Santa Teresa Park (San Jose, CA) photo by gab26.
Tomorrow is National Trails Day here in the US and as a mountain biker I gotta say I’m a little confused about what I’m supposed to do. Over on the IMBA website there isn’t a single mention of National Trails Day (other than a news item from 1998) and the SORBA website is linking to the American Hiking Society to help people find events to participate in. Huh? I thought mountain bikers were trail users too – I guess NTD is the American Hiking Society’s show.
Since IMBA doesn’t seem to be organizing or promoting events for mountain bikers to celebrate National Trails Day, I thought I’d put together a quick list of ideas and events for tomorrow.
1. Take a beginner / first time rider on a mountain bike trail. Yep, there’s really nothing better than introducing n00bs to mountain biking and (hopefully) a greater appreciation for trails and outdoor spaces. National Trails Day isn’t the day to shred and terrorize other trail users (nor is any other day for that matter) so take it easy and help others get comfortable on the trails.
2. Get to work. SORBA Atlanta (my local club) is hosting a trail work day at Sope Creek with a group ride to follow and I reckon many other clubs are doing the same. Oddly (or perhaps shrewdly) enough the Sope Creek event is being promoted on the American Hiking Society website rather than SORBA’s site. Could this be a way to show hikers that mountain bikers are good for the trails? I think so – let’s crash this party (in a good way).
Finally, here are a few National Trails Day events for mountain bikers I found through a quick Google search. This list isn’t even close to complete so if you know of an event in your area go ahead and post it up here in the comments. Happy Trails Day!
EPIC Mountain Bike Ride (Irvine, CA)
Trail work / Group ride @ Legend Park (Clayton, NC)
SORBA work / Group ride @ Sope Creek (Atlanta, GA)
Trail work @ Crested Butte Mountain (Crested Butte, CO)
Trail work @ Sprague Book Park (Glenwood, NY)
Grand Opening of Raisin Woods MTB Park (Dalton, GA)
Festival @ Bur Mill Park (Greensboro, NC)
Trail work @ Riverside Park (Hartford, CT)
Multiple events/rides happening in West Virginia State Parks
