Good Question, Pinkbike!

Pinkbike recently held a poll asking which trail type you liked better, flow or technical. You can read the article here (please do since "flow" and "technical" probably mean different things to different riders) but we were wondering what the local opinion might be. 

So like they asked:

Imagine you're riding along and come to an intersection. Both trails lead downhill, but are built very differently. You have two options – which way do you go?

Chunky

Smooth

We'll post the results of this unscientific poll in a few days. 

Infinit Nutrition is now offering a discount to SORBA Chattanooga members.

INFINIT Nutrition is proud to be supporting SORBA Chattanooga and helping everyone ride more and race better this season and next.  INFINIT is committed to taking care of our nutritional needs so we can perform at our best.  Surely anything that helps us to stay on the bike longer is a good thing!

INFINIT specializes in all-in-one custom blended performance nutrition, giving you the ability to customize every component of your fuel.  Your formula will fit your personal nutritional needs and taste exactly how you want it to. Additionally, customization includes:

• Eight different flavor options and adjust the flavor strength to taste great for you all day long.
• Change the calories to match your body size and for the type of racing/training that you are doing.
• Adjust the level of electrolytes to your sweat rate and history of muscle cramping.
• Add protein, branched chain amino acids, caffeine, beta alanine, and/or Microactive CoQ10® to any of your custom blends!
• All natural, simple ingredients to fuel your body the way nature intended. No artificial sweeteners, flavors, colorings or dyes.

Plus, as a sponsored member of SORBA Chattanooga, you will receive a 15% discount on all of our products and gear! Simply enter the discount code “MTBFOREVER“ in your Shopping Cart, and click apply coupon!

If you're not sure what you need in a custom formula, you can try of of the semi-custom preset formulas  or contact Emily Elsbrock, our Assistant Sponsorship Coordinator and Formulation Specialist. Emily is ready to help all the members of SORBA Chattanooga build their optimal custom formulas. Don't hesitate to contact her with any questions. 

You can also rest easy knowing INFINIT is committed to getting your formula right. If you're not 100% happy with you, INFINIT will remake it at no charge.

Get a $20 Trek Gift Card!

Throughout the month of April, the Trek Bicycle Store of Chattanooga is giving away a $20 gift certificate to new members of SORBA Chattanooga. The basic IMBA membership is only $35 so this is a great incentive to join up. Not only will you get twenty dollars in your pocket, but you'll have access to future member perks, including discounts from other local retailers, free entry to the Pick Your Poison race next March (a $35 value), plenty of cool people to hang out with, and the satisfaction of knowing you're making Chattanooga mounting biking better every day.

JOIN TODAY!

SORBA Chattanooga's Official Facebook Page Announced

For the past decade, SORBA Chattanooga has been focused on building, improving and maintaining trails within the greater Chattanooga area. Over the years, SORBA Chattanooga and area land managers have worked hard to complete these goals, resulting in more than 100 miles of singletrack trails. In addition to expanding area trails, SORBA Chattanooga contributes hundreds of hours toward trail work and maintenance each year, with an average year exceeding 1,500 volunteer hours. We have been busy!

Not only has the mileage of the trails increased by 93% during this time, so has the number of mountain bikers riding in the area. The SORBA Chattanooga Facebook group page currently has more than 1,600 members, all within a five-year time period. That is incredible! We have one of the largest cycling groups on Facebook in the Southeast. The growth of this community is simply astonishing, and something to be very proud of.

In the past, because trail-building was our top priority, the SORBA Chattanooga Facebook group was vital to sharing information to our organization and volunteers. We simply didn’t have the resources to keep our online presence as up-to-date as our members deserved. However, that has recently changed. We now have great online resources for our members’ use, including a Facebook page. Because of that, we have found that the current Facebook group is no longer necessary, and instead want to direct you to a new community group. Because we value you, we want you to have an open forum. This will give you control and allow you to voice your opinions and concerns, without being moderated by an organization.

Unfortunately, due to Facebook’s policy on renaming groups, a new Facebook group must be created. Chattanooga Area Mountain Biking will now be the one-stop-shop for anything related to mountain biking in the area. This group will NOT be moderated by SORBA Chattanooga, but by the community itself. Any individual may step up to the plate to help with this task. All current SORBA Chattanooga group members will receive an invitation to the new Chattanooga Mountain Biking group and we will keep both pages open until February 28th, to allow time for everyone to join without missing any information.

