Season Passes are one of those Love/Hate things in life. If you are affiliated with the group issuing the pass… you “LOVE” knowing that a good portion of money for the season is already in the bank no matter what the conditions will be like (think Skiing or 49’er Tickets)… But you “HATE” to be the guy having to shell out the money for the pass up front, knowing that you have best intentions to use every last dollar out of your pass, but never 100% sure what life will throw at you; so the Question is… do you hedge your bets and go “all in” for a Season Pass… or pay by the day?

If you’ve ever been a die hard Ski bum… a Season Pass is the greatest idea in the world… it’s costly up front, but works out well if you live near the mountain or have spot that you prefer over all others. You can ski for a ¼ day, a lunch break, a full day or even 1 day a week and still make out pretty good… Now flip sides… What about the dedicated fan of a football team (or baseball or basketball)… their team was awesome last year – made the playoffs, the big game, the whole deal…but then this year, the year you decided to buy a 4 pack of seat at the 50 yard line to be a part of the winning action… are just miserable losers… not even worth going for the beers and hotdogs. Again…LOVE/HATE… sometimes you win having that “Season Pass” but sometimes you were better off paying as you go.

What about Off Road riding? Is a Season Pass the way to go? There are already great Pass systems for the CA OHV locations - Hollister, Carnegie, Pismo, Prairie City and about 40 other places. The cost: 50 bucks and you get a pass that is good from the date you bought it, to that date a calendar year later. So for 10 visits to a State OHV park you break even… because otherwise it’s a 5 dollar fee a truckload to get in. You can also get a Season Pass for County parks like say…Metcalf … But that lets you into all Santa Clara Country Parks… not just the riding parks but also hiking to boating to camping…a full year from the date you pay up.

Which leads me into this question? Have you been to Clear Creek yet in 2008?

If you’re reading this, I would consider a good portion of you to be more heavy duty than the normal “weekend warrior” type, more like a “week-day warrior” if the conditions are right. So we all know when it’s been raining hard all week long and Thursday night the local weather guy says… “Should be a great “blue-bird” weekend folks… get outside and soak up that sunshine” … it does not take long for the phone to start ringing with riding/race buddies on the other end claiming…“CLEAR CREEK THIS WEEKEND, RIGHT…YOU IN?”

Back to that LOVE/HATE part of life… up to this point BLM areas have never been known to charge for entry…Stonyford – free, Cow Mountain – Free, but since Jan of 08’, Clear Creek is now the newest “pay to play” riding location. No one is saying that is a bad thing… The BLM in this location is up against all types of people trying to shut them down, and close areas of that park from every side of the property. So it’s a HATE to have to buy a pass specifically to ride at only one of several great winter time BLM spots, but LOVE the place so much, it’s worth it! - Just for the simple fact of supporting the cause!

The new plan is exactly that… NEW, so its needs a little cultivating to get it right and we hope time should fix all the little issues, but here’s how it works… You have 3 options:

OPTION A - Go for the day and pay 10$ for each bike, not truck, but bike - record your VIN (or Registration) number on a little round sticker that is to be visible on your fork. That 10 dollar pass is good for 1 week and after that the color of the sticker changes or…

OPTION B – Buy a season pass…80 dollars – good for 1 truck “placard” that you hang from the mirror PLUS 2 bike stickers… but these stickers have to be pre-registered to the bikes… you just can’t take any bike you want, it has to match the corresponding issues sticker or…

OPTION C – You buy the day pass and realize how much you really love the place and on the drive home…decide you want the season pass – so within that 1 week window that your recent 10$ pass is valid… you can still call up the office and share the serial number off the 10 bucks pass and apply it towards the 80 dollar Season Pass and then call your riding buddy and offer him the 2nd of your 2 bike passes for 40 bucks and now you and one of your riding buddies have season passes and a placard for any truck to get you in the door at Clear Creek!

All and all… not a bad deal, right? Let the BLM get the money up front to help with legal funds, trail help, more bathrooms, maps, tractors… and such. But when you go… ask them, nicely, to consider changing it to model other available season passes for Off-Road riding… MOST IMPORTANTLY - 1 year from the date you bought it because as of now…the “Clear Creek SEASON PASS” for 2 bikes & a truck is good through 2008 only - meaning Jan 1st 2008 to Dec 31st 2008, not say…March of 08 to March of 09. You can quickly see the issue… Soon there is the point of no return with this system… come OCT or NOV of this year, very few season passes will be sold until the 09 ones are offered in JAN… because the timing just will not work for people. The park will lose potential cash flow because of this.

Bottom line… if you plan to ride Clear Creek more than 4 times (Math: you and your buddy split an 80$ pass @ 40 each or pay 10$ per trip 4x’s) I say hurry up and buy it now while the year is new and let the BLM get the money up front to help the cause, our cause! For the record, I went with Option C – showed up not sure about it… and now I have a Season Pass on the way! It only took about 10 minutes on my first 2008 trip to C.C. and I had already made up my mind.

