The singletracks Name that MTB Trail contest starts today and the first two pics have already been posted. Head over to the contest page and submit your guesses now!

Everyone who submits at least one correct answer during the contest will score free singletracks stickers and the top three finishers will get $50 HuckNRoll gift cards PLUS two picks from the MTB grab bag. Full contest rules and details are available on the contest page. Winners will be announced following on August 11, 2011.

We’re kicking off a new contest next week so start brushing up on your MTB trail photo knowledge! For those who missed the last name-that-trail contest, here’s how it works: each day we’ll present 3 mountain bike trail photos that are posted somewhere on singletracks and we’ll ask you to ID each trail. Correct responses earn 1 point each and the members with the most points at the end will win prizes.

What are these prizes we speak of? How about $150 in HuckNRoll gift cards, Crankskins frame protection gear, Answer gloves, a Kore direct mount stem, and more.

The contest will run from Monday, August 1 through Monday, August 8 Wednesday, August 10 so don’t go anywhere!

Warm up: first comment on this blog post that correctly IDs the trail pictured above gets a set of singletracks stickers in the mail.

With just a few days left until the Sacred Rides Trail Review contest wraps up we thought we’d sweeten the pot a bit. Although the current leaders have each earned 700+ points, singletracks is giving away free t-shirts to any member who earns at least 50 points by March 31, 2010 and isn’t one of the top 3 finishers. And don’t forget, everyone with at least 1 point gets free stickers (113 members and counting).

Anyone can earn points by adding new trails, reviews, photos, video links, and GPS data. And those points start to add up, particularly when you add new trails to singletracks! Check this out: add just two new trails with a photo, review, and GPS data and you’ve got 50 points. Or add GPS data for just 5 trails. Or find 25 YouTube videos of mountain bike trails and send us the links (the contest leaders seem to have figured this one out quickly).

We’re working hard to moderate all the videos and map data we’ve received so far and we’re stoked to see who will walk away with the free MTB trip for two in BC!

For contest rules and leaderboard, click here.

Spring is just around the corner and with Daylight Saving time kicking in over the weekend, we’re ready to hit the trails! Singletracks has teamed up with Sacred Rides Mountain Bike Adventures to offer an incredible 3-day mountain bike trip for two in Fernie, British Columbia to the top trail content contributor from now until the end of this month.

Full contest details can be found here but this is the jist of it: we’ll award points for trail information, reviews, photos, videos, and GPS data submitted through March 31, 2011. Some content (like videos and GPS data) will be moderated before points are awarded; other items like trail info, reviews, and photos will be moderated after the contest period ends. To ensure your content is approved, make sure it’s original (not copied from another website) and it’s helpful to other mountain bikers.

The top point-getter scores the BC bike trip; second place is a Garmin GPS package and third is a $100 gift card from HuckNRoll. Be sure to check in at the contest leaderboard and official forum thread during the contest to get the latest!

Get stoked for mountain biking season and share your expert trail knowledge!

Congratulations to the February Forum contest winners, Dorado and kvnrbrts. Dorado’s post, “urban riding??” received 59 replies during the month of February, earning him the sweet Giro XAR helmet and matching DJ gloves. kvnrbrts’ post, “Random trail sightings…” received 42 replies which means he snagged the Crankskins 12 mil frame protection kit.

Thanks to Giro and Crankskins for sponsoring the contest – we saw a big increase in the quality and quantity of forum conversations during February and are stoked to see things continue into the spring and summer!

Stay tuned for a BIG trail contest announcement later this month…

Giro and Crankskins are sponsoring a February contest to help “Pump up the Forums” here on singletracks. Since this contest involves posting to the forum, we won’t give you the details here – head to the forums to get the deets. Talk to ya soon.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Diamondback Gear Review contest on singletracks this month. With nearly 1,000 new reviews and 4,000+ products added this has been our biggest contest by far and frankly we were a bit overwhelmed by the response. After combing through all the submissions over the past few days we’re ready to announce our winners.

1st place: joetutt (1,911 points) got an early lead and despite a serious threat during the third week of the contest, he was able to hold on to clinch the grand prize – a 2010 Diamondback Sortie Black mountain bike frame. We all expect un-boxing pics and in-depth reviews of this sweet ride!

2nd place: jbelmont earned himself 1,313 points to take home a set of ITS System 4 mountain bike tires. In recognition of his big effort we’re also throwing in a 5-year singletracks membership PLUS a singletracks t-shirt. Well done!

3rd place: Goo’s 269 points earned him a gnarly set of platform pedals from Xpedo which should making shredding the north Georgia DH runs even more exciting.

Wild card: Drum roll please… stevethousand added the ITS 909 mountain bike tire to his gear wishlist and Santa got the message loud and clear. A brand new set of 909s is on its way to Nebraska!

And for everyone who earned at least 1 point in the contest we’ll be sending out singletracks stickers in the mail. We’ll send everyone an email asking for shipping info (including our 4 big prize winners) later this week so watch your inbox.

Thanks again to our sponsors and to all who participated. Happy New Year!

