On the Trail with IMBA

Whoever thought of starting mountain bike races with a Le Mans start is a sadist. And, as a spectator, I love him for it.

Somehow, race promoters and participants alike have not only accepted, but seized with pride, a practice in which spandex clad bikers burst into a full blown sprint wearing the equivalent of Italian leather tap shoes and run toward a bunch of bikes with balloons tied to the saddles.

It’s a beautiful thing.

-Kristin “Why run when you can skip?” Butcher

(Oh, and if you’ve got speakers, you’re gonna want to turn ‘em up.)

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Yep, golfing. Whodathunkit? After a couple busy weeks in Southern Cali, we were given an opportunity to live in luxury with a few days of golf, hot springs, sauna, horses, riding, good food and best of all, good company at Warner Springs Ranch.

For those who don’t know us… we have NO idea how to golf. But check it out, I hit the ball!

Jeff Brown, the Events MAN at Warner Springs Ranch set us up with a great room, gave us an awesome tour of the ranch and strict instructions to kick back. After introducing us to the horses Jeff hooked us up with Alberto, the Warner Springs Horse Whisperer, who took us on a fabulous ride through the 2400 acres of ranch land. We needed to work on our user group research!

After a rough day of golf, horseback riding, and general laziness, we took to the hotsprings pool and floated for a while.

We were psyched to have the opportunity to help Jeff out with a proposed trail which will expand on the miles of single track that flow through the pastures and hills west of the golf course. If you’re out there, check it out! It’ll be a lot of fun when it’s finished.

Moxy also had a good time at the ranch despite missing out on the swimming. She was eager to crawl back into her little hole in the Subaru, snuggle with her beloved trail building frog and head to our next adventure!

Thank you Jeff, Melissa, Alberto and everyone at the ranch for your hospitality and willingness to let a couple yahoos hit some golf balls on your driving range! We had a great time and hope to see you again soon!

Hurrah for the new events coordinator and development director!

Patti (events) was kind enough to sit for a photo.

Rich (development) sent this picture.

Their IMBA email addresses will be patti@imba.com and richcook@imba.com. Drop them a line.

See what former IMBA/Subaru Trail Care Crew Nat and Rachel are up to in the Twin Cites.

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Leaving Moab was hard and it wasn’t just because of the trails disappearing in our rearview mirror. The 40mph gusts of wind and sand made it a challenging drive and watching the bikes dance around on top of the car was a bit disconcerting.

By the time I get to Arizona…I mean, by the time we got to Arizona, the dust stopped blowing and we rolled into sunny Tucson where we spent a few days working and riding. Our first stop was Saguaro National Park where we helped the park plan for a new connector on the Arizona Trail.

Our friend Mark Flint took us out for a delicious dinner of Cliff Bars and GU shots at Flintstone Cafe In Tucson

We couldn’t help but spend one last day in Sedona before leaving Arizona. We hung out with our friend Daniel who showed me yet another awesome trail right outside his back yard and enjoyed one last stay at the Village Lodge in Oak Creek, which has begun to feel a lot like home.

Rolling into Prescott we were stunned by the beautiful landscape. Giant granite boulders covered the hillsides and many of the homes incorporated the huge stones into their architecture. Our hosts Karen and Jim had quite the jungle gym of bus-sized boulders, tunnels and trails throughout their back yard. They also made for some great riding and challenging trail building but there’s nothing like a nice sticky chunk of granite to make your tires feel hooked up!

Off to the OC, that’s right, Orange County CA. Not the first place I would think to go mountain biking being a Northern California grown gal from the mountains but I was pleasantly surprised to find that despite the sprawl of city, there is a hidden, mountainous gem full of great single track and big, leafy, green TREES! We missed those trees after months in the South West.

The drive was uneventful until we found ourselves in a forest of windmills. I always find those to be a refreshing sight after passing by plenty of coal burning power plants.

Our visit to O’Neil Regional Park in Trabuco Canyon CA was a huge success. Most IMBA Trail Building Schools focus on mountain bike clubs, and it was fun to switch it up by work with a group of park maintenance supervisors, rangers, and trail builders. Along with the park employees we were happy to see faces from the Sierra Club, the local equestrian club and a couple mountain bikers from the area. With such a fun, hard working and experienced crew of people we were impressed by how much work got done and how much everyone learned from each other.

And then, of course, we were psyched to go ride Noble Canyon outside of San Diego after the work was done!

~~ Anna