Sponsor bridge and SDMBA trail work at La Costa and other places.
For a minimum of $25 for individual sponsorship, and $50 for business you can have your name displayed on one of the 3 bridges at Copper Creek for perpetuity.

Contact Richard Julien at: rfj1@cox.net for info.

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"My favorite part of riding a bike is when I get off the bike." - Jim Gaffigan

Bridges are getting full, only a few boards left!

Open Letter from Rich....

Dear Mountain Bikers

Here is my story of Copper Canyon. Copper Canyon gets it name from the German immigrants who discovered some copper deposits between Denk Mtn (La Costa) and Double Water Tanks to the south. The copper was mined extensively during WWI and in the following decades the ore played out was of poor quality and the mines abandoned.

There are still plenty of reminders of the mines right under your foot but the shafts had to be filled in after some knotheads fell in and died. “Survival of the Fittest” at work.

So there were some old old legacy trails faintly there that some knowledgeable locals knew about. Trouble was the land was now in the hands of a family that had been up to that time living on the perimeter of the suburbs. But now they were being surrounded by an explosion of growth and all the people that brings.

The stories of their efforts to keep people away and stop trespassing will go down in lore. The property then went through another owner who bought it for purposes of mitigation and now is managed by the Center for Natural Land Management. CNLM manages both La Costa (Denk Mtn) and the land going up to Double Water Tanks, making Copper Canyon tie it all together.

Hence the new Archipelago route this year will be through Copper Canyon and not down the heinous ,dangerous & lame Denning Rd. The Copper Canyon trail will be reached by descending “Whip Tail”, also a new adoption by CNLM.

Copper Canyon Trail crosses Copper Creek three times. To negate the effects of bank erosion and general damage to the stream habitat bridges were required. With the trail now open to the public certain standards had to be met so I constructed the bridges to standards used by the USFS and similar to the bridge I built for the USFS on the San Juan Trail.

CNLM was going to pay for the bridges but I was so stoked to get Copper Creek open I wanted CNLM to use their money for bigger things like acquiring more open space and protecting what little habitat remains here. Even though it hasn’t always been an easy path to coexist within the mission of conservationists I think we can help each other. It is my opinion that people need to be built into the equation of protection of open space, not being eliminated from the equation and CNLM has made us part of that equation.

Once people relate to the land and form a bond or sense of ownership the level of interest, compliance and participation to protect goes geometric. So to support the mission of CNLM and bring people together I decided to sell routered names on the planks of the bridges and donate the money to CNLM.

So I petitioned SDMBA for the costs of the three bridges and the board granted me the money. It was a huge job and I needed a good right hand man. In fact I found a couple of good men to help me. One was Bryan Furbee, my riding partner, and the other was Dee Folse, of Team Shoebacca. Between us we have routered 80 names of committed people and 20 corporate names from businesses that have always had our backs.

The addition of Copper Canyon now provides a critical corridor that starts at La Cadencia Park and leads you to Elfin Forest and onward on the Archipelago Trail. While we have been raising families, riding, surfing and holding down a job some one has been working doing work we didn’t know how to do or want to. So the plan is to present CNLM with the proceeds from the planks.

There are only a few planks left so if you want to see your name on one. Send me a request at rfj1@cox.net. ($25 for individuals and $50 for business)

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"My favorite part of riding a bike is when I get off the bike." - Jim Gaffigan

"The stories of their efforts to keep people away and stop trespassing will go down in lore"

...I think Rich mentioned something about shotguns and rock salt.

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Thus, if we are to understand the world, we should live somewhere between judgement and amazement — Alfredo Lopez Austin

AMEN

Do it!

The kids were a little tired, but wanted to see Mom and Dad's name in the bridge



Fitzsimmons!!!



More bridges to explore



Not bad huh?



Thanks Rich and Dee and everyone else.

The surprising thing to me on this hike was how really very peaceful and nice it is down there in the creek when you slow down and take it all in. If you were transported to the bridges from space, you would never know you were deep in heart of Milfitas Suburbiana Trafficas.

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"We'll ride it until they pave it."

-Big Clyde

wozniak????

Sent Rich an email and no response?

Arch ride was today. He has been a bit preoccupied with it. Lots of planning so I doubt he answered anybody's email in the last week. Give it a couple of days. Once it calms down and he sobers up, you will probably hear back from him.

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The world does not revolve around you but your actions impact us all!

From Rich.....

I have fallen behind on the routering because I rode the Archipelago yesterday in a speedo, coconut bra, wig and party hat. Started drinking beer at Black Mtn had a Monster Energy drink and one of those red 5 Hour Energy elixirs that truckers drink. I was on fire for about 40 minutes and felt like I had wings on my bike but I had failed to fill my camelback. I came down from the mountain like a rock off a cliff. No water, no shirt, all day sun on my bare skin, 38 miles & 5,000 something of elevation and suddenly no more adrenalin no more water. Dizziness and cramps were putting me down. I pulled over in a beautiful quiet shaded spiritual place right at the top of Tunnel 5. I was getting ready to call 911 or air support. I was done. Game over.
Body starting to shiver. Electrolyte collapse. Then out of no where comes some guy up Tunnel 5. I was desperate for water. Anything. So I put my ego and pride away, not that a guy in a speedo, coconut bra, wig and party hat has much pride anyway. I asked for a drink of water.

How could I make it that far and die a couple of miles from the finish at NOTB ? This guy didn't just give me a drink he unscrewed his camel back reservoir and poured the entire thing into mine. I took some time drinking and bingo it was game on again. Some stranger saved my speedo ass and he didn't even make fun of my Tranny looks. So I told my story to Minette Osaki at the finish and she was writing it all down. I didn't know it but she was compiling what she called "Aloha Stories, The Spirit of the Archipelago". It turns out the Aloha Spirit was all over the trail because they had a bunch of good ones. The best Aloha story was up for a prize. So as it turned out this guy was one of the riders and they found he had shown the best Aloha Spirit. He got the prize and I lived to make to the keg and rehydrate with beer until the wee hours of the night.

Hands are a little shaky today so I will put down the router for the day. I will make every attempt to get back to anyone who asked about a plank. As it stands the demands came in fast and hard this week and I think we are sold out but once I get sober enough I will figure out where things stand. All I can say now is give me some time and thank god for "spell check".
Rich

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"My favorite part of riding a bike is when I get off the bike." - Jim Gaffigan

Thanks for the update

Another update: the DirtTreaders plank is still there.



[Photo stolen - obviously - from Kimba’s Str*va post. There. I admitted Str*va exists.]

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Thus, if we are to understand the world, we should live somewhere between judgement and amazement — Alfredo Lopez Austin