Opening Weekend at Tiger Mountain

Tiger Mountain, one of the most used mt. bike trails in the state is open and mostly ready to go. The BBTC has done a huge amount of work over the last few years to keep this trail open to bikers and in good shape. The area is closed from October 15 - April 15 so this was actually the second open weekend of 2008. While the weather was outstanding, the last few weeks of cold weather left a good 4 - 6 inches of snow at the top of the climb. Snow didn't keep the masses from coming out to ride. In fact the parking lot was full for most of the day with both bikers and hikers.

To help people enjoy the day even more the BBTC put together a BBQ for the riders and we came out to do some mechanical support and give some swag out. People that came out to ride (and people that came out to hike) were treated to some great hot dogs, hamburgers and assorted grilled veggie stuff when they finished up their riding. Most were pretty hungry because as it turned out the ride was a little longer then usual. With at least a mile of tromping through 6 inches of snow at the top of Preston, it became a pretty epic day. The trail still needs a little work and there were volunteers up there cutting some trees out of the trail. As is the case with early season riding around here, the trail has changed quite a bit. The trail still bends and turns the way you remember, but there were a few extra challenges in the way of rocks, mud, logs and other assorted debris that had moved around over the winter. Hats off the the BBTC once again for the advocacy that they do and the work they do on the trails to keep us all riding. If you're interested in getting involved or want to do some trail work, check this out: http://bbtc.org/recreation/calendar.php?view=all&event_type=W

Morning Colonnade Ride

This morning I joined the crew at the weekly I-5 Colonnade ride. For those of you who haven't heard of it before the I-5 Colonnade is:

the first ever urban mountain bike skills park. It's part of a City of Seattle park, but was funded and constructed by the BBTC (Backcountry Bicycle Trails Club). Limestone Loop is complete and offers a 1/2-mile tight'n'twisty Cross Country loop with several intermediate to advanced options.

There were only 5 of us this morning but the riding was nice and it's always dry under I-5. While this might not be the best place to have the first ride on my new Fuel, it was fun to hit a few jumps, ride some skinnies and do some wall rides. All things that I haven't done too very often. It was even more fun to see John, Fritz and Ryan really do some jumps (pictures to come) and ride some walls. I'm always amazed at how far people have pushed mountain biking in the last ten years or so. The emergence of freeriding has been well chronicled in many places so I won't go into it here but watching people pull some of the stunts that they do now and make it look so easy makes this 36 year old dude feel just a little old and behind the times.

This looks to be a weekly event so if you're in to it, come on out next Friday and ride. Usually there around 7:30am.

Thanks to Ryan for the pics. For more of his artistry check out:
http://harboo.pinkbike.com/album/Ride-Photos/

The BBTC Rocks Part II

Once again the BBTC is showing what good planning, great relationship development and elbow grease can do for the mt. biking community. Not only is their website "the" resource for mt. biking in the Northwest but they've built one of the most amazing urban mt. bike parks in the country. And they are about to do it again!

I just received this email from the BBTC:

Backcountry Bicycle Trails Club (BBTC) is pleased to announce that we have received $150,000 in grants from King County to build a new mountain bike skills course at Duthie Hill Park on the Sammamish Plateau. Design work on the course will start in January, which will include input from both the local riding community and the neighbors surrounding the park. Groundbreaking is scheduled for summer 2008.

This new 120 acre mountain bike course will have something for everyone. There will be a range of new trails and technical features, dirt jumps, a pump track and a cross country race loop. In addition, the new trails will create access to already existing trails at Grand Ridge. This park will be another first of its kind designed and built by BBTC. This park will become the hub for mountain biking races and events in Western Washington.

Duthie Hill Park represents the newest trend in mountain biking-- skills parks close to communities where kids and families of all abilities can ride. Following BBTC’s success with the Colonnade Skills Park in Seattle, we now have Duthie Hill. Soon we hope to have parks like these in every community in Washington State.

To which I say, "Outstanding"!

I remember riding Grand Ridge back in the day and I always loved the area. Challenging trails and close to home. We used to go up there before work and get a quick ride in. The day I rode through there and saw the "Super-Axe-Hacker" tearing the trees out was a sad day. There were still trails to ride but it just wasn't the same. This project looks like a great way to revitalize that area.

As a racer myself, having another course that is close to the city but isn't named Sea-Tac is also very exciting. Hopefully there will be an option to run a cyclocross race there as well. So hat's off to the BBTC and the amazing things they are managing to pull out of that hat!

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The BBTC Rocks!

A couple of friends and I went and did an "epic ride" this weekend. It had it all; mechanicals, long climbs, good lunch, tight switchbacks, epic views, a little bit of snow, outstanding single track, creek crossings, lung busting single track climbs and at least one cramp. It was a great ride on Sun Top this Saturday. But that's not what I want to talk about. Our ride was great but it was made great through the efforts of three unnamed members of the BBTC (Backcrountry Bicycle Trails Club). These nameless (nameless only because we forgot to ask their names) club members were not only great riders (tight switchbacks pulling a trailer with a chainsaw in it!) but great stewards of the trails. When we talked to them at the trail head they told us that there were a total of 26 blown down trees across the trail and that we should ride slow and maybe they'd get some of them out of the way before we got there.


Turns out we did ride slow and to slow us even more was John shifting his chain into his spokes and getting it nicely wedged between the cassette and the spokes. After we disconnected the chain, took the wheel out of the bike and pulled harder than we should have we managed to only loose two links and get the chain back on the bike. By the time we got on to the single track after our lunch the BBTC guys had been hard at work.

We had a great descent down some of the sweetest single track around and noticed as we rode by a good deal of sawdust and freshly cut logs. If not for the BBTC guys we would have been stopping and hopping quite a bit. Instead, due to their work, we got to flow down the trail and have a great time.

Eventually we caught up to them (it took us much longer than we thought it might) and saw that they had a pretty great system figured out. There were three guys, one was what I call the scout and then the cutter and the spotter. The scout would ride ahead to find a fallen tree and then call to his buddies who were cleaning up the last cut. They'd ride down to him with the chainsaw and as soon as they arrived he'd pull the saw off the Bob and and start cutting while the others made sure that people coming down the trail knew what was going on. When the cutter was done he'd put the saw down and ride ahead again while the others cleaned up. Great system. Very fast, very efficient and as safe as possible.

If it wasn't for organizations like the BBTC we would have far fewer trails to ride on and the trails that we did have wouldn't be half as fun. So thank you to the nameless stewards of the trails and thank you to the BBTC. You rock!