During the rest of my stay in Winter Park I was blown away by not only the sheer amount of people riding the Trestle Bike Park, but also by the presence of the most women I’ve ever seen riding bikes. These folks are on to something. The most obvious thing is that they’re having so much fun.
Late last spring we traveled way up north to work in Portland, Maine with local mountain bike club on our Trail Care Crew tour. While we were there I shot some images for an article featuring the riding in this hip town in the southern part of the state. The article was recently published on Bicycling.com
With only two visits to go we achieved another milestone in our Trail Care Crew travels – the highest visit. At 10,200 feet, Leadville Colorado is in the heart of the Rockies and home to the Cloud City Wheelers.
Had a chance to ride mountain bike trails in Salida last week. It was the perfect place to stretch the legs on the way to Denver from Santa Fe. After a very short detour off Highway 285 unloaded the bikes and gear in an epicenter of fat tire fun.
Over the course of the last two years we’ve seen and ridden a lot of different trails. For the most part, they serve a majority of the mountain bike population, but not every single rider. It’s our view that beginners and expert riders tend to be the most underserved in our sport. Collectively, we need to think seriously about two ideas; lowering the barrier of entry for new or less skilled riders and plan for the folks who continue to reach the highest levels of the stratosphere.
During the rest of our time in Prescott we focused on Trails and Rides/Social. We rolled into town early to attend Pint Nite, PMBA’s 2nd annual fundraiser (remember, they formed last spring…). It was great to kick back and hang with a very energized and friendly mountain bike community. It was all about being together and celebrating trails. This fall they are hosting The WonderSchlutt, a festival full of riding Prescott’s outstanding trails.
We rolled into the Tahoe Area on the heels of a very successful MTB Trails Conference that took place last October. It was an event that brought together the mountain bike community, the US Forest Service, and many other interested and dedicated parties. One significant outcome was the resurgence of TAMBA, the Tahoe Area Mountain Bike Association. We were happy to spend our final weekend in California helping everyone keep the momentum going.
As usual, we began at the grassroots. We also unveiled a new presentation dedicated to the subject. During the debut, we focused on being politically savvy and building the necessary relationships that help clubs get what they want.
One of our greatest assets as a Trail Care Crew is our ability to work with all groups. Although we do represent a mountain bike organization, we’re proud of the fact that we have interacted with a wide range of different trail users over the years. This weekend was no different; we had the pleasure of working with hikers and equestrians in addition to mountain bikers. It was a great opportunity to get away from the ‘us vs. them’ debate and get down to the subject that really matters: trails.
During the most recent visit on our southern California tour we worked with BLM, City of Palm Desert and local advocates in the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument. It was a great opportunity to team up with a federal land agency that is very open to providing quality mountain bike experiences.
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Tag: singletrack