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.

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.

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.

Colonnade Bike Park Grand Opening!

Last month a great new asset for mountain bikers was opened to the public!! Hopefully this park sets a precedent for the rest of the country.

This is from the BBTC website:

I-5 Colonnade is the first ever urban mountain bike skills park. It's part of a City of Seattle park, but was funded and constructed by the BBTC (Backcountry Bicycle Trails Club).

The Novice Area (Phase 1) is complete and offers a 1/2-mile tight'n'twisty Cross Country loop trail with several intermediate to advanced options.

It's a great place to work on key skills be sessioning:

• Ladder bridges, log rides and skinnies
• Tight switchbacks
• Steep rock chutes and technical rock rolls
• Teeter totters
• Rock step-ups
• A long ladder bridge roller coaster ride (be careful to keep your speed waaaay down... she bucks!)

Phase 2 is under construction and scheduled to be completed by Oct'08. Phase 2 will focus on more flowy advanced trails and offer features like jumps, berms, wall rides, progressive drops, rock chutes, skinnies, pump track, trials area, etc. and a couple of sessionable practice areas.

More info: Colonnade Project Page and Colonnade Phase 2 Page.

Mountain Bike Guide Books at less than 1/2 price!

Extremeline Productions is now selling "damaged" books for less than half of the cover price. These books might have blemishes, dents, dings, folds, marks, and/or be tweaked in some way. Nothing major! Just some surface damage - which happens the second you toss the book into your dirty camelbak anyway.

These slightly damaged copies of Mountain Biking Santa Cruz are $6.95; and Mountain Biking Mammoth are $7.65. Happy Trails!

South Lake Tahoe Bike Trails

Below is a blog post featured on Sierra Sojourner blog. See original here.

Most people have heard of the great mountain biking available in South Lake Tahoe. Toads, Christmas Valley, and The Flume are "must-do" trails for most visiting bikers. (Toads is our favorite! ...and CV rules too! Ah but the Flume trail is unrivaled in beauty!) Anyways, on our last trip up there, we decided expand our horizons and check out 2 new trails (new to us, that is).



One day we rode one section of the Tahoe Rim Trail is called 'The Bench', a great out & back ride on the southeastern side of the lake. The Google Earth view of the ride is shown above (you are looking southwest.)

This trail had a little of everything fun in mountain biking; some smooth fast sections, plenty of technical challenges, a great view of the lake at the end.... I think it was about 12 miles long with around 1200 feet of cumulative climbing. Although, it seemed a bit longer than that. Maybe because we went with our local friends that have superhuman lungs and technical skills. No time to sit and enjoy the scenery - we were jamming!!

Later we stumbled upon a trail called Corral Creek near the bottom of Toads. We didn't expect too much since its an OHV trail, but we believe in serendipity. This trail rocked! Lots of back to back banked turns with little natural hits all over the place gave this trail great rhythm. Even our dog looked like he was carving turns as he sprinted the entire way down. It was way too short though, less than 3 miles, but there were many offshoots that we didn't have time to explore. We'll be back.....

Here's another views of the ride looking southeast over Heavenly ski resort. We made a loop by riding up a parallel dirt road. It appears that many people do shuttle runs on the singletrack section though.

Freeridin' Black Rock Trails in Falls City

Awhile ago, we wrote about the IMBA article on the legally sanctioned Black Rock Trails. Sooo, we decided to go up and check it out for ourselves! This is what we found:



This place rocks! Trails like Ganny's Kitchen are almost unbelievable in terms of flow and air time. Being from California (where rides with stunts are quite limited), it just seemed like it couldn't actually be an "open" trail. Throughout the 1200 feet of vertical drop, the amount of high-quality stunts, jumps, gaps, drops, and skinnies was amazing. The park also included a 'practice/skills area' with an excellent variety of features for every level of rider.



The weather was great in July, cool enough to self-shuttle/climb a few laps on the smooth low-dust trails. Black Rock bike park is a 'must hit' destination on the freeride route north. (Just a couple hours north is Post Canyon, on the way to Whistler!) Sept 15-16 2007 is the first annual Black Rock Bike Fest, which includes shuttles and camping.

Download the GPX file of our rides here.

