sirhc Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 (edited) My wife got a call Tuesday night that Bill Markham lost his lease on the property he has been using for his schools and events. For those that don't know Mr.Bill is the International Trials School where he puts on great classes for newer riders and awesome smaller trials that have five sections and a short loop.He has brought more people into trials than anybody else I know with his demos and 100's of other trials things he does. There will be no more riding there as of May 1st. His summer series was just about to get started where he was going to have 2 or three trials a month,April 22nd. will be the last on there. This is a big blow to us and everybody here in Southern California not to mention Mr.Bill. I don't know if this is because of neighbors,the new Riverside law or the fact that the owner is trying to sell it I just heard they don't want bikes there any more. Funny how it affects kids..Mine started crying while my wife was telling me since that is where he mainly has learned to ride. This Sucks Edited April 16, 2006 by sirhc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan bechard Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 Bad deal and sure sorry to hear about that. It is going to get nothing but tighter and you guys in California are on the sharp point of the stick when it comes to idiotic environmental regulations and the like. Sounds to me like even private ownership of land is not even a guaranty of right to ride over there in your area when they can ban folks from riding on their own land. Are there alternates available? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mich lin Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 (edited) sirhc, let me tell you how I look at his problem! But hey, consider that I'm a radical. We too have taken home great joy from Mr. Bill's events! Maybe a moment of silence is in order? There is that new ordinance that was passed last week by the county that puts ultra strict motor noise limits on what was legal riding on private land, which you mentioned. What McGrath's dad was quoted as saying was " we now can't even start our motorcycles. They have a good size ranch on which they have had an MX training track for their famous son. The county supervisiors also passed the rule that not more than one motorcycle at a time can be run if it's on private property to boot. That means El Trial is also dead at Reed Valley or any future nationals! So these people really covered their anti-motorcycle bias with a one, two punch! You people outside this state might also consider, what they do in the socialist people's republic of Califorina, they do in your back yard soon in the rest of the nation. That's a free of charge, warm and fuzzy thought for your enjoyment! What's amazing to me in all this, is that this will not help stop illegal trail riding that's such a problem. It only makes illegal what was once legal private ownership of motorcycle riding areas. Now for the radical part of my veiw of all this. When they don't allow kids to have a place to be legal and play with their bikes and in the case of most trials kids, their family. Where do they go? It seems to me that they would rather have the kids get involved in gangs and drugs than ride! Sorry again, I'm cinical but hey, this tears out the kids hearts and where do they turn for that release, gangs and crime? Now if you think that's harsh, consider this incident! My son and a few of his gymnastics friends were making a student film in a local Santa Monica mountains state park. A ranger came and prohibited them from shooting their video without a professional filming permits! Which requires them to pay thousands of dollars in fees and have a forest ranger, fireman and police during the video shoot. These were kids, the oldest about 18, most being around 14 or younger! Yet this same park system has no problem with illegal immigrants having very loud parties and pick nics at the same location. Why? Not sure! I believe that if kids are not given an outlet for their enthusiasm, they will turn to gangs, drugs and mischief, including graffiti and crime. What better for youngsters and their families than to ride trials together? I'm not sure if anything is, do we turn to organized baseball, basketball or soccer now? No, these politicians would rather that the families break apart and the kids turn to gangs, guns, drugs, violence and crime. The government can make money off that! That's my thoughts on this topic, Sorry if they are a bit radical. Edited April 13, 2006 by Mich Lin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dabnabit Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 Riverside County OFF-HIGHWAY VEHICLE ORDINANCE Bottom right of page. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlracer Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 Hi Lane, I have a question wouldn't football,basketball,soccer and any other sport be to noisy also ? So what does that leave the kids to do play with there computers and not go out doors at all ? I feel sorry for all the people that can't ride on there own property anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuessenhigh Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 I wouldnt say they wanna get them into gangs, drugs etc... but having lived in Hong Kong, for a while, it all seems a bit like that place.!! There, they just want kids to work their asses off!!!!!!! study, study, and study...NOTHING else it seems. I know some families who wouldnt take their kids hiking 'cause even that is frowned upon..(mosquitos and oooh my poor little Johnny might fall over and graze his knee)as for any kind of motorsport..well the gov'ent there seems to hate it nearly as much as anything with 2 wheels is hated in UK. poor kids eh!!!!!!!...what a boring time they'll have! Sorry..rant over Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nsaqam Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 That is so wrong for Mr. Markham to lose his venue for teaching children to have fun in a responsible way. As to the Riverside ordinance, I just read on KTMTalk.com that a large group of off-road organizations just filed suit saying that the ordinance passed in Riverside violates a number of existing State and Federal laws. This was from RacerX magazine, in the breaking news section of their website. I'd post a link but I have no idea how to do that. Here in Minnesota they just voted to open up MORE State land to OHV's and we have taxpayer funded riding areas throughout the State that are free and have very nice riding areas. The Rangers who work there are very helpful and want you to have fun. This is in supposedly liberal MN! Having both Arctic Cat and Polaris based in the State probably helps too. Bill, I have 127 acres in Northern MN you can use for your schools! