Rocky Mountain Sport Riders

Background Statement

The club began to take shape in 1996 and became a non-profit, 501(c)3 in 2013. We have over 440 members and growing. Members support efforts including trail building and maintenance as well as the management of the Dry Lake MX Park. Every dollar we receive goes right back into maintaining your off-road motorcycle privileges whether that be on our facility or public land!

MORE ABOUT US:

Rocky Mountain Sport Riders (RMSR) is a family-oriented motorcycle club dedicated to preserving and expanding riding opportunities for people who enjoy riding dirt bikes in Colorado. We support balanced and responsible use of public lands while promoting respect, education, and stewardship of the environment. RMSR is recognized as the only entity representing and protecting the rights of off-road motorcycle users in the Vail Valley by the US Forest Service, the BLM, Eagle County, and most local governments in the Valley. We host volunteer workdays for local trail clean-up and maintenance, and work with land managers to expand trail systems for public use.

RMSR manages Dry Lake Motocross Park, which has a strong focus on creating outdoor recreational opportunities for kids and families through dirt biking. We have 6 different training areas to learn and practice on, ranging in size from a pee-wee track for the little kids to a professional motocross track for top athletes. We also have a five-mile single-track trail which is challenging but also safe and suitable for beginners, and an enduro-cross training area set up with logs, tractor tires, and boulders. Our proposed scope of work is to support and maintain the operations of this facility to provide a safe, controlled environment for people to recreate and learn in, and a location to host our events. Through building and maintaining a variety of features, we are able to keep the activities fun and challenging, and provide something for every ability level. The facility enforces a helmet rule and other safety guidelines to keep people mindful of recreating responsibly.

Our events such as “Take A Kid Dirt Biking Day” and Wednesday night "Kid Races" get the whole family involved and allow kids that are new to the sport to learn. We try to provide bikes and protective gear to kids who do not own or cannot afford their own equipment yet, as well as opportunities for families to participate in a gear swap. Kids of all ages and all backgrounds are encouraged to participate! We also have women's programs such as "Girls Ride Toosday" and women-only training clinics. These events provide a safe, un-intimidating environment for women to learn and ride in an otherwise male-dominated sport. In addition to the recreational opportunities, these events create a sense of empowerment and community for women.

The kids and families appreciate the outdoor facility and take pride in keeping it clean and maintained. We also host volunteer clean-up workdays at the park, as well as at multiple public trailheads which give people a sense of community, pride and responsibility for the environment we enjoy. A handful of local kids also have an opportunity to be employed at the motocross park. They work outdoors at the entry gate, and learn how to do minor repairs and maintenance around the facility. Families who participate in our events come from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds, and are able to share a common bond – the love of dirt biking!

Protecting and preserving our public trail systems are a big priority of RMSR. We work with the local BLM and USFS offices to do trail clean-up and trail maintenance days. We attend Open Space meetings to be a voice for the motorized community, and collaborate with other user groups (such as mountain bikers) to design trail systems which are amicable for all outdoor enthusiasts. We are also very active in trail expansion efforts. Creating new trails involves an extensive permitting process with expensive land surveys before construction can even begin. Currently, we are in Phase 1 of adding 15 additional miles of motorized single-track to BLM land in the Hardscrabble area (Gypsum, CO).

We have strong community involvement in the form of participation and volunteers, but have a great need for funds necessary for daily operations and repair/replacement of broken equipment at the MX Park, as well as land surveys and equipment for trail-building. We would love to be able to make some future purchases of things such as chainsaws, a generator, a skid steer, a dump trailer, soil amending materials, and emergency/safety equipment. Additional funding is needed for administration expenses for tasks including communications and outreach, collaborating with local governments and land managers, trail system stewardship, daily operation of the MX park, organizing and hosting events, and fundraising.