
To the editor:
Have you ever discovered yourself standing underneath a distinct September sky with a bunch of strangers turned mates seeing in awe as an previous rusty bicycle is engulfed in flames? We hadn’t both, till the grand finale of the 5th annual Wilmington Mountain Bicycle Festival in excess of Labor Day weekend. We are nonetheless driving the superior of our celebration of the trails and the people today who enjoy and treatment for them.
We were being honored to share the weekend with riders from throughout the Northeast and Canada, and as considerably absent as North Carolina and Chicago. Above 275 adults and kids relished the Adirondack-design singletrack, wild forest terrain and modest town hospitality that Wilmington has to provide.
Bike Fest is a major fundraiser for the Barkeater Trails Alliance and this 12 months we lifted about $11,000. The proceeds will directly assistance our ongoing get the job done to establish, keep and advocate for a sustainable network of neighborhood and backcountry trails for mountain biking, ski touring and other human-run athletics in the bigger Substantial Peaks area.
We would like to thank Roy Holzer and the city of Wilmington for hosting the party, and specially John Langford and the Wilmington Parks Office for functioning tirelessly in the course of the weekend getting ready the festival grounds, driving shuttles and so several other issues that served make the event doable.
Massive, sappy, heartfelt many thanks to the 50 or so community riders and BETA board members who volunteered their time to program the celebration, direct team rides and clinics, direct site visitors, established up, clear up and to aid with oh-so a lot of logistical jobs. We persistently hear from contributors that they like the sense of group and the sensation of enduring the trails “like a community.”
We are eternally grateful to all of the customers of our Community Lover Plan, with particular many thanks to the next corporations and businesses that assistance the Bike Fest and the neighborhood mountain bicycle scene in so lots of ways: Pace Science Coaching, Placid World Bicycles, High Peaks Cyclery, Human Electricity World Earth, Solace Cycles, Tiny Supermarket, Significant Peaks Builders, Cadence Lodge, Wilderness Van, Bicycle Adirondacks, ROOST, Whiteface Region Guests Bureau and Adirondack Land Believe in.
A spicy, bass-hefty thank you to David Sommerstein, host of North State Community Radio’s The Conquer Authority for his dwell DJ established that kept us moving late into the night. And thank you to Island Vybz and Hex & Hop Brewery for delivering some delicious foodstuff and consume on Saturday night time.
Ultimately, no Bicycle Fest would be comprehensive without the Hardy Young ones MTB Race and the involved kid-centric actions all over the weekend. The Hardy Children (and mom and dad!) are an inspiration to us all. Amazingly, a new novice helpful pump track at Randy’s Bicycle Park just just before the celebration thanks to a solid work led by volunteer builder K.C. Brousseau, the Hardy Children and the city of Wilmington.
We are so grateful to supply an event that highlights two of the factors we are most very pleased of: Our trails and our local community. Thank you.
Josh Wilson,
govt director
and Jamie McGiver,
outreach coordinator
on behalf of the board and staff members of the Barkeater Trails Alliance







