SHARE, not just shovel heads

[Chopper]

SHARE mtb club has gotten a little bad press lately and I just wanted to take a minute to clear a few things up.

SHARE has been working in our local parks for 20 years. They built many of the trails most OC riders use. They have also built a relationship between mountain bikers and land managers that simply would not exist if not for their volunteers. 15 to 20 years ago, mountain bikers were not very welcome in our state and county parks but now they are the most active user group where advocacy is concerned and the land managers often call on them when there are issues to deal with.

Trail maintenance is just a small part of what SHARE does. When fire hit Crystal Cove in 94 it was SHARE that went in and did the assessments needed to get trails reopened. Then when that same park flooded 3 years ago and the park closed for 3 months, it was SHARE again that the park called on to go in and assess the damage and work out a plan for reopening. Then when Santiago Oaks burned recently, SHARE was there before the smoke cleared to help with signage and patrols to educate the public.
They have built bridges in El Moro, Aliso Wood, and Whiting Ranch which were needed to prevent trail closure. During rainy years they are out there brushing back trails that would be completely inaccessable otherwise. They help design maps and signs that would not otherwise get done because of budget constraints.
They have raised thousands of dollars to support other organizations like the Crystal Cove Interpretive Assoc. who in turn help support mountain biking. As a result of this Crystal Cove has the only visitor's center in California with mountian bike artifacts and information on display. That may not interest everyone but it does legitimize our trail use and put the sport in a positive light.
They have become involved in several education programs by giving presentations at colleges dealing with trail conflict and responsible trail use by all users.
SHARE started the mountain bike patrol program in Whiting, Aliso Wood, and El Moro which rides the trails giving help to anyone in need and working with the rangers to identify problem areas. For example there was recently a motorcyle making regular visits to El Moro making a mess of the trails. Mtb patrollers tracked down the entry point and facilitated getting the gate stepover repaired to keep them out. They also helped photograph and report a dog owner who was encouraging his Doberman to attack bikers.
They also put on some great events including the 12 Hours of El Moro, The El Moro Poker Ride, The Mystery Tour of Santiago Oaks, and the Dreaded Hill Climb.
When it comes to trail maintenance, they have several members who have been trained in advanced trail building, trail design, and trail maintenance supervision. They have spent thousands of dollars on tools and equipment and perhaps most importantly, they have worked to gain the respect and trust of the park's land managers. When a trail is badly damaged, the parks don't always have the man power, money or even expertise to go in and get it fixed right away but if they have gained respect for an organization like SHARE, they feel comfortable depending them to get the work done. If not it could mean another lost trail
Sorry for the long post but I just wanted to make sure that people understand that SHARE is not just about taking out ruts and stutter bumps, it's a lot more and guess what, THEY ARE ALL VOLUNTEERS!!!!

[Schecky]

I was going to post something similar. You touched on all the bases.
Thanks Robin, and thanks for all the great work you've done!

[maxwell]

Thanks Chopper!

I haven't seen the work done on Lynx that caused all the commotion, but I'm sure if it needed to be done, so be it.

I believe you forgot to mention that SHARE played a part on getting two of the more enjoyable, legal (now), downhill trails open for us to ride.
T&A and Staristeps.

I enjoy doing trail work, and when I'm at a trail work event, and when something comes up that seams to be making a trail easier, I've voiced my opinion on it. I've seen things get talked over by the experienced trail bosses, and I've seen first hand, how they try and keep the tech aspect of the trail in place when possible.
I love the hard, techy trails as much or more than most. I've got the scars to prove it.

I also like to know that we have a good relationship with most (Maureen at Oaks is questionable to me) of the land managers, and rangers. And our trails will be there for my kid's to ride when they're my age.

I'm PROUD to be a SHARE member!

[boboso]

I too am a proud SHARE member and though I have not been as active as I once was, due to priorities outside of MTB, I support this organization fully. When I can I still wear the SHARE MTB Patrol jersey when riding Aliso and let folks know about Mountain Biking and the riders support of the trails during docent times at the parks.

[OMR]

Couldn't have said it better, Robin... and it needed to be said. We don't have to do this, but do it because we all need to give back something to the sport we all love so much. See you on the trail.

OMR

[Wrecker]

Robin,
You are always very articulate and well spoken, and such an ideal rep of SHARE.

It is easy to critique that which you don't understand, if those critics truly want to understand the hard work, goals, and purpose of SHARE, they should attend the meetings.

