Posts Tagged ‘COHVCO’

The Colorado 600 by Scott Bright

Sunday, January 8th, 2012

NOTE: This is article is by guest writer Scott Bright. He is well known in the Colorado off-road racing world, is a Rocky Mtn. Enduro Circuit (RMEC) race promoter, donates time and money to the organizations listed below, and is a stellar trail advocate.

Hello:

I hope that you got a chance to read the article about the Colorado 600 in the November 2011 issue of Dirt Rider.  Mostly because I got a picture and mention in the article!  Finally, after 22 years of racing and riding – I showed up in color in a magazine – for something other than my ripped and toned body.

Seriously, I hope you got a chance to see what some very important organizations are doing for YOU and YOUR riding areas here in the great state of Colorado!  First and foremost, this is not your Father’s AMA.  The AMA of today is all about protecting your right to ride, as well as preserving your kids’ right to ride.  If you are still hung up and peeved about how the AMA handles American racing on a local, national and world level – YOU ARE LIVING IN THE 1900’s!!  The AMA changed up its leadership and focus from the top down.  Rob Dingman, AMA president, is a man on a mission, and he has the support of the AMA Board of Directors.  Their mission in life is not to micro-manage the AMA Superbike racing scene, but to further motorcycle riding freedom amongst all who own 2-wheeled vehicles.  They purposely sold off and farmed out the racing components to those who are experts in those fields, so that the AMA could focus on what is important – You and Your Motorcycle!  Furthermore, the AMA is fully involved in protecting off-road motorcycling in your backyard.  What the AMA needs is YOUR SUPPORT!

Let’s rewind and take a look at some significant events in the recent months.  The Lead Law, does anyone really think that law was brought about by some do-gooders hoping to prevent injury to kids from ingesting lead?  Nope.  That law was an indirect attack from the Dark Side trying to get your kids to play video games throughout their childhood instead of growing up as dirtbikers who would support motorized recreation in their tax-paying and voting years.  After-all, if the Green Freaks can prevent your kids from riding while they are young, then they stand a better chance 15 years from now when its time to fundraise and elect people who would like to lock us out of Our Public Lands.  If the AMA did NOT have a single unified voice of 800,000+ members when walking up to Capitol Hill and demanding that this Lead Law be thrown it – the bad guys would have won.

Additionally, does anyone remember the Wild Lands Bill that was withdrawn on a Federal Level?  Do you know what the implications would have been had the Wild Lands Bill actually stuck?  It would have given a new tool to the Green Freaks to lock you out of your Public Lands with your motorcycle.  Do you think Salazar just woke up one morning in May and decided he didn’t want to do the Bill after-all?  Nope.  There was lots of pressure in DC, and you can thank the AMA and their membership (hopefully you) for applying it.  The Enviro-Nazi’s will stop at nothing to keep you and your bike out of ‘their’ public lands.  They will come up with new ways every year to try to attack our motorized rights.  If we did not have a Big Brother on a National scale looking out for us, we would be toast.  Are you an AMA member?

Make no mistake, the AMA is working for you and your motorcycle.  Again, if you hold some grudge about how the AMA handled to racing situation back in the day, you are totally missing the point.  What if……  the AMA had 8 million members?  How much of a chance do you think the Extreme-Enviros would have against a force that big?  Do you think we could actually get some currently CLOSED trails back open?  Do you think we could get a movement going on a National level that would designate federal funds to creating new trails instead of closing existing ones?  I am a proud AMA member, so is my wife, my son, my daughter, and I have pending apps for my 3 dogs, 2 cats and horse.  My parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces…   guess what they are getting for Christmas this year?  AMA memberships!

Moving on to a more local movement within the National one that we have just discussed.  COHVCO.  Have you ridden any single-track this year?  Did you know that COHVCO installed 162 gates on the entrances of single-track trails this summer?  I’ve ridden past at least 1/4th of them and I think its pretty cool.  The gate is made of 4” steel pipe, and is shaped like a V with a narrow opening at the bottom.  I’m sure you have seen them somewhere recently.  Its impossible to get an ATV or 4×4 past this gate.  COHVCO is doing this.  COHVCO is applying for grant money, getting it, and physically working to protect single-track trails in Colorado.  What more do you want?  John Bongiovanni and the entire crew at COHVCO are dedicated to preserving single-track FOR YOU and YOUR DIRTBIKE here in Colorado.  COHVCO is active fighting every piece of legislation that the Extremists throw at us.  COHVCO supports all types of motorized access to public land, motorcycles are a big part of that.  Are you a member?  How many millions of ATV’s and motorcycles are sold each year in the United States?  How many hundreds of COHVCO members are there?  What if more than 0.1% of motorcycle buyers were COHVCO members?  Motorized recreation opportunities would be EXPANDING rather than disintegrating here in Colorado.  Are you a COHVCO member?

