I just heard that ABQ recived one of the IMBA Freeride park grants. Here's what I know at this time. The location will be behind the dam at the top of Indian School.

Feb. 28th will be the work day to build it. So everyone bring a shovel and some might to help build it.

There are strick guide lines as to location and number of trails. So PLEASE do not build on your own! This will be a great resource so lets not blow it.

call Fat Tire and ask for Tony, he can give you more info.

Hey Brian, that sounds like a great time! I'll pass the word along up this way, see if we can't mobilize some of the (dreaded?) TuffRiders, as we've got a crack trails crew that does tons of work!

It's on my calendar.

Any Idea what time the festivities are supposed to start? I'd love to lend a hand but I have to be at work at 2.... (darn this not having weekends on the weekend)
Hope to see you there!

Any Idea what time the festivities are supposed to start? I'd love to lend a hand but I have to be at work at 2.... (darn this not having weekends on the weekend)
Hope to see you there!

I would guess since they only one main work day it will start early. Call Fat Tire and ask Tony.

b

i am off that day say where and i am there ...
won't have a free ride bike built up untill next winter but who the **** cares ....
i would gladly contribute to such a worthy cause ...
:D :D :D

Albuquerque, New Mexico
FEBRUARY 27-29, 2004

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27
6:00-8:00 p.m.

Around the World with IMBA
Come mingle with fellow riders and learn about IMBA's work around the
world. IMBA's Mark Schmidt and Lora Woolner will present a fun and exciting
slideshow about riding and travel adventures in the U.S., Italy, Wales,
Australia, and beyond. Also, land managers from the City of Albuquerque
Open Space Division and the U.S. Forest Service will be on hand to discuss
current planning efforts and management issues in the area.

Fat Tire Cycles http://www.fattirecycles.com/
421 Montano Blvd. NE
(505) 345-9005

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28
9:00 a.m. -4:00 p.m.
Embudo Trailhead (east end of Indian School Blvd.)

Join the Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew, the City of Albuquerque Open Space, and
the Pastry Club to design and build a free-ride park in the Embudo Detention
Basin. This field session will also include discussion of free-ride park
management issues.

The fieldwork will be hands-on trailbuilding, so come prepared. You'll
probably be most comfortable in long pants and a long-sleeved shirt. Wear
sturdy shoes and bring water, snacks, work gloves, sunscreen, and a hat. If
you have any trailbuilding tools--pulaskis, McLeods, rakes, picks, hoes,
shovels--please bring them, too.

Additionally, bring your own lunch.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 29
9:00 a.m. -1:00 p.m.
Join the trailwork on Sunday! Meet at Embudo Trailhead to complete
Saturday's tasks.
Group ride after the work is done.

For more information contact Jim Sattler, Open Space Supervisor at
(505.452.5213) or Travis Coleman at (505.255.0688) or tcoleman30@comcast.net.

for at least part of the day. Saddly have to work at 2

Bikers Jump for Joy in Albuquerque

By BEN DELANEY | The New Mexican


After a few hundred hours of volunteer labor over the past two weekends, Albuquerque now has what may be New Mexico's first government-sanctioned mountain-bike park on city land. Dozens of volunteers joined representatives from Albuquerque Open Space, the U.S. Forest Service, Fat Tire Cycles and trail-construction group International Mountain Bike Association to create the acre-plus park.

Located in Embudo Canyon in the Sandia foothills, the facility includes a dual slalom course, a dirt jumping course and a downhill run that Fat Tire owner Steve McCampbell deemed "suicidal."

Mountain bikers and neighborhood associations in the Sandia foothills have battled for the last couple years, respectively building and dismantling jumps in the Open Space corridor between Albuquerque's most eastern homes and U.S. Forest Service land that begins further up the Sandias.

The swath of Open Space land runs almost continuously from the tram house in Albuquerque's northeast corner to Interstate 40 on the city's southeast end. The area offers about 20 miles of trails to hikers and mountain bikers.

