The Warrior's Society MTB Club directory

The Warrior's Society is an organization that maintains the trails in the Trabuco District of the Cleveland National Forest and protects the public's responsible access to this backcountry region. The Warriors Society was founded 30 years ago in 1995 and to this day remain deeply vested in maintaining our beloved trails.

The Warrior's Society Mountain Bike Club is based on the traditions of American Indians, particularly the plains tribes. For plains tribes, the Warrior's Society was made up of warriors/braves that had proven themselves courageous in battle and thereby shown they placed the protection of the tribe and their lands above all else.

The Warrior's Society Mountain Bike Club honors that American Indian tradition by protecting the responsible recreational access of our National Forest and fighting against those who would limit that access. The Warrior's Society has fought several access battles since our founding in 1995, including proposing Wilderness Designations and Forest Plan Revisions that would have banned mountain bike recreation in our, and other Southern California National Forests. With the help of the "mountain bike tribe," AKA the public, we defeated these proposals and let those that would try to limit our access know they face a powerful "tribe" that is not afraid to face them in the battle for mountain bikers responsible access to their National Forests.

The second way we honor this tradition is by hosting our club rides, providing a challenge that tests the endurance of those up to the challenge. In the beliefs of the Sioux (Lakota) and other American Indian tribes, a young brave would go on a Vision Quest as a rite of passage to adulthood and becoming a warrior. The brave would fast and face Mother Nature alone on her terms--"only the strong survive". The Vision Quest would last for days at a time with the brave seeking to bond with nature and the spirit world. From the spirit world would come a guide in the form of an animal that would show the brave what direction his life would take--and inspire him to great deeds and accomplishments.

Our Vision Quest event is based on this tradition, testing the participants' endurance and fortitude in one of the toughest mountain bike events in the nation. The Vision Quest course takes riders into the rugged Santa Ana mountains to ride the challenging terrain of Main Divide and the singletrack trails we maintain. The course changes from year to year and is typically over ten thousand feet of climbing and fifty miles of riding.

The first Vision Quest occurred 29 years ago when the first two founding members of the Warrior's Society, Chris "Dances With Hornets" Vargas and Pete "Shares The Vision" Allen, decided they wanted to challenge themselves by riding across the Santa Ana Mountains. From this first ride the Warrior's Society was born.

Protecting our access to our public lands also means preserving and maintaining the trails. To be a member of the Warrior's Society you must show your worth by "protecting our mountain bike tribe's land". In other words, by maintaining the trails, the Warrior's Society member honors the traditions in which the Warrior's Society was founded. We are not a paid membership organization. A person must be nominated to become a member based on their willingness to volunteer. Once granted membership, the member is awarded a Warrior's Society beaded coup feather to signify his membership.

Several Warrior's Society members have proven themselves not only by their dedication to maintaining our trails, but also by their achievements in our events. Club member Calvin "Keeps One Horse" Mulder not only rode the Vision Quest, he also ran the course in reverse after finishing on bike, taking him over 20 hours in total. Calvin also holds the rigid single speed record. Club member Bob "Wise Owl" Haislett has the record for the oldest person to finish the Vision Quest on both a geared and single speed bike (70 and 72 years old respectively). Bob has passed away but his memory lives on through the "Bob Haislett" award given to the most inspired rider in the Vision Quest.

For 30 years we have maintained the trails in the Trabuco District of the Cleveland National Forest and have fought to protect the public's responsible access. We are committed to continuing this work into the future.