Trail closures, land closures, government interaction, on and on and on ! When will this all end fellow tribe members, when we have no where left to ride ? Or when we finally make our stand ? I live in southern Utah, and up until now it had seemed that we had escaped all this crap, no longer, mecca is now under attack ! I have received an email from the "Utah Shared Access Alliance" and its is a disturbing proposal from the, Southern Utah wilderness Ass-ociation calling for congress to close 9,400,000 acres of current BLM lands to, and i quote, TO ALL MOUNTAIN BIKES AND MOTORIZED VEHICLES ! Enough is enough, its time to let our voice be heard, not with useless words or plea's, or lobbying the fat slobs that run our country, with all respect to IMBA (which i am a member of) its not working guys ! To all mountain bikers who care where they will ride tomorrow and the day after that, i am proposing a "National Poach a Trail Day" its the only way to save whats left. Imagine if 1000 hardcores showed up at the Grand Canyon and poached the mule trail, and at the very same time millions poached a recently closed trail of their choice, and made it known. This may seem excesive to some, but whats happening to OUR lands is not ? I urge my friend Jimmy Mac and Mountain Bike Action to print this letter ASAP, along with the attatched email i received, thanks for the time, and may the bike gods help us...
sincerly, kevin talbot....
September 21, 2009
Dear Dave,
We have attached below a copy of the Blue Ribbon Coalition's (BRC) Alert regarding the upcoming committee hearings and SUWA's wilderness bill. BRC is located in Idaho and is a strong advocate for the off-road community on land use issues. BRC has a national presence and works on issues all over the country. USA-ALL focuses solely on Utah land use issues. BRC is a strong partner and ally of USA-ALL and we encourage you to act on their suggestions.
BLUERIBBON COALITION ACTION ALERT!
House Subcommittee to Hear SUWA's Wilderness Bill
Action Requested
Dear BRC Action Alert Subscriber,
The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) last week announced that on October 1, 2009, their massive Utah Wilderness bill, known as the America's Red Rock Wilderness Act, will be heard in the U.S. House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee. According to SUWA, the bill would designate 9.4 million acres of land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Utah as Wilderness.
In their announcement, they write: "This visionary wilderness proposal was first introduced as legislation in Congress in 1989 by former Utah Congressman Wayne Owens." Visionary my eye. After Clinton traveled to Arizona to announce a massive 2 million acre National Monument in Utah, Utah's voters showed Owens the door. When he left, SUWA's bill stood at 5.7 million acres, an increase from a previous proposal of 4.1 million acres.
According to a Congressional Research Service report, 5.7 million BLM acres is nearly 3 times the BLM wilderness recommendations and 75% more than the BLM's Wilderness study acreage. The 5.7 million acres amounted to 26% of all BLM lands in Utah, and 11% of the entire state.
In 1995, not even the radicals at SUWA "visioned" that 14 years later their 5.7 million acre bill would balloon to 9.4 million acres. That's over 45% of all BLM lands in Utah off limits to all mountain bike and motorized recreation.
Utah's political representatives need to know that the majority of Utahans oppose this. And they need to hear it from you. Today please.
Rep. Rob Bishop: 202-225-0453
Rep. Jim Matheson: 202-225-3011
Rep. Jason Chaffetz: 202-225-7751
Be polite. None of Utah's Representatives or Senators support SUWA's madness. If you call now, you can make SUWA's bill like toxic waste, so that none of Utah's representatives will ever come near it. Ever.
As always, please call or email if you have questions or need help.
Brian Hawthorne
Public Lands Policy Director
BlueRibbon Coalition
208-237-1008 ext 102
__________________________________________
I would add that if you are a member of USA-ALL and or BRC that you mention that in all communications with your Congressman.
Sincerely,
Michael Swenson
Utah Shared Access Alliance
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
"Hardware, we love it, we love it"
k, i only have this one picture so it will have to do for now...
another podium for the alemap, what a badass ! girl is gonna have to get a trophy case soon me thinks.. for those lizards that dont know, duathlon is a run then bike then run again race, and im gonna be honest here, pam would kill me at this discipline, i only run if cops are chasing me, and cops havent chased me for a long time now, i could probably make a little time up on the bike portion but, she would destroy me on the runs, not the easiest thing for me to admit.. now heres the real kicker (seams like there is always one of those when pam is the subject, i love that) she drove right from this race that she took third in and played a competitive soccer game, AND THEY WON FOR GODS SAKE ! i really hit the jackpot, shes the fuckin BOMB !!! as soon as more pics become available i will get them on, bye lizards....

Labels:
lets take the hill....
Sunday, September 20, 2009
"My Angel with the badass streak !!!"