Logistics:
Falls City is in northern Oregon west of Salem. The only bummer about the area is the lack of accessible public land and camping. Luckily, we ended up finding private land to camp on. If interested call Dawn or Bruce, 503-787-1010, for reservations for tent camping and RV parking. They are super nice people with a great chunk of property only minutes from the riding area.
Another place to stay is the newly opened Black Rock Inn with 3 units.

Mammoth Opens 2 New Freeride Trails!

2 of the long awaited freeride trails are now open at Mammoth Mountain Bike Park! Techno Rock and Richter add to the 90 miles of singletrack on the mountain. Here's what the MammothMountain.com has to say:

"Our long anticipated two new trails now open! Techno Rock has a setup similar to popular dual slalom and mountain cross courses, and it starts out with four intense drops that range from four to 15 feet. The trail then plunges in and out of a dirt ditch that is Mammoth's Olympic Size halfpipe in the winter. Richter is for intermediate riders and it rides like a rollercoaster through a tunnel of trees. Wooden features and natural berms round out the trail's assortment of obstacles."

Also, the mountain will be running Chair 2/Stump Alley Express on weekends through labor day.

Lance Armstrong on mountain biking in Santa Cruz!

Check out this MBOSC (Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz) blogpost on Lance. This is great PR for the mountain biking movement in Santa Cruz: The original link is here:

Article is originally written by Mark Davidson, president of MBOSC

Lance loves Santa Cruz Trails!

When I went to Washington a few months ago, the American Airways in-flight magazine had a one page fitness article on Lance Armstrong. The sidebar had a bit on "Top Cycling Spots" and I was overjoyed to see that he mentions Santa Cruz as an "absolutely great place for mountain biking" and "frankly, for my money, you can't go wrong."

I had heard rumors of Lance's visit to our town so I contacted a friend at Giro to get the story. A couple of years ago, Lance visited San Francisco to meet with some corporate partners. He paid a visit to Santa Cruz and brought along his mountain bike. He was doing a for an autograph and meet and greet session with Giro employees - who were a major sponsor of Lance. Then he snuck off for a ride with the Senior VP of Marketing at Giro and a couple of other people. According to my source, the pace was brisk on the climbs and Lance was flying on the descents as well.

Lance Armstrong is one of the only nationally recognized cyclists in mainstream America. Having him mention Santa Cruz as a "Top Cycling Spot" for mountain biking is a huge PR win. This little statement from a world renowned cycling champion in a throw away magazine is pure gold.

Rare Faceplant found in Idaho

This rare faceplant was found on the Payette Lake Trail during a well timed photoshoot. This species of faceplant can be found by 60-year-old-women bikers attempting to pose for the stressful self-timed camera shot. Even tough guys in camo are astonished at such a rare sighting!

Mountain Biking Yosemite

While mountain biking inside of Yosemite National Parks is not allowed, there are some great options just outside the park boundary. Trails on the Eastern Sierra side, near the Tuolumne Meadows entrance, offer the best scenery and singletrack. Two great biking options are Bennettville Trail and Saddlebag Lake Trail.


Bennettville Trail follows a section of the historic Great Sierra Wagon Road and scenically weaves past the infamous mine, the Great Sierra Tunnel, on its way to the ghost town of Bennettville.

Nearby, the Saddlebag Lake Trail is a mountain bike blessing. Absolutely amazing high sierra scenery surrounds this loop, which is nestled between Hoover Wilderness and Yosemite.

Another ride in the area, Lake Canyon Trail, requires a bit more aerobic exertion. Details and maps of the ride are depicted in Mountain Biking Mammoth. Enjoy!

Santa Cruz and Mammoth in New Bike DVD

Top Soil 2 is a new mountain bike dvd with footage from Santa Cruz, Mammoth, and other great locations in the West.

This is what people are saying:

Top Soil 2 is the sequel to the Aptos Productions’ Top Soil online video diary, which has been viewed by nearly one million visitors. Top Soil 2 is a recipe of local talent, progression and humour. Watch the young riders of Aptos, California Cameron Mccaul, Evan Turpen, Jamie Goldman, Greg Watts, and many more as they ride their best for the cameras pushing themselves and the sport to a higher level. Top Soil 2 is shot in various parts of North America and places across the globe following the world’s top riders as they compete in contests and races.

Top Soil 2 will only be available on DVD and includes the full length original Top Soil in the bonus features as well as crash section, Red Bull Reezride 03 and more…

Scenes shot in Aptos, Crankworx, Mammoth US Open, Cowan's back yard and many more.

