Yesterday IMBA released its 2010 list of Epic mountain bike trails and the six selections represent a diverse group of trails scattered across the US. The organization claims the trails on this year’s list “provide something for everyone” and we have to agree there’s a lot of variety represented.

photo by Terry_Tiessen

Black Rock (Falls City, OR) Trails for all skill levels, including some with amazing wooden freeride structures like the one shown above.

Fresno-Saucedo Loop (Big Bend Ranch State Park, TX) Miles and miles of trails and old 4×4 roads to explore in the area! Looking at the photos you might think these trails were located somewhere like Fruita or the desert outside Las Vegas.

MoCo Loop (Montgomery County, MD) Forty miles of trails connecting 9 (!) county parks. Plans include a connection to the 180-mile C&O canal path. Can you say bikepacking?

photo by bluejudad

Hurricane Cliffs (Hurricane, UT) This Epic route includes the JEM trail, Hurricane Rim trail, and Gould and Gould Rim trails. The Hurricane Cliffs route also hosts the 25 Hours of Frog Hollow race each year.

photo by trek7k

Oak Mountain State Park (Birmingham, AL) Of the six inductees, Oak Mountain State Park is the only trail I’ve actually ridden (yet). The park features great trails with decent climbs and a dedicated club maintaining the singletrack year round. Look for even more trails – for 30 total miles – to be added in the coming years.

photo by drdiederich

Rock Lake (Cable, WI) Thirty miles of singletrack in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.

Add these and other IMBA Epics to your singletracks trail wishlist to explore in 2011!

Four mountain bike news items to start off the week:

Easton Seatpost Recall

Easton is recalling approximately 200 EC90 Zero seatposts manufactured in 2010. The Consumer Product Safety Commission says the carbon top clamp on the seatpost assembly can crack which, as you can imagine, would really suck for the rider. The release we read made it sound like the seatposts may have been included on some Turner and Ibis bikes so if you bought one of those bikes this year, check your post and the Easton website to see if yours is affected.

Although no injuries have been reported, consumers should immediately stop riding the bicycles and contact any authorized Easton Sports (dealer) for a free replacement top seat clamp.

Croc Trophy Race Wraps up “World’s Hardest” MTB Competition

photos courtesy crocodile-trophy.com.

To be more specific, race organizers claim the Croc Trophy is “the world’s hardest longest hottest and most adventures (sic) MTB race in the world” and this year’s competition just wrapped up a few days ago at the northeastern tip of Australia. Apparently the course takes riders into the Australian Outback and some daily stages are nearly 100 miles long. Just to finish all 10 stages of the Croc Trophy takes serious stamina – congrats to this year’s winner Urs Huber who finished 5 minutes ahead of second place finisher Bart Brentjens and 40 minutes ahead of third place finisher Mike Mulkens. Now’s the time to start training for next year’s epic!

Singlespeed World Champs Recap

We wrote about the Singlespeed MTB World Championships a couple weeks ago ahead of the competition in New Zealand and today we discovered ESPN.com’s entertaining take on the event. My favorite quotes from the article:

“If you are riding really, really fast but don’t want a tattoo, then don’t win the race. The winner will be tattooed at the finish line so decide before you start if you want a tattoo or not.”

If “The Dude” from “The Big Lebowski” was into mountain biking instead of bowling he would have been a singlespeeder.

I think this is one of those things I gotta experience for myself at some point – sounds like a blast! Though I guess that means I’ll need to shed some gears first…

Loch Raven Reservoir Cracking Down on Mountain Bikers

Mountain bikers in Baltimore have been enjoying the 30+ miles of trails around Loch Raven Reservoir for years but lately rangers have been issuing $100 citations for things like night riding (read the recent trail reviews for more examples). According to this article, land managers are becoming concerned about erosion issues affecting water quality and it seems mountain bikers are an easy target. Specifically new “unofficial” trails are popping up and land managers want it stopped – though hikers are just as likely to create unauthorized “social” trails as bikers. Keep an eye on this issue as local club MORE works with reservoir managers to resolve the situation…

This week’s MTB news round up has a decidely “happy” flavor to it and with Independence Day coming up, what more could you ask for?

Lost mountain biker rescued. On Sunday a 58-year-old mountain biker became lost on Bummer Peak (seriously) near Lake Sonoma in California. Fortunately the only bummer was that he rode to the top of Bummer Peak and didn’t get to ride down – a rescue chopper took him to safety instead. No word on if he had to leave his bike or if it made the trip in the helicopter but the good news is he was able to get a cell phone signal to call 911. Guess his phone didn’t have GPS…

New trails proposed at Mount St. Mary’s University. Don’t feel bad if you haven’t heard of Mt. St. Mary’s University (MSMU) yet – it’s a small Catholic school in Emmitsburg, MD with a freshman class of about 400 students. Although you may not know the school, you’ve probably heard of Marla Streb, champion downhill racer and MSMU graduate. Marla is working with the school to design and build a network of 12 miles of biking and jogging trails on the campus which may one day connect to land owned by the town of Emmitsburg. Streb has a master’s degree in Environmental Science so she knows a thing or two about designing sustainable trails – we can’t wait to see what MSMU comes up with!

Legally blind mountain biker continues to shred. You’ve probably heard about Bobby McMullen, the blind downhill rider who was profiled in a recent documentary but Tommy Kinkle could probably give him a run for his money on the trail. Kinkle has just 5% vision in one eye and can’t drive anymore but get him on a mountain bike and just try to keep up! As a kid Kinkle was a sponsored BMX and skateboard rider and he hasn’t let his disability slow him down one bit. Read the article and get inspired!