I plan on attending the first ever Southern Mountain Bike Summit will be held in Brevard, NC March 25-27.  The SMBS will bring riders, land managers, industry leaders, and politicians together to “teach, learn, meet, greet, ride, and grow the sport of mountain biking in the Southeast.”

The summit will have sessions about a wide range of topics, including some specifically for land managers.  The topics include:

-Leadership Training
-Working with the USDA Forest Service
-Creating Great Trails and Trail Communities
-National Mountain Bike Patrol Training
-Growing Healthy Chapters and Clubs
-Success Stories: Model Trail Systems in the South

There will also be a movie screening, silent auction, the SORBA Board of Directors meeting, and awards for volunteers.  And of course, there will be riding!  Friday the ride will leave from Poppies Gourmet Farmers Market, Saturday’s ride will be somewhere in Pisgah National Forest (home to some of the gnarliest singletrack in the country), and Sunday’s rides will be at DuPont State Forest (home to the most slickrock riding this side of Moab).  There will also be bike demos available for Sunday.

I’m stoked for the summit and will post a summary afterward.  It’ll be a good chance to learn some new things about advocacy, and it’ll be my first time riding Pisgah and DuPont.

Head over the Pisgah Area SORBA webpage for more details and registration information.  At only $65 for the whole weekend registration is very reasonable and one and two day passes are also available.  The price does go up if you register after March 10th, so sign up early!

Yesterday was day 13 of my 29 Day / 29 Trail challenge and I managed to bag three – count ‘em – three mountain bike trails, including one that wasn’t even listed on singletracks yet! Things are still drying out here in the Atlanta area and after driving nearly an hour west of the city to Paulding County yesterday, there was a foggy mist in the air which had me worried. Paulding SORBA does a great job maintaining their trails and like most clubs they’re serious about keeping riders off wet trails. Based on the weather overhead I was sure I’d find the trails soaked, though it hadn’t rained in a good 36 hours so I was cautiously optimistic.

Sara Babb Park

The Paulding SORBA website describes the 1.5 mile loop at Sara Babb Park a “Gateway Trail” and I assume they’re referring to the IMBA designation for trails that are located close to where folks live (often in urban areas). I couldn’t find any mention of the park on IMBA’s list of Gateway projects but apparently the club has already put 1,000 volunteer hours into creating the first loop which is a big deal.

The trailhead was well marked with an official sign but beyond the sign I wasn’t really sure where to start. I rode across the field directly behind the sign past the tennis courts, around the volleyball pit, and beyond the baseball field until finally I saw it – singletrack! While the field itself was pretty wet, the trails were actually in great shape thanks to fresh leaf cover (does anyone ever ride here?).

I followed the yellow arrows around the loop (even days) and almost lost the trail a couple times. It seems like this system may have started out unofficially and now the volunteers are working to reign in the sprawl. There were several small trees down across the trail and at first I thought it was due to the recent snow but after a while I got the feeling the trees had been placed intentionally. I cleared the trail the best I could, rode a second time around the loop to make sure I didn’t miss anything, and jumped in the car for trail #2.

Mt. Tabor Park

This summer I rode a short time trial at Mt. Tabor and had a blast so I was stoked to get back on the trail. Yes, the trail is short (the main loop is just over 3 miles) but for some reason I really like this place. The Rocks of Doom section really flows well and the hardpack with rocks through the pine trees somehow reminds me of Colorado.

Yesterday I got a chance to ride the newest section – the Booger Trail – and I was amazed at how much mileage had been added since the summer. There’s a surprising amount of climbing here (about 100 ft/mile according to my GPS) and just enough rocks and roots to keep things interesting. The trail was a little sticky in places so I “tiptoed” through some sections to avoid damaging the trail. All told I clocked about 6 miles in 45 minutes and I was pretty spent. But trail #3 was calling my name…

Silver Comet Side Trails

The Silver Comet Trail is a paved rail trail that starts just west of Atlanta and runs clear to Alabama and beyond. Roadies and joggers love the trail for the scenery and the lack of traffic but mountain bikers quickly find themselves getting bored with the flat pavement. Fortunately, Paulding SORBA has us covered.

blue: SC Side Trail elevation; pink: paved SC trail elevation

Like most rail trails, the trail corridor itself is fairly wide and is buffered on either side with woods and fields. At some point, someone got the brilliant idea to construct an off-road path that parallels the paved one. Starting at the trailhead off Seaboard Ave. in Hiram, the side trails are well marked with blue blazes and white arrows as the trail leaves and rejoins the Silver Comet Trail. The mountain bike trail makes excellent use of the surrounding topography and as you can see from the chart above there’s a good bit of elevation gain/loss compared to the main path (pink).

I had ridden parts of the side trails before but today I decided to explore a different section heading west toward Alabama. For more than 3 miles the side trails stay off the paved path and alternated between wide, doubletrack to rocky, tight singletrack. As dusk approached I wished I could have continued on but I decided to hop back on the paved path when it seemed like the side trail disappeared for an extended period.

Augusta Area Trails

This weekend I’m heading to Augusta to notch at least 3 more trails which will bring me to 9 trails in 16 days. More precipitation is in the forecast for early next week so I need to get in as much riding as I can over the next 3 days if I’m going to meet my goal. No one ever said riding 29 trails in 29 days would be easy – I just wish it wasn’t the weather that was determining my pace!

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!