22 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY APRIL 10-16, 2025 www.montereycountynow.com event is already well underway, with first official meetings set to begin on May 1. “We’re already way ahead on 2026,” Frost says, adding that when he first started, planning didn’t start until just a few months in advance. “Now it’s a full 12 months.” In 2024, MORCA volunteers donated the highest number of hours in its history at more than 1,400, says the organization’s Vice President Peter Berridge. Fresh off the debut of the new bridge at the end of 2023, last year saw another significant improvement for Fort Ord National Monument visitors, courtesy of MORCA. Thanks to its donors, MORCA raised $13,500 through the 2023 Monterey County Gives! campaign to install porta-potties at the 8th and Gigling Trailhead near CSU Monterey Bay in Seaside. These units were placed in 2024, and since then, the group has raised another $16,000 for the ongoing maintenance, with an agreement from the County of Monterey that it will build a permanent restroom at this trailhead if MORCA can raise the annual maintenance fees for three years. MORCA’s annual Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day, which is slated again for the fall, continues to grow in popularity—and it helps the organization fulfill one of its core goals: introducing children to the world of cycling. MORCA maintains a large presence at the Sea Otter Classic with a bicycle obstacle course for kids, which it also brings to some local elementary schools. That course will have a bigger footprint at Sea Otter Classic this year, Berridge says. “It’s a huge hit, and it’s busy nonstop,” he says. “Ultimately it helps get more kids on bikes, and that’s our goal.” At this year’s Sea Otter Classic, MORCA will be encouraging attendees to participate in its “Sustain the Ride” campaign. “When Sea Otter is over, the slalom course gets bulldozed and the downhill course closes to public access,” Berridge says. “All that community energy from and for mountain biking, and all the tourism and economic stimulus generated from mountain biking, dies overnight.” Among the campaign’s goals are to keep up maintenance of the trails (Beardshear says more volunteers, especially of the younger generations, are always welcome to join and help out the OGs). The nonprofit appreciates donations of time and money to help its work in improving the trails and facilities, Berridge says. It also aims to create a dedicated space in Monterey County for the mountain biking community. As spectacular as Fort Ord National Monument is, its trails are meant for multiple types of users to enjoy—so you won’t see any mountain bike-specific features such as banked turns or jumps. Over the past year, MORCA rallied the mountain bike community to advocate for bike trails at the Old Capitol Site in Monterey, but in February, the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission recommended a park with only hiking trails and no bike access— whenever the city has the money to build it. “Even though it wasn’t the outcome we were hoping for, we’re better off for it,” Berridge says, noting that their efforts showed “how strongly greater Monterey desires bike trails and bike-specific features.” He adds, “Moving forward, we are highly motivated to continue that bike park initiative.” Looking to the future, Berridge says he’s excited about the potential of working with Friends of Laguna Seca, which assumed management of WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and the surrounding recreational area in August, and notes that early discussions are underway for MORCA to be involved in South County. “We hope to continue to keep that momentum going, getting more kids on bikes, getting more people on mountain bikes and creating more mountain bike trails, ideally close to home,” he says. Life Time Sea Otter Classic 2025 “It’s like painting the Golden Gate Bridge—by the time you’re done, you have to start over.”
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