Sick riding from the likes of the McCaul Brothers, Jamie Goldman, the Watts brothers, Ryan Howard and SO MANY MORE!

Sick riding from the likes of the McCaul Brothers, Jamie Goldman, the Watts brothers, Ryan Howard and SO MANY MORE!

Here's a preview:

Mountain Biking on Mount St. Helens

The bike ride on Mount St. Helens was one ride i will never forget! An out 'n' back up Ape Canyon Trail onto the Plains of Abraham provides so much diversity and beauty that you don't even realize you just pedalled 24 miles.

Much of the initial climb is in lush forest with periodic views of the surrounding Northwest Volcanoes. As you climb higher, the open fields of pumice and forests of destruction open up to views of St. Helens. There's something mind-blowing about see the smoke come out of the crater - and knowing that 57 people were killed in 1980 when 1300 feet of the mountaintop exploded.

After exiting the the forest, the trail climbs up to the "Plains of Abraham," and cruises along the flank of the mountain.
Filled with pumice and volcanic rock, this area is a testament to its recent violent history. Yet, in the midst of it all, we saw small creeks and amazing displays of wildflowers. A herd of elk seemed to be enjoying the views from a ridge nearby.

After this amazing nature experience, we still had miles of excellent singletrack carve down! What a ride!

New Trails at Mammoth Mountain

So, Techno Rock, Richter, and the Twilight Zone are finally approved and set to open this July! The Mammoth Mountain Website says this about the new trails:

"Opening July 2007 - Techno Rock: a fast, technical expert-only trail from McCoy Station to the Main Lodge. With BIG rock drops and banked turns in the Super Pipe Techno Rock is a dirt-jumping run to the bottom.

Opening July 2007 - Richter: a fast, upper-intermediate to advanced, tree-lined roller coaster ride off Kamikaze and Trail Home. Ladders, wooden bridges and plenty of berms. This trail completes the freeride path from the top of the mountain to the bottom.

Opening July 2007 - Twilight Zone: this urban-inspired trail will become our "signature." Hang a quick right halfway down Chain Smoke and get ready to accelerate through a series of linked wooden berms, through the Snake, and end in the heart-pounding "deep-end": a 32-foot wide, 10-foot tall, 180 degree banked turn.

Kamikaze Park is a place to have fun and test your skills on man-made features. Located near the lower Panorama Gondola Station. Find urban-inspired features including dirt jumps, wall ride, teeter totter, features from the Unbound ski and snowboard Terrain Parks and larger features - look for the 90-foot Dragon and the Volcano!"

For more detailed info on the trails in Mammoth, click here!

XC Ride in the Southern Sierras

The Kern Canyon Trail is a preeminent cross country bike ride in the Southern Sierras. Its located in the trail epicenter of Kern River Valley, close to Lake Isabella and about 15 minutes south of Kernville.

This scenic trail is fast, flowy, smooth, fun......and certainly gets the heart pounding. With plenty of mountain views and an occasional glimpses of the river, you'll pass some small creeks, meadows and oak groves along the way.

The ride is great all year long, but can be very hot in the summer. It is simply amazing in the spring, as the wildflowers are in bloom and everything is green.

Although there's several variations of the ride, the most popular version starts from Keyesville and roughly contours the rolling oak-covered mountains above the lower Kern River to Delonegha Bridge.

GPX file of our ride here.

The ride begins starts on a section of the Keyesville Classic cross country race course and then contours the mountains and scenic look-outs for the next 21 miles. Most of the ride is smooth singletrack with lots of ups and downs, and ends with a great rolling descent. If you shuttle (the popular option) you'll climb 2800 feet up and drop 3400. Have fun!

Mammoth Season for Singletrack

A lousy snowpack year in the Sierras only means one thing: a longer summer! Mammoth Mountain is melting fast, and it wont be long before some of the freeride trails on the mountain are clear. The temperature is supposed to be in the 60's this week, creating great tacky trail conditions. The early season snowmelt, adds the much-needed moisture to the pumice soil.

Many of the great cross country trails are starting to get stomped down; Downtown, Uptown, Mammoth Rock Trail, Paper Route, Lakes Trail, and Juniper Trails. Of course, Lower Rock Creek Trail has been going off for awhile.

Check out the Mammoth Mountain website for webcams and weather updates. The Bike Park won't actually be open until June 23rd, but most of the trails should be clear much earlier.