The Amateur Freestyle Motocross Association (AFMXA) is holding their first amateur freestyle motorcross competition on the west coast at the Pala Raceway in Southern California this weekend. The event features some of the best amateurs from around the world who are at least 14 years old.

After the competition some of the best professional freestyle riders like Brian Deegan, Nate Adams, Jeremy "Twitch" Stenberg, Ronnie Faisst, Todd Potter and Mike Mason will be on hand to sign autographs and perform an FMX demo.

The AFMXA is a governing collective of Freestyle Motocross riders and action sports industry leaders who are trying to make FMX a safer sport. It was founded shortly after the tragic death of freestyle motocross legend Jeremy Lusk.

There is a new road to access the eastern dunes at Glamis via wash 25 in the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area (ISDRA). This new road will make it easier for campers to access the eastern dunes.

This was largely a volunteer effort by dune enthusiasts who helped by donating up to 40 hours a week during the hot summer months. Volunteers used water trucks and other heavy equipment to help with the construction of the road.

This new road is for street legal vehicles only. All OHVs are forbidden on the new wash road and should enter the area through the dunes only. Off-road tires will damage the road and will require more funding to be used in maintaining the road. You may be ticketed for riding off road vehicles on the road.

Halloween at Glamis sand dunes has marked the beginning of desert season for the offroading community in southern California and Arizona for generations. OHVers flock to the Imperial Sand Dune Recreation Area (ISDRA) to ride ATVs, motorcycles and buggies of all types.

This year the Dune Tour Spooktacular will be held in the ISDRA behind the Glamis Beach Store on October 30th and 31st in Glamis, Ca. and The All-Terrain Vehicle Safety Institute (ASI) will be offering free ATV safety training courses at 9am and 1pm Friday and Saturday during the event.

The ASI provides very good ATV safety training and is especially good with children. They explain things in a way that helps kids understand how ATV safety works instead of just telling them to be safe by doing this or this.

Keep in mind while you're out there, the dunes are different every year. They can even change from day to day. When you are coming to the top of a dune, never go straight over unless you're there to jump and have a spotter. Otherwise you should cross while riding parallel to the ridge so you can see what's on the other side.

Last week the United States Forest Service (USFS) released a document saying they would permanently close the Tellico Trail system despite the results of an independent study discounting the reasons for the proposed closure.

Caliber Engineering demonstrated that an effective management strategy for the Tellico Trail System would work and even provided examples on how to achieve the management goal.

The Forest Service has used extreme scenarios and peek conditions to make it's case about the water quality issue with the Tellico River. The same tactics have been used in the past with the Piersons' Milk Vetch (PMV) in the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area to close areas of Glamis.

Even though independent study by a well known botanist proved that the PMV was not in danger from OHV activity in the dunes with the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in which over half of the previously listed animals put on the endangered species list were removed due to errant data collected and reported by The Center For Biological Diversity (CBD) and The Sierra Club.

According to UTV Weekly, Chairman of the Rescue Tellico Committee, Jay Bird said "The Tellico River is in excellent shape and complies with all legal requirements. Only through blatant modification of proper methodology, such as measuring turbidity levels during peak runoff, can the Forest Service claim there is legal basis to take any action, let alone closure."

California's Air Resources Board (CARB) is setting difficult goals in it's Cool Cars regulations. Turns out it might just help Jeep sales.

There was a rumor going around recently that CARB (the California Air Resources Board) would in essence ban "black" cars because of their natural tendency to trap heat inside and thus require more "energy" to cool the car. As one would expect, I didn't see any mention of how that would work in cold climates where heating would require less energy because of the black car's ability to keep heat in. I've been assured by Dimitri Stanich from arb.ca.gov that that is not the case and that black cars would not be banned.

There was also a rumor saying it's going to do more than affect the use of "dark hue's" in car color; the process, it is said, could hinder many of the electronic devices we use in our vehicles, such as GPS units, cell phones and others that rely on an outside signal. I would give that more credibility considering the obvious reduction in radio reception I got after tinting a rear window that had a built-in antenna. We'll have to look in to that "rumor" as well.

In the mean time, CARBs latest regulation requires automakers to build cars with windows that block nearly 50% of the suns energy from entering a vehicle by 2014, and 60% by 2016. For the Jeep Wrangler soft-top, that's going to be impossible. The reflective properties that are required to meet the standards cannot be applied to the soft windows in the Jeep Wranger, which would effectively kill sales of those vehicles in California. Luckily the rumors have been discounted and the Cool Cars regulations are exempting the soft vinyl windows on the Jeep Wrangler.

What does that mean for Jeep Wrangler sales? Well, if the window coatings are affecting performance of electronics (that we happily depend on) and soft-top vinyl windows like those found in the Jeep are exempt, that would be a selling point for Jeeps and could literally increase sales. I'm just saying.

Read more about the CARB Cool Carsregulations and please let us know your thoughts on this latest round of peculiarities.

Image © Matt Finley

If you ride an ATV or other OHVs in the desert or other type of "playa lake", "mudflat" or "sandflat" your right to ride on public AND private land could be getting washed away in the name of The Clean Water Act.

