Due to safety concerns stemming from recent wintry weather, we’re moving the upcoming work day at Concord to February 13. See you then!
Category Archives: Trail work
Celebrate New Year’s Day Mountain Biking at Big South Fork
Every New Year’s Day the Big South Fork Bike Club invites all mountain bikers to ride the Big South Fork at an annual event called “The Mail Run”. Bikers meet at the Bandy Creek Visitor Center at 9 am (ET), January 1st and then hit the trails. “The ride is traditionally called the Mail Run because ‘neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of the night’ keep us from getting out there on the first of the year,” said Joe Cross, President of the Big South Fork Bike Club. The Mail Run consists of a choice of rides varying anywhere from 8 to 35 miles so bikers can pick the group ride of a length they are most comfortable with.
This January 1st will be a special ride since it will take place on the first day of the National Park Service’s Centennial year. In order to help celebrate the National Park Service’s one hundred years, the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area has partnered with the International Mountain Biking Association, Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association, Appalachian Mountain Bike Club, and the Big South Fork Bike Club to highlight one hundred miles of outstanding mountain biking in the park during 2016. The 100 miles of highlighted trails include West Bandy-Collier Ridge Route, Duncan Hollow-Grand Gap Loop, IMBA/Epic Route, Kentucky Bike Trail, Chestnut Ridge-John Muir Trail Route, and Hatfield Ridge-Fork Ridge Route. The International Mountain Biking Association now has a special webpage that helps bikers plan their routes on those trails.
The Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area has almost 300 miles of trails that allow mountain biking and in 2012 was the first national park in the nation to receive the International Mountain Biking Association’s (IMBA) elite Epic Ride designation. “Big South Fork’s extensive mountain biking trails along with the IMBA Epic designation, is likely to draw numerous new users to this part of the country,” said Tom Sauret, IMBA Regional Director for the Southeastern United States.
For more information on the Mail Run and mountain biking at the Big South Fork go to nps.gov/biso/planyourvisit/mountainbikeriding.htm or call the park at 423-569-9778.
Roots Rated: Turning Knoxville’s Underutilized Parks Into A Trail-Lovers Bonanza
Roots Rated recently interviewed AMBC’s president Matthew Kellogg about our ongoing work to build and improve trails around Knoxville . Read it here »
Mountain Bike Vermont: Building a Tennessee Tunnel
MTBVT.com recently visited Knoxville to check out the trail developments on Sharps Ridge and the Wood Property:
Thanks to You, the #DowntownDownhill Dream Will Come True
You made this happen.
Thanks to the help of all our friends old and new, we won the nationwide race for the Bell Helmets Bell Built grant, by a truly overwhelming margin. This is a big deal not just for AMBC or Knoxville, but for the entire East Coast, especially the Southeast.
Thanks to Exchequer Riders Club and COGGS for inspiring us to carry out the campaign that we did. They were strong competition and we look forward to seeing their projects come to fruition, too. We encourage you to check out their great trail systems anytime you’re in Mariposa, CA, or Duluth, MN.
What’s next: We’ll be working with IMBA Trail Solutions to finalize the design of the trail, while also continuing work on the other trails in the new bike park with AMBC volunteers. Check back here and on AMBC’s Facebook page for an up-to-date work schedule and volunteer opportunities, and keep an eye on downtowndownhill.com for updates on the work-in-progress.
Now let’s get to work. Let’s get rad.
