New Trail Alert

NEW TRAIL Alert: As of April 11, 2021 the new trail at Oak Mountain State Park is still closed for unauthorized users. It needs time to dry and settle, riding it will damage the trail and delay the opening. Trail’s opening day is being planned with park, look for event announcement.

Another trail, Johnston’s Mountain trail is undergoing renovations and currently closed. We have heavy equipment operating on the trail and your presence will hinder their progress and create an unnecessary danger to you.

There are over 20 miles of open trails available to be ridden at Oak Mountain State Park. Enjoy your ride!

Mountain biking in Birmingham went from being a novelty to world class. How did it happen? – Bham Now

Thank you, Pat Byington with Bham Now for the article about BUMP!

Read it here: https://bhamnow.com/2021/02/18/mountain-biking-in-birmingham-went-from-being-a-novelty-to-world-class-how-did-it-happen/

These great trails are possible because our volunteers and everyone who supports BUMP. To get involved join BUMP by joining club online: https://www.bump.org/get-involved/join-the-club/

“It’s hard to imagine, but back in the early 1990s, mountain biking was not allowed on the trails at Oak Mountain State Park. According to Jeff Rozycki, the current President of BUMP, passionate mountain pedalers got together and started to advocate for access to the trails for mountain biking.

“Working with local park officials and community leaders, we were able to gain access to the trail system out there,” said Rozycki. “We signed letters of agreement that we would help build and maintain trails out at Oak Mountain in exchange for being able to use them”

Today, BUMP maintains about 30 miles of trails at Oak Mountain and is currently building a new trail. They have also gained access to the Trussville Sports Complex trail, where there is a 5-mile loop, and they’ve built and maintained about 15 miles of trail at Tannehill State Park. “

Four Virtual Challenge Rides – August 2020

Jump in on action – complete one or all four of BUMP’s virtual challenge rides taking place in August! Four challenges are actual race courses at BUMP-N-GRIND race that set for September 5th and 6th at Oak Mountain State Park.

Leaderboard resuts are posted weekly on our Strava, Facebook and Instagram pages. Challenges end on August 31st, 2020. Join in and have fun!

Virtual Ride: BUMP-N-GRIND 26 Cat 3 Course

Description of the course: start at South Trail Head in front of Dogwood pavilion, up Peavine Road to Johnsons Mountain, come down Johnsons, cross to Foreplay, Toads all the way back to the road, left on road past feeding zone then left into Family, Rattlesnake, take Lake return and yes, up and over “The Hill” back to South Trail Head for the finish. https://www.strava.com/clubs/20979/posts/10917367

Virtual Ride: BUMP-N-GRIND 26 Super D Course

Description of the course: start at the overlook at the top of Peavine Road, ride down the Fire Pit, Blood Rock, and Quarry Trail finishing at Peavine Road where Quarry crosses to Johnsons Mountain. https://www.strava.com/clubs/20979/posts/11040409

Virtual Ride: BUMP-N-GRIND 26 CAT 2 Course

Description of the course: start at South Trail Head in front of Dogwood pavilion, riders go into Lake trail, cross over to Seven Bridges, up Camp Road to Garrett’s Gulch, Chimneys, Cat Dog Snake to North Trail Head, climb Red Road, blast across the top of the ridge to BUMP connector, BUMP Trail, down Blood Rock, Quarry, cross to Johnsons, Foreplay, Toads back to the road, left on road past feed zone, left on Family, Rattlesnake, Lake return then up and over “The Hill” to the finish at the South Tr ail Head. https://www.strava.com/clubs/20979/posts/11147445

Virtual Ride: BUMP-N-GRIND 26 Air D Course

Description of the course: Lightning trail down. https://www.strava.com/clubs/20979/posts/11254204

Not To Miss Event: BUMP-N-GRIND 26 Race

The annual BUMP-N-GRIND race has been set for September 5-6th, 2020 at Oak Mountain State Park and registration is open. This race offers fun and challenging ride options for novices, experts and riders anywhere in-between.

If you have not participated in a mountain bike race, this could be a great first race for you. We invite you to try our virtual race challenge for CAT 3 course as listed in BUMP Strava Club event Virtual Ride: BUMP-N-GRIND 26 Cat 3 Course

AIR D:

Air D racers will be shuttled up Boy Scout Camp Road to the top of Lightning. Air D is best time down Lightning trail.

CROSS COUNTRY RACES:

All cross country races start and finish at the South Trail Head

CAT 3 JUNIOR:

Cat 3 Junior course is for riders ages 0-12. This is approx. a 5 mile course (similar to NICA). Race will start at South Trail Head, racers will ride up Peavine and enter into Mr. Toads, ride Toads to Family Trail, Rattlesnake Ridge, and take Lake Trail back to the South Trail Head for the finish

CAT 1: (XC1)

CAT 1 course is just over 30 miles. CAT 1 does the full CAT 2 course, then back up Peavine to climb Jekyll, across Centipede, down Quarry, cross over to Johnsons, Foreplay, Toads, back to South Trail Head for the finish.

CAT 2: (XC2)

CAT 2 course is approx. 20 miles. Starting at South Trail Head, racers go into Lake trail, cross over to Seven Bridges, up Camp Road to Garrett’s Gulch, Chimneys, Cat Dog Snake to North Trail Head, climb Red Road, blast across the top of the ridge to BUMP connector, BUMP Trail, down Blood Rock, Quarry, cross to Johnsons, Foreplay, Toads, Family, Rattlesnake, and back Lake to South Trail Head.

CAT 3: (XC3)

Full CAT 3 course is approx. 8 miles. Race starts at South Trail Head, racers ride up Peavine Road to entrance of Johnsons Mountain, come down Johnsons, cross to Foreplay, Toads, Family, Rattlesnake, take Lake return to South Trail Head for the finish. Ages 13 and up. 12U can race the full CAT 3 course by choosing to CAT up.

