Larger issue - lots of splinter groups of riders, lack of clear lines of
communication, a lack of cohesive group lead by a strong organization with a
clear stategy, good management practices, and involvement of bike industry,
tourism advocacy groups, and other resources. (Solutions? IMBA's new
Regional structure will help, but also a unified Portland area/vacinity
regional alliance organization groups could align under).

(Alternate) steps to be taken? Contact a local bike shop a local mountain
biking group (such as PUMP) and figure out how to best get involved to
support efforts (positively without crushing good gains already struggled to
achieve)... Get plugged into existing efforts is what I'm saying (and if
group fails to engage you, get involved with a different...) Perhaps,
and this is just a suggestion (if this hasn't already happened), help land
managers conduct a true study to gauge the real number of users gunning to
ride their bikes on single-track in forest park. COMMUNICATE (with each
other).

The squeeky wheel is usually caused by a loose or broken spoke (and so the
other spokes are doing extra work)... so usually I yank the spoke out or
retention it... maybe even get the whole wheel laced back up nicely by an
expert.


On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 2:49 PM, Patrick Mansfield <patman@...>wrote:

> On Thu, Dec 04, 2008 at 12:27:33PM -0800, Joe Rykowski wrote:
> > I think this underscores one important fact more than anything... There
> is a
> > lack of local mountain biking advocacy communication happening. People
> > aren't sure how to get involved, what the important topics/projects are,
> and
> > there's serious lack of unified voice. Just saying... this is one of
> > those cases that points to a larger issue which has a solution if certain
> > steps are taken instead of attempting to continuing doing what doesn't
> work.
>
> What is the larger issue?
>
> And what steps need to be taken?
>
> Look at what has happened and where we're at now.
>
> We waited years just to get a small bit of single track on FL5 opened, and
> AFAIK there are no plans for any single track in the near future!
>
> I'm not saying any organization or club should support a large
> unsanctioned ride in FP, since that would obviously violate the parks
> rules (as posted here).
>
> But if a large number of bikers happen to bike FP on the same day, and
> non-bikers complain, the parks department will have to deal with the issue
> rather than letting the status quo continue. It would be difficult if not
> impossible for them to ban bikes in FP.
>
> The squeaky wheel does get the oil ...
>
> -- Patrick Mansfield
>
>


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