A diverse set of mountain bike tidbits for you this morning:

US National Mountain Bike Championships @ Sol Vista (Granby, CO) this weekend. This is the first year Nationals are being held in the state of Colorado and while the XC course may not cover the best trails Colorado has to offer, it will definitely be challenging, especially to those used to riding closer to sea level. Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski is the favorite in the cross-country race after winning the marathon cross-country national race at the Firecracker 50 in Breckenridge earlier this summer. He also has a decent shot at winning short track as well which would make him the first rider to win all 3 titles in a single year.

If you’re heading to the races this weekend give us a shout - we’d love to post your pics and hear about the race!

Trail mediators: Can’t we all just get along? That line was famously spoken by Rodney King during the Los Angeles riots of 1992 and today a mini-riot is brewing among various Los Angeles trail user groups. Back in May the City of Los Angeles hired the Osprey Group from Colorado to mediate a proposal allowing mountain bikes in city parks but it sounds like things didn’t go so well. In fact the final session ended “with hikers and equestrians refusing to give an inch to mountain bikers in city parks.” One local CORBA mountain bike club member had to apologize for losing his temper during the meeting and the mediators packed up and returned to Colorado with little to show for their efforts.

While mountain bikers and other trail groups are finding common ground elsewhere, the opposition is well organized in Los Angeles with the Sierra Club and the National Equestrian groups getting involved in the fight. Let’s just hope this stays civilized…

Bike Shop Ettiquette. Ok, so this one is just for fun and if you’re offended by foul language you may want to skip the link. A Seattle bike shop worker has posted some “tips” for interacting with your local bike shop this summer and these are a few of my favorite lines:

1. So you want a bike that you can ride to work, goes really fast, is good for that triathlon you’re doing this summer (snicker), is good on trails and mud, and costs less than $300. Yeah. Listen, I want a car that can go 200 miles an hour, tow a boat, has room for five adults, is easy to parallel park but can carry plywood, gets 60mpg, and only costs $3,000. (B)ikes can be fast, light, cheap and comfortable. Pick two, and we’re all good.
2. No, I don’t know how much a good bike costs. For some, spending $500 dollars is a kingly sum. For others, $500 won’t buy you one good wheel. You really need to have an idea of what you want, because every one of you raccoons “doesn’t want to spend too much”.
3. I don’t know what size of bike you need. The only thing that I can tell over the phone is that you sound fat. I don’t care how tall you are. I don’t care how long your inseam is. Don’t complain to me that you don’t want to come ALL THE WAY down to the bike shop to get fitted for a bike.

Ha! Sounds like somebody is getting a little stressed dealing with customers this summer. Still, it might be a good idea to treat your LBS workers with a little extra patience - they’d rather be out riding too!

Saturday was National Trails Day and I got a chance to help out with the MTB trail reroutes out at Sope Creek just outside Atlanta. I assumed this would be just another monthly SORBA work day with maybe a dozen volunteers so I was blown away to see nearly 200 people ready to work at 8am! Apparently REI promoted National Trails Day involvement pretty hard and was able to get a good group out there, most of whom were not mountain bikers. The SORBA guys were clearly in charge though and ended up leading several groups of ~20 volunteers each.

My group (led by SORBA Atlanta prez. Tom Tomaka) was assigned trail closure duty - sorta like demolition work on a construction site. While we piled sticks, leaves, and logs on top of the old, eroded trail other groups were busy constructing split-rail fences at the entrances to the old trail to route riders and hikers to the new dirt. Still other groups did finish work on the new trail sections, clipping roots and tamping loose dirt to make the trails smooth as butter.

Trail closure step 1: Find sticks and logs to pile on closed trail.

Trail closure step 2: Place sticks and logs on trail.

Trail closure step 3: Cover with leaves. Where’d the old trail go?

Some die-hard Sope Creek riders will probably be disappointed to see the steep, rocky trail sections replaced with bench cut smoothness but the reroutes had to be done to address some serious erosion issues. It’s rare to see mountain bikes allowed at all on trails managed by the National Park Service like those at Sope Creek and the good news is that there are plans to build a brand new loop / network of bike trails in the park as early as this fall.

Long Cane Trails LLC did the initial machine work on the reroutes.

At the end of the day the volunteers were able to open at least 2 new trail reroutes which was honestly really satisfying. I managed to get a quick ride in on the new trails (”first tracks” as snowboarders would say) and I gotta say these new sections flow much better than the old stuff. I also ended up working with singletracks member GoldenGoose and didn’t even know it until afterward - small world (see if you can pick him out in the second photo above).

