Cannondale Sports Group President and CEO Jeff Frehner has pledged an additional $200,000 to support Bikes Belong and its mission to get more people riding bicycles more often. This contribution will be an annual donation of up to $200,000—in addition to membership dues—that will begin in July 2008.

“We are very grateful for this additional donation from Cannondale Sports Group, which will be managed by our Bikes Belong Foundation,” said Tim Blumenthal, Bikes Belong Executive Director. “It will fund two innovative, timely projects.”

A total of $125,000 will help Bikes Belong work with its national non-profit partners to enhance the crucial efforts of state and city bicycle advocacy groups. The remaining $75,000 will back a new Bicycle Facility Design Standards Project that will help professional transportation planners and engineers build seamless, convenient, and appealing cycling routes.

“It is important for us to support programs that are helping to make bicycling a bigger part of our daily lives,” said Cannondale Sports Group President and CEO Jeff Frehner. “When we work with and contribute to organizations like Bikes Belong and their partners, we are helping to make the cycling environment better for all bicycle riders.”

The IMBA Summit is the biannual international gathering of mountain bike advocates, this year held in lovely Park City, Utah. With around 350 advocates in attendance, it’s a virtual who’s who of advocacy.

Wednesday Night’s opening ceremonies took place at Olympic park, where a team of top-level freestyle skiers put on a show for us while we ate, drank and schmoozed, bombing down giant training jumps and getting huge air into a pool of water while we watch.

But the first jumper was none other than Mike Van Abel, Executive director of IMBA. This may have seemed like a silly stunt, but for me it typified the bold audacity that has gotten us mountain bikers so much success in the advocacy arena.

Thursday morning, and I grab breakfast and sit down next to Philip Keyes, head on NEMBA and Dirt Rag’s access editor. Little did I know that I’d also be sitting with Kozo Shimano, president of Shimano and Mary Bomar, the director of our National Park Service. Big company.

Thursday morning’s keynote was by John Burke, the head of Trek Bicycles. John pointed out several big picture problems and adverse conditions: Obesity, traffic congestion, the move of humans into the urban areas, and the environment.

Problems? No, Opportunities! Burke’s positive thinking really got the crowd going, and really energized us to go out and do our good deeds.

Trek has stepped up in a big way. They are taxing themselves $10 for each full suspension bike sold. That amounted to $350,000 last year, which was given directly to IMBA to build more trails. Burke then challenged all the other bike companies to step up as well. This would generate ten times as much dough, 3.5 million to build trails! John was not shy regarding his ulterior motives for such funding. More trails equals more sales! Any bike industry types out there listening? Up for the challenge? (Yes! Cannondale would be the next summit attendee to step up, with commitments announced the following day. Others companies are sure to follow, many other companies have been setting the pace with IMBA since the beginning).

After the morning Kumbaya, we all headed off to the various sessions, all designed to make us better advocates. Sessions on everything from urban bike park building to national wilderness issues are covered, but since I was here representing my local group, PTAG, I attended a seminar on successful grassroots organizing.

There would be lunch, then two more rounds of afternoon sessions. Sustainable trails, club leadership, effective communication, risk management are some of the other topics to be covered. So many opportunities, it was difficult to decide which to attend.

After filling one’s brain to the top with all the great ideas flowing through the halls, there’s only one way to top off the day, a ride on Park City trails. Out to Bob’s Basin, stay tuned…

[Click here for photo gallery].

The Transportation Research Boards’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 500, Vol. 18, Guidance for Implementation of the AASHTO Strategic Highway Safety Plan: A Guide for Reducing Collisions Involving Bicycles provides strategies that can be employed to reduce collisions involving bicycles. The 177-page report contains information that may be useful for bicycle advocates and organizations looking to improve bicycle safety conditions in their communities. You may download the 117 page report (4.2MB) here, and learn more at the Transportation Research Boards’s website.

The following message is from an email sent by Central Pennsylvania IMBA Rep. Frank Maguire:

OK, OK, so it has been tried before, but now more than ever it seems important for mountain bikers in Pennsylvania to get organized. There has been some chatter on PA forum at MTBR.com about this as well. And being organized doesn’t need to be a top heavy structure with no fun allowed. What is probably needed is a means of communication and better coordination between clubs and land managers.

Why is this important? For one thing, the PGC is about to roll out their program for allowing mountain bikers back into State Game Lands. The draft proposals for this change would require a local club to “adopt” a game lands trail and agree to maintain the trail using recognized trail maintenance standards. It is important that information on the various points of this can be shared, leading to more successes and more trails to ride.

In addition to the PGC, State Parks are looking at expanding their bike access. Right now, trails in State Parks are closed unless posted open, making it much easier for a land manager to avoid appearing to be the bad guy for not allowing bikes. There is a push going on right now in Harrisburg to expand recreational opportunities, with bike facilities being pretty high on the list.

