New Film by The Collective! "Seasons"

We've all been looking forward to the new film by The Collective: Seasons. This is the follow up flick to The Collective and Roam. Its currently playing this month in theaters in cool towns across America! The DVD will be in bike shops in May.

Check out the trailer:

Here's the Collective's website.

From the website:
"Seasons is a film that follows seven of the world’s top mountain bikers through the course of four seasons of one year. The film explores what it means to be a full time rider as told through the lives of downhill racers, slopestyle competitors, and big mountain freeriders."

The seven riders featured in the film are: Darren Berrecloth, Matt Hunter, Cam McCaul, Steve Peat, Andrew Shandro, Steve Smith, and Thomas Vanderham.

San Diego's Mt Laguna: New Singletrack

There's some great biking east of San Diego, in the Alpine and Laguna Mountains. Noble Canyon is an IMBA Epic and the Big Laguna Trail is another favorite.

The exciting news is this:

The San Diego Mountain Biking Association is teaming up with IMBA to open up 10 miles of singletrack that were previously closed to mountain bikes! Last weekend members of these groups practiced state of the art trailbuilding techniques in the Chico Ravine/Big Laguna Trail System at Mt. Laguna. Information about the event is here.

Soon, thanks to volunteers, there will be world class biking options just outside of San Diego.

Photo from IMBA website here.

IMBA to Design New Trails in Mammoth

Good news for Mammoth!
This is from the IMBA website:

"Trails Solutions Selected to Design Trails at Mammoth Resort"
IMBA's Trail Solutions has been selected as the consultant for natural-surface trails at Mammoth resort. Professionals on the Trail Solutions team will work closely with ALTA Planning and Design, who is providing planning services for paved pathways and road systems. According to IMBA's Cimarron Chacon, Mammoth has plans to become a "premier year-round resort community." The planning includes a multi-jurisdictional partnership with the town of Mammoth Lakes and the US Forest Service. Additional partners include Mammoth Mountain resort and the MLTPA, a local non-profit."

IMBA Trail Solutions Services

MLTPA Action Plan They want to "establish a vision for a comprehensive system of trails and public
access for Mammoth Lakes and the surrounding region."

Survey Here's a Trail-Use survey for the Town of Mammoth Lakes. You can tell them that you like to mountain bike and want more singletrack opened up!


The photos above are from the Mammoth Mountain Bike Park website here.

Build Your Own Pump Track!

Pump tracks are the new rage in mountain biking, as they can be built right in your back yard. Everyone is talking about building them, so here's how to do it! LeeLikesBikes is a website that has great information and sells an e-book called Pump Track Nation.

Check out what Lee says:

"Pump track mania is sweeping the globe. Mountain bikers everywhere are building endless loops of rollers and berms, and the riders are getting smoother, fitter and faster.

These mini tracks teach you to maintain speed — no, gain speed — over bumps and through tight corners. Almost anyone can ride a pump track. Beginners fumble, jumble and stumble, while experts manual, jump and rip. On pump tracks the speed, fear and risk are low, but the effort, fun and improvement are high.

Legend has it that Mick Hannah trained extensively on a pump track before he demolished the 2004 Sea Otter Classic. Knowing the fastest Aussies pump on a regular basis, pro downhiller Steve Wentz built a track at The Fix in Boulder, Colo. last fall. At first, his L-shaped loop was barely rideable, but within a week the lines were grooved and the riders were grooving.

When I posted a story and videos on this site, pump track reports poured in. The kids in Whistler, BC started building them. The guys at Riding High in Taichung, Taiwan built one. And Ray Petro of Ray’s MTB, the indoor bike park in Cincinnatti, made an awesome one out of wood. Pump tracks are superfun, and they’re good for you, so you might as well build one of your own.

Pick a spot. You can have plenty of fun in as little as 40 x 20 feet. Yes, that’s the size of your basement. More space means wider turns, bigger rollers and greater speeds. Flat land is best, but you can always rail some downhill berms then pump back uphill on a roller staircase. Oof.

Lay it out. Start with the turns. Make them tight enough to pump but not so tight you struggle to make them. A radius of about 75 inches works well. The 38-inch turn at The Fix creates champions but robs speed. Make sure your berms have constant arcs, and build them gradually from flat to vertical. When you get the hang of your track, you’ll be pulling almost three Gs and leaning 70 degrees.