The official SORBA Chattanooga Facebook page will open its comments section for anything related to our organization. On this page, you can alert us to trail maintenance needs, ask questions or leave any other comments you may have. You will continue to find all pertinent information on our website, through our monthly newsletters and on our Facebook page. Thank you in advance for your understanding and cooperation.  

Happy Trails,

SORBA Chattanooga

NPS Considering Jackson Gap Trail for Multiuse

Your comments and support are needed to impact the future of mountain biking in the Chattanooga area.

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The National Park Service has released the Lookout Mountain Battlefield General Management Plan Amendment and is accepting comments from the public.  This document outlines three options (A, B and C) for managing various aspects of the park over the next 15-20 years. The options are summarized on page 85; however, Plan C has been chosen by the NPS as the preferred option. This option includes changes to the Jackson Gap Trail that would make it multiuse and thus holds the key to enormous off-road cycling potential in the Chattanooga area. When the various component trails are completed, this small link at Jackson Gap with proposed connections in the Old Wauhatchie Pike area will provide cyclists with an off-road connection from East Ridge or Chickamauga Dam to Scenic Highway near Covenant College, and perhaps beyond toward Lula Lake and Cloudland Canyon.

The Plan C proposed changes as stated in the document are:

"Park managers would open the trail from Jackson Gap Trail (on park land) to Jackson Spring (on private property) to bicycle users once development and maintenance agreements are reached with private property owners (Covenant College) and partner groups. The Ochs gateway would remain a foot trail with no mountain bike access.

Trail improvements would be made to Jackson Gap, Jackson Spring (private property), and John Smartt trails to connect bicycle users to the Upper Truck Trail. To connect with regional multiuse trails, portions of the John Smartt Trail and Jackson Gap trails would be designated as multiuse for hiking and mountain biking. Signage would be placed on park property, and parking would be provided on private property by agreement."

“Your input to the NPS is a critical part of making this a reality.”

SORBA Chattanooga is endorsing the recommended plan C and looks forward to its final approval and implementation. We can't over-stress the importance of these changes. The ability to connect so may areas with an off-road trail is a recreational and economic asset that will enhance our community for decades to come. If you also support these changes, we suggest you indicate as such by commenting at the NPS website within the comment period which ends February 12. 

The NPS will also be holding a public meeting to present the plan on January 27th from 4:30 PM to 8:00 PM, with presentations at 5:00 and 7:00, at the South Chattanooga Recreation Center, 1151 West 40th Street, Chattanooga , Tennessee. We encourage supporters to attend and to offer their thoughts to the NPS representatives on hand. 

If you have any questions about this or any other SORBA Chattanooga projects, feel free to contact us. We're always glad to hear from you.

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Feel free to use any or all of this wording to get your comments started:

As a member of SORBA Chattanooga, I fully endorse Alternative C in the General Management Plan and Environmental Assessment for the Lookout Mountain Battlefield Unit. Alternative C includes several items SORBA Chattanooga has supported through the NPS process including better trail connections and the change to allow bicycles on the Jackson Gap/Jackson Spring Trails. We believe Alternative C would provide Chattanooga with further recreational and economic assets that would enhance our community for decades to come.  We are excited for these improvements and look forward to their implementation.

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ESNP Mountain Bike Trails Closing for Maintenance and Improvements

Walking trails remain open.

Discussions between Hamilton County Parks and Recreation Department and SORBA Chattanooga have resulted in the decision to temporarily close the mountain bike trails within Enterprise South Nature Park (ESNP). The closure is planned to begin on January 16th and tentatively end on February 16th. ESNP is the busiest trail system in the Hamilton county area which results in problem areas within the trail that are difficult to fix because of the high traffic. This time of the year can also be hard on the trails because of a phenomenon known as freeze-thaw which results in water being held in the soil, making  the trail bed especially soft and easy to damage. This closure allows maintenance crews to make trail repairs and proactive enhancements during a time when the likelihood of intermittent trail closures is already high.

Current maintenance and improvement plans include the following:

• repair to the decking of multiple bridges 

• moving a bridge on the TNT-Log Rhythm connector

• opening various culverts and drains for better water flow, especially in lower elevations within TNT

• addressing substantial erosion issues on a Log Rhythm switchbacks

• adding stone pavers on various sections for trail bed reinforcement 

“ESNP is the busiest trail system in the Hamilton county area...”

