Join the Flagstaff Gravity Riders and the US Forest Service Flagstaff Ranger District for some trash clean up along Elden LO Road!
Meet this Saturday, April 26th at 10:00 am at the gate on Elden LO Road just after it turns to a dirt road.
We will be picking up trash and debris along the road.
Help keep one of our favorite riding areas clean!
For more info, contact Josh at landonflagstaff@yahoo.com
WE NEED YOU TO VOTE NOW!
Share this link with everyone you’ve ever met, have your mom’s Facebook friends vote, bug random strangers on the street to vote on their smart phones, pester your coworkers, whoever you can think of! It only takes a minute, doesn’t cost a thing, and everyone will benefit from this free-to-the-public facility!
Be sure to reply to the confirmation email you’ll be sent or your vote won’t count! (Check your “Junk” folder if you don’t see the confirmation email!)
If you have not received a confirmation email after you voted for the Ft. Tuthill Bike Park, it is probably because of your email address.
YOUR VOTE HAS NOT BEEN COUNTED IF YOU DO NOT CLICK ON A CONFIRMATION EMAIL LINK!!
Some .edu, .gov, .net and .org addresses seem to not work with the tool that Bell Sports is using for this voting.
If this is the case, vote from a @gmail.com or @yahoo.com or similar address: either one you already have, or make one at Google.com.
Keep passing the word! Let’s win this grant!
OR GO TO BELLHELMETS.COM/BELLBUILT TO VOTE!
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IN PARTNERSHIP WITH |  |
Fort Tuthill Bike Park will be a fully-featured mountain bike skills park at the Fort Tuthill County Park in Flagstaff. The proposed skills park will contain a wide array of progressive features to appeal to all levels of bike riders. The park will be free, open to the public, and available for competitive events and skills clinics. We are hoping to use the IMBA Bell Built Grant to implement the intermediate, and potentially beginner and flow trail features. This grant would be used to build the intermediate, and potentially also the beginner, flow trails. For details on the entire Ft. Tuthill Bike Park, click here.
WEST COAST VOTING IS LIVE UNTIL APRIL 20!
Twelve trailbuilding projects across the 50 states have been selected as the finalists to receive a portion of the $100,000 Bell Built grant. The projects have been distributed across 3 distinct regions in the US: West, Central, and East. Beginning April 7, voting for each region will be live for a 2-week window, with winners announced the day after the voting period ends. On May 19, all three winners will be officially announced!
VOTE: April 7-20
WINNER: April 21
OR GO TO BELLHELMETS.COM/BELLBUILT TO VOTE!
The Ft. Tuthill Bike Park has been chosen as a finalist for an IMBA Bell Built Grant!
We applied for a $30,000 grant to build the intermediate and beginner flow trails at the new Ft. Tuthill Bike Park and we were chosen as finalists!
NOW WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Between April 7th and April 20th, we will need you to vote for our project!
Click this link to vote. (Link goes live April 1st)
We are up against 3 other projects in the west, and the project that gets the most votes will win the grant. Please share this info with everyone you ever met, you friends, family, riding buddies, anyone you can think of!
Watch out Facebook Page for details and updates!
Flagstaff Biking Organization is excited to help present, Rising From Ashes, the award-winning feature-length documentary about Team Rwanda. This film will premiere in Flagstaff on Thursday, March 13 at 7:30 p.m. at the Orpheum Theatre. Get your advance tickets here fpr $10, or at the Orpheum Theater for $15 the day of the show.
A joyous and uplifting independent film about the development of a national cycling team in Rwanda, a country still affected deeply by the genocide that tore the East African nation apart in 1994, this movie is sure crowd pleaser. Check out the Facebook Event here!
The story behind the film:
Two worlds collide when cycling legend Jacques “Jock” Boyer moves to Rwanda in 2006 to help a group of struggling survivors of the genocide to pursue their dream of creating a national cycling team. Members of the fledgling team were children left orphaned by the genocide a decade earlier. Their pasts are painful. As they set out against impossible odds, both Boyer – fighting his own past demons – and the team find new purpose as they rise from the ashes of their pasts through remarkable achievements, both big and small.
The documentary tells a story of redemption, hope and second chances. It is not about the bike; however, the bicycle becomes a tool that has helped change a nation.
Team Rwanda began as a cycling organization, but became so much more once organizers realized the greater needs of the athletes. Many of the riders could not read or write, lived in homes without water and electricity, were malnourished and had never received healthcare. But there was still a greater issue, the issue of the heart. These riders were all recovering from the traumatic psychological effects of the 1994 genocide, which claimed the lives of more than half a million Rwandans, or roughly one-fifth of the nation’s population. Most of the riders were left orphaned by the massacres that claimed their parents’ lives.
While Team Rwanda has taken care of the physical and mental issues of the riders, it has also provided something greater – hope for a nation. Rwanda is a country still recovering from one of the world’s most devastating genocides and the country has longed for heroes. The riders of Team Rwanda have become more than just a cycling team; they have become ambassadors for a country rising from its ashes. They have given the small nation a vision of something greater than itself and renewed a sense of purpose.
But Rising From Ashes is more than a movie. It’s a story that relates to each and every person. It’s a gateway of hope. However, this is just the beginning. Since 2005, Team Rwanda has developed a model for caring for passionate athletes and it has gone on to expand that vision. In 2012, Team Rwanda began its next phase, the development of Africa’s first all-black, all-African team to attempt the greatest cycling event in the world, the Tour de France, after having qualified its first rider for the Olympic Games in London.
