Overland Mountain Bike Club and You

We live in a hotspot for mountain biking. You know it. I know it. Overland Mountain Bike Club knows it. World-class trails take you up, down, all around. Riders stitch together epic rides from the City of Fort Collins on a regular basis. It’s no big thing. Or we hop in the car, drive 60 miles north towards Cheyenne and feast on IMBA designed trails that stretch smiles across faces all spring, summer and fall. Or we head up the Poudre Canyon and ride Dadd Gulch, Young Gulch, and Hewlett Gulch in one day. Then we stick our feet in the cool river and enjoy a refreshing beverage.

Life for a mountain biker in our region doesn’t suck. In fact, all you have to do is pick up one of the regular mountain bike rags to know that we’re lucky. Let’s say that again. We are L-U-C-K-Y. Riders here not only enjoy phenomenal trails and trail access, but great relationships with Land Managers and other trail users. The USFS is eager to have our help building and maintaining trails. Lory State Park hosts a Friend of Lory Trail Day each summer – directly supported by mountain bikers who have built bridges and trails and a mountain bike specific park there. Larimer County is thankful for the many mountain bike patrols and Outreach Days that help keep them informed about trail conditions and user groups. The City of Fort Collins has built and is continuing to build trails with mountain bikers in mind. And Curt Gowdy State Park up in Wyoming has brought in IMBA’s trail designers and builders to create miles of fantastic singletrack.

We are lucky. But there’s a whole lot more to all this than luck. We thrive because mountain bikers have been pro-active for 15 years, well before many of us ever threw a leg over a mountain bike. The founders of Diamond Peaks Mountain Bike Patrol – people named Ron and Ramon and Tim and others – quietly went about meeting with Land Managers to make sure mountain bikers had and continue to have a home and a voice. Due to their foresight and hard work, we – you and I and all the other knobby lovers out there – can get on our bikes and ride and ride and ride. We owe them one great big, ‘Thanks.’ But more than that, we owe them our time. They would like nothing more than to know that their hard work and countless hours laid the foundation for mountain biking in our region for years to come. And that’s what Overland Mountain Bike Club and its partner, Diamond Peaks Mountain Bike Patrol, are dedicated to doing. We will be the premier mountain bike organization in the region. We will look after our trails. We will build new trails. We will get more people interested in our great sport. We will continue to work with Land Managers and help them as they help us. We will rally when we need to rally. And, we will ride and ride and ride and ride.

If you ride a mountain bike, come ride with us. You’ll learn that we love mountain biking. You’ll learn we love to enjoy a casual ride where we take in the sights, that we love to sweat as we grind it out on a climb. That we love to race, build trails, teach other to ride, hammer all day long or jump out for a quick before or after work ride. We’re regular folks who are passionate about riding. And after you meet us, join us. Help us continue to make our region a hotspot for riding. Work with us. You’ll be able to thank those who came before us and yourself for getting involved.