The Missoula Mountain Bike Coalation (MMBC) is quietly building a top-tier mountain bike trail system on Marshall Mountain north of the small Montana city. The first two new trails built in this network were an adaptive-accessible climbing trail and an adaptive descending trail known as Mission to MARS.
John Stegmaier, Executive Director of MMBC, shared that while accessibility and inclusion has always been a goal for the Marshall Mountain project, the inspiration for this adaptive trail has been propelled by propelled by community members seeking to provide recreational opportunities for people with disabilities. Unfortunately, several Missoula locals have "fairly recently [been] rendered quadriplegics, that were big mountain bikers, big skiers," said Stegmaier. One local rider "was working a contract logging job and had an accident, and [...] took a tree to the back."
After pedaling up the climbing trail, riders will drop into Mission to MARS and enjoy a 1.6-mile flow trail ripping down almost 600 vertical feet through a series of rollers and absolutely massive banked berms with 9-10-foot embankments. "It's got a handful of little side jumps, kind of the start of like, 'this is how you approach a jump,'" said Stegmaier. "Everything is low consequence." Even though the trail is rated a green, "you can clock high speed. [...] You could ride it as though it's a blue based on how fast you're going, because it's become so freaking fast."
