday night meeting. I really hope that some of you attend. I think that it can be a VERY positive thing. Please keep us updated and feel free to contact me directly at mergler at jorba.org if you need any more 2 cent advice 😉

 

[Maurice]

Sucks... Sounds like I rode it in time.

They did that at Round Valley, and keep "maintaining" the thing: they just pour more gravel when, expectedly, every storm washes it away creating huge ruts from runoffs.

At the time I had gotten in touch with the parks administrator and she had said this was done because the trail was designated "multi-use"... Oh well, at least they still let bikes through. I see where it's coming from: I've come across nasty people several times that really don't like you being there, no matter that you're saying hello (without a reply other than "effin' bikes"), going around them as slowly as you can etc.

Good luck with this.

Maurice