GHORBA elects new leader

-- One of the founding members of the Greater Houston Off-Road Biking Association (GHORBA) has been elected president of the cycling advocacy organization.

Jeff Nielsen, who was instrumental in forming the group five years ago, takes over for Christina Case and will serve a term of up to three years.

"We've accomplished a great deal over the past few years and have grown from 30 members when we started to more than 130 registered members today," Nielsen said. "My focus will be on bringing more organization to the group and developing `signature' GHORBA events."

Riding classes, trail-maintenance clinics, a GHORBA-sponsored off-road race and the second Fat Tire Festival are among the events Nielsen is planning for 2003 and beyond.

The group's first spring event is an invitation-only children's mountain-biking clinic Saturday at Sunnyside Park.

GHORBA is introducing 50 inner-city kids to mountain biking. Several bikes have been donated and reconditioned for use at the clinic, with many of them to be given away to children at future events.

"This is an important part of our community outreach program and a way to bring mountain biking to kids who might not otherwise have an opportunity to learn about our sport," Nielsen said.

Work also continues in earnest with Houston's parks groups regarding off-road trail access in the city. User groups received a sneak peak at the latest version of the Memorial Park Master Plan late last month, and Nielsen was pleasantly surprised with what he saw.

"It was pretty agreeable," he said. "Virtually all of the trails currently being used for mountain biking would continue to be open. Some minor re-routes would be necessary, but these will affect less than 10 percent of the trails. The plan also showed new access in the north side of the park."

While this bodes well for the future of off-road cycling in Memorial, Nielsen isn't signaling victory just yet.

The plan was presented to the user groups as a "preliminary final plan," with another round of public comment and city council review still ahead.

Steve Sievert covers cycling for the Chronicle. His notebook appears Thursdays. Call him at 832-978-4359 or send e-mails to cycling@ev1.net.