We want this work to be as fast and easy as possible. To do that, we're planning to have official work days every Saturday and possibly Sunday until the work is complete. It's also likely there will be impromptu work gatherings during the week as time and weather permit. Keep an eye on the SORBA Chattanooga website and Facebook page for updates or contact us to get involved in this work. 

We also realize you need to get your bike fix between now and middle of Februrary (or if you're like me, between now and tomorrow). There are several good options for doing this including Raccoon Mountain, Stringer's Ridge (as conditions allow; check the trail status for planning a trip) or even gravel road rides in the Ocoee area, Prentice Cooper or the Guild Trail. 

We are sorry for this huge inconvenience, but we hope it will make the systems more resilient to damage and thus avoid lengthy closures in the future.

Thanks everyone. And thanks for understanding.

Your volunteering time sheet is due

We are wrapping up another incredible year at SORBA Chattanooga, none of which would be possible without the help of a small army of volunteers. We're planning something special for those who have given so much of their time to help further our mission, but first we need to get a tally of the hours contributed by each person. 

A form is now available to turn in your work hours. We know this is going to require some remembering, but do your best. The form will be active from this point forward so in the future you can submit hours as soon as they're completed. 

Let us know if you have any questions, and thanks again for your hard work.

2015 SORBA Chattanooga Race Schedule

Winston Churchill said, “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often”. That’s a fancy way of saying that change is coming to the SORBA Chattanooga Race Series schedule for 2015. While change is good, there is no reason to make a change when there is no need. So while our schedule may look different for 2015, there is a reason and purpose behind all of the changes. We think will make a positive impact to the Race Series moving forward. Our new schedule is below:

Pick Your Poison XC – March 15th, 2015

Soul Sucker 50k & 25k at Raccoon Mountain – April 11th, 2015

Raccoon Mountain Super-D – May 23rd, 2015

Nightshift (6 Hours of TNT) – July 25th, 2015

Lula Lake Land Trust 5-Points 50 – October 10th, 2015

Those with a sharp eye will notice that we’ve split Raccoon into two weekends. One reason for that is given the success of the Super-D, we felt it deserved its own weekend. Additionally, the Raccoon Mountain Super-D is now part of the Southern Super-D Series. We think this will bring in more participants and increase the quality of what is already a great event.  Due to this, the Raccoon Mountain Super-D will return to USA Cycling sanctioning for 2015. 

The other major change is Nightshift and Soul Sucker swapping dates. By moving Soul Sucker to April 11th, it will remove the hot, humid weather from the equation while also allowing people a tune up for Big Frog 65/Cohutta 100 a few weeks later. Being a night race, the hot weather will not affect Nightshift as it will be much cooler during the night when the race is actually going on. 

I know what you’re thinking now, “When can I register for all this epic racing???”. Registration will open for all races on December 1st, 2014 via Bikereg.com. Keep an eye out here and on Facebook for updates all year. We’ve currently got some big things in the works that we’re super psyched about. 

Stringer's Ridge Trail System Info

Information on the Stringer's Ridge trail system is now available on sorbachattanooga.org. Look for information on trail work days, special events, trail status and anything else interesting and important to be posted here.

2014 Mid-Year State of SORBA-Chattanooga Update

So it’s August, and yeah, we can’t believe it either, but that got me and Board of Directors pondering. We’ve been thinking about where we were as an organization at the beginning of the year and where we are now. We are happy to report on some great accomplishments this year. So please, allow us to toot our horn and put a few feathers in our hats… 

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Website
If you’re reading this then you’re benefiting from one of our three major goals - to better communicate with our members.  Surely you noticed sorbachattanooga.org looks a little different. The new website looks great and you can now easily find trail conditions, event announcements, and general cycling news on our blog.

Newsletter
Thanks to Veronica Borne for starting our member newsletter. We aren’t going to bombard you with emails so know that when we send you something, it’s worth opening and reading because it’s going to be full of useful information. 

Logo and swag
And because we love to look good and we know image is everything, we've developed a new brand for the club. Yes, we know you want some cool SORBA Chattanooga branded swag so stand by. We’ll have t-shirts, hats, maybe even some stickers soon. We want to see our new logo plastered all over town! Which leads us to our next goal - to better engage all our members.

