Request: Letters of support for the Idaho bike park

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------

Subject: letters of support for bike park

From:    "Brad Nelson" <bafvolunteers@gmail.com>

I am going to send the email below to the volunteers on my email list asking

them to write letters of support to government officials in behalf of the

bike park.  I only have contact with a small group though and it would be

helpful for other members of the biking community to do the same.  Would it

be possible for each of you to get separate emails out to groups you are

associated with and include the contact information for Ada county and the

city of eagle listed below?  My letter is very long because I wanted to

update the downhill riders on some of the politics we have been dealing with

this year.  Yours would not need to be so long, but just encourage

individuals to write positive letters of support for the bike park.  Also

ask them to individualize their letters by talking about the aspects of the

park they appreciate - both current and future.  (The email could ask for

support for the future BMX track or crit course.)  Are there others who have

email lists that we could include here?  If so, lets pass along this same

information and help get the word out.  Give us your thoughts and let us

know if/how you could help.

 

Brad Nelson

(below is a rough draft of the letter I will send to the park volunteers)

 

Riders,

 

Please take a few minutes and write a letter of support for the bike park to

the individuals listed below.  We do have general support from many local

officials but there are some who question or disagree with the parks

existence.  You can personalize you letter by explaining what aspects of the

park you support or appreciate (the existence of downhill only bike trails,

the ability to finally use local trails for cross country racing, the

existence of downhill race courses, the future BMX track, the future

criterium course, etc.) or just leave the letter general and explain how

much you or your family love the facility.  The county hears complaints from

a few individuals and these negative comments need to be offset by requests

for support from the users of the park.  All who use and enjoy the park

should send a letter of support - please do so as soon as you can and please

keep your correspondence positive.  Here are the people you should send

comments to:

 

Ada County Commissioners:  (Rick Yzaguirre, Sharon Ullman, and Fred Tilman)

*Address:* 200 W. Front Street, 3rd Floor, Boise, Idaho  83702

*Phone:* (208)

287-7000   *E-mail:* bocc1@adaweb.net

 

City of Eagle:

eaglecity@cityofeagle.org

 

As a side note I also want to summarize some of the struggles we have been

dealing with recently - simply as an FYI so people know what is going on in

general with the bike park.  This list is just a sample of some of the

issues we have been dealing with.  Also, please understand that the county

has been supportive in some areas and our relationship with them has not

been all negative.  The county and the city want the park to succeed but we

all need to come to an agreement on what success looks like and what the

priorities are.  Here is a summary of some of our struggles:

 

1.  Several people have emailed or called me wondering what happened to the

drop at the top of the new freeride trail.  At one point in time the county

came out and asked for a list of things to be accomplished on that trail.

 This list included finishing the drops by cutting off some rebar and using

sandbags to cover the back legs as well as putting up signs designating the

difficulty level of the trail.  There was also discussions with one of the

county officials that there should be a filter placed at the top so the

difficulty level of the trail was clear from the beginning.  Dave Logan is

the new landfill manager and he was apparently unaware of this discussion

and had his employees remove the structure stating that it did not meet

proper standards.  (The structure was built well within Whistler standards

though with 4x4 treated posts, 4x6 treated beams, lag bolts, and cross

bracing).  This event has been a source of frustration for the volunteers

who spent time and money trying to accomplish one of the directives from the

county.

 

2.  There is some general concern regarding an understanding of what the

bike park is about for county officials.  What makes the park different from

other existing trail systems in the valley is that the park provides a place

for technical downhill biking as well as downhill racing and cross country

racing.  The management trail philosophy for all other existing trails in

the valley is that all users must recreate on the same set of trails.  This

general philosophy negates the use of these R2R trails for downhill

technical riding and cross county racing as it places other trail users at

risk.  The bike park provides the place for these user groups and these

types of use should be supported and protected.  When the county asked for

signs for the new trails they stated that they might help pay for some of

them.  After having the signs designed and submitted to Dave Logan, he

stated that he would not allow signs at the park restricting the use of

trails for certain user groups (horses, hikers, and dogs).  He does not want

these trails to be limited to downhill biking.  This is a huge departure

from the original vision of the park as well as a major safety concern.  One

horse on a jump line would do significant damage that would require hours of

work (as well as water) to repair.  Having dogs on these jump trails is also

completely incompatible and a major safety concern - for obvious reasons.

 This trail philosophy is synonymous with saying that kids playing football

on the optimist fields must now share their field with polo players - at the

same time.  "Everyone should play together and get along" sounds great on

paper as a trail management philosophy but can't always be applied safely in

the real world and should not be applied on the trails at the bike park.

 Our concern as a bike park board is that every time a new county official

gets involved with the park we seem to get set back and have to start over

fighting politically for support of the original intention of the park.

 

3.  Several people have also asked what is going on with the third trail

crossing on the new freeride trail - why it has not been installed yet.  The

answer is that we are still waiting for permission from Dave Logan.  The

trail was funded by the Bikes Belong grant we received last year and the

materials for the trail crossing were purchased with the grant we received

from Lowes.  The crossing has already been constructed (it is sitting in Rob

Castell's garage).  It was not installed last year because the ground froze

before we could get to it.  Dave Logan is opposed to its installation for

undisclosed reasons and we are still waiting on permission from the county

to install.

 

4.  Volunteerism has dropped at the park to an all time low.  We have a

handful of people doing work out there but most others do not have the time.

 This is not necessarily unexpected as volunteers have put in about 9000

hours over the last few years.  Expecting volunteers to continue doing so is

unrealistic.  Thousands of people are now enjoying the park and most of the

work fell on the shoulders of a few. I am not saying that everyone should

stop working - in fact the "don't dig don't ride" mantra will always apply

at a park like this.  All users of the park should be willing to donate at

least an hour or two each year to help maintain the trails they ride (or be

willing to make donations to pay someone else to do the work for them).  I

do think though that the volunteers have put in a mighty effort to provide a

free park to the public and assistance from the county and city officials is

needed and appreciated by the public.  I am also personally getting very

burned out.  I have put in too many hours over the last few years and the

politics over the last year has changed the effort from a service project to

a battle.  I preferred the service aspect of what I was doing.  I will

continue serving on the board but my level of involvement will be very light

and I will not continue playing the same role as the volunteer coordinator.

 I am not sure what is going to happen in the future as far as trail

maintenance goes.  One option is that the county takes over management.

 There will most likely be several changes occurring over the next year and

your input at the county and city level can have an effect on the long term

success and existence of the park.

 

On the positive side, we still have a great park and it hopefully shouldn't

be going anywhere.  The county has also been supportive in several ways:

1. They allowed XC racing on the trails this year and those races have been incredibly successful.
2. They installed stop signs on the trail where junkyard crosses Goose Creek Road and painted crossing lines to help avoid accidents with county vehicles.
3. They agreed to pay for $10,000 in materials for a post and pole fence running along the road from the far south end of the park, around the velodrome ending near the skills park.  Volunteers would be required to install.
4. They agreed to help pay for some signs - as long as they don't restrict trails to any user group other than motorized vehicles.

Thanks again for all the work that has gone into building this park and

thanks for sending in letters of support.

 

Brad Nelson