Recently the Mountain bike community of the South Sound gathered as a collective to hold a summit on the future of mountain biking in the Capitol State forest. As many of you may (or may not!) know, after years of back and forth with our local DNR, Friends of Capitol Forest and the mountain bike community as a whole were granted permission to construct a series of trails through out Capitol Forest, with a primary focus on advanced ability trails and user conflict mitigation. With everything from advanced downhill trails to alternate-congestion-reliving climbing trails and parking lot expansions our forest is in for a big change.... for the better!
Two different generations of MTB work horses. Dave (right) is the man who instigated this project more almost a decade ago, pressing for more MTB specific trails in and around the forest, and has continued to lead the charge all the way until now. And Andrew (Left) the man who has invested more time as of late then anyone else scouting locations, organizing work parties (and lending his house for our G420 trails summit). And accepting the torch on the soon to be Capitol Forest DH trail.
It was great to see the turn out that we had for this, with multiple local bike shops represented, community organizers and some of the old guard as well as the new there is no question that the peoples opinions were represented. Working long into the sunset the group ran their way through the agenda, designated tasks and project heads, and made a significant amount of head way into the project.
If the assortment of bikes that showed up is any indication of the wide rider base that has a stake in Capitol Forest then I think we're in for a good time.
As the night went on the board filled up with names and contacts for people to get involved.
The level of community support represented in clothing alone was impressive! Everyone was doing their best to show off what they love.
As the conversation tapered the night turned into a great hang out/mini ramp session until all ends of the evening
Mini ramps are exhausting
Thanks for the hospitality Andrew!