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BikeBeginners Ride Free at Catamount
Beginners Ride Free at Catamount
The nonprofit organization known as the Fellowship of the Wheel (FOTW) completed a beginner trail in early May at the Catamount Family Center in Williston, Vermont. The new trail—part of the 20-plus mile Catamount network and FOTW’s 100-plus mile trail web—connects several existing sections of flowy, obstacle-free trail with new singletrack. And it’s free to ride. “There is no better place for a beginner trail than Catamount,” says Steve Fischer, FOTW’s president. “It’s minutes from Burlington, Vermont. And it has all the amenities—parking, food, water, and restrooms.” The novice circuit is the latest link in a chain of…...
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BikePark City Earns IMBA Gold
Park City Earns IMBA Gold
Park City’s vast network of trails earned it IMBA Gold-Level certification. Photo by Mike TittelIt offers more than 350 miles of singletrack, terrain suitable for everyone from beginners to pros, and because the town is only 30 minutes from Salt Lake City off an eight-lane highway, it’s accessible. Utahns have always thought of Park City as a great place to mountain bike in high summer when Moab is an inferno, but now the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA) is saying Park City is the best town in the country to mountain bike. IMBA recently awarded Park City with its…...
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BikeSweet Duds. Great Cause.
Sweet Duds. Great Cause.
Click on the image below to launch a slideshow. Photos by Dave Cox. The Trail Builders Show up as a volunteer at a multi-use trail building day anywhere in the country, and you’ll be surrounded by dozens, if not hundreds, of mountain bikers, a handful of hikers, and a couple of lazy equestrians (gross generalization based on writer’s personal experience). Mountain bikers are trail builders. And they know how to build trails that flow and last. Today, much of that expertise resides within the nonprofit that is IMBA. Their Trail Solutions division is one of the largest trail…...
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BikeTrail Report: Grand Valley, CO
Trail Report: Grand Valley, CO
Handcuff trail in Colorado’s Grand Valley. Photo by Jason SumnerNormally, one ride a day is enough to satiate my riding needs, but that changes on trips to Colorado’s Grand Valley. For the uninitiated, the Grand Valley is an oft-overlooked cycling jewel on Colorado’s Western Slope that includes mountain bike rides like Grand Junction’s Lunch Loops, the 18 Road trails north of Fruita, the Kokopelli system south of Fruita, and Rabbit Valley further west. If you prefer road riding, spin up and through nearby Colorado National Monument. The butter-smooth tarmac and stunning red rock vistas make this one of the…...
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BikeSpring Multisport: Tahoe, CA
Spring Multisport: Tahoe, CA
Photographer: Scott Markewitz | Location: Flume Trail, NV | Rider: Dave Stein by Jeremy Benson After college, I headed to Tahoe for a token winter as a ski bum. That was 10 years ago. My first season was a blur of powder skiing and partying, but one moment remains clear. Late one night as another winter storm bore down on the Sierra, I left a ski shop after a long shift tuning skis to grab a beer with coworkers. One said, “I came for a winter. I stayed for the summers.” The bar stools, chairlifts, and bike seats of Tahoe…...
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BikeSpring Multisport: Northern Vermont
Spring Multisport: Northern Vermont
story and photographs by Brian Mohr The tail end of maple sugaring season is a relaxing time to be in the Green Mountains. Dismissed by out-of-staters as mud season, late spring in Vermont means a break between the busy tourist seasons. And you’re well free of mid-winter obligations like shoveling walkways or winning the race for fresh tracks. My wife and I might spend the day riding mountain bikes in the Champlain Valley, stopping for a dunk in the river on the way home. Or we throw our skis in the canoe and paddle toward backcountry runs that drop to…...
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BikeSpring Multisport: Bend, OR
Spring Multisport: Bend, OR
By Frederick Reimers | Photos by Tyler Roemer My cousin Hans moved to Bend from a Colorado mountain town last year. When I venture inland from the coast for a visit, he loves to contrast his new home with the old. “Colorado is a very yang state,” he says, meaning the masculine half of the Chinese yin and yang symbol. “People in Oregon seem more welcoming—like they have less to prove.” Maybe it’s the altitude, he says. I think it’s a scarcity issue. Colorado residents crawl all over their mountains, bumping into each other like ants scavenging crumbs. Climbing routes…...
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Spring Multisport
Spring Multisport
It’s time to make the most of snowmelt, singletrack, warming rock, and corn snow. We touch down in four multisport hotbeds to bring you the dirt. Bend, OR | In Oregon, nothing feels scarce. Frederick Reimers reports on the mountain biking, climbing, and skiing here. Northern VT | Why the tail end of maple sugaring season is a relaxing time in the Green Mountains. By Brian Mohr Tahoe, CA | Ski bums come for the winter and stay for the summers. But Jeremy Benson was convinced by spring. Boulder, CO | What can we do in a day? That’s a…...
