Discussion: The first-ever sanctioned MtbO A event will have to wait...
in: Ride Boggs Mountain Adventure (Sep 21, 2013 - Middletown, CA, US)
May 30, 2013 1:31 AM
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The word from the Demonstration State Forest is that although orienteering at Boggs is OK and mountain bike races at Boggs are OK, an MtbO event is not OK for a number of reasons. So, hope is to have an MtbO A event at a different California venue in 2014. In the meanwhile, Mtb-Oers are welcome to our 2013 rogaines—details for Get Lost!! in Fort Ord and Get Lost!! in Jackson Forest will be published shortly. Unlike Boggs, neither of these two venues has a trail network dense enough to support any one of IOF-style MtbO formats.
May 30, 2013 7:58 AM
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GuyO:
I'm curious as to the reasons...
Are they under the impression that MtbO would mean off-trail biking (since foot-O is includes off-trail running)?
Are they under the impression that MtbO would mean off-trail biking (since foot-O is includes off-trail running)?
May 30, 2013 2:06 PM
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No, off-trail biking was never mentioned or suspected. The summary of the reasons is that orienteers apparently create problems for the State Forest, mountain bikers create a different set of problems, and the two sets together are too much for the dignified public servants to handle.
May 30, 2013 4:06 PM
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That is too bad. As excellent as Boggs is for regular orienteering (esp. classic/long) it would be amazing for MTBO. I suck at biking, but I might actually travel for a MTBO at Boggs...
May 30, 2013 4:55 PM
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We can try a mail campaign to the present manager, but I got the impression that rationality would be too much to expect.
May 30, 2013 4:57 PM
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Clem loves Boggs! We should re-name it "Clemms Mountain" in his honor. Are there any O-maps named in honor of their greatest champion, or named for specific orienteers? Like "Peter's Folly" "Lori's Lurch" "Ricks Thicket" "Sam Hill" :)
May 30, 2013 5:17 PM
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I wonder if you can contact the person/company who hosts mountain bike races in that area and approach it from the cycling side. They may have a good relationship with the Forest Service and potentially draw a bigger crowd. I just looked up a race series in that area and it looks like bikemonkey.net puts on many races in NorCal. I also just looked up the trail system at Boggs Mountain and it looks nice!
May 30, 2013 5:57 PM
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Yes, Bike Monkey is where it's at. They have been able to gain racing access to Annadel after the (engineered) State Parks crisis for the first time in 20+ years. Their access to Boggs, however, seems to date back to the previous manager, as does BAOC's access to Boggs for orienteering purposes.
There is a reason why established event organizers are rarely interested in adding niche sports—diminishing returns. For the same amount of work, an organizer can add say a hundred people to an already well known bike race or trail run, or try to plow the virgin lands and get 20 or 30 people trying an unknown format. Guess which path makes more sense?
Get Lost!! is a tiny nonprofit, and its capacity to overcome obstacles is limited by its access to resources. Absent a reasonable ROI, the course of action upon encountering a sizable obstacle is to go look elsewhere. Meaning, if there were a couple hundred people dying to MtbO at Boggs, I'd pursue the matter further, but for 20 or 30 people I'll go for next best thing—offering rogaine courses at venues with inferior track systems but friendlier management.
There is a reason why established event organizers are rarely interested in adding niche sports—diminishing returns. For the same amount of work, an organizer can add say a hundred people to an already well known bike race or trail run, or try to plow the virgin lands and get 20 or 30 people trying an unknown format. Guess which path makes more sense?
Get Lost!! is a tiny nonprofit, and its capacity to overcome obstacles is limited by its access to resources. Absent a reasonable ROI, the course of action upon encountering a sizable obstacle is to go look elsewhere. Meaning, if there were a couple hundred people dying to MtbO at Boggs, I'd pursue the matter further, but for 20 or 30 people I'll go for next best thing—offering rogaine courses at venues with inferior track systems but friendlier management.
May 31, 2013 1:14 AM
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We have an MTBO event on June 16 if you want to come along. We would love to have you.
Jun 6, 2013 6:09 PM
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Apparently, permits are only for us little people. Too bad you don't have a few million dollars to just pay them off after the fact.
The California Coastal Commission and Facebook billionaire Sean Parker have reached a $2.5 million settlement to pay for coastal conservation programs after the Napster co-founder built a large movie-set-like wedding site in an ecologically sensitive area of Big Sur without proper permits.
The California Coastal Commission and Facebook billionaire Sean Parker have reached a $2.5 million settlement to pay for coastal conservation programs after the Napster co-founder built a large movie-set-like wedding site in an ecologically sensitive area of Big Sur without proper permits.
Jun 7, 2013 7:24 AM
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GuyO:
Sounds like a case of seeking forgiveness instead of permission. On the other hand, at least they used an already-developed area (the camp) for the wedding.
Jun 7, 2013 1:20 PM
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And Boggs Mountain is certainly an already developed area that already hosts mountain biking and orienteering!
The reason we don't go fatass/punch-and-run is that we would like to have more than one "wedding". Morally I don't have anything against going fatass if proper channels are unreasonably blocked, but that doesn't work in the long run.
The reason we don't go fatass/punch-and-run is that we would like to have more than one "wedding". Morally I don't have anything against going fatass if proper channels are unreasonably blocked, but that doesn't work in the long run.
Jun 8, 2013 9:00 AM
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If your areas are anything like ours, no-one will ever know you were there!
This discussion thread is closed.