Spending way too much time searching the interwebs, so you don’t have to, brought to you via the pipelines that are Twitter, Facebook, and Google.
Northwest – Oregon, Washington
Mt. Hood & Columbia River Gorge Area – Bad news for riders that love to ride in the Syncline area, otherwise known as the winter riding spot for Portland. A decision has been handed down, and it is resulting in more closed trails. Hopefully its not the good stuff. Follow the link for more info – via Northwest Trail Alliance
Hood River- Dirt Jump Skills Park to be on next agenda meeting. Seeing how Hood River is so far ahead of everywhere else when it comes to bicycle tourism and promoting the lifestyle, this is likely to get fast tracked, and Hood River will become that much more cool than where you live now. That also means they will have something of everything to ride, making where you currently live suck that much more. -via Mike Estes, Post Canyon Trail News
NW DH and Super D schedule posted, kind of – You can’t copy and paste it, but you can get a glimpse of your busy upcoming season if you want to do the typing yourself. – via Mike Estes
2011 Gravity Race Schedule for the northwest
Learn advanced trail building skills – Registration is open for Columbia Cascades Trail Skills College. This group appears to focus more on the user experience of hikers on multi-use trails, but mountain bikers can apply the concepts, and hopefully a bit of flow and design to cater to a more enjoyable MTB experience. Done the course? Share a bit in the comments below. www.pcta.org
I’ll take one, with a side of awesome please – Those crazy kids at 21st Avenue Bikes in Portland are at it again, this time with a video showcasing additional shop antics and a bike build. -via 21stbikes.com
added 1/21/11; Northwest Trail Alliance Seeks Development Director – the NWTA has plans to hire their first paid staffer. The organization has experienced significant growth over the past year and a half and find themselves in need of assistance with a growing number of trail projects, social events, rides and other activities. These successes will require the first step from an all volunteer organization to one with paid, professional staff.
Please pass this announcement along to those who you think have the skills and desire to help us in this exciting endeavor! More info can be found at http://nw-trail.org/forum/advocacy/general/2477 – via NWTA
Southern Oregon
Ashland’s Master Trail Plan is in the news – via Southern Oregon Freeride Association. Still no word on whether anyone in Ashland cares that they have a dirt jump park just sitting there with massive potential, and no apparent progress. Guess Ashland Freeriders don’t like dirt jumps.
Bay Area
San Francisco Proper – San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department has taken what looks to be a progressive stance on mountain biking, adding a Women’s Mountain Bike Skills Camp in addition to Kickboxing, Kayaking, and Geocache Adventuring. This is a big one, so SF Urban Riders is asking that the riding community spread the word to show the community will support more MTB programming in the future. There is a small registration fee to pay for the instructors time, but $60 for 5 weeks of instruction is the best deal out there. for more info: SF Urban Riders
Did you know that there are actual single track trails in San Francisco? – If local trail advocates and trail builders the SF Urban Riders have anything to say about it, SF is going to be known for it. One of the key partners in this effort are the Sutro Stewards. Dan Schneider put this promotional video together showcasing efforts from the volunteers. – via SF Urban Riders
Marin
Stafford Lake Bike Park Looks to be happening – The Stafford Lake Bike Park in Novato looks to be gathering momentum. Local Trail Consultants Hilride announced on their Facebook page they have been hired to design the 14.1 acre bike park with a bike tour of the area to happen this Saturday. According to the Pacific Sun, Hilride developed a feasibility study for the bike park and has been contracted by the County of Marin to develop a master plan. Over the next three months a series of workshops will be held to engage the public in the park’s design; a master plan should be ready for consideration by the board of supervisors in late spring or early summer. Hilride doesn’t appear to update their site very often, so find their Facebook page to keep up on the progress, or even better go straight to the Stafford Lake Bike Park page.
East Bay
New Dublin BMX Track – There is also buzz about a new BMX track currently being constructed in the Dublin area. The city of Dublin’s webpage for it is currently blank, which is unsurprising for Bay Area BMX web content, which seems to be impossible to find. According to the city of Dublin website, it is to be part of the Fallon Sports Park, and in addition to the usual Baseball and soccer fields, tennis courts and basketball courts, a BMX track is also part of the plan. No word on if there will be legit dirt jumps as well as the track. – via city of Dublin website
Apparently there are no updates regarding the possible bike park in Lafayette.