I invite everyone to attend the SHARE meetings (open to all-members and non), share your opinion and hear from others; assist with trail work, help shape those delicate, precious trails, and learn the true effects of cyclists, environment, and hikers; ride a trail patrol, help to shed a positive light on our sport; participate in an event, share in the fun!

I do not know how the need for this arose, but I do know that we all need to work together to keep our trails. If we fight amongst ourselves, who will be left to fight FOR us?

[Waldo]

Nice post, Chopper, and thanks for making me feel more at ease about the fact that I joined SHARE a couple days before all this ruckus.

I'd just like to suggest that SHARE or other similar groups might do well to do a little outreach immediately before and/or after such work is done. One post on here by a SHARE rep giving an 'official' description of what work was done and why - or even asking for input in advance - would probably go a long way towards dialing down the emotions and garnering more support for the group. It's great that it's on their calendar, but a more proactive approach toward their constituency might yield better results.

My $.02

[LBmtb]

I'd say posting trail work to be done here would go a longer way towards awareness of those days versus a tiny little box on the mini-calendar that is on Share's site. It seems that pretty much the only people that knew about it were the people on the share email list.

Just an idea.

[Chopper]

As a point of clarification, I am not participating in this discussion as an official representative of the club. I am no longer in a managment position in SHARE. I am just a member who is concerned about the image of the club because I know how much they do for this great sport.
In the past, we advertised our intentions to do trail work in an attempt to get volunteers. Occasionally another club or group would come to us and ask us to arrange a project for them. This is probably the case here. They come to us because we have the tools, the expertise, and the relationship with the land managers.
I don't disagree that posting our intentions on STR would be a good idea but I can see some problems with it also. Remember there are people who think that the trails should not be maintained at all.
Just so you know, personally I do not think we should be doing tread work until next year, but I do not know what the condition was on Lynx prior to the work. I do know this, in the last 10 years SHARE has never worked on a trail simply to make it safer to ride. We have worked on trails to make them harder to ride by blocking cheater lines etc. and trails may become easier to ride as a result of our efforts to make them sustainable, but our goal has never ever been to make them safe or easy, that is a fact that cannot be disputed.

[thephat]

I have seen Share do so much for mountain bikers over the years. They have opened up new trails and maintained old ones. They have worked to maintian our access. I have met some of my favorite riding freinds at Share meetings and Share rides. I have been afiliated with Share for almost 10 years, and some of my close freinds have been involved much longer. The guy who took me on my first mountain bike ride (Duty) always spoke of share and how they had helped get us trails to ride throught the 80s and early 90s.

It is important to distinguish between the actions of any one individual and the group that they represent. It is also important to keep perspective on any one trail work. I would hate to be judged as an American based on some of the things we have done lately, but I do not feel that you can judge America or Share based on any one event or decision. I do not mean to judge the trail work done recently so much as to say that even if you don't like that particular example of Share's work, you may like Share overall.

I personally know all of the leadership at Share. I respect and appreciate each one of them. I do not share the same values about riding as all of them. I also do not share the same ethics about ilegal trails as many of them. Heck there is no concensus on these topics. If you get personall and honest with each individual, you will get different answers about what trails are ethical to ride etc. You may even get different answers from the same person on different days. One thing is for sure: All of the Share leadsership is commited to maintaining and improving our position in the community.

They have our best interest at heart, and they work hard for free. These are regular hard working folks with reall jobs and families, volunteering valued time. That doesn't leave much room for critisism in my book.

[LBmtb]

I agree with you on that one - Share has some good people. I don't personally know Keith but have seen him at lots of rides and events. Genuinely a nice guy. Saw him help matt (ocrider) with a broken chain at the vision quest and then heard about how he stopped to pick up gu packet litter so much that he missed the cutoff. Serge is also pretty cool too

[Pain Freak]

I've swung a maddox with Robin, Grant and Keith on quite a few occasions and I trust them to know what they are doing. I've been involved in trail maintenance as long as I've been mtb'ing. I do know one thing about trail maintenance, if you don't make allowances for growth in the flora it will soon be back to it's previous condition or worse, overgrown to the point of being unrideable. I haven't seen Lynx, so I won't comment on it, other then to say it's way overused as it is. SHARE is a group that gets 100% of my support. Although some of the trail work looks like it might be overkill, it really has to be done to almost an extreme sometimes.

It's very disheartening to work your arse off in the late winter/early spring to come back less then a year later and you can't even see the work you did, and the trail is in need of work again.