It’s the latest round in the fight for better mountain biking in Boulder…and you need to help out!
It’s been a long time coming, the Valmont Bike Park, Boulder Valley Velodrome, and the Marshall-Mesa trails. Just a few years ago, apart from our 300+ miles of bike paths, Boulder residents had very few (any?) local cycling resources on which to play. Most rides involved leaving the city or driving–bummer! With 1000 licensed racers in Boulder County, 600 within the city, and tens of thousands of recreational cyclists in the vicinity, it’s been a sore spot to those of us who recreate on two wheels. The above-mentioned projects have helped change all that and here’s another cornerstone opportunity in turning around Boulder’s dearth of cycling opportunities.
Over the years, Boulder Mountainbike Alliance, IMBA, and a committed group of locals have been instrumental in organizing volunteers, attending city-council meetings, and gently persuading the city’s parks and rec folks, all with an eye towards securing more cycling venues for residents. Thanks to everybody in the trenches! The latest round in the battle involves a north-south connector from town to the Dowdy Draw trailhead area. The “West TSA” effort is moving along and it’s time for you to speak up and help make it happen.
BMA leads the charge and below I’ll paste a helpful letter from the organization’s president, Jason Vogel, detailing how you can express your opinion, get involved, and help realize the dream.
The plan has generated plenty of controversy, much of it entirely justified and within reason. Some folks don’t want to see open space trashed, nor do they want a dusty, loud trailhead in their backyard. Fortunately most of their fears can be addressed with adequate planning, and a few of them are just jittery nerves. Get involved and help BMA represent the saner side of cycling!
Here’s Vogel’s email, so read on and see you at the upcoming meetings:
1) Email <citycouncil@bouldermountainbike.org> and tell city council that you support bike access on Anemone Hill and on a N/S connector trail. Tell them who you are, what you do for a living, why you love Boulder. Talk about your kids, talk about your desire to ride on trail without the use of a car, tell them why mountain biking is important to you. If you own a business, tell them how many people you employ, how much you contribute in sales taxes. Make your message personal, heartfelt, and above all – KEEP IT POSITIVE!!! If you know any council members personally, GIVE THEM A CALL!!!
2) If your letter to council is 300 words or under, consider sending it to the Daily Camera as a letter to the editor <stutzmane@dailycamera.com>. You must include your address and phone number to get a letter published.
3) Show up Tuesday, 3/15, at 6pm at Boulder High School to tell city council why bike access is important to you. Make no mistake, this meeting will be long, and there will be people there who hate bikes. But the world is run by those who show up, and we need to be there to make a difference! We’ve worked out a deal to have a staging ground at Reuben’s Burger Bistro so there will be a fine Belgian beer waiting for you…stay tuned for more details.
4) Ask 10 of your friends and/or colleague to do 1-3 above. Your personal ask will mean more than a BMA newsletter. A phone call or chat generates more follow through than an email (Sorry I haven’t had time to call you all, but I’m also calling council members, excuses, excuses…). Also, we all have those friends who love to ride but just aren’t political. If you are going to ask them to chime in only once in their lifetimes, this is that time. Let them know that.
5) Act as a ring leader. We need you to reach out to your people 2-3 times between now and 3/15 to win this thing. We will email you with updates. Please email back if you are willing to act as a ring leader to your own crew.
Thanks again for your support. This has been some 4 years of effort on the part of folks at BMA, and it all comes down to your involvement. If you show up, we can win! Please email or call with questions. If you want to get more involved or need to know more about our specific strategy, please contact me. We need as much help as possible.