To this end, we here at the Nittany Mountain Bike Association, in conjunction with IMBA, have reserved a camp in the Rothrock State Forest here in Centre County for the weekend of May 9-11 for a “Pennsylvania Mountain Bike Summit.” The purpose of this is to meet in person and discuss our opportunities to work together in improving access throughout the state, and have some fun riding the awesome trails in Rothrock while we’re at it. The discussion will be facilitated by Ryan Schutz, IMBA’s new grassroots advocacy consultant.

The camp is reserved from Friday through Sunday. The plan is to have our “meeting of the minds” on Saturday evening, but plan to make a ride weekend of it. RSVP to frank@mtnittanywheelworks.com and please use “PA Summit” in the subject line. Questions can be addressed to either Frank or Kevin, who is at mtbiker11@juno.com.

Recap:
What: PA Mountain Bike Summit
Where: Rothrock State Forest,
When: May 9-11
Who: Anyone who wants to improve mountain biking in PA. Mulitple representatives from the same club is not a problem. The 4H camp can has room for 100 people camping, the meeting hall will hold about 50.
Why: Why not?

This just in from IMBA:

Mountain bikers stand to lose access to many spectacular rides in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest in southwest Montana. The forest wants to institute a blanket ban on bicycling in backcountry areas managed as “recommended wilderness.” These areas contain some of the best singletrack in Montana.

Local cyclists have proposed companion designations and minor boundary adjustments to preserve these wild places and the singletrack experiences they provide. Unfortunately, the Forest Service has reiterated its intent to ban bicycles, eliminating 25 years of mountain biking tradition and setting a damaging precedent.

Take Action! Tell the Forest Service mountain biking and land protection are not mutually exclusive. The deadline for comments is Monday, March 31.

More Information

Mountain bikers want to work with other conservationists to protect their favorite quiet, backcountry trails. To assist in this effort, local riders are asking the Forest Service to abandon the blanket ban and consider bicycle access on a route-by-route basis.

Scientific studies have shown the impacts of mountain biking are similar to hiking and far less than other uses. In a recent comprehensive literature review, the authors conclude, “while the impact mechanics and forces may be different from foot traffic, mountain biking impacts are little different from hiking, the most common and traditional form of trail-based recreational activity.” (Marion and Wimpey, 2007)

The Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest is home to the Montana High Divide Trails agreement, a user-based collaborative process that brought together cyclists, equestrians, hikers and Wilderness advocates to formulate a proposal for quiet recreation and land protection around Butte and Helena. A blanket ban on bicycling in recommended wilderness would severely hamper efforts to create a similar working group for other areas of the forest.

The blanket ban would fragment bicycle access on the Continental Divide Trail (CDT), a 3,100-mile route running from Montana to New Mexico. The forest plan would prohibit bicycling on at least five sections of the CDT, and viable bicycle routes around these areas do not exist.

For more detailed information and talking points, including descriptions of trails at risk, please visit the Montana Mountain Bike Association website.

Writing Your Own Letter

Unique, personalized messages are extremely important. Concerned mountain bikers can submit their comments using either IMBA’s simple online form or through their own email address or a mailed letter. All options allow you to edit your comments for maximum effect.

Forest Plan Comments
Forest Service
420 Barrett Street
Dillon, MT 59725

comments-northern-beaverhead-deerlodge@fs.fed.us

We just received the following access alert from the fine folks at IMBA. Now it’s up to you to make a difference:

IMBA urges all mountain bikers to support new singletrack at Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave National Park. As part of their Comprehensive Trail Plan update, the park has included an option to build 6 miles of new trail for bicycling and hiking. Local mountain bikers support this option and are asking for a modification to build even more new singletrack.

Take Action! Tell the Park Service you support new singletrack. The deadline for comments is March 24, 2008.

Additional Information

Mammoth Cave National Park has been a longtime supporter of mountain biking, first opening trails in 1999. The park signed a formal agreement with the Bowling Green League of Bicyclists that year to permit mountain biking on a trial basis. That program has been successful and local mountain bikers have provided countless hours of volunteer labor to rehabilitate Mammoth Cave’s trails.

The Comprehensive Trail Plan update includes several alternatives, some of which call for a change in trail access for bicycles. IMBA and local riders support a modified Alternative 4 that would allow construction of 6 miles of new singletrack. This endorsement comes with the request that the Park Service allow for additional mileage to be constructed in future phases.

The vast majority of Mammoth Cave’s trails were not professionally designed, resulting in problems with erosion and muddiness. New trails would be built to minimize environmental impact and improve user experiences.

Local riders have been working with hiking and equestrian clubs to form a common vision for trails at Mammoth Cave National Park. A modified Alternative 4 has the support of diverse recreation interests.