MEETING WITH AFCD 8th DEC

The afcd has announced a date for the meeting regarding mountainbiking. it is to be at Queen Elisebeth stadium in Wanchai on Saturday 8th December, this is a bit of a pain as the original meeting was suggested that it be held at TMS country park offices. The reason for a change in venue is not to stop us riding the trails on Saturday but due to the expected turn out a bigger venue will be needed!

By relocating the venue i beleive that it will put a lot of bikers off going which in turn will be justification by the authorities not to do anything! it is also open to other concern groups (hiikers/runners etc) who may be negative about our suggestions

That being said it should prove to be insightful, and if we can show the authorities that we want to develop the sport in a good way hopefully they may listen!

Anyway let me know if you are still interested in going you will need to download the application form and then fax it back to their office to register your attendance

GO THROUGH TO THE SITE TO DOWNLOAD
http://www.afcd.gov.hk/english/country/cou_wha/cou_wha_tra_26.html

IT WOULD BE GREAT IF WE COULD MAKE A GOOD SHOWING PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD! AND SIGN UP

cheers
bb

What time?

2.30 - 4.30
committee room 2, queen elizabeth stadium, 18 oi kwan rd, wanchai

Guys

Bad news on my part

I have to work tomorrow!!! i started a new job rthis month and things are a bit hectic ad stressfull, the magazine im working on is going to press on monday and changes need to be made!

i will try to get out for an hour but cant promise anything

this meeting has really come at a bad time for everyone! i hope some of you can attend and make our voices heard

cheers
bb

Blazing saddles
Colorado's canyons and plains are hot spots for mountain bikers, writes Dave Philipp.
Dave Philipps of McClatchy-Tribune
Dec 12, 2007

In the warm desert sun, a pack of mountain bikers skips over shale ledges, pedals across narrow wood ramps and shoots down rocky gullies, finally skidding to a stop at a sunny overlook where a sandstone cliff drops 30 metres to the water.

Vance Hubersberger, the lead rider, wipes the sweat from his brow. "Welcome to Fruita," he says. "I mean welcome to Moab, I mean ..." He means welcome to Pueblo.

The steel city long known for blue collars and green chillis, is poised to become one of Colorado's new mountain bike hot spots. In the past several years, without fanfare, local bikers have built almost 80km of single track on a dry, sunny plateau west of town.

The 10,930 hectares of sandstone cliffs and juniper-studded arroyos, nicknamed the South Shore because the area sits south of Pueblo Reservoir, feel more like the Utah desert than the edge of the plains. The weather feels deserty, too. Pueblo is several degrees warmer than Colorado Springs and the sunny, arid landscape keeps the trails dry when most of the state is still locked in ice.

But the mild climate is only part of the pull for riders travelling from as far as Boulder to hit what many are calling "the Fruita of the front range".

Pueblo also has a top-notch trail system with everything from smooth cruisers to rock drops that make riders check their insurance.

Miles of easy trails weave along the crest of a cockscomb of sandstone cliffs along the lake shore. Signs made by volunteers direct riders down side trails with names such as Bones and Pin Ball that follow fast, jarring lines to the canyon floor.

"There are definitely some really tough sections, but we try to have something for everyone," Hubersberger says.

Hubersberger grew up in Pueblo and owns Vance's Bicycle World, a short ride from the trails. In the early 1980s, he held the world record for bunny hopping (105cm). When he got into mountain biking in the late 1980s, the pickings were slim.

Pueblo's small tribe of enthusiasts made do with local motorcycle trails for years. Finally they found an almost blank canvas at the South Shore.

"At first we'd go riding out there by just linking up old cow paths," said Austin Clark who, with Hubersberger and other local bikers, discovered the area 17 years ago.

From that point the South Shore evolved much like its more famous Western Slope kin, Fruita. Ambitious bikers used spare time and shovels to make bigger and better trails on essentially overlooked scraps of public land.