See you on the tight stuff!

For more info visit: http://www.blm.gov/content/etc/medialib/blm/ca/pdf/hollister.Par.18634.File.dat/bulletin.pdf

ATTORNEY GENERAL WILL ASK EPA TODAY FOR TOUGHER EMISSION RULES

By Steve Geissinger
Mercury News Sacramento Bureau

Article Launched: 01/29/2008 01:32:53 AM PST

SACRAMENTO - Attorney General Jerry Brown will petition federal regulators today to set stricter emission standards on off-road toys such as snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles and personal watercraft - an idea that manufacturers insist would trigger higher prices, lower performance and possibly even be the demise of some off-road vehicles.

Brown said he wants the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to exercise its authority under the Clean Air Act and court decisions to set greenhouse-gas emission standards for new off-road equipment, which also includes tractors, forklifts and some lawn mowers.

The EPA, which has so far failed to grant California ’s wishes under the Bush administration, has been ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court to act on global warming issues and is under increasing pressure from Democrats in Congress.

EPA spokesman Jonathan Shradar said his agency would not comment on the petition until it is filed by Brown. It seems highly unlikely, however, that the EPA - at least while President Bush is in office - would embrace Brown’s position.

Most of the off-road equipment affected by the petition are construction and agricultural equipment. All told, the petition addresses more than 17 million machines in California .

Brown’s move would be the latest effort in an ongoing battle by California and other states to win federal controls on greenhouse-gas emissions for cars, planes and ships, or autonomy to set their own standards.

Brown spokesman Gareth Lacy said the Attorney General’s Office also is eyeing action on trains but said locomotives were excluded from today’s petition because the issue involves different technological and legal issues.

In light of predicted global-warming consequences such as flooding, Brown said that “it’s either this, or go to high ground and wait.”

Brown acknowledged he was delving into “sensitive territory” by including recreational vehicles but said it is necessary.

Derrick Crandall, a spokesman for the American Recreation Coalition in Washington , D.C. , which represents recreational equipment enthusiasts and major manufacturers, said he supports environmental protection but said the industry wants to work with government on solutions rather than see mandates.

Crandall said the consequences for strict new emission standards might reach beyond making off-road equipment such as motorcycles, ATVs and boats less powerful and lighter weight.

“It just might even rule out certain kinds of vehicles in their entirety,” he said. “We need to be very careful about major new public policy initiatives.”

Crandall expressed concern that recreational equipment had been included with other off-road, industrial vehicles. Non-recreational vehicles account for more than 85 percent of the 220 million metric tons of greenhouse-gases spewed annually across the nation - the equivalent of 40 million cars.

But Brown said recreational equipment is a swiftly growing part of the off-road vehicle sector. He cited a California Air Resources Board study in his petition that estimated carbon dioxide emissions from recreational equipment and pleasure craft each grew by about one-third between 1990 and last year.

The increase in emissions from construction and mining machines in the state grew at a slightly faster pace of 35 percent, while industrial machines trailed at 9 percent.

Mark Baldassare, director of the independent Public Policy Institute of California poll, said that “this global warming proposal puts to the test statements by Californians in polls that they’re willing to seek changes, even if there are financial consequences.”

Jack Pitney, a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College , isn’t sure the public would make that choice.

“People favor strong action on the environment, and are even willing to say that no price for environmental protection is too high,” Pitney said, “until they themselves must pay it.”

Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, a Temecula Republican who has been active in supporting off-road motorized recreation, said today’s petition was “essentially useless” and would be “prohibitively costly if implemented.”

The states of Oregon , New Jersey , Massachusetts and Connecticut joined California ’s petition today while the Western Environmental Law Center filed a similar request.

“This is going to happen,” said center spokesman Dan Galpern. “The handwriting is on the wall.”

We just launched a new revision of the D36 web site (Sunday 1/6 8:40pm). The goal was to make upgrades to both the front end (site was about 3-4 years old) and the back end (some of the back end features have not been upgraded in close to 9 years).

The forums will be skinned with the new look as well as soon as the last few kinks are ironed out.

There are a couple new things that we are hoping to accomplish with the new site. The first is to have more images (Flickr section) as well as photo banners. If you have taken any recent photos or if you are a company who takes photos at the races please contact Jim Matheson at d36webmaster at yahoo dot com or send me a Private Message in the forums to Admin.

In addition, we are really hoping to keep the news section much more updated by bringing on a site editor. We are still looking for one. You do not have to be super technical. Take a look at this forum post for more information if you are interested or know of anyone who might be a good fit.

Here is the Flyer for the Thunderhill GP on Feb. 2-3. thunderhillgpflyer6.pdf