"People have been building some form of trail system there for at least 50 years. Most of it has come in the last 20 years, when Albuquerque Open Space was created," said Matt Schmader, Albuquerque Open Space assistant superintendent. "It is an ongoing battle against people building their own trails. Poorly constructed trails lead to bad erosion."

In the last few years, mountain bikers began building obstacles off-trail -- a big no-no in Open Space's book.

Nearby residents would spot the jumps, Open Space officials would level them, then bikers would build elsewhere.

Albuquerque mountain biker Travis Coleman took the initiative to contact all the involved parties to find a solution. Besides talking with Open Space and U.S. Forest Service representatives, Coleman enlisted the services of IMBA, an international nonprofit that specializes in resolving trail-user conflict and building low-maintenance trails that don't promote erosion.

Schmader and Albuquerque Open Space superintendent Jim Sattler said they were glad Coleman stepped forward.

"Effective land management often requires creating a facility for a particular activity," Schmader said. "There has been quite a bit of renegade activity, particularly in the last year. On numerous occasions, Albuquerque has had to figure out how to take a particular activity and focus it in a particular area. For example, on the West Mesa we now have a shooting range. For years people were just out there shooting firearms everywhere. We have a designated area for remote-controlled airplanes, horse jumps, BMX, and on and on.

"You can try to regulate people's recreation entirely by enforcing-saying 'you can't do this anywhere,' or you can try to provide a specific facility," he said.

IMBA has two Trail Care Crews that travel the world, working with thousands of volunteers, land managers and trail advocates. IMBA has been involved in trail construction in all 50 states, Canada, Mexico and several European countries.

Schmader said IMBA's expertise was "invaluable," and that having local riders involved also swayed the decision-making process.

"If you just give people something, especially kids, then they have no investment. They expect everything to be handed to them. To actually go out and built it themselves, they have a connection," Schmader said. "It teaches great life skills. This is one of the reasons I wanted to see it move forward. It would have been easy to dismiss the idea by saying it's too risky."

Fat Tire owner McCampbell paid for the rental of a Bobcat tractor and enlisted dozens of customers to work on the park in Embudo Canyon, which begins at the eastern end of Indian School.

"I still can't believe the city went for it, but it's a great thing for the kids," McCampbell said, adding that 50 volunteers were out two Sundays ago, the second day of construction. "Some were riding it between shovel strokes. They're pretty excited."

Albuquerque resident Tony Stroup was among those wielding a shovel.

"We probably put in 200 or more man hours of shovel labor on top of about 28 hours of Bobcat work," Stroup said of the first weekend's labor. "We moved a lot of dirt."

"Right now we have three different trails with challenging features like berms and jumps. The level of difficulty begins at intermediate and progresses up to professional X-games athlete," Stroup said.

The Embudo Canyon project used "virtually no city resources," Schmader said. "The only thing Open Space contributed was reused fence materials and temporary signage."

The area will be maintained and self-policed by those who built it. This was a basic tenet of the agreement, Schmader said.

"The self-policing is very important. If the fences are continually cut, or trails are built outside sanctioned area -- these are all grounds to cancel our agreement," he said.

The involved bikers dubbed themselves the Pastry Club, in reference to sugar they sprinkle on dirt jumps to solidify the surface.

Schmader said talking with representatives of the Forest Service and Park Service convinced him of the need to address off-trail construction.

"They told us, 'if you don't face the fact you have different demands, you're going to get blitzed, with nonsanctioned trails going in everywhere. So create it now,' " Schmader said.

The Subaru/IMBA trail crew will return to New Mexico three times this year for weekend trail building events. On Aug. 28 and 29, the crew will stop in Farmington; Abiquiú Lake on Sept. 11 and 12; and Carlsbad on Sept. 18 and 19. For more information on IMBA, visit http://www.imba.com.

Every Thursday in Out and About, Santa Feans Jill Janov and Ben Delaney provide ideas, tips and commentary about outdoor activities, sports and gear. And they do get outside sometimes. Really. Contact them at jjanov@comcast.net or bdelaney65@msn.com.