dburatti
10-30-2003, 09:22 AM
Exciting News!
I had the pleasure of attending a reception last weekend for the 17th National Trails Symposium, which is being held October 24-26, 2004 in Austin. At this event I met city, state, and other officials and trail-affiliated people. The highlight of the evening was meeting the State Parks Director. After we introduced ourselves, he asked me, "What can the state of Texas do for mountain biking?" That blew me away! I looked at him and said, "I'll tell you what you can do."
We discussed the lack of trails in state parks from a biker's perspective. He asked me to give him an example, and I cited Pedernales Falls S.P. He stated that there are miles of trail out there, then proceeded to tell me about the abundance of old jeep roads. At that time, I explained to him the difference between jeep roads and singletrack trail. After this clarification, he told me to find the parks where we want singletrack, draw up proposals for each, and submit them to him. I was ecstatic!
So, now the work begins. I would like to know in what state parks you would like to see new trail. Here's a link for the Texas State Park Bike "trails" (http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/activities/bike/mtbktrails.htm); take into account what they consider trails. Some of the research we'll be doing is actually visitng the parks to see what the trails are like, checking out the terrain and facilities, and evaluating the worth of building new trail at each park.
You can post your opinion here, and it can de discussed, or, if you'd like, you can email me your opinion.
We have a huge opportunity here; let's go with it!
Dewayne Buratti
Your central Texas IMBA representative
I had the pleasure of attending a reception last weekend for the 17th National Trails Symposium, which is being held October 24-26, 2004 in Austin. At this event I met city, state, and other officials and trail-affiliated people. The highlight of the evening was meeting the State Parks Director. After we introduced ourselves, he asked me, "What can the state of Texas do for mountain biking?" That blew me away! I looked at him and said, "I'll tell you what you can do."
We discussed the lack of trails in state parks from a biker's perspective. He asked me to give him an example, and I cited Pedernales Falls S.P. He stated that there are miles of trail out there, then proceeded to tell me about the abundance of old jeep roads. At that time, I explained to him the difference between jeep roads and singletrack trail. After this clarification, he told me to find the parks where we want singletrack, draw up proposals for each, and submit them to him. I was ecstatic!
So, now the work begins. I would like to know in what state parks you would like to see new trail. Here's a link for the Texas State Park Bike "trails" (http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/activities/bike/mtbktrails.htm); take into account what they consider trails. Some of the research we'll be doing is actually visitng the parks to see what the trails are like, checking out the terrain and facilities, and evaluating the worth of building new trail at each park.
You can post your opinion here, and it can de discussed, or, if you'd like, you can email me your opinion.
We have a huge opportunity here; let's go with it!
Dewayne Buratti
Your central Texas IMBA representative