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Showing posts with label Mountain Biking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mountain Biking. Show all posts

Take A Kid Mountain Biking Day At Duthie Hill Mountain Bike Park

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TKMBD is an annual celebration held on the first Saturday of October. The event, developed and coordinated by IMBA, strives to encourage communities around the world to join together and ride mountain bikes with youth. Over the years we’ve had tens of thousands of kids participate from across the globe, including: Italy, Australia, South Africa, Canada, Malaysia, and Mexico. Informal or formal, one child or 100 children, TKMBD celebrates the joy of riding in the dirt.

Besides being good, healthy fun, the goal is to develop a connection between kids and the natural world around them. Today’s children are tomorrow’s land managers and politicians — future decision-makers for important matters like recreation and access to public lands. How different might our current access landscape look today if previous generations of policy makers had grown up riding bikes on natural-surface trails?

In the past, almost 200 kids and 100 adults turned out to explore the trails at King County’s Duthie Hill Mountain Bike Park. Duthie, located in Issaquah, is a bike trail park built for all ages and ability levels – from first-timers to advanced riders.

This year’s event included guided trail rides, an obstacle course for the little ones, an exciting jump show from local and pro riders, costume bike parade and barbecue, and tons of prizes!

It’s a terrific way to get kids outside in the woods having fun on bikes. Come join us at this family event! All ages are welcome – from tots to teens – they just need a working bike and helmet to participate!





Mountain Biking Mt Adams, WA

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Mt Adams area offers more than one thousand miles of trails that are woven throughout the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, and many are open to mountain bikers.

If you're ExtraHyperActive like me, Mt Adams is a great little getaway from Seattle for a perfect multi-sport weekend.

Though my main goal was to climb/ski Mt Adams, having heard a lot about the abundance of opportunities for both road and mountain biking, I decided to take my bike along to explore the area and a few local mountain bike trails.

Conveniently for me, Cold Springs trail #72 was located at the same camping ground as the main climbing rout - South Climb #183


Open to mountain bikers, hikers, and equestrians, Cold Springs trail is  3.7 miles long, and offers amazing wildflowers viewing and the sights of A.G. Aiken Lava Flow.  Much of the trail travels through an area heavily burned in the Cold Springs Fire of 2008.



The trail interacts with a few other major trails making a great way to explore the area by bike. If you decide to ride this trail one way, keep in mind, it's pretty steep, and the way up could be more  than you bargained for ( especially if you have to climb Mt Adams the next day like I did :)).

But riding my bike with Mt Adams in the background was one of the highlights of my trip !




Tacoma Hosts A New Mountain Bike Park

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I said it years ago : Washington is becoming a new mountain biking mecca in US !

With Stevens Pass mountain bike park, Duthie Hill in Issaquah, and thousand of miles of well maintained trails around the state, Washington easily competes with such famous mountain bike places like Whistler, Utah, and Colorado.

And now a new mountain bike park in Tacoma has become a great addition of places to ride around the state. It's nice to finally have an area in the South Sound we can rally around.

Swan Creek Park is a 290 acre greenspace nestled on the boundary between East Tacoma and Pierce County with a salmon bearing stream, wooded canyon, upland forest, paved and natural trails, a new community garden, and new mountain bike trails.



The park is popular for bird watching, hiking, walking, picnicking and other recreational uses, and is also used for driver training by public safety and utility departments. And now it's the home of Tacoma's first trail system for mountain bikes!

Developed and operated in partnership with Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance, the newly completed Phase 1 includes an easy perimeter trail, advanced trails and a technical skill building zone. There is something there for everybody from little kids to full-grown rippers.

May be because it's a new park, and not many features have been built yet, I felt the park was more suitable for novice to intermediate riders like me. I especially liked "Hustle & Flow" - a 1.75 mi cross country loop that circumnavigates the ~50 acre Douglas Fir Forest. Designed to be similar to Bootcamp at Duthie Hill -- smooth and flowy with lots of rollers and banked turns, max sustained climbs and descents, optional features. Skill level: Green (entry) level and kid/family-friendly but fun to rip for all ages and skill levels. Some more difficult options.

Since the park is relatively new, the skill building features only include : skinny practice zone, drop zone and pump track on the north side of the park.



But if all goes well at Swan Creek, Metro Parks and Evergreen hope they can soon start building more trails in the forest.

In my opinion, Washington is one of the best places to be a mountain biker in the continental United States ! From freshwater lakes to towering peaks and green valleys, Washington's landscape is as exciting as it is diverse.


 Below, check out Mountain Bike! Washington (America by Mountain Bike) the guidebook that will introduce you to the thrill of exploring Washington's wilderness while you experience its most unforgettable rides.