We invite you to visit http://bumpngrindraces.com/ for detailed information. We encourage you to register by July 31st to save on registration fees. Help us make this year’s race a success, register now!

A few pictures from 2019 race:

July Trail Workday at Oak Mountain State Park

It was a scorching hot Alabama July day but it did not stop our dedicated group of volunteers from coming out for July trail workday. They worked on repairing bridge on the Quarry Road Trail before Pevine road and cleared a section on the Chimneys Trail. Additional work was done on the Pump Track to clear the drains.

We appreciate their commitment and effort and want to thank each one of them:

John Goidel
Ken Blackwood
Freddie Gordon
Michelle Browning
Eric Hagan
Rick Hebson
Braxton Bruce
Madelyn Roberson
Susan Buttler
Nicole Martin
Blake LeCroy
Jeff Rozycki
Will Abner

Thanks to Extreme Terrain for sponsoring this work day with a $250 grant from their Clean Trail Grant Initiative Program! http://www.extremeterrain.com/clean-trail-initiative-program.html

Check our events calendar for next Trail workday. If you are interested to be part of the next Trail Workday, contact us and request to be added to the Trail Workday email list. We would love to have you!

Big Win, One Ride at a Time

Mom’s success story. Posted by Courtney Stephens.

A great day for a trail! ☀️ Morning ride with my kiddo! ??‍♀️ Who knew… diagnosed by 2 with Autism. He works hard everyday to process, deal with, and overcome. His life is blessed, but also a hard! I have to brag a moment, he has found his groove with mountain biking!

One of our doctors that diagnosed him gave us advice to not limit him. This is one of those times. He is cautious, but also really is wanting to gain skills and do well. I am a proud, it has absolutely pushed me too. We LOVE doing this together!

He still has trouble with emotion and expectations. We were having a great day then around mile 5 we got a text that his friend couldn’t join us. Guess what? He talked it out. He charged hills, he took it all in. A big win for him today.

Thank you Lord for gains.

Thank you mountain biking ?‍♀️ community for being so welcoming, encouraging and awesome!

P.S. if you see us on the trails say hi. ?

Pump Track’s Come Back

Pump Track Closed for renovations: BUMP is giving the Pump Track at Oak Mountain a facelift with the help of Barry Nobles, Oak Mountain State Park, and Shelby County.

We are really “pumped” about this project and are looking forward to the end result. Construction of the improved pump track started on June 11th, with final touches expected the week of June 22nd. Please stay off of the Pump Track during this work, and stay tuned for exciting news about the grand re-opening event coming soon. Watch our social media accounts for updates.

June Trail Workday at Tannehill State Park

Thank you to the small but dedicated BUMP crew that helped show Tannehill State Park trails some love. Volunteers got to run the chainsaw for about 5 hours while clearing downed trees and some “widow makers”. They took care installing a drain on washed out section of trail, deberming sections of trail, put in some new signage and repaired some of the old signage.

We appreciate each volunteer who took time to come today and work on improving the trail system:

Roger Lucas
Jeff Rozycki
Christopher Gruil
Stacey Harris
Nathan Harris
Blake LeCroy
Ken Blackwood
Reagan Pennock

One more downed tree was reported right as group finished the workday. Jeff drove up access road, then rode into Never Never Land to knock it out and of course, leave the signature mark.

If you are interested to be part of the next Trail Workday, contact us and request to be added to the Trail Workday email list. We would love to have you!

Lightning Trail Updates

Lightning trail at Oak Mountain State Park received several much-needed improvements in the Spring of 2020 thanks to BUMP, Will Abner and Barry Nobles, and the volunteers who helped to carry this project through. Essentially the goal was to resurface the eroded features on the trail and add a few new features along the way. We received different perspectives from riders of all skill levels to make sure the new sections would be fun for “pro” level riders as well as those who are relatively new to the sport.

Everything was built to help riders progress into the features. Some of what has been revamped may look intimidating, but everything has been crafted to be friendly to all skill levels. We hope riders can use this opportunity to help develop their riding.

Lightning now has properly shaped lips on many of the jumps, rebuilt berms and so much more variety, all with a principle of progression applied so you can learn safely. Because of the improvements the character of the trail has changed, and it is also faster. Get familiar with the trail, it’s features, and learn to ride it safely using progression and good judgement.

Lightning is an expert level trail so know your limits as well as your bikes limits, always stay within them, and ride it at your own risk. Control of your bike and your speed is a must.

Get to know the trail features by watching the great videos below:

Part 1:

Part 2:

If you are interested in volunteering to help in future maintenance please refer to our future work days. The more help BUMP gets maintaining trails, the more time a BUMP can spend doing revamping the current trails.

Next time you are riding Lightning, please keep in mind:

FEATURES YOU WERE ONCE FAMILIAR WITH HAVE BEEN ALTERED.
AS ALWAYS, LOOK FOR CHANGING CONDITIONS ON THE TRAIL.
IF YOU STOP ON THE TRAIL, PLEASE BE MINDFUL OF THOSE PASSING THROUGH AND GET OUT OF THE WAY.
RIDE WITHIN YOUR LIMITS.
TELL YOUR FRIENDS.

Approximately 50 volunteer hours have been spent revamping Lightning. We hope you enjoy the improvements while learning some new skills.

Please Donate to or Join BUMP to help us continue to Build, Maintain, Preserve, and of course Ride the great trails in the Birmingham area.

If you are interested in volunteering to help BUMP with future trail maintenance projects, please email us at info@bump.org to be added to the trail workday email list.

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