With just a week to go in the Diamondback Gear Review contest we thought we’d give everyone a little update. At this point a clear front-runner has emerged but there’s still plenty of time to catch up. Remember, anyone who earns points in the contest will receive free singletracks stickers PLUS we’re still waiting for someone to add the wildcard prize to their gear wishlist. Whoever adds the secret item to their wishlist first takes the gear home!

As you can tell from the leaderboard, some folks realized early on that there’s a limit to the number of legitimate reviews any single person can write. Instead, the leaders have been busy adding new products to the singletracks gear review catalog (more than 1,000 in December alone). We know of several MTB companies out there with loads of products that still aren’t listed on singletracks yet – all you gotta do is find them!

The other way to earn a lot of points quickly is to find product videos on YouTube. For example, this search for “Specialized Stumpjumper” results in almost 700 videos alone! Just be sure to link up the video to the correct product on singletracks and check the forum thread for tips on the types of videos we’re looking for (hint: just because someone is riding a particular bike in a helmet cam vid doesn’t make it helpful as a gear video).

We’re stoked to see who ends up with these great prizes at the end of the contest and can’t wait to read the winners’ reviews!

We’re stoked to kick off the final contest of 2010 and clearly we saved the best for last! On December 24, 2010 someone will win a Diamondback Sortie Black mountain bike frame ($1,200 MSRP) in the Diamondback Gear Review Contest. Second prize is a set of ITS System 4 tires while third place gets a sweet set of MX-3 platform pedals from Xpedo. There’s also a wild card prize that we can’t even tell you about yet – read on to see how you can win…

The main contest works like this: we’ll award points for gear reviews, new gear items, and gear videos submitted from now until December 24, 2010. We’ll tally points based on member submissions and we’ll even double the points for items from our sponsors. The contet leaderboard and all the details are here.

And in the spirit of the holidays, Santa has decided to make one lucky mountain biker’s wish come true this year. Add mountain bike gear to your singletracks wishlist between now and December 24, 2010 and if you’re the first to add the mystery wild card prize to your list, you can have it!

We’ll keep you posted on the contest over the next few weeks so stay tuned. Thanks to our contest sponsors – Diamondback, ITS, and Xpedo!

Easy. Photo by trekker.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Name that Trail photo contest sponsored by Osprey. In the end joetutt came out on top with a 90% hit rate while maddslacker wasn’t too far behind at 80%. Both guys will be taking home sweet hydration packs from Osprey for their expert-level mountain bike trail knowledge.

Hard. Photo by trek7k.

Based on the results, the easiest trail photo of the contest came on day 1 – Slickrock in Moab, UT. Almost 70% got that one right which is ironic because no one (0.0%!) correctly identified the Moonlight Meadows trail (also in Moab) on day 3. View all the photo results here.

We had a lot of fun with this contest and we’re already prepping for the next one (how does “Name that MTB Gear” sound?). Free singletracks stickers are on the way to everyone who participated, just reply to the email we sent earlier today with your mailing address.

The “Name that Trail” photo contest kicks off on singletracks today and if you haven’t submitted your answers yet, get on it! The contest will run for 10 days with 2 new trail pics posted each day. The two members who identify the most trails correctly will each receive a killer new hydration pack from Osprey and anyone who submits at least one correct answer gets singletracks stickers. Sweet.

For those who are serious about winning, here are a couple strategy tips for ya:

• Submit an entry every day, even if you aren’t sure which trail is pictured. Set an alarm on your phone if you have to, you don’t want to miss a chance to score more points!
• Scour the singletracks trail photo archives. Remember, there are more than 25,000 pics in there so try to narrow your search a bit by region or even state. If you find the pic, you’ll know you have the right answer!

Thanks to the folks at Osprey for sponsoring this month’s contest. Head over to their new Osprey blog and check out the latest!

It’s been several years since we started collecting GPS trail data and within the next week or so we’ll officially cross the 1,000 trail map mark! Today there are officially 991 active mountain bike trail maps with several more in the queue to be approved. To put the number of trail maps into perspective, here are some quick stats:

• Nearly 1.2 million individual track points mapped
• 2.17 million feet of climbing (and descending!)
• 12,252 miles of trails mapped
• States with most trail maps: Colorado (179) and California (107)

Still, only 30% of the trails listed on singletracks have been mapped which means we still have a long way to go. As always we’re giving away a lifetime Pro membership to anyone who submits just 3 trail maps – partial, complete, or updated. In honor of the 1,000 mountain bike trail map milestone we’ve also put together a “most wanted trail map” list – anyone who submits their own GPS trail data of just one of these trails will score a lifetime Pro membership, a 1-year Pro membership certificate to give to a friend, PLUS a singletracks t-shirt.

Most Wanted Trail Maps

• Slickrock (Utah)
• Forest of Nisene Marks (California)
• Oleta State Park (Florida)
• Elk Park Trail (Colorado)
• Hawes Loop (Arizona)
• Syllamo Trails (Arkansas)

We’re stoked to hit the 2,000 mountain bike trail map mark even more quickly than the first 1,000!