lebenon tomorrow?

[JSkater127]

hey, i was wanting to ride at lebenon tomorrow... anybody been there recently? are all the sections open? any mud? I would think it would be frozen solid right now. let me know.

thanks
james.

[tedsti]

Very rideable, although technically it is closed ;) . If you do go, watch out for a couple of trees that have fallen across the trail.

Ted

[TrailDale]

Yea,

I know you want ro ride your bike so bad it hurts.

Then again, I'd like to have both a loving wife and a supermodel girlfriend.

Ain't going to happen tho - cause I value the trust and commitment I've made over many years of marriage. One stupid mistake on my part and that trust would evaporate.

Same for the mountain bike trails at Lebanon. Many people have spent countless hours building the trust of Dakota County Parks managament and staff. If we ride closed trails, the trust, and all the proviledges we've been granted, could evaporate.

Remember, it was just over a year ago that the Dakota County Parks Board was set to vote to implement a per-rider-fee on all mountain bikers (like $25 a year) will all the money going into the County's general fund and none of the money to the trails. MORC got involved, met with the the Board, and the initiative was killed before it ever came to a vote. Why? Because they trusted us when we told then that this was a bad idea.

Nobody can stop you from riding on a closed trail. Just realize the long-term consequences your actions can have on so many others.

Nothing against biking in the winter, but have you considered snowboarding??????????

Peace.

[Tim Wegner]

I made a call to Dakota County today to get a clarification on whether we could ride the trails. Terry Vikla understood our desire to ride and that this year it would make sense to keep the trails open but, (you knew there was a but) they have already gone to considerable time and expense to place notice that the trails are closed, then it would take more time and money to open the trails and then close them again when it snows and ski season is upon us.

Terry brought up the scenerio---it snows 2 inches, a die hard skier says I'm putting on my rock skis and going out. A die hard mountain biker says, it only snowed 2 inches there is no way anyone should be skiing and they meet in the parking lot. Who is the right one. Remember, we have this trail for at least 7-8 months out of each year, this is the ski season even though there is no snow. So it will just be simpler to keep the trails closed at this time.

As Dale said "we are were we are with Dakota County because of the trust factor", take that away and so goes opportunities for other trails in other parks in their system.

I want to ride too but have gone to hiking instead, there are some great winter hiking to be had at Lebanon. We might get to see other areas of this park that we have not seen before, so check it out. Sorry about the trails being closed but try to understand Dakota's position of trying to provide service to people without having enough budget to open and close trails several times each season.
TW