Hello,

I kind of started this discussion in the "introduction" forum. Let me start out by saying I trail ride, been known to do 24 hour races(not solo!), and pay dues to SDMBA. That said, why no legal trails in SD? And why doesn't SDMBA want to get involved in advocating for DH trails?

You would think by having DH trails that it would help cut down on trail user conflicts due to DH idiots running hikers, equestrians, and fellow mountain bikers off of multi-use trails.

You don't have to ride DH to see the benefits a dedicated DH trail(s) would have on the whole trail using community. And any intelligent being can see the adverse effects of not having these trails. All opinions welcome.

SDMBA is working very hard on finding a suitable location for a DH/freeride Park or designating a trail as DH only, unfortunately the City and County of SD do not see the benefits in designating DH/freeride trails, there main concern is liability and finding land suitable for building a DH/freeride Park, there are a few places we are looking at that are in the USFS land, unfortunately I can’t get into details at this time but we are hopeful it will happen by the end of next spring.
If you would like to get involved please shoot me an email greg@sdmba.com

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To TCB,

I see you are a part of SDMBA. How long have you been involved, and who, right now at SDMBA, really is trying to do something for the SD DH community? The reason I ask is that I, along with others, have attended SDMBA meetings and have found no one involved that really is interested in DH in SD.

Before anyone says something to the affect that SDMBA doesn't have to do anything for SD DH, and if DH'ers want trails, they need to work at it, I along with others, made appointments and attended meetings with the USFS out in Alpine. Although the staff there were polite, they informed us that we needed to go through SDMBA. So we went back to SDMBA and offered help. This was over a year ago. So basically what we can see here is that for as long as SDMBA has been in existence, nothing has been accomplished.

If the USFS says we have to be a part of an organization that doesn't want us, and we are willing to do what it takes to bring legal DH trails to SD, could you please suggest another route. Thanks.

DH will always be the redheaded step child. It's hard enough just keeping land in the city for XC. City's broke, if they can't line their pockets why listen.

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As I already posted in the "Introductions" forum, SDMBA is drafting a proposal for the USFS in regards for building a Downhill trail system in East County. Hopefully the USFS will work with us to provide an area where real downhill specific trails can be built. Providing an authorized area sure the hell beats wasting time, money, and resources chasing down bicycle riders.

I don't know where you got the "SDMBA doesn't want downhillers". Although there may have been a time that due to other trail access issues the downhill community may not have been on their "first page", I can personally say that the time has come to address, find solutions, and deal with the lack of legal downhill specific trails in San Diego.

The more of an organized presence the downhill community can present to land managers and advocacy groups, the better chance of real solutions to this problem. I'm not saying you MUST join SDMBA, but it sure wouldn't hurt.

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