Oh what the hell, let's just go ahead and get things rolling.
I'm moving in a few weeks, and without getting into all the reasons why I'm going to sit my ass right down on the front range of Colorado and end up in the great town of Longmont, just a short bike ride away from the very progressive (I think) and educated town of Boulder, Colorado. I'm not what I would consider a "Boulder" type personality, however I do like Boulder, I just prefer Longmont. Longmont seems to be just a tad less cool and has a little more of the "my personal style" feel, for whatever the hell that statement means.
Longmont has this goin on....and I dig it.
Anyway apparently, Boulder has many of the same issues we have had here in Eagle, where I have lived for many years, when it comes to open space and the management of that space as well as the agencies that manage it. There are a few differences however between the two demographics. A lot of Eagle would like to think it's Boulder, but it is not. Eagle is extremely depressed these days, I actually believe the town is in the process of what George Kastanza would refer to as "shrinkage". With that said, it's got some pretty good mountain biking access, and the access is to thousands of acres of Forrest Service and BLM land. The BLM is currently working on a very large scale travel management plan which has been in the works for some 20 years or so, and was supposed to be completed many years ago. Funny thing is it's not even close. I took my own personal battle with the BLM to the BLM a couple of years ago in an effort to get some things done, and you know what, I actually was able to get some things done, in a positive manner. I did this as an individual and built a good trustworthy relationship with these people and had good dialogue, learned quite a bit, and got some stuff moving forward. It was a great experience and I had built a foundation for something that perhaps someone else will move forward with someday (of course there is always John Bailey who is legendary for getting things done when it comes to trail building). My time here is done, for many reasons.
So now I'm moving to the front range, and apparently the open space issue is a big one in the Boulder area for mountain bikers, and there has been a battle brewing, and the lefties are looking for ANY reason to shut down the mountain bikers from running over red felt ants and what not. And I understand this, I'm a nature lover, I also know you can not tell me that mountain bike traffic is disturbing nesting Golden Eagles at this time of year, because I have worked in the outfitting industry for 20 years, and I have personally watched Red Tail Hawks, Golden Eagles, Osprey, and Bald Eagles nest smack dab in the middle of HUGE development in the west and return to these same grounds every year despite the mansions and the pavement and the Elk and Mule Deer grazing grounds destroyed. It's predominantly a crock of shit. With that said, I think it's probably fair to say that the pine nut eaters greatly out number the pedalers in this front range hood, which creates some big hurdles, and they will take the grape nuts approach and destroy all mtbers every single time they get the chance as depicted in this video below. These days it's tough to get away with shit, there are a lot of snoopy snitches out there looking to get noticed by taking down the opposition, and technology makes it so freekin easy anymore. This is clearly a battle bigger than myself in a new place for me, and I'm sure the side I'm on is highly intelligible, dresses the part and tries to be diplomatic, while the side I'm not on shows up at town meetings with their non-progressive bifocals on the tips of their noses so they can look over them at me like a town judge, (incidentally I'm wearing some right now), their clip boards, their pictures of erosion and the effects of Monster Trucks on spotted owls and their food sources, and there is absolutely no common ground between the two groups nor shall there ever be, because that is what makes this world turn, belonging to a group and disliking the others for being different and not believing the same way they do. So I say, let's all just do our thing, and watch out for those Manatees, props cut deep scars in their shoulders...
The irony in all of this, is that the folks who want to chase the bikes out of open space actually live on old Buffalo, Elk, Mule Deer, Golden Eagle, Bald Eagle, Moose, and every other species native to Colorado nesting, calving and feeding grounds, however, now that their SUVS, and shelters have been been built on these grounds, much like Eagle Ranch in Eagle, they want to make the rules work to their preferences. You know what I say, let's all get the hell off the property and give it back to the Indians and the Buffalo, damn good thing they did not invent gun powder first eh? I dislike hypocrites, at any level, I also dislike biting my tongue very often.....cheers.
