Mountain Bikers - Top Ten Reasons Why You Should Join The BRBC

Greetings fellow bicyclists,

Recently there has been much discussion about a whether the list server should be open or closed to nonmembers. As you know, the officers voted to keep this service open to all. We would, however, like to take a moment to remind you of what the club has accomplished, and why you should support our efforts through your membership. I am only a mountain biker, so I can only focus on that. Perhaps someone else can contribute what we have done in the road bike area.

As a mountain biker, you really would not have anywhere to ride your bike without the efforts of the BRBC. This is not just a cliché, but in fact quite true. All the local mountain bike trails are open to you because of the efforts of the club and its members. Let's take a closer look. Here are the top ten reasons to join the BRBC if you are a mountain biker.

1. Pisgah National Forest. All of the current trails open to bikes were the result of BRBC input back in the late 1980s. Early mountain bike guru Ed Erwin worked with other mountain bikers to represent the BRBC and the mountain bike community in influencing the USDA Forest Service (formerly called the USFS) to open up trails to bikes. This effort was quite successful, and today most of these early designations still stand. Over half of all trails in the Pisgah district are open to bikes. This is many more than any other USFS district in western North Carolina. In the district where the Tsali trail is, the four loops in that system are the only single-track trails legal to ride on. In Pisgah, you have many more choices than that. This abundance of great riding comes to you via the hard work of the BRBC and its members.
2. Dupont State Forest. Almost all trails in Dupont are open to bikes, thanks to the early efforts of Chuck Ramsey, and later, yours truly. Chuck served on the Advisory Committee from day one, representing mountain bikers. I was invited to join that committee later. Chuck and I hosted trail workdays on behalf of the BRBC. We worked with other trail users from the very beginning of the development of that forest. To this day, the mountain bike community has a very large voice with land managers in Dupont. As you know, a 2200 acre tract of land was threatened with development in the heart of the forest. BRBC members worked with equestrians and Sierra Club members to keep this travesty from happening. We were successful in our efforts, and today there is a playground of over 10,000 acres with 80+ miles of trail, thanks in part to the BRBC.
3. Alexander Mountain Bike Facility - Buncombe County. This was a project that was headed up by the WNC Bicycle Dealers Association, working with RTP grant money to make this a reality. The idea was to have a venue to put on races close to Asheville, but also provide another place to ride and train. The BRBC provided much of the labor to make the trails there a reality, and many hours of seat equity were poured into this system. Perhaps this is not an ideal place to ride. However, any open trail is better than a closed one. It also served its purpose in terms of a race venue, which was good because there was nowhere to do so (USFS will not issue a permit for such) and it reduced possible impact to already heavily used trails.
4. Richmond Hill - Asheville City Parks. When Asheville announced a new city park, they also contacted the BRBC about developing a trail network for mountain bikes. In fact, mountain bike trails and disc golf were the only two uses the city really wanted to develop in this new park. Without an organized club such as the BRBC, the trails there would not have been open to bikes. Land managers want to deal with groups of users, not individuals. I have only been to Richmond Hill once, but I see great potential for this in-town ride venue.
5. Linear Wildlife Openings in Pisgah. As you know, the USFS closed off 25 miles of road to mountain bikes and horses. These roads were gated off to create what they call Linear Wildlife Openings. The BRBC (though members Julie White, Chuck Ramsey, JoJo and Woody Keen) appealed the decision and showed that we are a force to reckon with. The BRBC lost its appeal, but I can assure you we would have had many more of these gated roads without the input and voice we had during the process.
6. Trail Schools. The BRBC has helped to host two IMBA trail building schools in Dupont State Forest. A write-up on one of our schools is available online at the IMBA website. In both of these schools, the mountain bike community proved to other trail users that we care deeply about the trails we use, and showed our pledge to improve them. Everyone attending both schools learned a lot. We established that mountain bikers more often than not have great knowledge about sustainable trail design and building, as well as proper maintenance techniques. Because of these two schools in Dupont, land managers there see us as the experts, and you do not find non-mountain bike friendly structures popping up on trails (such as ugly non-functional water bars).
7. IMBA Epics. In fall of 2001, the BRBC hosted an IMBA Epic Ride in Dupont. This highlighted the fact that we have great riding in the area, and are willing to share with others. A full write-up on the Dupont Epic is online at the IMBA website. The Epic we held was the first really big Epic IMBA had ever held; over 70 riders participated. To this day, it was one of the most successful. We had a fun work project which yielded a great trail, and we followed it up with a wonderful ride. The 35 mile route is clearly one of the best long rides in the area. All of this was possible because of the BRBC and its dedicated mountain bike members.
8. Tool grants. As we all know, working on trails is our insurance policy for being able to ride them. It is referred to as sweat equity. Indeed, without it, you would have nowhere to ride that expensive mountain bike. The club has funded tools out of the general budget, but has also been successful at getting grants to purchase tools. We received a $3,000 tool grant several years ago, and this allowed us to purchase enough hand tools to outfit several crews. Without the club, we would not have all the nice dirt digging tools that the BRBC now owns.
9. Dingo purchase. Speaking of dirt digging tools, the Dingo is the “mack daddy” tool. It will allow us to do much more than we could ever accomplish using hand tools. We have many new trails for Dupont and other areas, and the Dingo will help see these dreams become realities. Without the pledge from club funds, the Dingo purchase (using grant money) would not have happened.
10. Regular Club Sponsored Mountain Bike Rides. BRBC trail rides have been happening for many years, and Jeremy Arnold has cranked up the volume here recently. These rides are a great way to learn new loops and meet other cool dirt-heads.

Woody Keen

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