So lets narrow it down a little further and look at something that is RIGHT UP YOUR ALLEY.  The Trails Preservation Alliance.  What’s not to love about an organization with that name?  That name describes you, it describes me, and it describes everyone that I see at each RMEC event.  The TPA is the organization that puts on the Colorado 600.  The TPA is a 501(C)3 organization that has the SOLE PURPOSE of protecting single-track on public lands in Colorado.  Your donations to the TPA are Tax Deductible.  Did you hear that?  You can write off a donation to the TPA on your taxes.  This is a No Brainer.  Through donations from supporters, the TPA has won 3 lawsuits this year protecting single-track in Colorado.  Did you have any idea that your trails are being attacked by the Extremists?  The TPA does, and they are on the fore-front of protecting those trails for you.  What have you done for the TPA this year?

I am a proud supporter of the AMA, COHVCO, and the TPA.  I know what each of those organizations do for me and my family on a National, State and Local level.  Now you do too.  What are you waiting for?  www.ama-cycle.org, cohvco.org, www.coloradotpa.org, www.colorado600.org

The Colorado 600 is limited to 74 participants.  It sells out early.  If you want to participate in a most epic week of riding, and support organizations that are actively working to keep trails open for you, sign up.

As a RMEC Promoter, I will likely be offering discounts on entry fees at my events for those who show their AMA membership, and COHVCO membership, and TPA donation.  Avoid the rush and do it NOW!

Scott Bright

Member and supporter of COHVCO, Colorado TPA,  AMA, Colorado 600

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Are you a Loud Idiot?

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

I didn’t say it. I should have. I wanted to. I’ve thought it many times when out riding, but it was Jimmy Lewis that coined the phrase “don’t be a loud idiot” in the July 2010 issue of Dirt Rider. Good job Jimmy!

As I’ve said many times before and will say many times again…..we are our own worst enemy. Every year I get invited to ride with someone or some group that I’ve never ridden with before so I always ask about the sound level/types of mufflers that everyone is using. I absolutely refuse to ride with loud idiots and I don’t want to show up and have a problem at the trailhead. When I ask “how loud is your bike?” I often get the response “my bike is not too bad”. To that I say bullshit. Not too bad is the same as not too good and that is just NOT acceptable. Loud bikes, especially 4 strokes, offend all other trail users and me. It pisses me off when some Neanderthal thinks that installing a loud muffler or pulling the insert out of his quiet muffler will give him that added horsepower that he needs to get down the trail. Well, unless you’ve recently won a National off-road event you probably can’t handle what you have, so dream on cowboy. FYI: Well known racer Shane Watts recently won the sportsman class at a GNCC with a DB Snorkel (84dBA) on a small bore KTM 200. He did it just to prove that quiet bikes can win.

If we don’t police ourselves we will continue to loose land access issues. So, I have to ask…..are you a loud idiot, or do you ride with loud idiots, or when you meet one on the trail do you talk to them about their loud idiot ways? Please ride a quiet bike and ask and persuade your friends to do the same.

Jeff Slavens

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Ride with Slavens & Help Colorado Trails

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010


Come ride the Colorado 600 Trail Awareness Symposium with Jeff Slavens and other experienced Colorado trail guides. Don’t pass up this rare opportunity to show your true colors by helping keep open Colorado and Utah trails while experiencing excellent single-track and dual sport routes in this little used and absolutely gorgeous area of southwest Colorado.

The Texas Sidewinders Motorcycle Club is sponsoring and the AMA is sanctioning the Trails Awareness Symposium Workshop, a fund raiser and educational event to benefit the Colorado Trail Preservation Alliance. I will be supporting this with all my resources and will be one of the primary guides taking riders on some my favorite single track and dual track trails in Colorado.

This 5 day invitational only event will give participants the option of riding gnarly single-track or milder dual sport routes. You can alternate between guides and pick what type of riding you prefer each day. I recommend that you bring 2 bikes, DS and trail. All bikes must be quiet, will be sound tested (94dBA), and must be licensed and insured.

Each day will start with a free breakfast and rider’s meeting, then off to the trails or DS routes with the day ending back at the lodge for some beverages and BS. One free evening BBQ and a Friday banquet will be included.

Come join me and help support our sport.

Jeff Slavens

For more information, click HERE.

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The General’s Memorial Day Tribute 2010

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

Sunday, May 30, 2010

On this special weekend, I want to express my gratitude to our fallen heroes who fought for our freedom. It is a precious gift that we must treasure, respect, defend, and pass on to future generations.
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PHOTO: Don Amador at 60th Anniversary of D-Day Wreath above Omaha Beach
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Some of you know, I grew up on the outskirts of Eureka, California in a small community called Cutten. The General was born in 1954 and was too young to have served in Vietnam even though I had registered for the draft, but had gotten high draft numbers in 1972 and later until the draft ended so I was not called. One of my older childhood friends, Gary Wilson, had been shot down and killed in a helicopter. Another older friend was Terry Foster who got shot through the neck while on patrol and thankfully he survived.