Be Involved
It’s important that you feel connected. And believe us, there is no shortage of opportunities to get involved. For example, you could:

1. Attend a group ride or club event, check the calendar for these opportunities
2. Attend a trail workday and support the local trails you enjoy
3. Participate or volunteer at one of our 4 race opportunities
4. Join Team SORBA-Chattanooga

Some new opportunities are coming up, too, like: 

1. National Mountain Bike Patrol Training
2. Principles of Trail Design and Construction Seminar (Trail coordinator/dedicated volunteer training)
3. Chainsaw Certification Course 

And guess where you can stay updated on all these things as information becomes available? That’s right. So don’t be ignoring our emails or you may miss out on something as awesome as becoming a certified chainsaw operator. 

Stop babbling and tell me about the trails.
While we think these first two goals are super important and very necessary, most of what we do and most of our focus is on maintaining and expanding trails in the Chattanooga area. We’ve been working tirelessly to support this mission and we don’t have any plans of stopping. Of course this is where our engaged membership could really help out, too. So do let us know if you’re interested in donating your blood, sweat, and tears to the actual building and maintaining of the trails. We can certainly put you to work!  The more people helping out with trail efforts, the more group rides and fun activities that can be planned, it is just as simple as that. 

Raccoon Mountain Trail Expansion - COMPLETE
It was a long time coming but the expansion of the Raccoon Mountain Trail System has just been completed! Nine additional miles of amazing and challenging trail are now open for use! It was no simple task. Get out there on Live Wire and High Voltage and ride hard to show us how much you appreciate the thousands of volunteer hours, six years, and $70,000 it took to complete! 

Stringer's Ridge Pump Track - IN THE WORKS
We’ve partnered with The Trust for Public Land to develop a pump track at the Spears Avenue Trailhead for Stringers Ridge. Workdays are on-going, please come out and help if at all possible.

ESNP Trail Expansion - IN THE WORKS
Expansion of the ESNP is currently being planned, with the goal of adding an additional 15 miles of trail, this will be an enormous effort so please stay tuned for details. 

Mapping Update Project - IN THE WORKS
One of our amazing volunteers, Jeff Bartlett, has been updating and standardizing all of the maps for our local trail systems. Booker T and Raccoon Mountain maps have been completed with maps of other trail systems in progress. Have you seen these maps? They look fantastic! 

Finally, I just want to say thank you to the Board of Directors for the countless hours of time they put into SORBA Chattanooga. They do it out of the goodness of their hearts for the sport and community we all love. If you get a chance, take a second to thank them.

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Lynskey/SORBA Chattanooga Race Series

The Lynskey/SORBA Chattanooga race series, which is in its first year, is successfully highlighting the trail construction accomplishments of our organization. Races have been completed at Booker T. Washington State Park, Enterprise South Nature Park, and most recently at Raccoon Mountain. The next race in the series, the Lula Lake Land Trust 5 Points Fifty, will be held in October at 5-points, please plan to help with, or participate in this event, it will be a ton of fun! Great job to Michael and Brian on this effort.

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Do you have any additional ideas on how we can continue to improve our communication capabilities? We'd love to hear about them so please attend an upcoming membership meeting, post a thought on our Facebook group page, submit a comment on our website, or email any of the volunteers on our Board of Directors. We'd love to know how we can further improve in this area.

Sincerely,
Erik Rippon

Raccoon Mtn Super D Wrap-up

The Raccoon Mountain Super D is over. Now is the time to relish our amazing enduro prowess and cheers our mates on a job well done. Congrats to the winners of each category.

Check out pinkbike's recap of the event!

Men's Open
1. Chris Wyatt
2. Justin Mace
3. Andrew Brock

Women's Open
1. Ginger Sillery
2. Monica Desjardins
3. Michaela Buchner

Men's Beginner
1. Kevin Loorham
2. John Harrison
3. Drew Blankenbecler

Full results.

We look forward to seeing everyone again next year. If you just can't stand to wait until then, be sure and check out SORBA Chattanooga's race series for more awesomeness.

Livewire and High Voltage are open for business

SORBA Chattanooga has officially opened the two newest trails within the Raccoon Mountain trail system, Livewire and High Voltage. After 3 years and nearly 2500 volunteer hours contributed, these 8.5 miles of new trail boost the trail system to nearly 30 miles of single track. 

“These new trails will provide riders with a combination of technical difficulty and natural beauty that is unmatched in the southeast.”

— Erik Rippon, president, SORBA Chattanooga

The completion of the trails coincides with the completion of $115,000 worth of improvements by the Tennessee Valley Authority to the Laurel Point recreation area. The improvements include bike wash stations, bike repair stands, a changing area, a pump track and expanded parking. 

We hope everyone enjoys the the new mileage. We don't think it's an experience you'll soon forget.

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