Bloodier Rock, 2023 Upduro World Championship, and other updates

The past few months have been an absolute flurry of activity for our club. First, we have to mention that our membership is the largest ever in our existence! With the support and growth of our membership we have been able to tackle some long overdue projects.

 

The maintenance of Blood Rock was eating into our precious volunteer time with near monthly attempts to curb erosion and other issues. Our renovation will help sustain that section of trail well into the future and allow us to focus on other areas in need of maintenance. We have to say it looks pretty great as well! Speaking of Blood Rock, our first ever UPduro took place there a few weeks ago. Riders of all ages made attempts to climb up Blood Rock to get the farthest with the fastest time. For just a casual Sunday afternoon the turnout was great and the crowd was an absolute blast. Big thanks to Eric Hagan and Bike Link for putting some prizes up for grabs. Free events like these, along with shuttle days are just a few ways we are looking to add value to your membership on and off the trails and we hope you take advantage of them when you can.

 

Tails and Lightning have settled in quite nicely since their construction/renovation. Having these two trails side by side has made our Shuttle Days even more exciting, so if you haven’t had a chance to make it out for one, get after it! Shuttle Days are the 1st Tuesday of every month and a good way to get your lines dialed in before the BUMP N’ GRIND.

 

Can’t forget about Tannehill! We recently were able to re-route a problematic section of trail at Tannehill State Park in a single day thanks to some dedicated volunteers. We still have a few more projects in the development stage there, and we hope to share more information on that soon.

 

And of course, double check that the 29th Annual BUMP N GRIND is on your calendar: June 9th-11th. This will be an action packed weekend starting with pre-ride shuttles and on-site technicians on Friday provided by FOX Factory. Rich Drew and The Ride Series crew will be out helping fine tune those skills Friday and Saturday. You can register for one of The Ride Series clinics on Bikereg.com. Saturday will be the 1st ever BUMP N ‘DURO, followed by the super exciting Short Track race. Sunday of course will feature all the XC racing and Omnium winners will be announced then as well. If racing isn’t your thing, then we are always happy to have volunteers. It takes a village to put this event on!

 

A fresh round of BUMP swag will be hitting the scene soon as well, including fresh hats, shirts, and fenders. You can stock up at BUMP N GRIND or your favorite local bike shop.

Upcoming volunteer appreciation party (6/18) and trail work day (6/25)

We will be having a volunteer appreciation party at Cahaba River Park next Saturday (6/18/22). If you have come out to help us on a trail work day, helped at BnG, or led one of our group rides come out and let us show how much we love you! We will be meeting at the pavilion closest to the river for a ride (wheels on dirt at 9 a.m., so show up a little before that), and having a cookout down by the river at The Slab afterwards. If you don’t want to ride, but still want to come hang out, show up at ~11:30. Here is a Google maps link to the pavilion.

We will also be having our next trail work day at Oak Mountain on Saturday 6/25/22 at 8 a.m. Meet at the BUMP shed at the South Trailhead by ~7:45 so we can start work at 8. Bring closed toed shoes appropriate for physical labor and gloves if you want them. Also, remember to bring water and sunscreen. You don’t want to be stuck in the woods without them at this time of year.

Enter the BNG 28 raffle to win a set of carbon wheels (and a lot of other cool stuff)!


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We are selling entries to the BNG 28 raffle, which will occur on Sunday June 5th. The prizes this year are really exciting and include a full carbon wheelset from NOX Composites (see the flyer for other great prizes)

We will be selling tickets digitally for $5 a pop, or 5 for $20. Use this link to buy tickets. After clicking next it will ask what the donation is for. Put ‘Raffle’ in that box so that we know the donation is for raffle tickets. We will be doing the drawing electronically on-site using a random number generator.

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. “

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. ?