I sometimes feel guilty that I did not serve in the military. I have shared those regrets with some of my military friends in the ongoing fight to protect access to public lands.

One of those persons was Frank Price (he was a Korean War vet and access advocate in the Bakersfield area). He told me not to worry about not serving in the military because I was now working in another cause for freedom – protecting the public’s (and returning service men and women) right to use and enjoy the people’s land.

It was after my co-facilitation, including help from the SAMs Coalition, of the 2000 Protest of the Clinton National Monument in the Sequoia National Forest that Frank Price bestowed on me the title of The General.

Article on 2000 Rally/Protest of Clinton National Monument (with rally photos)
https://www.sharetrails.org/releases/?filter=media&story=140

I don’t wear the title of The General as some sort of military-oriented self-tribute because I did not serve in the military, but rather as a commitment to my Dad, Frank Price and all those (including readers of this blog) who have served and sacrificed for our country that I will never give up the fight and will seek to inspire and lead men and women onto the field of battle for access to public lands.

Again, my deepest appreciation to those who made the ultimate sacrifice and to the families left behind. My appreciation also goes out to those who have served and continue to serve.

God Bless.
Don Amador

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Much Needed Support

Sunday, February 21st, 2010

A Letter to the Vail Daily

After reading Susie Kincade’s Valley Voices concerning the Hidden Gems, I took her up on her offer to learn more about the issue at the Hidden Gems Wilderness Campaign Web site. After reading the section called About alternative destinations, I realized I could not support Hidden Gems. This section basically made the point that alternative designations do not rest on enabling legislation and open the land-use decision door to all comers, to many types of stakeholders, while wilderness designation requires an act of Congress to undo.

And that is my concern. If we cede control to Congress, to whom are we actually ceding that control? The House of Representatives is increasingly dominated by urban voters whose idea of wilderness might be one notch above or below Bambi. Overturning a wilderness designation in the Senate could be subject to a filibuster requiring 60 votes to stop. So I have little faith that there would be any flexibility in future use following a wilderness designation.

Kincade calls Hidden Gems a gift to future generations. But I prefer to let my child’s generation make its own decision, and I believe a stakeholder process will give it a better chance of doing so.

I think about decisions earlier generations might have made that could prevent us from making our own decisions today. For example, suppose a hundred years ago people decided that all that pristine land surrounding our major cities should be protected. Based on the primitive state of the automobile, people might not have imagined that these areas would, a generation later, become the suburbs which transformed American life. Perhaps 75 years ago, people might have decided that certain other exurban land needed protection. And after World War II, the returning soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division might have had no place close to major population centers to start the transformational ski industry.

These lands being considered for wilderness designation are lands that belong to all Americans. Before we restrict their use, and effectively take away the discretion of future generations to decide for themselves how they are to be used, we should ask ourselves whether we have a perfect crystal ball or the arrogance of thinking that we know best forever.

Chris Hynes

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Open letter to all OHV users

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010


The time is NOW to get involved in your local community and participate in the governmental decision-making processes.  No longer can we be wary of participating in the political and local community processes. The OHV Community must have a credible and recognized voice in local affairs which can only be achieved by personal involvement with our elected officials.

In order to increase the visibility and voice of the OHV Community, we must all increase our personal participation in our local and regional governmental decision making processes.  Each of us needs to participate and contribute in local affairs to ensure that our collective voices are heard.  The first step is to join and get active with your local OHV organizations or clubs then consider getting involved in:

  • Your local community collaborative planning processes such as development or review of Community Master Plans or Comprehensive Plans.  This is the first step in getting OHV areas planned and funded
  • An appointment to Citizen Advisory Boards or Committees
  • Volunteering for Parks and Recreation Boards
  • Getting to know your local Economic Development staff and explaining the positive economic impacts that OHV users and activities have on your local economy
  • Public meetings for travel management planning on USFS, BLM or other public lands
  • Expressing the need for local OHV areas and activities to your local Parks and Recreation staff
  • Attending and participating in regular City or Town Council meetings, Planning Commission meetings, County Commissioner meetings, etc.  Learn how these meetings are conducted  and make your voice heard when the decision makers ask for public comment
  • Promoting OHV participation in local events such as parades and other community events
  • Expressing the NEED for viable and safe OHV recreation areas at all levels of government, but focus on your local government.  Skate parks, soccer fields and the like are all being funded with your tax dollars because local constituents demand them from their local governments.
  • Organizing a local OHV TEA PARTY

Do not wait; do not expect someone else to do it.  Every little bit helps and the old saying that the squeaky wheel gets the oil is spot on.  You yourself must get involved and make your voice heard.  Those that dislike or misunderstand OHV use are at the local table demanding government officials listen to them.  We, the OHV Community must do the same get to the table TODAY and be a voice in our local public processes.

Bill Alspach

Woodland Park, Colorado

Member, Trails Preservation Alliance & Colorado Motorcycle Trail Riders Association

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