photo by GoldenGoose.

As if you needed yet another reason to get out and work on the trails this year, now you can earn a free day at Disney World with Paulding SORBA! On April 17 Paulding SORBA (near Atlanta) will be hosting a work day at the new Mt. Tabor trails west of town from 9am to 2pm. The project is part of Disney’s “Give a day, get a day” program and eligible participants will earn a 1 park, 1 day pass for helping out.

This whole thing almost seems too good to be true. I mean, we work on mountain bike trails so we can enjoy them all year long which is really a reward in itself. But on top of that, you get a free pass to the happiest place on earth! (ok, second happiest - for me the first is Trail 401 in Colorado).

According to the invite I received, the Disney slots are almost full for the work day so sign up now. Even if your local club isn’t participating in the Disney promo, look at it this way: Give a day to the trails, enjoy 364 days of riding!

A few mountain bike items to take a look at today:

Mountain biking 101: How to get women into the sport. Diane Ursu posted a good article over on Examiner.com with tips for introducing women to the sport of mountain biking. Aside from the obvious stuff (get a comfortable bike, the right clothes, etc.) Ursu also says “don’t give her pointers unless she asks, at least for the first ride” and “let her lead.” Most articles I read about getting women into mountain biking are written by men so they usually skip these points Give the article a skim if you’re thinking of introducing your significant other to mountain biking this fall.

3 cool MTB events in Atlanta this weekend. I already posted about this in the forums but here’s a quick recap: SORBA Atlanta ride @ Panola Mtn. State Park Saturday; GA Tech sponsored collegiate MTB race at GA Int’l Horse Park Saturday & Sunday; and ribbon cutting / grand opening for new bike trails at Burruss Park in Marietta on Sunday. I’ll definitely attend at least one of these events - that is, if it doesn’t rain!

Mountain Hardwear giving away a pack-a-day through September 17. Man, August and September must be the months of free outdoor gear! Not only can you score a VHoldR HD helmet cam or Specialized Stumpjumper FSR, you can also register to win a sweet pack from Mountain Hardwear (giveaway pack changes every day). The cool thing about this promo is that you’ll find out if you’re today’s winner as soon as you submit the entry form and you can enter every day the contest runs (I didn’t win today so that means you still have a chance!). Most of the giveaway packs are hydration bladder compatible and should be great choices for epic slogs through remote terrain.

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!

This weekend I made good on one of my New Years resolutions and helped out with some trail work out at Sope Creek mountain bike trail inside the Chattahoochee River National Recreation area. The morning got off to a cold start (my car thermometer said it was 17 degrees when I left the house) but that didn’t stop 15-20 Atlanta area mountain bikers from showing up to help out.

The Sope Creek mountain bike trails are in pretty bad shape and unfortunately the only trail open to mountain bikes is a badly eroded double-track that used to be a road bed. There are big plans for new singletrack in the next year or two but in the meantime mountain bikers are doing their part to help out and show goodwill toward the National Park Service and the hundreds of walkers and joggers who use the trails every week.

SORBA-Atlanta organized the work day and we got started with some safety training and an intro to the basics of trailwork. Our job was to clear out grade dips that had become clogged with sediment using hand tools called Pulaskis and McCleods to help slow the erosion that has devistated the mountain bike trail. The work went pretty quickly and it was a great opportunity to sweat and socialize with riders working toward a common goal: better singletrack!

After the work party a couple of us hit the trails on bikes but honestly we were ready to call it quits after a short loop due to the weather and the lack of trail variety. Sope Creek isn’t a trail I would choose to ride in its current condition but I’m optimistic about the changes taking place there thanks to the efforts of SORBA and the NPS. With work parties scheduled at Sope Creek and other MTB trails each month there are plenty of opportunities to stay involved - see you at the next trail work party!