According to a congressional bill, S 787, "intrastate lakes, rivers, streams (including intermittent streams), mudflats, sandflats, wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes, or natural ponds;". will be moved under federal jurisdiction and subject to regulation.

That's pretty much all the water except subterranean (well) water. The wordage in the original Clean Waters Act of 1972 for this bill was purposefully changed:

by striking `navigable waters' each place it appears and inserting `waters of the United States'.

This bill goes to the Senate on October 15, 2009. From there it goes to the House, then to the POTUS to be signed into law. This is in addition to the federal take-over of the auto industry, the credit and banking industry, the bid to seize the health-care industry, and everything else our current administration is trying to control.

via Search Results - THOMAS Library of Congress .

I recently did a review of The Protector ATV safety device, a plastic shield that covers the thumb throttle on an ATV from being bumped and causing accidental acceleration.

But once I installed The Protector, it became clear that for some riders there is a certain amount of risk involved with it's use.

In particular, people that have even a slight risk of crashing, rolling over or abruptly jarring the front wheels causing the handle-bars to jerk to the side are at risk of injury to the wrist or thumb.

In the event of a roll-over crash, The Protector could potentially cause severe injury to your right hand and/or wrist if it gets caught between The Protector and the ground, a leg or any other object. If the handle bars are jerked to the side, The Protector could cause injury as well by jamming the unprotected edge against the wrist or thumb.

You don't have to have that big of a shield in order to protect the throttle from accidental acceleration. A smaller shield with a different shape and a protective edge on the outside of the shield would go a long way in preventing un-necessary injuries.

Image © Matt Finley

Last week when I posted HR 1925: The Newest Federal Land Grab to Snatch Up 9 Million More Acres, I was not aware that world famous Moab OHV area was included in the list of closures.

Moab is one of the most well known OHV areas in the United States. It has been marketed as a recreational area for over a century and the thought of it being closed is almost unreal, kind of like I fell into a cartoon.

The Vice President for Government Relations of the American Motorcycle Association (AMA) Ed Moreland said "the measure is totally unreasonable and completely unacceptable" partly because there are ZERO representatives from Utah is supporting it. The bill is being pushed through by a New York congressman.

There's still time to call your representatives and let them know you're strictly against Congressmen from New York trying to close highly popular recreation areas several states away.

Image indigoprime

Yesterday the offroading community lost a true leader when Roy Denner, founder of the Off Road Business Association passed away after a 2 year battle with cancer.

Roy was key in helping the offroad industry with legal battles. He, along with his efforts, will be missed greatly. Our thoughts go out to Nancy and their close friends.

SAN DIEGO OFF ROAD MAGAZINE
Monday, September 28, 2009

We are saddened to report the loss of a dynamic, passionate crusader for off road rights. Roy Denner, founder of the Off Road Business Association passed away today, September 28, 2009 after a 23 month battle with pancreatic cancer.

Roy slipped away quietly in his home in the presence of his wife of 52 years. Nancy writes "he took his last breath while I was giving him a goodbye kiss. He had a very peaceful, pain free passing. His long battle is finally over and he is at peace. I am surrounded by close friends and family."

Roy devoted the last 15+ years of his life fighting legal battles on behalf of off road enthusiasts. He invested so many thousands of hours into this endeavor that in his final years he scarcely had time to participate in the sport himself.

Roy will be missed by many and we are all deeply indebted to the Denner family.

Sincerely, Steve & Sherri Kukla

from the ASA website

Jon Crowley over at UTVWeekly.com wrote a great tribute to Roy Denner.

The Fed is on another drunken binge of a land-grab in Utah as they try to confiscate another 9 million acres of public land away from, the public.

At this rate of pillage and plunder my kids won't have any public land left to ride their ATVs on with their kids.

The bill has been introduced to the house every year for the last 15 years and has been passed from Congressman to Congressmen. It seeks to close the land to mining, road and dam projects, ORVs and "other activities that would destroy the area's special character". However, it would still allow hunting, fishing, camping, packpacking/hiking, and even horseback riding, all of which have impacts on the environment and would "destroy the area's special character".

Hiking, backpacking and especially horseback riding cause trails and ruts just like ATVs do. And for this legislation to segregate ATVs while allowing horses and hikers is unfair and highly discriminatory.

I contacted my state officials through the ATVA website and told them in no un-certain terms to leave my public-owned land ALONE. You can do the same by going here and sending an email to your representative.

The list of areas being closed is long. If you're in Utah you probably know about some of these areas. If you're not from Utah, be careful, you may be next.

Designation- In accordance with the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.), the following areas in the State are designated as wilderness areas and as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System:

(1) Cane Spring Desert (approximately 18,000 acres).

(2) Dark Canyon (approximately 134,000 acres).

(3) Dirty Devil (approximately 242,000 acres).

(4) Fiddler Butte (approximately 92,000 acres).

(5) Flat Tops (approximately 30,000 acres).

Read more...