Even if you didn’t get a chance to help out in your area on Saturday, make a point to help with trail work at least once this summer - contact your local MTB club to get involved!

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

Ok, so this is BIG news. For those who don’t know, Marin County is basically where mountain biking was invented but for the last decade or so mountain bikers have been kicked off just about every trail in the area. Mount Tamalpais (Mt. Tam) in particular hosted many of the first (informal) mountain bike races and has been off limits to mountain bikes for years.

Now the California State Parks department is proposing opening 4 miles of trail in the foothills of Mt. Tam to mountain bikes and is soliciting public input. That’s where we come in.

Take a minute or two and fill out this comment form letting California State Parks know you support mountain biking in Marin County. Read more details below (from IMBA) so ya know what you’re talking about (also note the part about hiking and equestrian groups vowing to fight the proposal).

California State Parks has announced a proposal to open singletrack for mountain biking in Marin County, on the shoulders of Mt. Tamalpais. The agency plans to permit bicycle use on the 4-mile Bill’s Trail segment and is soliciting public commentary on the project.

This landmark opportunity is the direct result of more than three years of partnership building with the parks department by IMBA California, Access4Bikes and the Bicycle Trails Council of Marin. A successful opening of Bill’s Trail will set the stage for bicycle access to several other singletrack trails in Marin, which is widely considered to be one of the birthplaces of modern mountain biking. Despite its historic role, Marin has seen precious few opportunities for mountain biking open to the public in recent years.

Take Action! Tell California State Parks you support their decision to open Bill’s Trail to bicycles. The commentary period ends on June 26.

Located within the Mt. Tamaplais watershed in Samuel Taylor State Park, Bill’s Trail winds through native ferns, wildflowers and hazelnut trees. It averages a reasonable 7-percent grade, and its six switchbacks provide riders with multiple views of the surrounding landscapes. While it is expected that bike access on Bill’s Trail will be limited to alternate days at first, the parks department states that this stipulation will be open to further review.

California State Parks is expected to announce opportunities for bicycling on other nearby routes in upcoming months. The Diaz Ridge Trail, which runs through Mt. Tamalpais State Park and Golden Gate National Recreation Area property, is scheduled to receive a major reroute this summer. This project could produce shared-use singletrack joining State Parks and National Park Service properties.

A small number of local hiking and equestrian groups have vowed to fight against any new access for mountain biking in Marin County, despite plentiful evidence that well-designed trails can be successfully shared by various user groups, and that mountain biking is a sustainable, low-impact form of recreation. “I think that, broadly speaking, the community of trail users in Marin is ready for this,” says IMBA California Policy Advisor Tom Ward. “We have seen great success with our volunteer mountain bike patrol program there. Mountain bikers care deeply about protecting the gorgeous trails and natural areas in Marin, and we will continue working with like-minded groups.”

Japanese Gulch photo by singletracks member chris_donovan.

Last week we talked about the idea that hikers and other outdoor groups should work with mountain bikers to preserve public lands since united we stand… (you know the rest). Anyway, it seems the hiking and equestrian community still aren’t really on board with the concept and one hiker even chose to voice his opposition right here on the blog.

That’s why this next story is so refreshing: A developer is planning to build a huge warehouse next to Japanese Gulch in Everett, WA and residents aren’t too stoked on the idea so they’re asking mountain bikers to help them save the open space and trails. The residents have organized a group to preserve the gulch:

Members of the gulch group plan to reach out to the mountain biking community that rides through the gulch.

Mukilteo resident Dave Culler said he attended because he mountain bikes through the gulch. Culler said mountain biking Web sites refer to the gulch as one of the best places for biking in the area.

“The mountain biking community has tried to keep Japanese Gulch quiet so there’s no (bike) traffic,” he said. “But if they were concerned it would go away, they would help.”

Mountain bikers helping save an area from development would have been unheard of just a few years back. Today we have a voice and it’s our turn to help save the trails for everyone - hikers and bikers alike!

There’s an article over on NewWest.com about allowing mountain bikes in wilderness areas that’s stirring up some serious controversy (thanks to chukt for sending the link). The jist of the opinion piece is that rather than seeking to block mountain bikes from future wilderness areas, hikers and equestrians should work together with bikers to form a more powerful alliance to protect roadless areas. Seems pretty reasonable, right? Too bad many of the article’s commenters are pissed.

