Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125572
..... ....,. ~ "A_riel' I Only Weekly Metorcycle tlew"." y_n ~ _II FlItST ,. &411 tI. L g Beadl BlvtI. L g Beach, Calif•••5 Or: Bel ., LHg Beach, Calif. _ --"'."1 Pili- - 'NoJ__ • • • • • VOICES OF THE WEST STATE PARK DEPT. A 0 TRAIL BIKES Every person who is in terested in the sport of motorcycle trail r idiiig and who r eads with in terest the various things di rected at him and hi s sport through legislati ve acts and the closing of public areas to his use should be bappy to r ead the following. Because of the keen interest to suPPly a place where all r ecreational needs may be met the California state Park an d Recreation Departm ent bave Included in their plans for the PL Mugu Recreati on area 400 acres to be dev eloped as a mo torcycle trail and camping site. The Cone jo Trail Rlder s , a trail bike club in Thousand Oaks, and myself as the ir Pre s i d e n t , bave been working closely with the Department in the initial planning of the area for the past year• I' ve met with members of the staff 00 many different occasions and 1 wrote a report to Mr. WlJJiam Penn Matt, the Director of the Park and Re ereati oo Department. in it I discussed the various id eas that could be incorporated into a motor cycle .. playground" • Also included in that report were discussions 00 noise and erosion caused by motorcycles. In our most recent meeti ng with Mr. Eugene Boucher, Senior Landscape Architect for the Department, we were asked as a club to bring out our bikes equipped with spark arrestors for a noise level test in the proposed riding area. The test was a success inaSmuch that the bikes could not be beard in the main complex of the park, wb1ch was ooe d the concerns of the DepartmenL Score one for our side. But there are bigger battles yet to be won, t1ius the reason for this letter. Let me give you some particulars 011 the overall park plan. The PL . Mugu Recreation area. located adjacent to the coast in the southwest corner 0( Ventura Count;y, ts composed 0( some soeo acres. The terrain consists of rugged bills to a large genUe rolling valley. It ts within this Jarge grassy valley that the main complex of the recreatioo ar-. will be located. Within the complex will be camping spots of all types including a group of sleeping cabins. There will be a Jarge s wimming pool, tennis courts, a large 18 bole golf course, a 50 room hotel, Jarge free play areas an d a complete shopping center. Within a portion of the bills surrounding the valley the y bave included plans for a model airplane area, a rifle and pi stol range, e qu e s t r ia n stahle and riding trails, and our area, the motorcycle playground. As you can see, this ts not just an ordinary park, but it is .as the name i mpli es, a total recreation area. Also, a great deal of the park will be preserved as a wilderness area and will be used exclusively for bikers. They also had our interests in mind when they planned 400 acres of bills for. a motorcycle play and camping area, even though 400 acres ts not really enough, nor is the proposed 50 camp sites. However, after having finally seen the area and having talked enough times to know what their concept of a motorcycle trail area is, I feel, although I doo'hrisb to throw cold _ter 00 the project, that it may be tax dollars spent not necessarily needlessly, hot perhaps unwisely. I have been asked bY the Park and Recreatioo IJepartment to get a number d representatives from the various trail club6 in Southern california together for the purpose of d1scussion d the propose