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Dirt Rag Articles
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Asheville Mountain Sports Festival
June 6-8, 2003
Asheville, NC
www.mountainsportsfestival.com
Where Are We Going?
When I got the press release about the Asheville Mountain Sports Festival, I remembered when former IMBA Trail Care Crew member Rich Edwards told me that Asheville would be his ideal town to settle down in… coming from a guy who spent three years on the road, inspecting every cool mountain bike epicenter across the country—how could he be wrong?
If you just want to look at cool pictures taken by Jason Thomas, go to the Asheville Urban Sprawl Gallery
So, I guaranteed a booth space, added the festival to the World Tour and got in touch with A.J. Nidek from Liberty Bicycles and Fred Schultz from Pro Bikes to help sponsor the festival’s mountain biking activities. Actually, Joel did that. After helping promote their events, we got Planet Bike to ship us forty of their finest hand pumps and we were lucky enough to have Pedro’s supply some of their multi-tools, also for enticing festivalgoers into buying a subscription to Dirt Rag.
Anticipation
A day before the event, I realize we’re in deadline, I’m sick and it’s time to drive to Asheville. But, as the Beatles always said, “I get by with a little help from my friends,” I strike gold when my friend Jason steps in to offer his chauffeur services for the eight-hour drive.
Once down in Asheville, we instantly feel at home. Me, because, well… the mountains and trees just feel like home to me, and Jason because the town’s center is filled with art galleries, and Jason just happens to work with art. [I don’t normally interrupt my own writing, but… Here’s how cool this town is: Jason is headed back for a full week next week.] A fifteen minute drive from town, and we’re at a Bent Creek Recreation Are campground—albeit, an RV campground, but we’re in the woods, we have our tents set up and that’s all we can ask for. Except for some grub—back to town to discover a surprisingly hoppin’ night scene.
We start the day admiring the qualities of the Maurice’s Tube (his new Airstream trailer with which he is currently touring the country) and soon decide it’s time to hit the trails at Bent Creek before we head into town. Jason’s never really rode any exposed mountain singletrack, so it’s a treat when we find 800’ of climbing that turns into a twisting contour trail down the mountain’s backside. We talk about trail technique and determine that hitting water bars at speed is probably something left to those who don’t have to work over the weekend.
Letdown
Into town for the afternoon, and we’re shocked to find the festival’s center barren. Not what you’d think to find when you hear about a town turning city hall into a carnival. Slowly, the crowds filter in when the skate park people from Pro Bikes start lining up the ramps and jumps—all for the sake of some eye candy BMX/mountain biking.
After talking with whom I thought could be my next girlfriend, I find out a little about the local scene. Not only is Asheville home to the hick hucksters—the guys who are currently facing some serious charges for building illegal trail on federal property, but it’s also home to some riders whose style can only be described as big country mountain riding. These guys get big, heavy downhill bikes and go out and ride everything that cross country folk ride; then, they tear up the downhill. And with the type of riding accessible around Asheville, that could include anything from fast, swoopy, slightly-widened singletrack to slow, twitchy, technical descents covered in a quarter mile of Moab-esque granite. All these guys and more show up to try and huck away the afternoon for a growing, diverse crowd.
Aww yeah baby
Skate park-style mountain bike riding is nothing new. At least that’s what Jason Schwinabart tells me when he describes his personal riding transformation—from strictly hop-hop Trials to hop-hop-jump off a building Urban to smooth-like butter, huck your bike off walls, then into traffic Street, then to North Shore stunt, dual slalom-style SpeedTrials. Standing in front of the Urban Sprawl race site, we’re looking at what’s billed as a mountain bike race, but doesn’t look anything close to my first mountain bike race back in Indiana.
While watching my fat tire brethren get airborne beyond my wettest nightmare, I find out more from Sarah Sanders, who tells me she digs Dirt Rag because of the article on chopper bikes. She has two. I also find out from Sarah that one of the guys tearing up the jumps is Marshall Hance, partners with Adam Winton in the local frame building project “Endless Bikes.” Marshall is doing nearly the same thing that Pippon Osborne is doing with Banshee Bikes, in that he couldn’t find what he liked on the market, so he decided to build his own. However, Marshall is staying local and having Brew mix up his all steel, one-size fits all hucking hardtail. Check ‘em out the endless bikes website for the breakdown.
