RAMBO blog

Charleston Park Trail has been planned and flagged with lots of volunteer hours invested. Alas, our 2nd Forsyth County project has fallen victim to the current budget crunch. We need county (or private donor) funds to develop trail head parking, and trail access via bridge or land purchase. RAMBO volunteers visit the trails from time to time to protect our existing work for better times when we can complete trail construction. Sign up for our mail list for updates at http://www.rambo-mtb.org/. Follow us on facebook, too at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58328673103

Race the clock to log your best MTB XC lap times, then try the timed Downhill, Slalom, or dare to claw your way up the new 700+' uphill "El Scorcho" climb. Do one, or do all four for one low entry fee to benefit RAMBO trail efforts. Who knows? Do them all & you could be awarded 2010 Big Creek TT King or Queen of the Day!

*rain date: Sat., April 10th

Download Event Flier: 4waysBCTT2-17-10.pdf

We received our shipment last Friday (19 Feb 10), sold a third of them over the sunny weekend at Big Creek. It didn't hurt that our trails saw lots of mtbers come out of hibernation, but if you are thinking about getting a RAMBO pint glass, get it ASAP! This edition will sell out soon! A single glass is $10, get 2 for $15. These are pub quality glasses complete with official RAMBO and Alpha Bikes (sponsor) logos and an Alpha Bikes 10% off coupon. Glasses are being sold at all RAMBO gatherings, including meetings , night rides, work parties, and at Alpha Bike. Donations are tax-deductible.

LET'S GET THE TRAILS READY FOR THE TIME TRIALS. X-COUNTRY AND FREERIDE WORK PARTY - SAT, 3/13th 9am til 1pm We need to get all the trails ready for the 4 Ways in a Day Time Trials. Please bring gloves & closed toe shoes or boots. Lunch will be provided. Everyone meet in the North Parking Lot at Big Creek.

Roswell Bicycles presented some state-of-the-art bikes and gaveaway goodies at our Feb chapter meeting. Smokejack, Alpharetta. See a full complement of meeting pix in our gallery.

Good trail building & maintenance starts with plenty of volunteers led by effective crew leaders. 6 RAMBO members recently graduated from the 4-day Trail School course at Gainesville College. The course included classroom and field training in sustainable trail design, construction and maintenance, in addition to effective trail volunteer management. Graduates received a Trail School/Crew Leader Certificate and official hat. RAMBO congratulates the new Crew Leaders and appreciates their commitment to RAMBO's mission to build and maintain sustainable mountain bike trails.
Pictured (l-r): Mark McCabe, RC Connell, TJ Kearns, PK Graff, Mike Sands, RAMBO Trail Director & course assistant Neil Wagner, Brandon Donecker

RAMBO wants to thank the volunteers who build and maintain our trails and help at RAMBO events like the 4 Ways in a Day Time Trials and the Fall Family Festival. When volunteers accumulate 20 hours they will receive a dry-wicking T-shirt with special logo and graphic design. After 50 hours, volunteers are rewarded with a fleece jacket with embroidered RAMBO logo. Be on the lookout for volunteers wearing the T-shirts and jackets they received for their 2009 efforts. SO START ACCUMULATING VOLUNTEER HOURS TO EARN YOUR 2010 RAMBO T-SHIRT AND FLEECE JACKET. More information will be appearing on this website soon.

With the theme Great Communities Build Great Trails, the Intl Mtn Bike 2010 IMBA World Summit is coming May 5-8, 2010 to our back yard down Augusta-way at the recently designated IMBA "epic" FATS (Forks Area Trail Systems). Many of us have made the pilgrimage there and can attest to the greatness of the trail systems and the chapter folk who are not only great trail designers and stewards, but also excellent hosts.

If past Summit experience is any guide, hundreds of national and International folks will converge to hear experts on topics that include destination and urban trail networks, land conservation and sustainable trails, youth outreach and new programs designed to grow local capacity for the 700+ clubs and patrols in IMBA’s global network. In addition to informative seminars and networking, the gathering will feature great parties and plenty of riding -- including a closing day tour of the Forks Area Trail System (FATS).

