It has been 4 days since we recieved the death sentence from the land owner on Tuesday night and I'm finally ready to say something. When I got off the phone with Brad, my wife could tell that someone died. Luckily, it was not a person, but it fells like it was with all the caring and nuturing and developing and countless hours Brad and I have put into the trails since the October 2007 reserection. Don't get me wrong, there has been alot of other people that have dug or dialed over the years, but we have done 90% of the mass digging. Many times during the winter or rainy season when everyone else is riding skateparks. I know we both know about every square foot of the plateu intimately.
As of right now the trails are going to remain open until the snow flies this coming winter then our permission to use the land is revoked. Things need to change though to keep the land owner happy until then.
There has been a lot of young kids going to the trails that are not old enough to drive and just being dropped off without adult supervision. On top of that they are yelling and being loud and annoying the neighbors, sometimes as early as 8:30 in the morning. There have been a couple times when they have been kicked out by the land owner while we have been at work. This needs to stop immediately and you should not be there unless 1 of the main guys are there. Also stay away from the damn storage trailer. It has been broken into atleast 3 times since October 2007. We are sure it has not been BMXers, but if the land owner sees you even looking at it, he will shoot you for trespassing. Then when we get there we will bury you in 1 of many available pre-dug graves.
We have offered to lease the land, buy the land, do what ever is necessary to keep the trails, but nothing is going to change his mind. We have had an open door policy for visitors and trying to get younger kids involved in trails, but all of the unknown people to the land owner is not sitting well. We can't blame him when he has to deal with drunk fucking morons trying to drive their F-250 the whole way back to the trails down a path a 4-wheeler barely fits on, because they heard about the trails. There is not much you can do about idiots finding you when we are trying to promote the trails like we have been. We should have just kept the trails to ourselves, but it is hard when you want to grow a BMX scene, let alone a trail scene.
So in the mean time, be respectful of the land owner, the trails and the handful of guys that have created them. Pick up your garbage, water before you ride, use normal talking voices and don't be there unless a local is there. We are still keeping our open door visitor policy so if you want to come ride before they are gone, get a hold of Brad or another local. We will be planning a blow out "Embrace the Squirell Jam" in the fall. It is really weird to go from dig, dig, dig, to there is no point in digging, get your runs in before it snows. There is still a lot of fun to be had, so get on your bike and ride. You might have to wait until the rain stops though.
I also wonder if Dave really thinks the world is coming to an end on December 21, 2012 like the predictions and he is trying to tell us to get as much riding in before it is too late. We will see, but I doubt it.
