Flightline Progress Blog

The Union Tribune did a write up on the FlightLIne situation this past saturday. If you would like to read the entire article you can do so over here. If you are looking for the hightlights…I’ll break it down for you.

CARLSBAD – A group of mountain-bike riders who used a clandestine web of trails for two decades is trying to save them, even as the paths are being fenced off and bulldozed away.

Called Flightline, for their proximity to McClellan-Palomar Airport, the trails had been fashioned over time by riders who built bridges and other features on brush-covered hills that, to them, were of questionable ownership.

When this article hit the presses, RideFlightLine.com has gathered over 1,300 signatures.

Spiegelberg said 100 acres east of the Carlsbad Safety Center near the city’s skate park is controlled by an agreement, called a conservation easement, that bars biking, horseback riding and motorcycling.

That’s why the fence went up.

Spiegelberg said he found some interesting features when he walked through the property recently before taking it over.

“One (trail) was pretty intense. It had bridges and switchbacks and lots of cleared vegetation,” he said, all potential violations of state or federal law.

“I posted it and said you’re on the land illegally, stop, and I got 5,000 e-mails.”

“The uniqueness of this is it’s in the middle of where we all live,” Rest, a Carlsbad resident, said. “There aren’t many places in the county where you can pay $600,000 for your starter home and learn you can’t ride in your backyard.”