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BikeMountain Download: Wilderness Trail Bikes
Mountain Download: Wilderness Trail Bikes
By Rob Story | Photograph by Tai Power Seeff Were it not for the soft dirt of Northern California, mountain biking as we know it may not exist. From leftist Marin County north through bongwater-drenched Arcata, all the way to the flannel-shirted Oregon line, the trails are verdant, moss-weeping wonderlands carpeted in pine needles. They’re so appealing, ’70s hippies rode them on cruisers, frying brakes and cracking frames. So the hippies founded the original mountain-bike companies. Gary Fisher. Ritchey. And Wilderness Trail Bikes, the supergroup formed in 1982 by Mountain Bike Hall of Famers Charlie Cunningham, Steve Potts, and Mark Slate.…...
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BikeCalling Marty Jemison
Calling Marty Jemison
Marty Jemison racing the Tour of Flanders. Photo by Graham WatsonWhen Backcountry.com acquired Competitive Cyclist in 2011, Marty Jemison picked up the phone and asked how to get involved. He’s a former road racer who won the 1999 U.S. Pro Championships, and he’s one of only 29 Americans to complete the Tour de France. Now Jemison runs bike tours in the U.S. and Europe—when he’s not taking customer service calls for Competitive Cyclist, that is. Mountain talked to him about the new gig, racing with Lance Armstrong, and another season of road biking. Anybody can get in touch with…...
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BikeTrail Report: Stowe, Vermont
Trail Report: Stowe, Vermont
Taking advantage of unseasonably dry conditions in Stowe, Vermont. Photo by Berne Broudy Last week, Vermont thermometers were pushing 85, the daffodils budded, locals unhitched their snowplows, and summer tires replaced studded snows. It’s closing weekend at Stowe, which barely has a top to bottom run left to ski. The skies are blue, and the trees are brown sticks poking out of the bare ground. Spring corn has skipped Vermont this year, so instead of carving spring conditions on skis, we ride the dry trails on fat tires. March, April, and May in Vermont are typically a…...
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BikeRacing Mountain Bikes on Snow
Racing Mountain Bikes on Snow
The starting line at Copper. Photo by Sydney FoxI’m at the start line of the Copper en Fuego bike race surrounded by 161 other racers, my breath frosty in the night air. I’m not thinking about winning. I’m thinking: How I am going to stay on my bike on snow? Fireworks explode on the side of the course and we’re off with a bang. It’s the first event of the Leadville Winter Mountain Bike race series, held at Colorado’s Copper Mountain. The series of four races (three are at night) is considered the ultimate in winter bike racing—in the…...
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BikeTesting Bikes—So You Don’t Have To
Testing Bikes—So You Don’t Have To
The Mountain Swami and a select group of his gear minions just got back from testing fat tire bikes in the mountains of Tucson. Actually the venue and logistics were handled by our friends at Outside magazine. (Thanks to Aaron Gulley for inviting us.) We just showed up to ride, fill out test cards, and drink bourbon. And ride we did. Coming from the heart of ski season in Colorado, we suddenly found ourselves cranking out five to six hours a day on rough and rocky track in saguaro and cholla desert. It was a perfect locale to put…...
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BikeAngel Fire Freezes Over
Angel Fire Freezes Over
Snowy conditions added an unpredictable element to the USA Cycling collegiate nationals. Photo by Jonathan DevichEight inches of snow greeted Paul Mayes at the USA Cycling collegiate national championships at Angel Fire Resort in New Mexico on Halloween weekend. Angel Fire typically offers some of the nicest (if largely unknown) mountain biking in the West—even this late in the season. But an early storm made the downhill track look like a vertical cyclo-cross course. The conditions put an unpredictable spin on the event, with slick, snowy courses and frozen ground that thawed to mud. “The downhill course was pretty…...
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BikeThis Just In: Everyman’s Tubeless
This Just In: Everyman’s Tubeless
The Claim: Bike mechanics and low budget mountain bikers know that all it takes is a tube split down the middle and some pre-mixed sealant to create a poor man’s tubeless set up. The Hutchinson Convert’air tubeless system improves on the idea with a more durable oversized rim strip and removable valve stem. The Trial: Installation is a snap, the directions are easy to follow, and Hutchinson provides all the tools needed to convert to tubeless. It’s easiest to use CO2, or an air compressor to get your tires to seat on the rim, preventing you from getting covered…...
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BikeThis Just In: The All-Season Base Layer
This Just In: The All-Season Base Layer
The Claim: New to the U.S., RACE is an Italian brand of technical apparel and accessories. They claim that because their RACE All Season Base Layer Top features a combination of hydrophobic polypropylene and non-static carbon you can use it year-round to help keep your body temperature constant. RACE also makes a bold claim about the fabric’s anti-odor capabilities. The Trial: RACE sent us the top to try out around the time of the first cool-weather bike rides of the fall. I wore it on three consecutive outings with temps mostly in the 50s. I didn’t wash it…...
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Bike
The Dirt On Cyclocross
The Dirt On Cyclocross
The middle of October is the thick of cyclocross season. If you’re new to the sport, picture this: Riders on road bikes with knobby tires race around a circuit covering grass, sand, mud, road, and the occasional singletrack—with barriers thrown in for good measure. For an insider’s perspective on cyclocross, Mountain caught up with Georgia Gould of Team Luna Chix. The pro cyclist won the 2010 US national mountain bike championship, and races cyclocross in the off-season. After the US Gran Prix of Cyclocross series stop, The New Belguim Cup, in her hometown of Fort Collins, Colorado, she’s ranked…...
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