Above is more vij highlight from last weekend, if you've got the balls, strap on the helmet and line it up in the 35 open race.
Then there is this little controversy, the Hidden Gems Wilderness proposal. I seem to have gotten myself somehow sucked into another issue here in the Eagle locale. I was contacted yesterday by the Vail Daily, one of our local papers, the other being the Vail Mountaineer. Sarah Mausolf from the Daily contacted me and said she wanted to talk to me about the Hardscrabble Singletrack Coalition, a grassroots group I have formed to protect, preserve and be stewards of the existing trail network on BLM land just west of Eagle. We've got an amazing group of folks here in the Eagle Valley who take great pride in our existing trail network on public lands and I thought it might be a good idea to loosely formalize this into a coalition to get some projects done for the better of the system. top priority for this group is to get the trail network properly signed. This would make the area much more user friendly and potentially bring more mountain bikers to ride in Eagle without the threat of getting confused and "misdirected" on the trail system. This of course will potentially lead to more $$$ being spent in Eagle because we will have a killer trail system that is easy to get around. The Hardscrabble Singletrack Coalition would also be responsible for the maintaining of and stewardship of this area. Ultimately we want to be incorporated as a non-profit which will help us get funding for projects through the BLM, IMBA and other trail/mountain bike related agencies. THAT is the ultimate goal of the coalition. We have already been able to raise several hundred dollars through our first fundraiser at Yeti's Grind in Eagle as well as trail map donations at the Mountain Pedaler Bike shop in Eagle. People like this idea...
Of course, while talking to Sarah at the Vail Daily, Sarah Mausolf quickly turned the conversation to the Hidden Gems Wilderness issue, which I really did not want to talk about but obliged her request. I was on the phone to talk about the Hardscrabble Singletrack Coalition, but it was clear Sarah had a different agenda as "news" media typically do. She asked me for my stance and if this was the stance of the HSC. I told her I spoke for myself and on behalf of the coalition and that Hidden Gems is not a black and white issue. To be perfectly honest I call bullshit on an advocacy group rising up from their own seed to try and take my use rights away on 400,000 acres of public land. I could rant forever about this but Sarah asked me what my top two reasons for opposition were and I responded...
1. I'm concerned about the precedent trying to be set with this proposal. This proposal covers fifteen different areas of the Colorado High Country. EACH of these areas need to be studied more carefully. Why in the hell I've got to fight to keep myself "included" as a user in these areas I have always been able to ride a mountain bike on is beyond me. Who gave this "group" the right to make me fight for what is already mine to use as a tax payer here in Colorado and the USA? NO one has the right to tell the rest of us who is included and excluded from PUBLIC land usage.
2. First of all, I do not have a problem with our horseback riding contingent, period. However, Hidden Gems if passed will allow horseback use in these areas. Are you going to sit there and tell me, while looking me in the eye, that a 2000 lb. horse with a 150lb rider on it's back, on STEEL horseshoes does not do more damage to the high country trail system than a 150 lb mountain biker on inflated RUBBER tires? Must I show you the rusty thrown horseshoes and the nails that hold those rusty things on that I've seen and picked out of my tires over the years off of BLM land? IN OTHERWORDS, IF YOU SAY YES TO HORSEBACK, YOU BETTER SAY YES TO MOUNTAIN BIKE. This needs to be discussed in detail, about each of the proposed 15 areas. Mountain Bikers, do not sit back and take it, make your voice heard. This is just one small corner of the big picture and argument.
Red Table Mountain is one of the largest proposed areas for restrictions, it sits just west and south of Gypsum, Colorado. If you got to the Hidden Gems propoganda site, you will see this quote about that area...
"This large proposed Wilderness Area has had little historical disturbance and retains an excellent remote and primitive character."
To which I reply, why the FUCK does this need to be taken away from the responsible users of this parcel, myself included.
I've got to tell you folks, this entire thing has me almost running some Republican blood, but not really.
The FS is already managing Red Table as wilderness - i.e., it's already closed to bikes.
ReplyDeleteAnd if you look at the maps you'll see that there are very few if any mountain bike routes actually within any of the Hidden Gems proposal areas. So you aren't losing a right that you already have.
You should talk to the folks at the Summit Fat Tire Society. I think they'll tell you that the Hidden Gems Campaign is reasonable and will work to address legitimate concerns. Sitting down and talking to people will probably produce better results than fuming at them on a blog.
I know people at the Summit Fat Tire Society, well, I lived in Summit for 14 years and I have spoken to them. FS is managing this land? Well, you've got people riding it without that knowledge. You also have an option, to post your thoughts here which will be respected, or to not read this blog. If you think this proposal is going to work excluding every user out there in every area but hikers and horseback riders, you've lost your mind. Best of luck Hidden Gems. We already know what YOUR stance is, if you do not like reading mine because it is contrary to your propagnda, stay off the blog my friend. After all, this is America. I've used public lands respectfully my entire life, I am out there 3-4 times a week, you will not take that away from me. So get on your horse and ride into the sunset...while your horse hooves dig trenches in the trails in the wilderness.
ReplyDeleteAnd what's with dissing on snow mobile folks? Hell, they never even TOUCH the ground, they are on SNOW the last time I saw one. I'm no snowmobile rider, but what are they doing to the "trails"? We all know that the majority of wildlife in our valleys head to lower elevations to survive the HARSH winter in your proposed high altitude Wilderness, the animals are not even up there in the winter where the snow riders are, the bears are sleeping and the deer and elk are STRESSED in the lower valleys because people such as yourselves have built cluster and custom homes with recreational pathways through all of our lower valley open space where we can run our pets free, god only knows they need the exercise. I think THAT is a bigger problem than high alpine snow mobiling in the winter.
As far as sitting down and talking, there was zero room for discussion in Eagle last week, it was just a biased presentation from the word go. The reason people were so angry was because they have been totally shut out of the process the way they see it, I'd suggest you do something to clear that air and listen. There are dozens upon dozens of issues which need to be discussed and I'll be damned if I'm not going to be part of that discussion whether you welcome my forum or not, it's clear you have no idea what the tone of this blog is. You know nothing about me or what I stand for, your stance is clear, have a good go of it. This is NOT a black and white issue, and I'm glad I got under your skin, that is reason enough, and it's game on.
Hardscrabble Mountain is ONE draw away from your proposed wilderness site on Red Table, is this next? I'm sure it's on your plate, fork and knife in hand.