Why I do it! & CALL TO ACTION!

Connect our Schools Campaign

I still remember the City Council meeting that started my engine and drive for local bicycle/walking advocacy, it was just after the opening of SBC in 2000. Previously, I was active in mountain bike advocacy.  But that Tuesday evening in the City Council Chambers sparked my drive to help our City build a better transportation system for everyone!

My friend Len VanWyke asked me to attend that Council meeting to support a potential path to connect Thomas Harrison Middle School to Hillandale Park. The City had a grant for $90K to build the path. All the City needed to do was to kick in $10K and some support.  I was very excited to attend this meeting.  This opportunity is exactly why Tim and I started SBC, to support our City in building a better community.

I went into chambers that evening thinking I would say some obvious things about how a great path would be and we would all leave with smiles, never was I so wrong. City Council Chambers was packed that evening including a neighbor determined to block the building of this path.  They succeeded. The persuasive, vocal and organized opposition to the path presented their concerns to Council.  They feared the path would bring "drugs and prostitution", "crime", "unwanted individuals". At first, I was angered by these individuals who spoke about the evil things a path would bring to their neighborhood.  Then, I just felt sorry for their misinformed beliefs of what a simple 10' wide path actually does for a neighborhood.  Paths like these DO THE OPPOSITE! Paths bring our community together, making for a safer and more connected community!

Now it is time for round 2 and I believe a neighborhood and a City that once fought a path will now do the right thing and support building the trails that will connect our neighborhoods to our schools and to our parks.

For the past several months my good friends Charlie Chenault, Kyle Lawrence and I have been working to bring the "Connect our Schools" Campaign  to the City and here it is!  We need your support to show the City that the time to build these trails is now!

Please sign the support letter NOW! Share the link with your friends! Contact City Council members!

I ask you to help reverse what happened that Tuesday evening so long ago!  Together we can be the persuasive, vocal and organized force that will CONNECT OUR SCHOOLS!

Thomas

Closed for Snow!

We will be closing today Friday January 22 at 4pm and will remain closed through the weekend due to the snow storm.  We will reopen on Monday January 25 at 11am resuming regular hours.

Have fun out there in the snow!  

Tahoe Dude!

Wootten went to the wonder filled Sierras last week to celebrate the magic of powder turns and the enduro lifestyle ride. He traded his dropper post for skins and a split board.  Not only did it snow a ton while he was out there, but he got to reconnect with long time friends.  Honored to receive proper southern hospitality in the north lake zone thanks to valley boys moved West: Jackson, Knorr and Allen!

Day 1 consisted of landing at Reno, picking up the turd wagon from Hertz and driving up the Mt. Rose Highway to skin up Galena Peak.

Day 2 consisted of riding the north sides of East and West Galena, only to find fresh dry bottomless powder turns, on the mountain closest to the road, over 5 days after the last storm!

Day 3 Wootten realized snow machines are more finicky than mountain bikes and witnessed some mechanical miracles, then flailed on said snow machines.  The best part was riding down the back side of Watson Peak through steep trees on floaty fluff.

Day 4 Winds of up to 110 miles an hour were recorded on the crest.  8-16" of snow fell.  Wootten and Jackson and Gague went touring around the xc center in tahoe city.

Day 5 & 6 Wootten rode SquawAlpine thanks to Knorr and his friends at the Adaptive Sports Learning Center!  Eternal gratitude!  Fresh, steep and deep blissful abandon!  After 2 days of that, it was time for the healing waters of Sierraville Hot Springs.  Wootten's neck flared up real bad after that tomahawk!

Day 7 Allen, Rocky and Wootten toured up to Tamarack Peak and rode Short & Sweet!  Perfection crammed into a 3 hour hot lap!

tahoe dude from Adventure Seen on Vimeo.

SBC's Roaming Reporters. Here to serve you!

The saddle, where conditions usually only get better!