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mich lin Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 Well the point I was trying to make was the parties with the Mexican nationals are REALLY loud, much louder than a trials bike. That noise is OK I guess! I've been to Hong Kong as well! I also work with a lot of people from Hong Kong and the mafia and gangs are REALLY bad there. In LA we face Mexican gangs, Chinese Gangs, the Bloods and Crips and the Vietnamese gangs. Then of course the standard old motorcycle gangs! I suppose we are lumped in with them? Most of them are Euro -American gangs, so they must be outlawed first. Andy, I need to be banned now! I just made a raceist statement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted April 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 It passed but,right now it is being held up in courts.Maybe this time the long judecial system will help. I haven't talked to Mr.bill myself so I don't know if this is the issue or not,the owners just don't want us there. There is alot of riding going on at the places around it and there are no fences so there is always some jerks coming threw riding double on there four wheelers with no helmets.These are the neighbors so I don't think they complaining. I hope he can find another place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dman Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 I can't understand why our government gets the right to tell us what we can and can't do on our OWN property considering when I ride I put out less emissions than the person that travels into the city to the zoo or aquarium or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ringo Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 Maybe a moment of silence is in order? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Boy wouldn't that be nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted April 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2006 (edited) Another little bit.... I guess the owner wants to put cows on the property.I don't know if there is more to it than that,thats just what I heard. If anybody wants to see what Mr.Bill does its www.itstrials.com Edited April 14, 2006 by sirhc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan bechard Posted April 14, 2006 Report Share Posted April 14, 2006 Any possibility of a gang of you getting together and buying property as a club or group and having a riding area? It will more then likely have to involve other disciplines of motorcyle riding to make it work such as HS and MX but there are several successful models. The two that I look at all the time are Stoney lonesome Motorcycle Club in IN and Saddleback east in KY. I have thought and looked at many times to try and do something similar to that here, but have not pulled it off. We have been blessed with having more riding area's open to us (trials guys) then we can even use, right here around town. Even when we have lost some of the ones we had, there are still plenty. (here) I have a certain distrust of the MX side of the house after they caused us to lose the last riding area I had open to us here on post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ringo Posted April 14, 2006 Report Share Posted April 14, 2006 Alan, We [ATA] started a 'land fund' a few years back but the reality is that we live in Southern California and the price of land is prohibitive to this. I've inquired on pieces of land out in the Lucerne Valley area that have nothing but huge rocks and are basically unbuildable yet an acre of the land is listed for $50-$100k. Add property tax and liability to that and it makes it nearly impossible. On top of that you have the 'peoples republic of California' making laws about not being able to ride on private property. This whole Riverside County crap is really a sign of the times. Many people left Orange County to get "out in the boonies" so that they could purchase a few acres of land to ride their motorcycles on. Now they've been told that they can't ride..... I hate politics so I'm simply going to ride my motorcycle. If it makes me a criminal, well... I say we hold our events and simply pay the fines that may incur. Much cheaper than buying property. Hell, the oil refineries blow off excess gas on a daily basis and the government simply gives them their fine over and over again. They make so much money doing what they do that the fines are insignificant. Just ride the motorcycle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nsaqam Posted April 14, 2006 Report Share Posted April 14, 2006 I've said this before in reference to the Riverside County ordinance on other forums. People get all bent about these politicians making insane laws and they say they hate politics and want nothing to do with it. That is precisely the wrong thing to do! Politics may be distasteful and dastardly but it is a fact of life, always will be. I think it would be far more helpful if we were to get far MORE involved in politics and work hard to elect those who hold our views. If you can't find someone out there running for office who supports your issues then you may need to try to educate them or even consider a run yourself. People advocate sending money to these National organizations like the BRC or ORBA, that's fine but I think that money would be far more effective if it were spent in your own locality supporting sympathetic politicians. What happens in Riverside will make no difference to me in MN if we have elected politicians in MN who support our rights. Find local politicians who think like you and support them however you can. That will be the best defense against idiotic rules made by idiot politicians. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.