I know you want one too. Email Marshall at info@endlessbikes.com and maybe you can have one of his next batch of 23.
I also find out about the band the Dead Things. They’re a local band that toured around North Carolina, hauling all their equipment using Xtracycle bikes. Hey, ever hear about that band Bicycle.? Kinda like that, but they’re cooler because when they got off tour, they set up the Asheville ReCyclery , a local non-profit group that helps rescue and refurbish old bikes. They’re based out of the Asheville Community Resource Center, which can be reached at 828.253.7930 if you’re interested.
Want to know what else made the event cool? Thomas Coffee and John Roberts helped make it, literally. They’re actually construction workers who really like riding. So when the opportunity came to create the North Shore style ladders, teeter-totters and jumps, these guys raided the scrap pile at the closest job site and built every stunt used in the Urban Sprawl Contest. Then, they got Sean from Pro Bikes to dig out his spray paint cans and mark up the whole scene, graffiti-style. The end product is what you see in these pictures...
And before I get to the impending rain showers, I have to say something about Dakoda Osusky, the 11 year-old on the Kona Stinky, Jr.. He was smart enough to drive down with his mom and dad (his dad competed!) and embrace the jumping opportunity. Check him out… Go Dakoda!
And then came the rains
What is it with the rain this year? No matter where we go, it’s always raining. I wish I had some sort of exciting things to report about the Liberty Bikes/Dirt Rag-sponsored Dirt Criterium at the Alexander Mountain Bike Facility, but the rains kept us timid carnival folks in town. So after four hours of constant rain and very few visitors to the booth, we packed up the booth and waited it out.
Sunshine
Ahh yes... it seems that anytime you want it to stop raining, just re-plan your day around the rain. Only then, will the rain stop. Just like after we packed up the booth and watched it get really sunny—just in time to push off the competition a few hours. With an open permit from the city and insurance in place, folks like Jeff Lenosky, Aaron Chase and Kyle Ebbett were determined to make the show happen. Actually, I think it was the local riders that got out there on the wet ramps first. Either way, the important thing is that the event happened—with an incredible amount of support from local officials and businesses.
The Competition
The entire Urban Sprawl competition format is too difficult to explain. If you really want to know the rules and how many categories there were, go here.
If you just want to look at cool pictures taken by Jason Thomas, go here
Just look at some of the images. Riders, both pro, non-pro, local and foreign, put their necks on the line. It was rainy, it was slick, but there was a crowd. And the spirited individuals in Asheville put on the show—one that no one will forget, especially the cops that were manning the stair gap.
As far as the results, the hot shot pros were going for a $500 prize.
Here’s the results and prizes:
Pro
1. Aaron Chase; $500
2. Jeff Lenosky; $300
3. Chris Clark; $200
4. Joe Haley; Honor
Amateur
1. Zack; Pride
2. Marshall Hance; Pride
Beginner
1. Ben Wiggins by default; Honor and Pride
A huge thanks goes out to everyone in Asheville that showed me and Jason around the town. And an even bigger thanks goes out to Jason, who took the brunt of the drive to and from Asheville (except for that speeding ticket) and took some excellent photography to accompany this quasi-article, if that’s what you can call it. And to all you spoiled riders in Asheville, keep living the good life, building trail and keeping that small town as real as it is now.
Just in case you want to find out more about anything in this article, here’s a list of
phone numbers and websites:
Liberty Bicycles 828.274.2453 or 800.96.BIKES libertybikes.com
Pro Bikes 828.253.2800 pro-bikes.com
Bio Wheels 888.881.BIKE biowheels.com
Endless Cycles 828.281.1641 info@endlessbikes.com
ACRC- Asheville ReCyclery 828.253.7930 www.recyclery.org
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