Sandia Mountains Bolting Issues

Just got back from a meeting at the climbing gym to discus some issues that have come up about bolting in the Sandias. The ranger district want to put some restrictions on the placement of fixed anchors in the range. This was coming eventually on a national level but way put on the fast track locally by some climbers getting caught using a power drill which is illegal and the impression, right or not, that many of the new routes that have been put up were done so with a power drill.

What will ultimately come of this is that there will likely be an application process to put up new routes and the applications will need to be approved by the NFS. As climbers we can either participate or not. If we don't participate then we have no say in what we feel is appropriate or not and I also feel it is important to show the NFS that we as climbers feel strongly about our rights to be able to add new routes. On the other hand we could not participate, essentially saying that we don't care and let them run the whole thing or just shut down the installation of new fixed anchors all together.

It is safe to say that most all climbers would like to see new routes that they feel are worth while additions get established, but this is where issues arise. What one climber feels is worthy another may think is a waste of time. How one climber puts up a route another might think is unethical. The problem is that the NFS does not care about any of these things, all they care about is the number of fixed anchors and if they were installed with a hand drill or a power drill.

Needless to say we had a 2 hour meeting that involved lots of veiled mud slinging about ethics and what routes belong and don't belong and very little time dedicated to coming up with something to actually present to the NFS. We are lucky in that the local resource manger is a climber himself, it makes it easier to communicate and he understands a little better what climbers are after. . . I don't know guess I'm just a little frustrated that you get a room full of climbers together to try and solve some issue and all you really end up getting from at least half the room is a bunch of unnecessary posturing.

Worst Customer Service Ever, Cycle Satation, Kona HI

We had a terrible rental experience though. The bikes were great but I've never experienced such poor customer service in my life. Even though they had the bikes available when we got in they said that if we picked them up we would have to have them back by the same time the following day which is absurd since that was the day we had them reserved for, so in theory they were planning on them being out all day anyway. We were told that there was a 2 hour grace period though. Then when we did go pick up the bikes we were told that there was only a 1 hour grace period, they can't even get their own policy straight. After that my parents and Linda rode the next morning kind of late, I rode later since someone had to stay back to watch Dylan. After finishing they were not going to make the 1 hour grace period and so took their time and ate some of the food that I had gotten while they were out. Eventually they made their way back to the bike shop to return the bikes and were lectured on how they really did not like to get bikes back late even though we had explained that they would probably be coming back late, even though this was still during the "day" that I'd reserved the bikes for in advance. They were also told again that it was a 2 hour grace period which they could have made if they had just headed back to the shop after riding but were 15-30 minutes late for. The guys was good enough though to not charge them for the extra day on the bikes, this was about the only thing they did right.
OK, so at this point we have 2 hour grace period and I was riding until sunset. Racing the setting sun along the Ironman course back into town was pretty cool. The next day we did our snorkeling trip in the morning and then, since we'd been told we had a 2 hour grace period, took showers and cleaned up before heading to the bike shop to return the bike I'd been riding. Well when we returned the bike the grace period had some how morphed back into a 1 hour time span and we were late, though 15 minutes early for the 2 hour and thus got charged for 3 days, since we had been previously charged for one day when the rest of the bikes were returned (though we could have made the 1 hour period if we'd just gone straight from the boat to the bike shop before cleaning up). On top of this we were charged a different rate for the same bike on the two charges???
Additionally when we were making the return, the mechanic, who I believe is an owner, was having a very heated conversation with another customer. It went something like this:
C-How long does the battery charge last on this (Garmin or something)?
M-Long enough
C-???
M-About 8 hours, it is great
C-Sometimes I am out longer than that.
M-You NEED to get faster.
Say what? He proceeded to tell the customer that maybe she should just quit cycling or something, this in front of other customers. Needless to say there was a bit of yelling going on and a promise to never return to the shop again which I can completely agree with and would recommend never going to this bike shop as there is another only a couple miles away that also rents bikes. I never went into the other shop but there is no way that they could be as bad and one of the locals that was working on the boat recommended them to us after hearing our tale of Cycle Station.