World Mountain Biking Bog Snorkelling Championship
This past weekend the Wales town of Llanwrtyd Wells hosted the annual World Mountain Biking Bog Snorkelling Championship. Competitors sloughed through a 135 foot long, 6 foot deep pit filled with mud to determine the fastest rider after two passes. Last year’s winner completed the run in 41 seconds. And like all new flavors of …
Wipe off that water bottle: 200 mountain bikers vomit
At least 200 mountain bikers fell ill after the Test of Metal mountain bike race in Sqamish, BC on June 16 and health officials think the cause may have been bacteria in mud out on the race course. Riders could have ingested the campylobacter bacteria after drinking from mud-caked water bottles or eating mud-contaminated food …
What makes a trail a trail? Part II.
Question: When is a dirt road a mountain bike trail? Answer: Sometimes. Is this a mountain bike trail? Okay, so when someone says “mountain bike trail” you probably don’t imagine a wide dusty dirt road or a paved greenway path through the city. But if you think about it, these “trails” might just deserve a …
Continental Divide Trail at risk
Received via email from IMBA: When it comes to the longest trails in the country, mountain bikes haven’t been welcome. Congress banned bicycles from the Appalachian Trail before our sport evolved, and access to the Pacific Crest Trail was eliminated in 1988, before mountain bike advocacy had fully developed. With nearly 5,000 miles of iconic …
FATS is PHAT!
Mudhunny and I finally got a chance to check out the Forks Area Trail System (FATS) just outside Augusta, GA this past weekend and we were seriously impressed. After riding the Stevens Creek and Horn Creek trails for years we didn’t expect to see many (any) riders out at the trailhead on Saturday morning but …
Case of the Mondays? Waste time here.
If you’ve got a case of the Mondays today, how about taking a few minutes to fill out our MTB trail survey? We’re giving out prizes to random winners plus everyone who takes the survey gets free singletracks stickers. Sweet, huh? Here’s the link: Singletracks trail survey
Top 100 MTB Trails in the World
Admittedly when we first posted our list of the top 100 mountain bike trails in the world it was a bit of a gimmick. Obviously we haven’t ridden every trail on the planet so we had to automate things a bit with a “super secret” trail ranking algorithm to build the list. Of course our …
Adaptive mountain biking festival at Keystone last weekend
The second annual Handcycle and Adaptive Mountain Bike festival was held at Keystone (see link for pics) this past weekend and this year’s turnout was about double that of last year. Physically disabled riders got a chance to try downhill adaptive mountain biking where bikes can cost upwards of $10,000 and the learning curve can …
What makes a trail a trail?
A commenter on a recent blog post asked an interesting question: what makes a mountain bike trail a distinct trail? That is, if a single area (like Tsali in NC or Buffalo Creek in CO) has multiple trails, is each trail a distinct trail worthy of its own listing on singletracks? This is a question …
IMBA: Support Mountain Biking at TVA Sites (Southeast)
Via recent IMBA email: The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), a major landholder in the Southeast, is revising its management policies at several sites with popular mountain biking trail systems. Affected trails include those at Fontana, Hiwassee and Tanasi, an IMBA Epic. Specifically, TVA is soliciting public comment on appropriate recreation uses on public lands along …
Mountain bike valet
Here’s a new one (to me anyway): valet parking for your mountain bike. Apparently the Iowa Outdoor Wellness Adventure (I.O.W.A.) offered valet bike parking at their debut event last week. Bikers exchanged their bikes for a claim ticket while volunteers “parked” the bikes in a secure area. I dunno, for some reason I would still …
Mountain bike orienteering (MTBO)
Mountain bikers looking to add a mental challenge to their rides should check out mountain bike orienteering, a sport that is popular in the UK and Australia. I just came across some info about an upcoming event and I found out there’s even a national governing body for mountain bike orienteering in the United Kingdom. …