The author, Bill Schneider, points out that the Wilderness Act passed by Congress in 1964 did not contain the word “bicycle.” It was only in the 1980s that the Forest Service (not Congress) revised regulations to ban bicycles in wilderness areas. These days IMBA is a powerful lobby and Schneider argues that hikers need allies in preserving new wild and roadless areas in the US. (Note: IMBA is not currently trying to get bikes into existing wilderness areas.) If we work together instead of against one another, the argument goes, we’ll be able to protect more wilderness.

I probably spent 30 minutes yesterday reading the comments on this article and it gave me a new appreciation for what mountain bikers are up against when it comes to opening new areas for trails. While IMBA has had huge sucesses in the past few years we still have a long way to go - let’s all do our part to make sure mountain bikers have a voice!

Freeriding in BC? Nope - try central FL.

It must be frustrating to be a Florida mountain biker. The weather in Florida is great for riding pretty much year round but most of the trails are nearly pancake flat and damage from a single storm can shut down a trail system for years. Now there’s another threat to one of Florida’s most important mountain bike trails: budget cuts.

The Florida Office of Greenways and Trails (OGT) manages the land where Santos (an IMBA Epic) is located and is facing a potential 80% cut in funding. There is talk of rolling OGT into the state park system but this means the Santos freeride park and jump area may be nixed because “these types of uses are not compatible with the mission of the State Park system.” Yikes. The Ocala Mountain Bike Association has put together a sample letter Florida riders can send to their state representative and we’ve posted a copy on the forums for your convenience. Speak out and help save a FL MTB gem!

Speaking on Florida MTB trail challenges, the Blackwater State Forest MTB Trail Blog has some info on the latest storm damage and pics of a submerged road within the park. I’m not familiar with the Blackwater State Forest trails but from what I read on the blog this place has had some bad luck with forest fires and now flooding. Just goes to show you that mother nature can be a bitch sometimes - as a trailbuilder you just gotta get back in and rebuild.

Comment period is open for mountain bike route planning on the Colorado Grand Mesa. The end of the article has contact info for submitting comments to the Forest Service…

The Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forest announced that it is beginning planning for mountain bike (and other mechanized travel) on the Grand Mesa. These efforts will encompass the entire Grand Mesa National Forest and is a continuation of identifying a system of routes that bikers can use, that are environmentally friendly as well as, pleasurable for riders.  The Grand Valley Ranger District wants your ideas and comments.

“For the past 15 years the Grand Mesa National Forest has been involved in travel management planning, mostly involving motorized travel,” stated Connie Clementson, Grand Valley District Ranger.  “Now is the time to look at a planned, sustainable system of recreation trails and routes for mountain bikes that provide a quality recreation opportunity and protects sensitive areas and resources.”
Clementson went on to explain that the general focus of the effort is focusing on those existing routes that are open.

Information regarding the proposal and how to provide your comments can be found on the Forest’s website at www.fs.fed.us/r2/gmug/policy/#travel under “Grand Mesa Mechanized Travel” or contact Niccole Mortenson at 874-6616.

via the Delta County Independent

This week I read a couple articles about how mountain bikers are finally starting to turn the tide on trail closures and trail use conflicts through leadership and hard work. We’ve seen the impact hard working mountain bikers can have right here in our own backyard and apparently it’s happening all over the country.

In Pennsylvania’s Wissahickon Valley recent studies have shown that degraded and eroded park trails were definitely NOT caused by mountain biking but rather by poor water drainage (good study to pass on to your local land managers). In fact mountain bikers have partnered with a local non-profit to improve the trails and the two groups worked more than 3,700 volunteer hours in 2008 alone! The Philadelphia Mountain Biking Association (PMBA) has about 250 volunteers who have worked on trails in the Wissahickon Valley and they even managed to get a $10,000 grant from REI for their work. The great thing is that everyone, including hikers and equestrians, will benefit from the work being done by the PMBA.

In Asheville, NC mountain bikers are heading up an effort to rehab and create new trails on city land known as Richmond Hill. The trails at Richmond Hill have been neglected for some time and residents seemed at a loss for what to do - that is, until the mountain bikers showed up. Now SORBA Pisgah is leading trail work days every other Saturday starting this weekend to build trails for beginning to advanced riders right near the heart of downtown Asheville. Oh, and the hikers will get to enjoy the new and improved trails as well.

Yep, on the east coast and in the midwest it’s rare to have mountain bike trails handed to us and if we want more bike trails we’re gonna have to take the lead ourselves. Find (or create) a local group and get connected on a trail project this year - let’s all be leaders in 2009!

Check out our list of local mountain bike clubs to find a group in your area!