NorCal MTB Racing
NorCal MTB Racing, a local MTB Race blog posted a schedule of winter XC, CX and DS races.
- Sacramento CX (01/22/11) [CX]
- Sierra Nevada High School Short Track MTB Race (01/22/11) [STRX]
- MTB Kickstart (01/23/11) [XC]
- Surf City CX (01/23/11) [CX]
- BBP Dual Slalom Winter Series (01/23/11) [DS]
Southwest:
Boulder, CO- the Gunbarrel Jumps are looking sick.
Jimmy Donahugh rolls through an intermediate line at the Gunbarrel Jumps, circa 2009
Boulder is a trippy place- there is actually more dirt jumping and freeride stuff than trails. Like Portland and its bike friendly rep, there are tons of bike commuters, but you need to own a car to get to the single track. (at least until the Valmont Park is completed this year) Besides the sweet private-but-open-to-the-public-with membership jumps at the Fix and a bike friendly skatepark, there are some sick jumplines at the Eaton Park location.
Checkout the Gunbarrel Facebook group to get in the mix.
MTB Freeride News
Vanderham back with Rocky Mountain – Thomas Vanderham is off Evil Bikes, back on Rocky Mountain Bikes, still Canadian, still going big. More importantly, they made a cool video to showoff his return.
Rocky Mountain Bicycles Welcomes Back Thomas Vanderham from Rocky Mountain Bicycles on Vimeo.
I guess the other question is what is up with Evil Bikes? Their site doesn’t look like its gotten an update since November of 2009. Word is the owners still have their day jobs, and former VP Todd Seplavy has moved on to help reboot GT’s suffering brand. It is too bad, because like lots of others I was looking forward to checking out their trail/ all around offering the Sect, which never got past mule stage.
GT Bikes are looking good for 2011 - On the upside, GT bikes are looking a lot better for 2011. I remember when I first got into BMX, and then mountain biking, GT was the shit. And then they just weren’t anymore. Being sold to Pacific and showing up in department stores next to Huffys certainly didn’t help with their reputation. That might be changing with the new management, and the fact that they are owned by the same company that also now owns Canonndale. I’m especially drawn to their All-Mountain offering, the Sanction, which is now slacked out to 66º for downhill shredding. WTF is up with the neon yellow colorway though? I hope they offer an alternative, resale value on neon can’t be good. Not sure why they don’t carry the angles through to the Force bikes, I’d like to see the black color of the Force 1.0, with the carbon frame of the Carbon Sport, with the numbers of the Sanction.
2011 GT Distortion 2.0: all around trails/ park/ DJ ripper? I'll take one, please.
The other stand out in my biased eyes is the Distortion 2.0. Is it a short travel freeride rig? A slacked out dirt jumper/ slopestyle machine? And seriously, what the fuck is up with that stem? This thing needs a chain guide and a 50mm stem ASAP. Other than that, it looks wicked tight. Or just send me one, I’ll put that stuff on and take pictures of it for you. Seriously, think about it GT.
Massive amounts of standover, DH shredding slacked-out head angles, tapered headtube, combined with uphill friendly seat tube angles make it a contender for the trail bike for downhillers category. Nice and low stand over means you can slam the seat and rock it down the slopestyle course. Assuming it isn’t a tank, this is the kind of bike I buy for my girlfriend as her XC bike, but when she’s not looking, I’m sneaking out to ride on. Ok, I just now thought of that. Boo-yah!
The new Ruckus 7 1.0 also looks pretty sharp. All black with green accents, spec’d with my personal favorite saddle ever too.
If I was going to get a 29er to race on, I’d get a Zaskar. Remember when we all wanted a Zaskar? They were the shit back in the day.
In other news, Floyd Landis to quit cycling. Road Cycling is a messed up place, seems like we can’t go more than a few months without talk of doping. What’s up with that, my roadie friends?
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
As was recently discussed, Ashland freeriders don’t like dirt jumps that smell like poop year round.
It’s not that bad, I’ve jumped there (Ashland dirt jumps). Wish we were given those in Oakland!