Friday, September 18, 2009
"Round 2, Bryce Canyon National Park"....
Thursday, September 17, 2009
"Acid flash back, definitely, acid flash back"
i probably will add another post with some more pictures, i just took about 30 minutes trying to choose five for this one, see i havent found out how to add the http codes or whatever, if you will remember i was going to put some advertising on and do all that fancy stuff, well im still as puter dumb as i was i just type faster than 9 words a minute now.. anyway, i have to share more than 5 pictures, pam took some really cool ones, good job cunucky !!
a so like i said, acid flash back.. no shit lizards, when i walked out to the edge that day and looked over this scene, it was all my brain could handle, hold on, im getting ahead of myself.. we had just loaded up the bikes, drank the celebratory corona, and left red canyon, we were on our way to bryce, now this was especially exciting for me cuz i knew what was coming but, it had been 25 years since i had been, i didnt even remember the little town outside the park, so when i saw for the first time in that long my jaw literally fell open, fuckin bryce, woow.....excellent.....
this is probably my favorite picture, well damn thats hard to do, nail down one very favorite picture, the trip was such a gas the whole way through and pam took such great pictures (see and you were afraid they wouldnt turn out ) that i will have to say this is one of my favorites, we were over at the first stop,"sunset point" i think, and we could see across the canyon to this other lookout so when we were finished at sunset point we went and found this place, its called,"inspiration point". anyway, this is such a great pic of pam, look at those guns, shit, did i tell you guys shes really fit ?
this is one of the bitchin pictures she took, i cant believe this place, i would spend hours here if possible, the whole time i was here i felt loopy, well, maybe it was part the canadian goddess tagging along, but honestly bryce canyon national park is some kinda otherworldly shit going on, blew my mind....
i dont know, i think we look pretty good together, i admit, shes way prettier than me, and much fitter, but i bet she couldnt lift me that way, shes just little. cant say enough about pam, any words just wouldnt do justice. shes smart and funny and strong and gorgeous and soulful and spirited and canadian, canadian? i know, a lizard and a cunuck, aint it cool....
this is "THE TREE" and it is one of the coolest living things i ever came across. ive been to the redwood forest in cali, and i gave general sherman a big ol' hug about 12 years ago, but this guy, woah, it just comes out of no where and goes up almost 150 feet im guessing, you just cant understand unless you see it for your self, if you go to bryce and hike the "navajo loop" trail you will understand. now how is this for a connection, its almost two weeks since pam left for victoria and i was in a barnes and nobile book store and found a post card of "THE TREE", im sending it to pam....
Monday, September 14, 2009
" The Canadian, and Thunder mountain, what a combo "...
Saturday, September 12, 2009
"Utaaaaaahhhh, what a place !!!"
all i can say about the way utah stood up for this girl is,"EPIC MAN".. the place shined like a diamond in the rough, kinda like me, yea, we wish huh lizards ? wooohooo!!! so we got up and i made some out in the bush coffee, and we headed down the mountain to get a bike and start the drive, unfortunately we would spend a lot of time in the truck this day, but it was well worth it, i think pam would agree....
this is the entrance to zion national park, good pic pam, you nailed some on this trip, we got to go through to the east entrance, to get to state road 89, i soo wanted to spend some time in zion, MY GOD is it bbbbeautiful, but we had to get places today, i was thinking that we might be able to hit the overlook trail on the way back, not, it was 9 or 10 pm when we came back through...
this is checker board mesa, and this is the first ever picture of "ALEMAP" and me, isnt she a doll ? we had really hit it off well in just a few hours, literally, as you can see in this picture pam has started to feel better about things, not that she ever felt bad per say, but ask her and im sure she'll tell you those first 4 and a half minutes standing in the united states were very nerve racking. at this point though it was becoming extremely evident that this was a great idea, and i was really fuckin happy that i was getting this opportunity to spend this time with this kickass canadian chick, and did i mention how fit ? WOOAAHH......
the angel, i found it ironic that this angel like girl was taking pictures of an angel all along the way, she even took a pic of it on top of gooseberry, it was something one of her friends gave her....
"THUNDER MOUNTAIN"
this is the parking lot at the entrance to red canyon, from here you can use this paved bike path to get to the top of the trail head, its a nice ride through some trees and into the red dirt, you even get a taste of some of the hoodoos, i love that word, hoodoos. so it was on now, we were about to ride one of the most visual trails maybe on planet earth, no shit, those that have been will confirm, the lure of the holy red dirt calls to us, we cannot resist its curiuos charms, damn, maybe i should go to thunder mountain this weekend !!!
Friday, September 11, 2009
"OMG, theres an Angel in my truck !"
so the day had arived, i still couldnt fathom that this super pretty chick was coming to see me from another freakin country, it was in my eyes a monumental effort, caution to the wind, trusting me completely without ever meeting face to face, coming to a place she had never been, its just something that doesnt happen every day, and has never happened to me...
this is a picture taken before pam left the airport in victoria, these are her friends susan and leasa, they were worried about their friend, i think they were more worried than pam, although that would change when she landed in las vegas and i wasnt there to greet her. i was even early to the airport,walked into terminal #1 and causually made my way around looking for info on her flight, it didnt take long that i realized i might be in the wrong place. there was one flight coming from canada but it was us air and she was coming in on air canada so i went to the us air counter and asked if they could help me. it took the lady all of two minutes to find the flight pam was on and sure as shit i was in the wrong terminal. (for further info to all lizards picking up international flights in vegas, teminal #2 man #2 ! )
i was only a couple minutes late , but when i walked up to her with my canadian flag it was obvious that she was a little shaken, and when i reached for a hug the poor girl was trembling, i felt so bad, but i didnt let it get to me, cuz i knew confidence would ease her nerves. so we hopped in the truck and off we went, i tried to get out of sin city toot sweet but we needed to get some beers and some wine for i live in utah and, well you all know, ya get it before you come here. she was really quiet at this time so i kept trying to make conversation, again to help her relax, it was such a rush, and i couldnt get over how beautiful she was, sure i had looked at her pics over and over, but they did no justice to her and especially her fitness, this girl is fit lizards, guns and cuts, wooaahh, all my friends know how i feel about that shit !!
out on the road she started to loosen up a bit and we began talking about the next 4 days, it was so cool to know what lay ahead and be so confident in the fact that i was about to blow this girls mind with mountain biking and camping on the goose, riding at thunder mountain, going through zion and hiking at bryce, this was to be a bomb ass trip, yet, i still had no idea...
we hit st george and needed fire wood and i had to pick up the skull and my bike, so we stopped by the house and did what i needed and then off to the goose, it was starting to get dark which bummed me a little cuz you know how cool it is going out to gooseberry, the views are mind boggling, although i knew it may lead to a bit more of the mystery when she woke up in the morning...
so the journey had begun, the goose was as inviting as it had ever been, the full moon was out and it was so damn comfortable that night, like it had been made just for us, i felt so alive that night i just couldnt get over how excited i was for this adventure, i couldnt sleep for shit, i wanted to spend every second with her, sleeping seemed like such a waste of time. so this that and the other thing and i finally did get some zzz's but i was to stoked to get on the bikes at thunder mountain that it was light sleep at best. so there we were, it was now reality, the angel was in my arms...
Labels:
business papers...,
my papers
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Hey Lizard land, meet "THE ALEMAP".....





