You are correct. I had forgotten about that.

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There's a lot of shame on a road bike. -- evdog

Ph*!,
I vote you not discuss here. I believe that Minette (SDMBA President) is working on a way for the membership to vote. The bylaws will probably have to be changed but I sensed a willingness to do this. It was not feasible last election because of a lack of time and it would work best to link member privileges to the website which is being worked on.

I do think however that Board members should have proven themselves to be people that can play well with others and work within the group. Our new Board members include a diverse crowd of folks with various skills and talents they bring to the table. Their numbers include Taffy and MTB Bill--hardly the kind of people I would think of as being on a high horse.

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SDMBA Liaison: Sycamore Canyon/Goodan Ranch Open Space Preserves

BP, speaking of facts and keeping shit straight, that is not my quote. Please edit & correct. As for stepping up, ocd had not indicated previously that he had. But he sent me an excellent PM this morning telling me about it, which I appreciated. I really think the differences amongst us are not so great.

Gardner, thanks for the good inside info on SDMBA.

Edit: Boulder Pilot, thanks for the edit and the PM. And for adding facts that not everyone may know to the discussion.

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

G-man.

As always, the good, worthy board members would stay(as they deserve to), and surely new DESERVING members would be voted in...Just like they should have been in January (in no way am I referencing myself, I am talking about the one person who put in countless hours of work only to be pushed aside in the end. (that would be Jay by the way))


Bottom line (from my point of view) is that personal preference and interests are being placed in front of interests of the group by some of the board members and I simply cannot support that. Yes you are board members, yes you are the SDMBA, no, your way is not always the right way.

I've said it before multiple times. For the most part I believe each and every one of you board members is hard working, honest and have the intention of making good things happen. I salute all of you for your roles and what you do, for free, as volunteers.


Im not going to sit here and apologize and give some half-ass "god bless you all " speech, it would be chicken shit and insincere and it isn't how I go about things. Im not sorry for a thing I've said rather I'm sorry that I couldn't find a way to work in a better manner with the SDMBA.

I think you bring up a really good question. I just pulled this off an old post as Fullmoon also had questions as to the direction of SDMBA and also posed an understandable 'why bother' regarding SDMBA. Everyone has an agenda that they think is the best, but it's difficult. Fullmoon is a talented trail builder that feels the organization should be more proactive in establishing new singletrack trails. And he's right. But how far do you think $25 a year gets when only a very small fraction of MTBRs in SD are actually members? In fact, I believe that membership had tripled since the Tunnels issue, which raised awareness. More members means more stuff they can do. The more they can do, the more trails we'll have. Anyway, here's the post from another thread:


"Fullmoon, I just want to clarify that I am not arguing with your point, in fact your point is very well taken. I think we are just looking at different situations, of possibly he same situation from a different angle.

My view: The lesson I see from Intestines/Tunnels is that (a) we need to build up and support an organized body to act as an instrument to represent mountain bikers in the political arena so we can stop the hemorrhaging of trails that occurs at the hands of the politically connected developers here in San Diego. (b) We are on our way to doing that as we (Erik) SHOULD have won the election at the LPCPCAC if one of the 2 no-shows came, or the swing vote actually voted to represent her organization. So we dropped the ball, or rather individuals dropped the ball, but the organization helped to set the stage where we should have won.

Your view (or at least what I am hearing from your concerns): Many other mountain biking organizations throughout the country have been more active in making and improving trails than what we are seeing here in San Diego.

I agree with your assessment. And that is why I suggested you start your own organization because I think you will need to confront the politics of it to make the projects legal, and thus not taken away at a developers whim. And I think you will get a sh!& load of people here, myself included, to support such a direction. Another possibility would be to get involved with SDMBA and use your efforts to move their agenda forward in that direction. I'm sure you'll find a number of like-minded compatriots either way. If both of those avenues kinda suck, then you can go it alone and make some trails. You don't have to be a big organization for that, as witnessed by Rancho La Costa, but I'd talk to someone who's been there and done that though, to see how to best protect the trails you create from becoming 'Flightlined'.

But yeah, I completely agree, a lot more can and should be done with the natural resources we have here in San Diego than just building more and more houses for profit. Considering the workforce we have with guys like you, it should be a no-brainer.


Another lesson from the Intestines/Tunnels issue, at least in my eyes, is that the developers own and rule this county and do not favor mountain bikers."
_______________________________________________

And BTW- I am a relatively new member of SDMBA, due to Tunnels, and I am not on any boards, and in fact participate far less than I would like due to job/time constraints. It just makes sense that an organization is in our best interests, and the more membership, the more clout they will carry and the more they can do. Are there issues with SDMBA? Sure there are as you can see here on this thread OCD brings up a rather serious issue of representation. But those issues can, and I hope will, be addressed, as Gardner mentions, things can and will change as the organization grows. LIke I said, it's still a small, growing and malleable organization. Or at least seems to be. All the guys seem cool and approachable. Go to trail days, you'll see them there. Voice off.

