The southeast finally has a lift assisted bike park. Located just 25 miles outside of Asheville, NC, 26 West should be another draw to this already huge mountain biking community. Some of my favorite riding is in this area, and now I have one more reason to make the trip. 26 West claims to have trails for beginner, intermediate and expert riders with bike rentals available if needed.

The following list contains items that you must have with you during every ride. Many riders find it unnecessary to carry all of these items on their local rides, but I have found that it is these rides where I end up needing most of the items on this list the most.

The Chilhowee SORBA group ride started off a little different than most. As you can tell by the picture above, we started off leaving the house at 6:00am to arrive for a 8:20am RTR. Jeff, a new riding friend that is a transplant from VA, met Jenn and I at the local QT, and we started making the trip north. The ride up to Chilhowee (near the White Water Center/Tanasi in Tennessee) was a peaceful one with the other half napping the entire way up!

Wheels4Life is a non-profit organization that provides bikes for people in developing countries in need of transportation to get to work or to school, including health care workers. Wheels4life was founded by extreme biking legend and former Mountain Bike World Champion Hans Rey [hansrey.com].

The momentum that 29ers create is well documented. On my local trails, the larger diameter wheels are incredible. Locally, almost everything is typical rolling cross country loops with rocks and roots, but there are no major drops or typical “all mountain” riding. The low top tube of the Evolve really gives the bike a lower center of gravity causing you to feel in-between the wheels instead of on top of them.

It was Saturday morning. I headed down to Blankets Creek to get in an early morning ride to beat the heat. Just like I expected, I was one of 3 cars in the parking lot this early. Usually, this parking lot is filled with over 40 cars on a weekend. The morning fog hadn’t even lifted off the lake yet and I started to get ready for my ride.

At first, I just started playing with the Clix in the RST fork. To my surprise, I was able to hold the heavy RST fork in one hand while quickly removing and latching the hub with the other. It was almost too good to believe! Was this really a QR that wasn’t going to require re-tensioning and could be operated with one hand?

Nothing is more annoying on the trail than equipment that is not cooperating with you. An ill-functioning bike can ruin even the best of rides. It is extremely important to keep your bike a well oiled machine so your rides are focused on fun rather than repair.

The Mountain Bike Hall of Fame and Museum (MBHOF) is located in downtown Crested Butte at 331 Elk Avenue within the Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum. Our biking museum houses items of memorabilia, including vintage bikes, components, classic photos, press clippings and highlights from historic races and events.