The conference will be held at the beautiful Augusta Marriott hotel. We have received a limited number of discounted rooms available at a rate of $109 from May 3 - May 8, 2010. The rooms are first come, first served.

The IMBA World Summit is open to the public. Registration is open now. Attendance package options include: Full Summit, single day, member, non-member. They're even giving away scholarships to a select few.

Get full details at: http://www.imba.com/summit/2010_World_Summit.html

We're trying something a little different this year, turning the typical SORBA Board of Directors Meeting into a festival weekend for all of us at the Nantahala Outdoor Center in Bryson City, NC, heart of all good things outdoors. Board of Directors, Regional Leadership Advisory Council, Subaru-IMBA Trail Care Crew, and mountain bikers of all stripes will converge March 19-21, 2010. for a Spring weekend of mountain biking, including trail education, riding, a party, and more riding!

We have an 010 RAMBO slate of officers sure to keep the wheels spinning and our local community of mountain bikers grinning... *(but need a replacement Communications Director ASAP. Contact us at http://www.rambo-mtb.org/about.php if you're interested in this vital resume-boosting club position!) (L - R) Shawn Brunner - Nighride Coordinator, Emil Walcek - Webguy, Mike Sands - Freeride Coordinator, Neil Derryberry - Membership, Brad Wender - President, Mike Young - Marketing, Mark McCabe - Events Coordinator, Brandon Donecker - Treasurer, Neil Wagner - Trail Director, Bob Grieco- Bike Patrol, Joe Baker - Vice President.

Share you ideas for our MTB community, or just say hi... get a hold of any of us on the trails or via the contact form on the website. Have a happy and prosperous 010!

Hookup to RAMBO on Facebook.

Come to our 1st meeting of the year at a new location: Smokejack Southern Grill & BBQ, 29 South Main Street, Alpharetta, GA 30009-1965, (770) 410-7611. www.smokejackbbq.com Great food, smokeless environment and really, really good food and service assured. Come share bike experiences of all kinds. There's quite a line up of mountain-biking calendar events to review for participation, or giving back by volunteer time. It will be interesting & enlightening! Come see wassup. Meeting starts at 7 PM, we get kicked out at 9 pm.
THIS JUST IN! We will have a special guest speaker, and he has promised to bring several cool bikes from his almost new shop. I won't mention his name, but on the SORBA forum he's known as cRASH.

Your input sought. Transportation gridlock: everybody talks about it, nobody seems to ever get anything done about our options for safe local transportation alternatives to our one car per driver mindset. North Fulton cities have taken the proverbial bull by the horns to do something about it with a North Fulton Comprehensive Transportation Plan. Mark your calendars to attend a meeting at the Alpharetta City Hall, 7 PM, Wednesday, Jan 13th. Who knows, with the right input we might even be able to lay the infrastructure for roads, rails, or trails that actually encourage healthier lifestyle choices while getting us from point A to point B, eh?

Thanks to all the RAMBO folks that made it out to Big Creek on Saturday & Sunday, and Central Park, Cumming, too. For Big Creek, work started early with the building of a split rail fence at the top of the Freeride area, and included a rebuild of a phase 2 log crossing and very interesting reroute on both ends of the Troll Bridge on the XC trails. The reroute is a more sustainable trail design to prevent fall line trail erosion. Lunch sponsored by Roswell Bicycles was served at 1. In Cumming, Joe and Warren did a reroute on the out and back at the Central Park trails on Saturday, taking the trail back from the stream, and doing a little stop-gap maintenance on a failing bridge that still remains closed.

Thank you volunteers, without you our trails would not be nearly so ride-able!

SABA's Jackrabbit Trail System was the site for a joint SABA, Woodstock, Gainesville, and RAMBO SORBA ride Nov 7th on a sunny Saturday. All 15+ miles of trails, never more than a stone's throw from the beautiful Lake Chatuge, were fast and fun. Perfect for single speeding and just plain enjoying the day. See some shots in our gallery.