How far do you think we'll get if we keep acting like a bunch of nomads, or figure someone else will pony up and pay their $25, I'll ride off their coin? Actually, SDMBA is probably much smaller than you might think, that $25 means a lot.

I'm sorry if I come off like I'm preaching here. I don't mean to. I just think the best way to benefit/protect ourselves in a growing city with shrinking trails is to organize. The horsey people at LPQ are in the minority of park users, by a long shot, but they join the committees and protect their interests. Are they wrong for doing that? No, they'd be foolish not to.

And you may get to ride Tunnels someday. At least parts of it (fingers crossed). If so, it would be entirely through the tireless efforts of the good folks from SDMBA and MTC (Multi-use Trails Coalition). Getting trails open, especially with the complexities involved at Tunnels, is far and away more difficult than simply closing them down, so it's an uphill battle against the bureaucracy, and anti-trails groups.


My 25 bucks was well spent.

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Ambition is a poor excuse for not having sense enough to be lazy. ~Milan Kundera

Bravo.

[/quote]My25 bucks was well spent.[/quote]


-Yer "encore" reply was much appreciated, J. It's too bad I can't make it next week.
Gotta full work day on the 18th.

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Scum on a Bike

I hear ya my friend. I can't make it either, same deal. Rich J, Rob, Gardner, Mike, etc, they should all draw a lot of people and get a lot done. I know Erik sure would too.

Those who go, as per reasons/concerns mentioned on the MTBR thread, PLEASE bring cameras and document EVERYTHING, before, during and after.

Probably not riding again until June.

Can't wait. Hope to see you then.

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Ambition is a poor excuse for not having sense enough to be lazy. ~Milan Kundera

Off topic, but I hope it's not injury or illness, and if it is, heal up fast.

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

Thanks Dan. No, no injury. Writing grants every waking moment to hopefully maintain my job. That's why I'm on this darn site so much, it's the closest I've gotten to biking for 2 months now.

Sorry for the off topic, just hopeful where my next ride will be.

(Hey, a man can dream, can't he?)

Appreciate the concern Dan. Thanks.

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Ambition is a poor excuse for not having sense enough to be lazy. ~Milan Kundera

Just a note to tell why I'm not going to the cleanup: we're going to race the District-wide Pinewood Derby with my local Pack Champion son. The events conflict and this is the "big race" for our 8 year old.

That said, someone noted on MTBR that it will only take one comment, "It's good to see the bikers cleaning this up, since they cut most of the trails in here and owe Earth an apology" by the spinmeisters in the faux-green movement to derive great press-benefit from your efforts. I think this is an astute observation, and I would note to you that the same people who have been claiming you dirty mountainbikers raped the land by creating all those trails in 2007 are now finding ways to make it look like you're working for them. I suggest a lot of photography of the trash and conditions and being very careful to see how you are used. That, and work hard -- the only way to go.

Godfather of LPQ(EBasil) it's great to hear from you.

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If you have any Real Estate questions, or looking to buy or sell a home, PM me.

It was great cleanup day. Thanks to everyone who came out - and a huge thanks to Mike Maio who put this together. We battled some steamy temps, angry ant swarms, the overpowering pungent odor of a dead racoon, and found more encampments and debris than I think anyone expected. We needed every person out there. Also a big thanks to Marvin Gerst who donated $300 to feed the nearly 100 people who volunteered their time and energy. Also, Shasta Landscaping brought out over 20 people out to pitch in...thanks guys!

A message from Gina Washington:

"THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to the 93 people that came out today to clean up DMM Preserve. We spent 5 hours with 3 teams of people and filled one and a half 40 yard dumpsters.

Special thanks to SDMBA for coordinating this effort. There were three pickup loads of crates hauled out of Deer Canyon. Chairs and weight sets from the mesa top, countless pounds of broken glass, yards of old construction and other debris. I don’t think we could have been more successful if we had been planning this for a year.

Thanks again and I look forward to seeing all of you again on the trail.

Gina Washington
Senior Park Ranger
City of San Diego, Open Space Division
858.538.8066 (PH)
858.536.8334 (FAX)"

Some shots from the day. I found that you'd pick up a couple cans, look deeper, find a pile of cans, look deeper, then find an entire village of shack foundations covered in plastic with sticks still in the dirt that used to hold up the roofs.

did you guys toss the rocking horse?

^^^^stand by

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