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Subject: BTC Appetite Seminar Action Report
Date: Fri, 27 Nov 1998 12:15:03 EST
From: D4er@aol.com

Thanksgiving 1998, Appetite Seminar Ride.

The first goal of this action was to have fun. The second was to politicize
this ride, to use it for local bike advocacy propaganda. The third goal was to
support the ride. I think we succeeded, to some degree, in all 3 goals.

The plan was to have a BTC information booth to give disseminate the following
information:
a. Inform riders that you need a pass to ride Tamarancho
b. Encourage riders to purchase a pass. Get addresses of people who want application sent to them
c. Encourage riders to come out for trailwork
d. Give out information about BTC

It was my opinion that in addition to a BTC informational table, we should
also support the ride, by giving out cookies or powerfood. BTC informally gave
me a budget of $50 to buy cookies, which was a nice gesture, but if 1,000
riders showed up would not go a long way. Mt. Val had suggested calling
Mother's Cookies for a donation. I called them and got turned down, but the
next phone call to Odwala, got a donation of 1,000 bars.

Okay, after a donation of 200 of the bars to trailwork, we had 800 bars (net
weight 110 pounds) to get to Horseshoe Junction, along with the BTC folding
information booth, as well as flyers, mailing labels, pens, etc..

Jim and I assembled a convoy, of 3 bikes (the bearded three- Jim, Danny,
Brent), and 3 trailers. We met at Jim's at 8am, loaded the trailers, and took
off 20 minutes later. Brent, showing great strength almost cleared the entire
fireroad to the 17 Knolls, while Jim and I pushed a good distance. My bike was
towing about 70 lbs, which includes: 42 lbs of bars, 8lbs of clothes and other
items, and the Bob trailer weighs 20 lbs. It was very, very hard to ride the
bikes on any type of uphill and even pushing up the hill was very, very hard.
Riding on levels was OK, but in the ride to the junction we only had about 15'
of level fireroad. So it goes.

Anyway, after a interesting stop to repair a mechanical at Hunter's Camp, we
got up the intersection on the East side of Green Hill, where Shrednicki was
taking group photos of people on the ride. We got to Horseshoe at 9:45 and set
up quickly.

Jim and I had talked about bringing a camp stove, pot, and hot chocolate, to
have hot drinks for ourselves and friends, but didn't have the room in the
trailers to do it. By surprise, about 20 minutes after we set up, Josh, an
employee at Start to Finish, and a friend, come riding up with trailers and
panniers, with stoves, 150 cups, coffee and hot cocoa, and 5 gallon water
container. They had picked the same location to have an informal beverage aid
station. I had a hot chocolate, with marshmallows, that was great.

Riders came in a steady stream, and most were very thankful for the free bars.
We got a number of addresses of people who wanted applications for Tamarancho,
and did a lot of PR. We did not enforce the pass rule, but we did put up
signs, saying NO TRESPASSING ahead in Boy Scouts, without pass, and this
discouraged a number of people from going down to the camp. When asked, we
also directed everyone to Repack. When riders were told that we built the
trails at Tamarancho they were thankful and some seemed interested in trail
building.

At about 11:00 it started to rain, not downpour, but a steady mild rain, and
the riders came in a steady stream as well, and it became more difficult to
get addresses (the pen didn't work, the labels got soaked), and we were
overloaded by the shear number of cyclists. At this point we were giving out
bars as fast as we could.

The scene at the junction was surreal, as large groups hung out, eating,
drinking, smoking, talking, even as it was raining. The coffee people took off
at about 11:30, and Jim and I stayed until 12:30. The riders were still
coming, but just in dribbles, and the rain was coming in buckets. We had given
out 700 bars, had about 100 left, and we packed up and left.

Jim and I both had a great time. It was fun to support the ride, we got lots
of thank- yous, riders appreciated the work BTC has done, and I think we
accomplished some of our goals. Next year, learning from what we did
yesterday, I think we can do even better. One thing that I would like to see
is real enforcement of the pass rule, with our table at the junction again,
but someone (Chewy?) checking at the entrance to B-17, and sending people
without passes back up to the ridge.

Danny Forer

Some of the riders seen at the Junction:

Marin types: Michael and Abbey, Albert, Vernon, Marty P., Peter Hively, Lisa
L., Steve O., Larry Nitro, John Brentlinger; Gary Fischer, Otis, Joe Breeze,
and another 75 people whose names I can't remember at this moment

East Bay Gang: Joe Ibis and his gang (Andy, Jim T, Phil K, Steve D. etc), Matt
Sharp (owner Sharp bikes), Charlie (owner Solano Bike), Arturo (from Duros)
and a bunch of BTC-East Bay folks.

Peninsular: ROMP gang- Peter Donohue and a large group of friends all in ROMP
jerseys.