MTBR forum about proposed new wilderness areas in WV.
WVMBA forum about the same.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Happy Leap Year Day...
Yesterday was Mandi and I's anniversary. 7 years now, wow time flys. We made our selves a raw food moose pie with a raspberry topping, Yummmmmmyyyyyy. It consists of dates, pecans, raspberries, avocodoes, carob and thats it. No cooking just food prossesing. Besides the pie we didn't do anything special. Mandi went to work and then we headed of to spin class at the Y when she got home. A lady form Jersey is coming to check out our house tommorow. So I need to become a busy bee today and clean up this sty. yeah.
peace, JOEY.
PIE!!!!
peace, JOEY.
PIE!!!!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Precip...
It seems to rain, snow, sleet, hail or all of the above everyday. When is it all going to end. I can't wait for summer. The birds are letting me know its just around the corner. Mandi and I finally got in some good solid rides last week. The sensations are coming back.
Both of us recieved some more insentive to "train" last week. We are both going to do the 24 Hours of Big Bear. Thanks to the help of JR Pestko and iplayoutside.com. I am doing the race on a 4 man expert team being dubbed the dream team. Steve Hill(wvmba champ), Jason Cyr(state champ), Andy Weidrich (course record holder at BB) and me. Should be fun. Mandi is doing the race solo, yep solo and single speed. She has been wanting to do it for years. She is super stoked. She is looking for pit crew any takers?
So the latest news on the relocation front. Our house is still for sale but it may be selling this weekend. Fingers and toes crossed. We are for sure moving to the Parkersburg/Vienna area and I will be working for Vienna Bicycle Shop. I am super excited about the move and really looking forward to working in a shop with more than one employee. The folks at VBS are super nice and P-Burg seems like a nice place to live, with several options for riding near by and growing and active cycling community.
5 inches and counting. Will it ever stop.
peace, JOEY.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Uphill, both ways...
3 hours, 4 inches of not so fluffy snow, 30 mph winds=a good time and very tired legs. Average speed for me was 9, Mandi probably a little slower. All railtrail all white a super mental battlefield.
peace, JOEY.
Take Action...
Monongahela Wilderness Update- 2/19/2008
"Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view, is silence about truth. By simply not mentioning certain subjects... propagandists have influenced opinion much more effectively than they could have by the most eloquent denunciations." Aldous Huxley
West Virginia Wilderness Coalition (WVWC) employees, paid lobbyists, have failed to mention in their slick publications, in their pitch to potential supporters, in their numerous visits to the WV Congressional delegation and in their exclusive promotions on WV National Public Radio about some of the management restrictions that come with the traditional Wilderness designation in the Monongahela National Forest.
These restrictions include a ban on all wheeled vehicles, including bicycles, a ban on all mechanized trail maintenance, including chainsaws and wheelbarrows, and restrictions on groups of more than ten people and commercial events like running and adventure racing.
Of course by not mentioning these issues they have made their task of persuasion much easier because they do not have many valid arguments against them or the reasons why alternative designations would not make more sense.
The Sierra Club has published a book of the top ten most environmental inventions of man and number one is the bicycle.
The National Park Service published a study in 2006 on the environmental effects of various users on trails in the Big South Fork National River in Kentucky. The results found that mountain bikes and hikers had very similar effects with the bicycles actually doing less damage.
A study in Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada concluded that pedestrians actually disturbed wildlife more than cyclists. Conflict between users in the Monongahela National Forest is a non-issue at this time and bicycles were using Dolly Sods North long before the Forest Service purchase and the influx of hikers there.
In order to avoid having to argue these issues and be on the losing side, the WVWC has chosen instead not to provide a forum for this debate and not to compromise or discuss any deviation from their original position created by their bosses at the Wilderness Society in Durango, Colorado.
In order to distract people from the real issues at hand, the WVWC has used spin and false accusations about the mountain bike community in West Virginia. The latest word from Morgantown is that we are “radicals” and have launched personal attacks against them by merely mentioning their names.
The true “radicals” here are the WVWC on the one end of the spectrum who advocate for huge expanses of Wilderness, regardless of the economic repercussions in the localities nearby, who are unwilling to compromise and who will be back again for more in ten years or so. The other end of the spectrum would be the advocates of absolutely no acreage left untouched by man and a National Forest run by and for big business interests.
