Bush Signs Protection Act

Well here it is folks, the President has signed into law a protection act that allows for 275,000 acres to be protected as non-use areas by motor vehicles. Why? well lots of reasons but we managed to keep some land for ourselves.

From Contra Costa Times: Tuesday's law began with a bill introduced by Sen. Barbara Boxer nearly five years ago. It sought to establish more than 2 million acres of wilderness but ran into controversy from rural landowners, loggers and off-road enthusiasts. After several years of discussions with Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, the chairman of the House Resources Committee, the log-jam was broken this year when it was scaled back roughly 80 percent!

A compromise allowed a 51,000-acre area of BLM land near Cow Mountain in Lake County where motorcycles and other off-road vehicles are used to permanently be guaranteed such access.

Despite the compromises, a fine legacy remains, said Derek Chernow, a spokesman for the California Wilderness Coalition, in Oakland. "As our population grows, the need for areas to hike, fish, hunt, backpack, birdwatch and stargaze in becomes increasingly important," he said. "This bill protects these areas not just for us but for future generations."

Hmmmm, funny that he didnt mention anything about 'off-road enthusiasts' in his listing of outdoor enjoying people.

Keep up the good fight people!!!

Foresthill OHV Park

I experienced Foresthill OHV Park for the first time this past weekend, 10/15/2006. With no rain and no wetness for the past 6 months I don't need to explain to anyone about how DRY it was out there and that made for alot of dust. But anyway, being the 'enduro-ist' that I am I still went on about the ride. There were 4 of us up there; my neighbor and his son and me and mine. The trails we rode were very technical so it was very good for the kids to experience this as part of their overall training. This is the type of stuff I really enjoy only I wish that the trails were all one way so there was less worry about someone coming the other way when your powering through a blind curve... Kinda takes the fun out of it when you have to swerve off track to avoid wayward ATV's and other riders coming at you. This didn't happen to often but the thought was always in the back of my mind. The trails are marked really well so getting lost should not be an excuse for work on a Monday morning. They have camping and toilet facilities located at most of the staging areas up there so just in case you do stay over you can rest comfortably (if you came prepared for that).

We rode Loop#1, Loop#3 and Loop#4. We have personally named Loop #4 "The Rock Garden" in total admiration of all the rocks that are on this trail. I mean there are so many rocks that there is no dirt to ride on, it is loose rock, it is jagged rock sticking out of the ground, it is round rock from riverbeds and it was definately a work-out. "BENT RIM" was all I kept thinking about the whole time through there. All for not, with the exception of a couple of slow falls for my son we all made it through there without a scratch. Loop #3 is a nice twisty trail through the forest with an abundance of ferns covering the hillsides and wildlife close by. NO ATV's on this trail- too thin for them. Found a nice wide and long Jeep trail with jumps spread out about 50 feet apart to catch some nice air off of. Had to check out my new rebuilt and revalved fork job by Dicks Racing located up in Roseville, CA. It worked like a dream! Thanks Dick!

We found some really loose stuff up on one of the upper trails toward China Wall (We're going there next). This dirt was so fine and dusty you could hardly see anything, both the young boys did headers running down this one and it looked like a mushroom cloud when they hit... This is when I needed a Helmet Cam. This would be some fun family time video moments. They all got up and brushed themselves off and kept on going. I can't wait for the first rains that are gonna come and turn all that dust to muck and mire to play in. Should be even more fun! (gotta get that helmet cam)

Anwyays Great Place to ride, We barely got a chance to see it all in one day but we will return for more. I will let you know more when I do.