The Show Went On
In the end, people who came to ride the Kokopelli Trail got to do so. But it took a lot of discussion with the Powers That Be. I think they realized that I could easily call off the ride, (which I did) but despite that, nobody planned on simply going home.
I tried to get Mulder and Scully to meet us halfway. That was not an option for them. And can I be surprised? The Government is not known for thinking and observing in real time.
At midnight, those who hadn’t already started their ride, rolled out on Mary’s Loop. I was among them, and was glad to be done with the mess and out on my bike. I took a $275 punch to the mouth for “failing to obtain a permit”, but mountain bikers being who they are quickly stepped up and I was assaulted with hands full of cash to help pay the fine. Thanks everyone, it means a lot!
I have quite a bit more to write about the adventure that was KTR 2007. Right now my hands hurt, my butt hurts, my legs feel like stone, and my mojo has gone seriously AWOL.
One thing that stands out over all the din of the Government nitpicking semantics, is the incredibly solid, standout people who do the things we love to do. It would have been very easy for someone at the trail head to lose their temper and send a large snowball rolling down a slippery slope. Instead people were quiet and logical, polite and intelligent. Thanks everyone for keeping your heads.
There is more to come about all of this, but before I get into it, let me apologize for the mojo sapping debacle of having to argue our way into being able to ride our bikes on public lands.
9 Comments
Jason
May 21, 2007Glad it still went off. God forbid the PUBLIC be allowed to ride on PUBLIC land.
Dave Byers
May 21, 2007Adam, you handled a tough situation with the BLM very well and I think people fed off of your calmness. The way you handled it is especially impressive given the fact that you had pre-race juices flowing and had tried to communicate with the BLM ahead of time to no avail. I was also pleased to see the overall calmness of everyone as it could have easily escalted into an ugly verbal incident.
I had no extra cash on me for the race so please email me at dave dot byers at coolersoft.com with your address. I will be sending you some $$.
Thanks again.
Anonymous
May 21, 2007Surely it would have been easier just to get a permit.
Dicky
May 21, 2007Next year I guess race communication needs to be done by smoke signals.
Glad to hear nobody’s in the pokey.
Jeff Kerkove
May 21, 2007I bet any second now you are going to get contacted by Al Gore saying you need to pay him a user fee for using his Internet.
🙂
Anonymous
May 21, 2007You are the last person who needs to apologize for what happened at the start. I, personally, was rather bemused by it all. But I’d like to make a donation for the “permit.” You’ll be getting an MTBR PM for that purpose soon.
Thank you for taking one for the team!
Ed
May 21, 2007It was a total blast Adam!
And as I said last year; I’m NEVER doing this again 😉
See you at the next snipe hunt.
Ed
LyndaW
May 21, 2007Adam,
Thanks for taking the mojo hit with class and grace. It shielded me (and others) from it and I was able to go out and have the kind of KT experience I had last year. I had a fab day.
Lynda
Cellarrat
May 22, 2007Was a super day… Thanks if you ever wanna place to ride and crash in the front range let me know!