Meet at 9:00 AM in the parking lot of the Ranger station on US 276, approximately 1 mile from the entrance at Brevard/ Pisgah Forest. We will then drive to the Turkeypen Gap parking lot. We will finish what we started last month on Mullinax. Bring your bike to ride in. We will be pulling BOB Trailers with the tools. We'll work for 2-3 hours. The main focus will be on drainage problems and erosion control. It is rewarding work and a great chance to meet others who share the same interests. Bring water and a snack.
Please be a sport and help us for a few hours on some trail maintenance.. We get a lot of people from outside the area who use the trails and can't help, so don't take our trails for granted and continue to let the same small group of people do all the work every month. If this one isn't convenient, check with your local bike shop for the schedule all the other groups have set up. Our group will be doing work parties every month on the last Saturday at 9:00 AM from the same meeting spot.
Call ahead if you can, but come anyway if you can't call! For more information, call or e-mail: Mark Allmond at 828-891-2149 or Todd at blueridgeadventures@aemail4u.com
Bent Creek Facelift
Saturday, August 9th
Please mark your calendars for August 9th. We are having a huge workday at Bent Creek that we are calling the Bent Creek Facelift. We are shooting for over 50 folks and would love to see many of you there. We have free beer for after the full day work session if you need a little extra motivation. The USFS pulled the plans (for now) for a logging project that would have turned 5 miles of trail into timber road. This planned project was pulled from the table due to a very high response in comments letters about the project. We need to now show good faith effort and that we are willing to do more than just write letters to save Bent Creek. It is called sweat equity, volunteer labor poured into the trails we all ride and love. Won't you join us? More details to come.
2nd Sunday of the month: Richmond Hill working
with UNCA Cycling team
Crew Leaders: Lani Anderson and/or Ben Blitch
Contact info: redriderbb@hotmail.com or Ski Country at 254-2771
Meeting place and time: Richmond Hill parking lot at 10 AM
3rd Sunday of the month: Bent Creek working
with Bio Wheels Racing Team
Crew Leaders: Matt, Eric, Dan and the Bio Wheels crew.
Contact info: Asheville@biowheels.com or 232-0300
Meeting place and time: Rice Pinnacle parking area at 1:30 PM
4th Saturday of the month: Pisgah south
Crew leaders: Wes Dixon and/or Todd Branham
Contact info: Wes at 862-5391 (neither of these guys uses email
much, but Wes's address is scyamorecycl@citcom.net)
Meeting place and time: Pisgah ranger station at 9 AM
Bent Creek Trail Maintenance
Tired of dealing with mud puddles and deteriorating trail conditions?
Help us help you by lending a hand.
When: Every 3rd Sunday/1:30 PM
Every 3rd Wednesday/6 PM
Meet at: Rice Pinnacle parking area.
Contact: Sun/Dan - Asheville@biowheels.com or 828-232-0300
Wed/Garrett - hyperdawg@juno.com
or 828-778-2112
Tools provided. Be prepared to ride your bike. Bring: helmet, food,
water, gloves, good footwear, eyeglasses (protection) and a willingness
to make a difference.
With your help, I expect all of these workdays to become more successful than ever before. We have great crew leaders, plenty of tools and -- as pointed out -- a lot of work that needs to happen. There is much general maintenance that needs to be performed, as well as new trails planned for Richmond Hill, Alexander Park, and DuPont. I would like to see a few more pairs of crew leaders step forward to take on other areas of need: Alexander Park and Pisgah Central (Mills River area). If you are game for these assignments, please let me know. I would also like to start thinking about the development of a freeride park (maybe at Alexander?), but there is so much work to do on our current trails it is difficult to commit to more.
Tools are provided for all work projects. We will try and also provide BOB Trailers for all crew leaders so we can ride to the work sites when appropriate. You will need to provide: food and water, gloves, good footwear, eyeglasses (to protect your eyes from sun and dirt), and a willingness to make a difference.
I would also like to try something new this year: mini fat tire festivals planned around full moon weekends. The plan would be a campout on Friday and Saturday nights with a combo of working on trails and lots of riding. The general plan would call for a night ride and campfire fun on Friday, and then a workday session on Saturday. There would be more night riding and campfire fun for Saturday night, followed by a nice long epic ride on Sunday. Please let me know your thoughts on this idea. The dates I have in mind are: June 13-15 and July 11-13.
A trail rider named Ian says, "I know I could convince plenty of people to pick up their shovels and get to work if we had some direction on how to get started. What does it take to rally the troops?" The answer to Ian's question is that it takes you. It is time for all of us to give back to our trail systems; no excuses. Please contact one of the crew leaders listed and tell them that you want to join in on the fun. Please note: although we will try hard to adhere to this schedule, it is always a good idea to check in with the crew leaders the week before to make sure the meeting time or place (or day) has not changed.
My goal for this year: to emulate the success of our trail program here in DuPont at all of the other local trail systems. I would like to report at the end of this year to all land managers that mountain bikers volunteered more hours with higher quality work than any other trail user. We will simply not obtain this goal without your help. Won't you join us? Please also consider joining the Blue Ridge Bicycle Club. The tools we work with are provided by the bike club, and we are working under volunteer agreements or MOUs (memorandums of understanding) that the club has with various land managers. A membership form for the Blue Ridge Bicycle Club can be found at: http://www.blueridgebicycleclub.org/membership_appl.html
If you have any questions on this new trails initiative, please let me know.
Woody Keen -- BRBC Trails Resource Director
© Blue Ridge Bicycle Club Inc. 2004