West Virginia Mountain Bike Association has always advocated for preservation and protection of our “special places”. We actually endorsed several Wilderness areas in the most recent Forest Plan revision, the continuation of all existing 6.2 non-motorized backcountry designations and we have ceaselessly promoted a compromise with the WVWC that we can all support, but to no avail.
The West Virginia Mountain Bike Association position is a moderate and adaptable stand that is supported by the vast majority of West Virginians and is far from being “radical”. Ours is a message of inclusion not exclusion.
Read the rest here
"Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view, is silence about truth. By simply not mentioning certain subjects... propagandists have influenced opinion much more effectively than they could have by the most eloquent denunciations." Aldous Huxley
West Virginia Wilderness Coalition (WVWC) employees, paid lobbyists, have failed to mention in their slick publications, in their pitch to potential supporters, in their numerous visits to the WV Congressional delegation and in their exclusive promotions on WV National Public Radio about some of the management restrictions that come with the traditional Wilderness designation in the Monongahela National Forest.
These restrictions include a ban on all wheeled vehicles, including bicycles, a ban on all mechanized trail maintenance, including chainsaws and wheelbarrows, and restrictions on groups of more than ten people and commercial events like running and adventure racing.
Of course by not mentioning these issues they have made their task of persuasion much easier because they do not have many valid arguments against them or the reasons why alternative designations would not make more sense.
The Sierra Club has published a book of the top ten most environmental inventions of man and number one is the bicycle.
The National Park Service published a study in 2006 on the environmental effects of various users on trails in the Big South Fork National River in Kentucky. The results found that mountain bikes and hikers had very similar effects with the bicycles actually doing less damage.
A study in Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada concluded that pedestrians actually disturbed wildlife more than cyclists. Conflict between users in the Monongahela National Forest is a non-issue at this time and bicycles were using Dolly Sods North long before the Forest Service purchase and the influx of hikers there.
In order to avoid having to argue these issues and be on the losing side, the WVWC has chosen instead not to provide a forum for this debate and not to compromise or discuss any deviation from their original position created by their bosses at the Wilderness Society in Durango, Colorado.
In order to distract people from the real issues at hand, the WVWC has used spin and false accusations about the mountain bike community in West Virginia. The latest word from Morgantown is that we are “radicals” and have launched personal attacks against them by merely mentioning their names.
The true “radicals” here are the WVWC on the one end of the spectrum who advocate for huge expanses of Wilderness, regardless of the economic repercussions in the localities nearby, who are unwilling to compromise and who will be back again for more in ten years or so. The other end of the spectrum would be the advocates of absolutely no acreage left untouched by man and a National Forest run by and for big business interests.
West Virginia Mountain Bike Association has always advocated for preservation and protection of our “special places”. We actually endorsed several Wilderness areas in the most recent Forest Plan revision, the continuation of all existing 6.2 non-motorized backcountry designations and we have ceaselessly promoted a compromise with the WVWC that we can all support, but to no avail.
The West Virginia Mountain Bike Association position is a moderate and adaptable stand that is supported by the vast majority of West Virginians and is far from being “radical”. Ours is a message of inclusion not exclusion.
Read the rest here
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Nice Hooter...
Mandi and I saw a beautiful little owl yesterday on our ride. It sat perfectly still and let me take a blurry picture of it. Also while riding yesterday morning I saw four hawks. Yesterday can be classified as a good day.
peace and love, JOEY
peace and love, JOEY
Monday, February 4, 2008
Before and After...
First thing in my body every morning. Good stuff in Good results out.
peace, JOEY
Solo...
Riding solo sucks. Mandi has been sick all week I have been slogging all over Randolph county by myself. Riding without Mandi has definitly made me realize how much I appreciate having someone to ride with all the time. The weather has been good. 40 degrees feels like heaven. This week has made me realize that I only have two real constants in my life, my love of Mandi and my love of riding bikes, in that order.
peace, JOEY
Friday, February 1, 2008
How I Roll...
I had to go pick up a "little" order at the drop off for the Frankford Farms Co-op. So I decided to hitch up the trailer to see how it worked. It works splendedly! I just need to make sure not to careen into any railtrail posts, again. Check out the ice picture. Pretty much indecative of what we have been dealing with hear in Elkins all week. Melting snow, followed by rain, preceded with single digit temps = lots o ice. The back roads are trecherous. Think of Brian Boytono meets John Tomac, yea kinda like that. And for all you Yota fans, my friends Jessies "new" ride.
peace, JOEY
peace, JOEY
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