CCMBA 2018 Season Recap

CCMBA Faithful,

The trails are now buried under a blanket of snow and it finally gives us time to catch our breath and reflect on the past riding and build season.


CCMBA set the high bar for 2018. Together, here's a quick look at what we accomplished: 

  • Introduced a membership program
  • Created a new website which allows our supporters to donate or purchase memberships via Paypal. The website also allows us to showcase our corporate sponsors.
  • Fostered relationships with land managers beyond NY State and Beebe Hill State Forest
  • Hosted numerous demos throughout the season with our partner Berkshire Bike and Board
  • Added another mile of trail to the already stellar network of trails at Beebe Hill State Forest
  • we hosted two successful  weekend events along with our weekly TNR
  • Shot a CCMBA promo video that will debut sometime this winter

Below are some highlights from the 2018 season!

The Spring Build Season

Many local riders came out to clean up the trails and get them ready for the season. We focused our build efforts on the re-route of the Yellow Horse Loop Trail off of the Beebe Hill Fire Tower access road.

This trail now allows riders to create a 3 mile loop when linked to Caballero. The Yellow Horse Loop trail is just over a mile long, has a very remote feel and allows riders to enjoy some technical challenges along with some fast flowing climbs and descents.

The trail required many hours of labor to bring the old corridor and tread up to CCMBA standards. The trail will also be a good way for riders to access the Engel Rd. terrain which is currently under construction.

Spring clean up day. CCMBA is a family affair! Young ones learn to respect the trails.

Fresh bench on Yellow Horse

Dee coordinates trail clean up with Team Isbester.

Springletrack 2018 was a huge success!

We had a great turnout with amazing trail conditions. We introduced a Scavenger hunt challenge this year which allowed riders to collect letters in hope of spelling out "CCMBA" for prizes. CCMBA led guided rides based on ability. But the riding was just the prelude to the main event back at HQ, needless to say good times was had by all involved and we can't wait for next year!

20” Team relay was the challenge of the year. Amazing prizes were provided by Chatham Brewery.

Linnea gathers the riders for the advanced group.

The Pantheon of greatness

Demos

CCMBA, along with Berkshire Bike and Board, hosted demos throughout the summer months with the best bikes in the business. Scott, Rocky Mountain, Santa Cruz all came to the forest with the rental fleets and allowed the locals to rip it up on our singletrack.

Santa Cruz Demo Day. Getting to rip Nomads on Alter-Hells Yeah!

Pancake Breakfast

Late July ushered in the annual blueberry harvest and the second annual CCMBA Blueberry Pancake Breakfast event. Many folks rode, walked and rallied out on the summit of Harvey Mountain to pick berries, eat and enjoy the scenery and trails the Harvey zone has to offer.

Priorities

Essentials

Kids!

We also created an initiative to get more kids out riding on the trails here in Columbia County. We had a great kids ride at Springletrack 2018 and we also saw record number of kids attend the demos. We are hopeful we can increase the number of young people on bikes in 2019.

Kids ride at Springletrack was the highlight for many participants

The more they ride, the better they get!

The late summer and fall conditions were some of the worst we have ever dealt with. We had record rainfall for 3 months straight. It meant that we had to work super hard to keep the trails running. Hopefully, next spring will be dry and allow us to get out early to work on new projects.

Always sad to see the riding and building season slip away, but we are already brainstorming for 2019. Thanks for your support!

Owen Poland
CCMBA President