Fruita was a barren shale valley on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) property near the Utah border. Pueblo was rough, little-used prairie owned by the Bureau of Reclamation and managed by Colorado State Parks.

In both cases, volunteers quietly devised lavish systems that would have taken years of red tape to construct on more regulated land.

For Fruita, the honeymoon of lax regulation ended when international recognition brought increased scrutiny by land managers in the late 1990s. A few locals were able to build dozens of trails in the early years but since then the BLM has only allowed a few new trails.

Pueblo seems less far along the same path. A tiny group of volunteers called the Southern Colorado Trail Builders Association constructed 77km of trail under what one volunteer called a "don't ask, don't tell" relationship with park managers.

More recently, however, managers of Lake Pueblo State Park have been putting together a trails master plan that will officially recognise the existing system and identify new trail opportunities.

"We've kind of done it backwards. Usually you have the plan before the trails, but that's OK," says park manager Mike Dowd. He says the park views bike volunteers as a valuable asset.

Legitimacy for the South Shore trails has its price. "Working with all the government agencies is really slowing things down," Clark says. Every proposed trail must be designed by a professional and inspected for archaeological sites. The waiting list for inspection by the state is more than a year.

The kinds of trails that can be built are changing, too. Land managers presented with daring drops or bridges often bring up liability, Clark says. Even so, the group has another 19km loop planned. Construction may begin this year.

Word of the South Shore is starting to spread and tales of trails rideable all winter have reached a growing number of avid riders in Colorado Springs. The draw is obvious. Most of Colorado Springs' great rides lie in shady canyons where ice can linger into May. Other popular biking locations such as Crested Butte may not be in prime condition until early summer.

Mountain bikers usually cure their winter blues with a six-hour drive to Moab, Utah. When Fruita developed an hour closer, it became another favourite. Pueblo offers the same desert riding an hour away.

It lacks Fruita's superlatives. The view isn't quite as good. The trails aren't quite as long. The drops aren't quite as steep. But the short drive makes it possible to make the trip once or twice a week, not once or twice a year. And people are making the trip. In April, locals will hold the South Shore's first race as a coming-out party for the long-time local secret.

"I hope some day we have 50 cars a weekend heading down here instead of to Fruita," Clark says. He carries photos of the trails with him. "Otherwise, people don't believe me when I say Pueblo has great biking."

Getting There

American Airlines (aa.com) flies from Hong Kong via Tokyo and Dallas to Colorado Springs, from where Pueblo is a 45-minute drive.

anybody have been there last saturday?
i was attending leasson last saturday,
so sad cant attend this meeting...

Copied and pasted from the HKMBA site - big thanks to Gillis Heller and his friends for showing up to this (when the rest of us were probably too busy riding/working!). Seems like sloowww progress, but at least a willingness from AFCD to engage, which is positive. Any volunteers to grade the trails in Tai Lam? If this is the only hold-up, I reckon we can have it sorted in a week!

BEGINS

"Last Saturday Morgan Acker, Ian Bruton and I, together with new rider Ben Shakespeare, participated in a roundtable discussion with officers from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department concerning mountainbiking. Other invitees of the AFCD included MTB committee members from the HK Cycling Association, some guys from the Business Environment Council (BEC) but acting in the individual capacity only, and various reporters from the adventure press. Topics discussed included: the permit system, usage of existing legal trails, usage on other trails in the Country Parks, suggestions for new trails to be opened for riding, access to trailheads and parking, difficulty-rating of trails, the need for overseas expertise in bike trail building, racing venues, nightriding, downhillers, and of course relations with hikers. AFCD will host another round table in February 2008, mainly for hiker groups but also including mountainbikers.

Permits. AFCD uses the number of permits issued as a crude measure of trail usage. Since 1997, when cycling in Country Parks on designated trails was first authorized, 2,000 permits have been issued. AFCD recently went from issuing one-year permits to issuing two-year permits. Suggestion was made to issue permits good for longer or maybe for life. We didn't deal with the inconvenience to visitors of needing to obtain a permit.