Fill in the spaces. Build rollers or doubles between your turns. Avoid flat spots. Every square inch on your track should tilt upward, downward or sideways. No time for coasting!"

You can get more info and support Lee Likes Bikes here!

Top pic is Nathan Rennie on Mountainzone.com. Next 2 pics are on Leelikesbikes.com.

New Fresno Freeride Mountain Bike Park!

The FresnoBee reports that Woodward Park in Fresno, CA is developing into a world class mountain bike park. The article states that the 57 acre bike jump park, bmx track, and mountain bike park will certainly be the most progressive in the state of california. The BMX track is nearly complete, and the freeride jump park is on its way!

One excerpt from the article says, "Highlights of the L-shaped park, which overlooks Highway 41 and the San Joaquin River, include a downhill jumping course, multiple cross-country trails and an elevated section where riders will have to balance themselves while riding over logs and narrow lumber."

Sweeeeeeet!

Extremeline dot com

Phase 1 of the website updates for Extremeline.com are complete. Check it out!

Spandex vs Baggies

Guest writer, posted by mtndjd;
This post is purely Satirical and not intended to offend fans of Spandex. Its still ok for women.

If no one else is going to speak out, then the MudBlog is here to set some things straight;

There seems to be a grey area when it comes to the appropriateness of biking attire. Somewhere in our rough, gun slinging, cowboy, western cultural history; an embarrassing rift has occurred. The rift is sometimes as jolting and horrifying as scenes from a bad European beach movie where male stars run around in speedos, thongs, and G-strings (aka. marble bags). A naive observer might be inclined to ask, 'whats in your pocket?' the obvious problem being, there is no pocket. John Wayne will continue to turn in his grave until men in Spandex are outlawed in public.





The fashion trends among bikers have undoubtedly become commonplace due to road riding heroes such as Lance Armstrong, and Greg LeMond. These guys did it for the money, not because they liked publicly exhibiting their packs. Repetitious motion to the extent experienced during the Tour De France and the likes, gives some credence to the uniform. Unfortunately for early mountain bikers, like a Canadian without a mullet, if you weren't sporting tight spandex and shaved legs, you just weren't a serious biker. Luckily, the times have changed....but unfortunately, confusion still exists.

A shift to the more rugged, traditional American 'manly' style of attire has influenced mountain bikers of late. Durable 'baggie' shorts with crash padding and less revealing styling have brought the much needed coolness factor back to biking. The baggies incorporate spandex, or other non-chafing technologies, all without compromising the manliness factor. Since this change in styling has occurred mountain biking has exploded in America. One can only speculate that this is not a coincidence. Men everywhere are now proudly riding their bikes without having to leave their masculinity in the garage.



We would love to get some comments from all of you out there that still wear spandex in public.
1. How often do you wear Spandex in public?
2. Do you ever wear Spandex when not biking?
3. Do you ever notice people staring at you/yours when in public?
4. If you are a man, do you shave your legs?
5. Would you be comfortable wearing a speedo on the beach in America?
6. Do you realize that 'show-through' is accentuated when viewed from the side?

Post contributed by mtndjd.

Dreamin' of Whistler

For all the other dreamers out there, here's some eye candy!



These videos are on Pink Bike.com. The video above is from summer 2007 at the Whistler Bike Park, and below is a helmet cam's view of A-Line.

Gooseberry Mesa & Little Creek

While imagery of Moab pops into mind when talking about Utah bike trails, Gooseberry Mesa is another amazing gem in the Utah mountain biking world. The surrounding area, near St. George in southwestern Utah, is filled with singletrack and slickrock trails. With Zion National Park as the backdrop, high quality trails weave along the mesa cliffs of both Gooseberry Mesa or Little Creek Mesa at about 5,000 feet above sea level.

Much of the riding is technical and challenging - more so on Gooseberry - but, there are several different loop options for all levels of riding. From 20+ mile loops to short slickrock practice loops, most riders will find something they love. Also, the nearby JEM Trail, which starts below Gooseberry and drops down to the town of Hurricane, can be shuttled or ridden as an out and back.



In the above picture, Gooseberry Mesa is on the left, Little Creek in the rear right, and the top of JEM trail in the lower right.

For GPS users, here's a GPX File (right click to save) that includes Gooseberry Mesa Trails, a shorter 10 mile version of Little Creek, and the beggining of JEM Trail. For more information and guided tours, check out Rim Tours.