As the Wheels Turn

Corba has a resource page here. They currently have links for the following there:

• South Bay Mountain Bike Club
• Over the Bars Mountain Bike Club
• Pasadena Mountain Bike Club
• North Ranch Mountain Bike Club
• Dirt Chix

I’ve sent two emails in the past trying to ask for some link love from Corba to no avail. Never got a response either.

Here are one of the previous emails sent to info@corbamtb.com on May 27th, 2007:

Hi,

I’m writing to ask if you could include a link to http://www.socaltrailriders.org on the Corba links page. It’s still fairly new compared to other such sites but has exploded in popularity. Lots of friendly riders on that website and I bet some of your site visitors would benefit greatly from finding a link to it on your links page.

Thanks,
George

Today I sent another email to not one but many addresses:

• webmaster@corbamtb.com
• info@corbamtb.com
• membership@corbamtb.com
• volunteer@corbamtb.com
• markmtb@adelphia.net
• mtbike4@earthlink.net

And the email:

Hi Corba people,

I’d like to request a link addition to your resources page, please. It’s to SocalTrailRiders. The URL is http://www.socaltrailriders.org/

It’s the most active community/forum/website of riders in socal and has been for at least a year now. It would surely be a great resource for people who visit your website.

Some example pages:
http://www.socaltrailriders.org/forum/trail-talk/7082-rr-demo-days-yeti-chumba-rocky-mountain.html
http://www.socaltrailriders.org/forum/trailhead/6742-black-star-beeks-place-newbie-ride-beeks-clean-up.html
http://www.socaltrailriders.org/forum/trail-talk/1878-vq-cc-recap-pics.html
http://www.socaltrailriders.org/forum/trail-talk/5985-rr-bikes-beers-2007-a.html

thanks for the consideration,
George Gonzalez

p.s. Tiny heads up on the website redesign: on the homepage there are extra <a> </a> tags for the “::” after calendar in the footer. And as a tip: I noticed all the CSS is inline. Moving the css to an external file will not only help search engine optimization but also decrease download speed for users because those files get cached after the first visit.

Hopefully at least one person who gets that will be a little open minded to the idea of having an STR link on their resources page. Will update this post later if I get a response (or no response).

Update:

Huge thanks to Hans over at Corba. Here’s his response

Hi George,

Hey no problem I will add STR to the links! You have a great site there!
I was riding with a guy (forgot his name?) in Tahoe on the MTBR Gathering. He said he helped start it with you. He goes to school in AZ now.

I was wondering how would I change my user name on STR? I looked around on there and did not see a way to do it?

Thanks for the tips on the CORBA site! I see what you mean about the footer.

Thanks, Hans

As the title says, it’s a 2004 Turner 5 Spot. I bought it from Rodel (chaos on STR). I’m really stoked about it. Took it out today and did a whiting -> stt -> luge -> whiting loop with Rob (turnerrob) and Stu.

There are parts that I already want to change. I want a slightly shorter stem (70mm vs. current 90mm), new handlebars (want wider), silver hope skewer for the rear, and in a month or so a new saddle. Stem will be also be silver to go for a blue/silver color scheme.

She rides beautifully - very active suspension, corners well, and very stable going downhill. Felt a tad stretched out which is why I want to try a shorter stem.

As for decals/badges - I want to do something custom with SocalTrailRiders on it. Maybe just badge, maybe just decals, or both. The new screw on Turner head badge looks pretty cool.

More info on it.

Some quotes and photos from two ride report threads:

• RR: Blackstar to Beeks (newbie ride)
• RR: My Own Personal Beek’s

Then I kept hearing “Its just a little more….” hehe I numbed that out of my head cause I know it was gonna be a grind.

All of STR great spending the day with you all and a special thank you to Brian for turning around manning up and kickin some serious @$$… You Tracey for being truely committed to attaining your goal. You both are huge inspirations…

Like Rachel(Wrecker) said, that’s what so great about this sport and this group of riders known as STR.

This was huge for many of you newbies, I’m sure of that. Of all the times I’ve been to Beek’s, this was the best time for sure. To see someone push themselves to the brink, but continue on and make it to the top is what this ride was all about! A JOB WELL DONE TO YOU ALL!

And last but not least, my boy Jake!
This was his first real climb, 15.6 miles round trip, with 2135 ft. of climbing. Not once did he mention turning around, and cutting it short.

Surlygal and neccros are examples of why mountain biking stays in my blood. They were out there pushing their bodies beyond their pain thresh holds. I saw tears, cramps, empty camelback bladders, frustration and the biggest sense of accomplishments I have seen in years. Huge prop’s to you two!!!

We asked if anybody wanted a lift up the hill and the answer was NO! Traci was determined to get up that hill and not take the easy way out, great job for going the distance!

I signed up for the ride at the last minute and was glad I did. I was expecting the large turnout after seeing the last few Fully rides, but it was nice to see how cool everybody was. Not an elitist’s attitude in the bunch.

One of the reasons I LOVE mtn biking is the comraderie, one of the reasons I love STR is the lack of ego and the intense support for each rider, one of the reasons I loved this ride is that it had it all! You guys all rock!

I would personally like to thank you for the opportunity to ride with you to Beeks. I found this to be one of the most inspirational days that I have spent on the bike in a long time. Your commitment, drive and follow through were absolutely amazing, watching you work not only through the physically challenging, but emotionally challenging climb of your life. I feel very honored to have been able to have been part of that and there is nowhere that I would have rather been then sitting on the top of that hill with you and Brian. It brought back memories both recent and distant of personal challenges, and really showed that if one sets their mind to something, there really is no limit to what can be attained.

And last but not least: here is John’s video cam footage.

SocalTrailRiders is proud to announce our two newest forums -

Rider Down
Bike Shop Reviews

Rider Down

Rider down is a forum for mountain bike injuries (or conditions), recovery from injuries, and encouragement for our fellow STR’ers who have fallen victims to injuries.

It’s true that the injured list system that I have had on the back-burner is now considered closed and abandoned. I feel that having a Rider Down forum is just as good and in some aspects better than a separate custom injured list system.  A major pro of doing the forum vs. custom web application is that people are already familiar with the thread/forum system of communication.

Bike Shop Reviews

Bike shop reviews are incredibly helpful for people looking to buy bike parts and get things serviced - which is pretty much every rider out there. Bret came up with this idea and I agreed. This whole subject deserved it’s own forum. Currently it sits as a sub-forum inside of The Marketplace forum. Each shop will have its own thread.

As always, adding forums is a delicate thing. We don’t want to add so many forums so that the information gets diluted and scattered across tons of forums. Each one should serve a different and important purpose.