Suggestion was also made to conduct seasonal trailhead surveys for a more accurate view of trail usage.

Usage of existing trails. This discussion focused principally on Tai Lam Country Park. It was noted that all the legal trails in Tai Lam are asphalted forestry roads that are too tame for serious mountainbiking. AFCD explained the history of these roads and the reason for opening them first, and commented that it is their hope that unpaved trails can be opened soon. From enforcement data AFCD knows which are the most-used dirt trails in Tai Lam. However, AFCD feels it will be necessary to institute some form of difficulty rating for trails to warn users before opening the more technical tracks. (And it's hard to adopt overseas rating systems wholesale as conditions differ considerably.) This also makes it difficult to simply open the entire area of Tai Lam Country Park (with exceptions only for some reserved trails because of danger or fragility) although that is a distant goal. It was emphasized that confining bikers to the paved tracks increases conflict with hikers.

Future trails are also a possibility in South Lantau and near the Dragon's Back on Hong Kong Island. By far, the priority is on Lantau because of the executive branch's development plans for the island. We made several suggestions for tracks to the west and east of the Chi Ma Wan trail.

Comments were also made regarding improvements to the Chi Ma Wan trail, now underway in several stretches. Recent trail improvements, while well-intended, have actually detracted from the natural feel of the trail, introducing more stone brick and mortar rather than sympathetic use of the landform and natural materials. Some of the trail improvements are also likely to be dangerous during wet weather, such as steep, stone/mortar slopes at the side of existing stairs. These are tricky to ride for capable riders even in the dry, much less in the wet.

Regarding Dragon's Back, AFCD recognizes that it's too short, largely unrideable in many stretches, and difficult to get to. Suggestions were made to open several wide, paved tracks within Country Parks (Wanchai Gap to Black's Link and Tai Tam Reservoir Road) to allow access to Dragon's Back to people living in the Peak, Mid-Levels, Happy Valley, and other areas where riders live. Extensions to the allowed stretches of the Dragon's Back trail were also suggested. AFCD may consider.

For racing venues, AFCD's practice is to use designated trails only. This has apparently led to situations, however, where the race course encompassed both off-road stretches (within a Country Park) and on-road stretches. This is because the off-road stretch simply wasn't long enough. It was suggested that mountainbike races should be all off-road. AFCD recognizes the problem but pointed out that racers need to practice so it wouldn't make sense legally to site a race on nondesignated trails. One month pre-race permits for racers to use nondesignated stretches of the racecourse was suggested as a solution. Indeed, AFCD's experience with hiker-biker relations on such stretches during the pre-race period could guide whether it would feasible to open those stretches permanently.

Nightriding in Country Parks is presently contrary to the AFCD code of conduct. Nonetheless, there is substantial nightriding, on designated trails and otherwise, especially on Hong Kong Island. There are many reasons for nightriding: reduced conflict with hikers (who are rare to nonexistent at night), cooler temperatures, thrills, and day jobs. AFCD is aware of nightriding and does not condone it (and for safety reasons cannot consider a suggestion to allow riding on otherwise crowded stretches of the Hong Kong Trail but only after sunset) but did seem agitated about the present situation.

Downhillers present the most difficulties for AFCD. They create the most erosion damage to trails and slopes. Their tracks cut switchbacks and this encourages hikers to do the same (notwithstanding AFCD's efforts to separate downhillers and hikers). It was once suggested to have a designated downhill track but practical difficulties (specialized permits and landowner conflicts, among other issues) torpedoed the idea. It was also suggested that downhillers tend to stick to about five tracks at Tai Mo Shan, so the erosion issue is confined. AFCD is also concerned about safety. Downhill racing will remain problematic.

Finally, as AFCD mentioned that its next round table meeting would be principally with hikers, it was stressed that relations with hikers on the trails are overwhelmingly positive. It is only on the rare occasion when the biker startles the hiker that relations sour. We all look forward to the next meeting."

ENDS

thx for reporting!!
i hope i could join you guys next time!


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