Saturday, August 1, 2009
"THE 6 DAY ASSAULT OF BRIAN HEAD, UT"
the boys were back in town, the cali boys that is, kj, krisp, and the kid. they rolled into brian head about 10 am friday morn, maximus followed about an hour later, zaun and i made it to the top on thursday and went for a short one across the top to cedar breaks national monument, had a safety meeting and started trying to breathe at over 10,000 feet, we would be camping the next 5 nights at 9800 and riding above 11,000 over and over again, it promised to be a time lizard fans, oh and that one hater you, where ya been ? havent heard from you for awhile !!!
left to right: krisper, kj, subway, waitin, the zaun, cardiac kid, and the one and only maximus, i am standing at 11,310 feet every one is at the 307 level, told you i would climb higher than all you pussies, ha , what now ?
when we got to the top that first day we were all breathing a little hard but it looked like we would lose the zauner, hey face down , is that chicken on your sidis, oh wait, turned out he was ok , the chicken thing was another time, sorry bud, hate to bring that memory back for ya ....
so day one was the climb up the paved road from town to the dirt road to the peak, then descend the 300 feet to the trail heads, back up a little climb and across the top of the surrounding world, to the junction of sidney peaks trail, dark hollow, and louder ponds. we went down louder for a mostly down hill trail that rocks, its about a 2200 foot loss in about 8 miles and comes out at sidney valley road, thats where we climbed back to the over look where maximus rock climbs some times and sidney peaks trail comes out, this is also where the forks of bunker creek start, i really cant suggest a better fork to descend, they both kick ass, probably the left fork is easier to climb back, but i think its a bit longer, which makes it a little funner to rail down i suppose, i dont know, you decide then tell me...



at any rate when you get to the bottom of either bunker fork you gotta climb back to 11,307 feet and you are now down around 8000, now most people set up shuttles for this ride, i call weak ass ! this climb it amazing, it will make you believe in a power greater that yourself, yes, the BIKE GODS, its so fuckin steep sometimes i dont think i will ever get that taste of my handle bars out of my mouth, krispers garmin read 27 % a number of times, woah !!
there was this cool rock out at the overlook that we sessioned a little bit, its about a 400 foot plunge on the right side. the view from here is crazy, you can see nevada, arizona and on a clear day almost colorado ( not coloraudo ), and its a straight shot to delano (not delauno )peak to the north in the tushars, yes , home of the tour the beaver, hehehehehe....
ah the road back, this was somewhere on the way back to the peak, we had planned on descending dark hollow when returning to the top but a few guys were a bit spent so some went back and me ,kj , zaun, krisper,and the kid took color country/marathon around the peak and down through the bike park...


it was a good efin day , i even dreamed of descending bunker left that night, i love it when bikes consume me to the point that i dream about them at night.....
Labels:
its raining on the lizard.....
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"thanks for your help tom, its one beautiful jersey"
i want more !!