CBTRA 2020

i June 02, 2020

 

Hello CBTRA Members & Guest

 Wow, it’s been a crazy year so far with the Covid-19 virus. All I can say is I’m so thankful that we live where we live. I hope everybody is feeling healthy and strong and ready to ride hard in 2020. 

Our spring snow never really arrived. I sure hope we get another shot at some snow up in the high country but it’s not looking good. I believe that we are already in a stage 1 fire ban (Eagle County) and it’s not even June yet. With the dry conditions and the lake Christine fire 2 years ago I would highly recommend that everybody make sure you have a USFS Approved spark arrestor on your bikes.

CBTRA would like to give a big thanks to the Colorado 500 and especially Tony Thompson for inviting me to represent CBTRA at the Colorado 500 registration day last August. I was able to get over 65 people to donate to CBTRA. We raised just over $1500.00 that day and I sure hope we get an invite back each year. With the money that we received that day, we have decide to pass on the generosity. We are going to donate $500.00 to each of the following organizations.

COHVCO
Roaring Fork Outdoor Volunteers
Trails Preservation Alliance

CBTRA believes that the 3 groups were donating the funds to are very deserving and see the same vision that we do. 

CBTRA Mission Statement:

We advocate motorized use, rights, trail sustainability, personal responsibility and stewardship in the White River National Forest and surrounding areas

Membership

Please renew your membership on the CBTRA web site. What can I say? We are very fortunate to live in one of the greatest places on the earth to ride dirt bikes. I know that the trails on Basalt Mountain and Triangle Peak have been ridden for many years. But, I do worry about these trails getting shut down some day. There are a lot of people in the Roaring Fork Valley who do not want to see us on these trails. I really believe that if we don’t have representation as a user group and we don’t stand up for our rights to ride these trails then others will try and close our trail system. 

We currently have more dirt biker riders then ever in the Roaring Fork Valley. We need to show the Forest Service that we care about our trails and want to make sure we are riding these trails now and well into the future. 

2020 Work Days

We will again be working with the Forest Service & Roaring Fork Outdoor Volunteers on the 3 trail work days in 2020. We usually work on Basalt Mountain or Triangle Peak trails. The Forest Service trail crew usually has areas of concern already picked out for us to work on. They and RFOV provide all tools needed. We usually work for 2-3 hours on the project. Sometimes we are able to walk into the work area or we ride. After the project is completed we then go for a group ride. If we have different skill levels in the group we split up the group. So no matter what level rider you are we have a group for you. After the ride we go to New York Pizza in El Jebel and have a good time putting back some beverages and pizza. It really is a good time to hang out in the woods with your mates, talk to the Forest Service Trail Crew and get some really good trail karma. Below are the dates for the 3 work days. When we are a week out I will post more details regarding time and place.

Sunday July 19

Sunday August 23

Sunday October 10

When we show up in numbers, the Forest Service sees this and realizes how serious we are about protecting our epic trails here in the Roaring Fork Valley. Please bring yourself, your family and friends to our trail days and let’s represent!

We are going to add one additional work day this summer. This work day is going to be a trash pickup day on Cotton Wood Pass. I’ve been wanting to do this for a few years now and this is going to be the summer for this to happen. This week we lost a good friend and fellow dirt biker Chris “Oakey” Ellison passed away and we would like to honor Chris and dedicate this trash pickup day in Chris’s name.  I will post the date for this event as soon as I figure it out. 

Trail Conditions

It’s starting to get warm in the desert and the high country is not open yet. There is a lot of good riding between Rifle and Gypsum. Bocca Mountain, Gypsum, Red Hill are all great area’s to ride. Please remember to purchase your OHV sticker and have a USFS approved spark arrestor on your bikes.

Triangle Peak and Basalt Mountain gates are open June 6/21-10/10.  Even though we have a pretty low snow pack this season, please don’t poach these area before the gates open. The main reason these areas are closed till June 21st is to protect the young elk during calving season.  If these animals are bothered frequently enough, such stress and disturbance by humans could lead elk and deer to abandon their critical habitat and even to abandon their young. Please respect these awesome animals that we are fortunate to share such a beautiful place with. 

Early conditions in the High Country were tough last year with all the snow and avalanche debris fields clogging the trails. We are looking really good this year. I would think we should be able to get over Star Pass by July 1st. But you never know what can happen up there. 

Another thing to remember from last year, Pitkin County trying to enforce the license plate thing for us to ride on county roads. Those roads include Express Creek, Pearl Pass and Richmond Ridge to Taylor Pass. I hope this issue just goes away like it has been for the last 50 plus years. When I ran into the rangers last year they were all really cool. I talked to them with a positive attitude and they were understanding back. We all know that the problem started with side by sides being renting to tourist in Aspen. And imagine that, the tourist had poor trail etiquette. If you don’t want to deal with any drama’s you can also get your bike plated. If you have any questions on how to do that you can contact me or call KTM of Aspen and talk with Mike or Tino. If you are planning on riding into Crested Butte I would highly recommend getting your bike plated. I have firsthand experience with the Crested Butte Marshall’s over there and they will write you a ticket and have you park your bike and find a ride home. Get plated, get insurance and start planning your trip.

Trail Etiquette

Dirt Bikes in the forest freak people out. We need to do everything we can to show people that we care about our back yard. The following is just common sense but sometimes we all need to be reminded. Everybody has their own style of riding but if we show respect on the trail maybe the general public’s opinion of dirt bikers might change for the better. It also might help get more single track opened up in the future.

  • Slow down or yield to other users
  • Stay on the trail
  • Avoid re-routes when possible
  • Don’t leave any trash on the trail
  • Respect Trail Closure Signs
  • General Rules for OHV riders when encountering horses on the trail: 

 Horsemen may try to pull off the trail a safe distance if they hear OHVs or bicycles coming but many times, this is not possible. This DOES NOT necessarily mean it is safe for you to ride by.  Pull off the trail far enough for horses to pass safely as soon as you see horses.   Shut off your motor and remove your helmet. (Horse will be more likely to recognize as human)  Speak to oncoming rider/horse in a friendly, relaxed tone  Ask the horseman how they would like to proceed.

CBTRA was founded over 25 years ago by Mike Thuillier. Mike is the owner of KTM of Aspen in Glenwood Springs and runs one of the best true dirt bike shops in the country. Mikes shop is our base camp for CBTRA.  Please support KTM of Aspen in any way you can.   We do most of our marketing on Facebook. We also reply to questions on our web site.

I must say that the amount of people or the lack of, at our trail days is really surprising to me. I would really like to hear from anybody that has any suggestions for me on how we can increase the attendance at these work days,,, I’m all ears. 

Thanks for reading and hope to see you in the woods soon.

Regards,

Dave Fond