The film is also about redemption for Boyer, who was the first American rider to ever compete in the Tour de France back in 1983. One of America’s most fabled riders, Boyer grew up in Northern California battling long-time rival Tom Ritchey for national supremacy. Boyer left the U.S. as a 17-year-old to compete in the Tour de France, but upon his return to the United States after a prolific racing career in Europe, he lost it all. In this period of darkness, in which Boyer was incarcerated for an improper relationship with a minor, he reconnected with Ritchey, who had toured Rwanda – known as the “land of a thousand hills” – on a cycling trip in 2005.
Ritchey approached Boyer with an unlikely proposition – an offer to become coach of Rwanda’s first national cycling team. The success of the team came down to Boyer’s decision to move to Rwanda and invest himself completely in the project, gaining the trust of the riders he coached.
Over six years in the making, Rising From Ashes was produced by two partnering non-profit organizations, Gratis 7 Media Group and Project Rwanda. Narrated by Oscar winner Forest Whitaker, the film has been completely donor-funded and was produced through more than $800,000 in donated funds. Since its release in 2012, the film has won awards at more than a dozen film festivals worldwide.
Advance tickets are $10 and can be purchased online at www.imathlete.com/events/risingfromashes. Tickets at the door will be $15.
For more information about the film, or to view the trailer, go to www.risingfromashesthemovie.com, or on Facebook at Rising From Ashes The Movie.
On Monday, February 3rd, at 4 pm the Flagstaff City Council and Coconino County Supervisors will be meeting to discuss the final report and potential recommendations at Flagstaff City Hall for pursuing designation as an NCA/NSA or not.
We at Flagstaff Biking Organization have been tracking the Walnut Canyon Study, that arose out of the desire of some parties to substantially expand Walnut Canyon National Monument, for well over a decade.
Although we are huge supporters of National Parks and Monuments, these designations can adversely affect mountain bike access. Some of the earlier proposals might have closed the Arizona Trail along Walnut Canyon Rim, the Flagstaff Loop Trail and other trails to bicycles.
We have been supporting National Conservation Area or National Scenic Area designation as proposed by Ralph Baierlein as an alternative that would protect this area in perpetuity from land swaps and development and protect bicycle and other recreational access.
The final Walnut Canyon Study has been released, and in short it recognizes that the vast majority of this area does not meet the qualifications for National Park or Monument designation.
Please show up and support this important open space in Flagstaff!
We need help!
We need people who are capable and willing to help with fundraising and eventually the implementation for the Ft. Tuthill Bike Park.
Specifically, we need people who can help:
To be clear, we do not need help digging or building! This park must be constructed by professional contractors! That said, if you are a professional landscape or construction contractor and you would be willing to donate time and/or expertise, we would love to talk with you!
If you are interested in helping, please email Anthony@flagstaffbiking.org. We will be setting up a meeting to get moving forward within the next couple of weeks. Time and date will be set once we have interested folks engaged in order to best work with everyone’s schedules.
Let’s build a bike park!
The Coconino National Forest has scheduled several meeting to seek input on the Draft Land Management Plan Revision Alternatives.
National Forest Land Management Plans provide the underlying guidance for how all decisions are made on a given National Forest. They are typically general in nature and set desired goals and policies for the management of the various areas of the Forest.
Land Management Plans are also required to make recommendations regarding new Wilderness Areas. The Coconino National Forest’s Draft contains recommendations for several new Wilderness Areas. Ultimately these recommendations are taken into consideration by the people through a Congressional Act and may become law.
Click here for information and documentation on the Coconino National Forest’s Plan Revision process.
UPDATED AGENDA FOR THE SECOND ROUND OF MEETINGS!
| Track | 3 – 4:30 p.m. | 4:30 – 6 p.m. | 6 – 7 p.m. |
| 1 | Dispersed Recreation | Motorized Recreation | Permitted Uses |
| 2 | Wildlife and Water Resources | Wilderness and Special Areas |
Open Q&A |
Please make some time to attend one of the meetings listed below.
| January Meetings | February Meetings |
| January 14th: Flagstaff (3:00-7:00pm)
Flagstaff Aquaplex Meeting Room A 1702 N. Fourth St. Flagstaff, AZ, 86004 Description: Open House and Workshop |
February 24th: Flagstaff (3:00-7:00pm)
Flagstaff Aquaplex Meeting Room A 1702 N. Fourth St. Flagstaff, AZ, 86004 Description: Focus Topic/Comment Workshop |
| January 15th: Sedona (3:00-7:00pm)
Sedona-Oak Creek Airport Conference Room 235 Air Terminal Drive Sedona, AZ 86336 Description: Open House and Workshop |
February 25th: Sedona (3:00-7:00pm)
Sedona-Oak Creek Airport Conference Room 235 Air Terminal Drive Sedona, AZ 86336 Description: Focus Topic/Comment Workshop |
| January 16th: Happy Jack (11:00 am-2:00 pm)
Mogollon Rim Ranger District 2596 Kettle Way Happy Jack, AZ 86024 Description: Open Office Hours/Walk-ins |
February 26th: Happy Jack (11:00 am-2:00 pm)
Mogollon Rim Ranger District 2596 Kettle Way Happy Jack, AZ 86024 Description: Open Office Hours/Walk-ins |
