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Lumberyard Is Really Happening
I took a short trip from Seattle down to Portland to see how the Northwest’s premier indoor mountain bike park, the Lumerbyard was coming along. We have all heard rumors of something this cool happening in our neck of the woods for some time now and the rumors are no more. One would think that a good or successful indoor park would have already been built in an area where if it’s not raining outside it’s at least muddy almost 8 months out of the year.
The Lumberyard is on the verge of creating a place that mountain bikers and bmxers alike can come and have the same amount of fun under the same roof. There are plans for everything from XC loops to box jump flow lines. It will be really cool to have access to box jumps and pump tracks any day of the week no matter the weather. The Lumberyard has also picked up Joe Prisel for designing and building the ramps. If Joe has the creative control you know the stuff is bound to be sick.
This is the view of what was a bowling alley and is now transforming into the Lumeberyard. The entrance will be over on the left picture and on the right, well, let’s just say there are some serious plans for that parking lot.
This is a little peek into what it takes to transform an old bowling alley into a super bike park.
They set up a small box to test the height of the rafters and it seems to work. The beams are a little scary the first time or two but once you get going it’s kinda sweet to jump up in-between the beams.
As you can see there is lots of space for some crazy features.
I really like the feel that an old bowling alley provides especially when you get to look down on to the bike park.
In the back resides what use to be the bar. I don’t think any of it will stay but it definitely as the feel of some dive bar you probably go to to have a few post ride beers.
A little much needed kitchen remodel. There is no final word on what kind of food will be served but I bet it will be tasty. Food and beer, mmmmmm.
Here there is a lucky stack of wood getting the afternoon golden light.
Opening Day At Stevens Pass
The soft opening of Stevens Pass Bike Park was the first weekend in October. This is the first lift access bike park Washington has had in a really long time. Fall in the NW can be a little unpredictable and that it was for the whole weekend. It was freezing in the mornings and then throughout the days there was a constant battle between the rain and the sun. Even though the weather was less than ideal about 900 people showed up to ride the new park over the course of the weekend. Needless to say we are all stoked to have something this rad in our own backyard!
Check out the amazing slide show put together by VitalMTB with Tim Zimmerman’s photos by clicking the screen shot.
Check out Pinkbike’s coverage of the event with a bunch of great photos shot by Paris Gore.
I was lucky enough to have the chance to film this piece a few days before the park opened. Even though the park is still in its early stages with only two trails open, there plenty of lines to be had on the fresh runs.
Dealer Event
What seems like just a while back was Diamondback’s annual dealer event and it was rad. There has been a bunch of things to go down in-between this dealer event and now but here is a little recap of the some of the action that went down. This is an event that I always look forward to attending. I get to ride every day and hang with all of the great dealers, vendors, and employees.We got to ride the rack pack a couple of times a day for a week how could that suck?
The rat pack trail is full of some crazy obstacles and some long flowy descents. The trail has something for everyone to have fun on. We shuttled most of the way up then pedaled the rest of the way up which made it easy to ride a bigger bike for some more fun on the descent or there was still enough of a climb to ride a pedaly bike to the top.
Check the video out for a little peak of what goes on at the Diamondback Raliegh dealer event.
Mount Washington
Adrienne Schofhauser and I took a super fun trip to Mount Washington out on Vancouver Island last summer to ride the quiet little bike park. During our couple of days there it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves. The bike park had a lot to offer, from features to flowy, technical trails. Those features include cool wallrides and the picture below that Adrienne shot of me on their trail Back In Black was used for Mt. Washington’s 2011 bike park brochure. We are headed back in a week to watch the Bearclaw Invitational take place.
Duthie Hill Demo Day
Duthie Hill had its opening of Phase Two over the weekend. Like usual Duthie draws a wide crowd of people from all bike disciplines. There were a ton of people that stopped by to demo bikes from the Diamondback fleet. The weather was good and with a bunch of fun new trails opened up, people were stoked. I think at this point there is something for everyone. It was really busy all day long with a bunch of people demoing bikes, riding bikes, and even some funny competitions.
Our Booth seemed to be packed for most of the day
Jason making sure that the mission is shred ready
Galbraith Ride with Recycled Cycles
Went for a little bike ride with friends the other weekend up at Galbraith Mountain. I have heard that Galby was getting logged and there are a bunch of trees cut down. Turns out some of the trails were being logged and not ridable. The trails that we did manage to ride were in great shape and fun as hell. I rode the Dreamliner so it was a bit of a grunt to get that little bike to the top but it was well worth the ride down! The slope bike was really fun on all of the jumps but killed it through all of the bumpy sections.
This was the crew post ride and ready for food and beer.