SBC's roaming reporter, Thomas Jenkini, ventured to Flagpole with fellow reporter, Bart Czajkowski, to get your first Pre Super Bowl Sunday Ride report. 

The final pitch to the knob with snow masking the layers of ice.

As we closer to the big day SBC will continue giving updates for this annual historic ride!

Date: Jan. 17th, 2016

Temperature at base camp (Hone Quarry) : 31degrees

Temperature at summit (Flagpole Knob): 26 degrees

Wind: Calm

Sky: Clouds with falling snow

Fire road conditions: Ground: Frozen dirt with fresh layer of snow falling (1/2" at 10am)

Water Holes: Thin ice layer that will such you only to give out!

Trail Conditions - Red Diamond: Tight singletrack, one ride around log at top, rolling faster and near perfect!

                             - Meadow and Pond Knob: Secret on foot report David Frazier and friend report good condition, 3 trees down.

Flagpole Knob, waiting for you

Crossing the line.

The lines of exploration...Just like Lewis & Clark..not.

The greatest thing about dreams is that dreams have no boundaries. When I first start thinking about trails, it usually comes to me not out in the woods, not looking at maps but laying down dreaming about what can we do next.

Key your eyes open...the tape it out there!

My latest dreams are not about one trail or one section of trail, but deeper, much deeper. I keep asking myself is it time to cross the line?

Rich and Dusty asking "You mean here!?!?"

For as long as I can remember the ridge between the "Western Slope" and the "Resort" represented a line, similar to the Mason Dixon Line or set of railroad tracks that split a town. I always prided myself as coming from the west side of the tracks...pride is a joke! What side of the tracks you come from does not make a difference, just like what type of bike you ride does not mean a thing.

Standing on the line...can we break down?

Well the lines are being drawn (thanks David Lee) and the flags are starting to be waved (or hung). The scouts are out there (thanks Vince, Paul, Rich and Dusty).  We are still a long way from reality, it will take years but the eyes are open.

 Captain Jenkini!

Rocks are your friend...especially on the this fence line!

Welded Coffee Table by Dillon

   About ten days ago, I was tossing a few ideas around in my head for what I could make as my final welding project for class. As I was browsing the results on Google, I ran into a few pieces of furniture made from scrap metal. There was everything from coat racks to benches and tables. For my project I decided to made a coat rack out of nuts and bolts in the shape of a hand. Tacking all the bits and pieces proved to be a pretty quick job. I needed something else to do. I was excited that my project was comlpete yet I found myself with a void that only fusion welding could fill.

   Needing to come up with a Christmas present  for my older brother and deisel mechanic, I decided to make a coffee table out of an old International Scout tailgate. If I could find one. Finding the tailgate was as cumbersome and time consuming as actually welding the whole peice, if not more. After visiting three junkyards in our beautiful valley, I stumbled upon the perfect tailgate for my borther's Christmas present. Slightly rusted, originally green but now looking as though it belonged to the Earth itself, that tailgate had aged like bourbon in a barrel. I managed to make good enough purchase on the rusted bolts with a 13mm box wrench to release the tailgate from its original owner.

   When I got the tailgate home, I realized that I knew what part of the table the tailgate was going to be but that I had not figured out what was going to serve as legs for this rustic and repurposed piece. After a bit of trial and error, I resorted to visiting the hardware store to see what they had that I thought might work. I wound up leaving with seventeen feet of heavy, thick-gage chain. After about four hours of welding, this was the final product:

    

Inner child never dies in the snow.

Colder temps are finally here, many of us are fired up to ride at the local ski hills.  Here we see Jeremy Cline getting creative at the CMB.  Heres to all those hard working snowmakers out there, making our dreams come true!

I feel like a kid when it comes to this time of the year knowing that the winter is coming soon. I just drop everything else and focus on snowboarding while snow lasts. It's a good thing that it's a seasonal passion because it allows me to do something else during off-seasons and the passion stays fresh every year. Much thanks to Ian McAlexander for the photo.