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By Donna Harris
Cherokee Tribune Staff Writer
Mountain bikers who frequent the Blankets Creek trails really love their sport.
Members of the Woodstock chapter of the Southern Off-Road Bicycling Association (SORBA) have worked long and hard to hand-cut the 10 miles of biking trails at Blankets Creek on Sixes Road during the past nine years, but they decided to go a different route with the final trail that's being cut now.
To reduce the two-year construction period for the labor-intensive project, the group hired a trail-building company to bring in its heavy machinery to rough-cut the new 5-mile North Loop Trail, and volunteers will do the finish work.
But hiring a company is a lot more expensive than having volunteers do the work, so SORBA members have had to seek personal and corporate donations and plan fundraisers to finance the project.
The next fundraiser will be the Blankets Creek Dirty Duathlon presented by OutSpokin' Bicycles, the first race-type event ever held at Blankets Creek, on Saturday, March 22.
During the event, 215 racers in 11 categories will compete in a 5-mile trail run and a 12-mile mountain bike loop that is forgiving enough for novice racers, but challenging enough for experienced racers.
Individual racers will complete both legs of the race, but the two-person relay teams will have one person do the run and the other do the ride.
"I've seen some other duathlons, and they always seem to get really good turnouts," said race director Lisa Randall of Canton, who has been involved with SORBA-Woodstock for three years. "It's something a little bit different and new, and I thought it might get a little better participation."
Because this is a first-time event, she also wanted to gauge the interest in this kind of race among local mountain bikers.
"I know there are a lot of multi-sport people around, so I wanted to see what the interest was," she said. "And obviously it was great since we sold out a month early."
Registration wasn't due to end until next Monday, but it closed Feb. 15 after all of the allotted slots had been filled.
"That was exciting," Ms. Randall said. "A race director's biggest fear is you're not going to get enough people to sign up to cover the operating expenses. In a fundraiser situation, that's definitely something we want to avoid. From a fundraising perspective, this is awesome. To have this kind of support and have it this early is phenomenal."
Ms. Randall, 29, who began mountain biking in 2000, was a professional mountain biker for two years and now is into adventure racing, said she expected the race to raise $3,000 to $7,000, but "since we sold out, we should raise over $7,000."
"This should get us really close (to raising what's needed)," she said.
The total cost of the trail will be about $75,000, and the group still needs $8,000 to $10,000 to meet its goal, according to John Hicks of Canton, president of SORBA-Woodstock.
"There's a good chance the race is going to do it," he said, noting it's "pretty remarkable" that the group is raising all the money for the trail. "It's always fun to get to the end of the line. It's going to be a fun event and be a great help to our fundraising."
Racers will compete for more than $14,000 worth of prizes, including two specialized mountain bikes valued at $2,500 each donated by OutSpokin' Bicycles, which has contributed prizes totaling $9,000. Prizes will be divided among the top three finishers in each category.
Mountain biker Derek Boyd of southwest Cherokee is one of the five men who founded SORBA-Woodstock in 1997 and helped hand-cut the first trail, the 5-mile Dwelling Loop, in 1999. The project took two years to complete.
A couple of years later, the organization got permission from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which owns the property and leases it to the Cherokee Recreation and Parks Agency, to cut another trail, the 4.75-mile South Loop. That project also took two years to finish.
The group, which acts as a steward of the trails, received permission last year to cut the final trail. Construction began last fall and is expected to be completed by May.
"We've basically used every bit of land available to us," Boyd said. "We won't be cutting any more trail after that."
Blankets Creek, which has an estimated 140,000 to 150,000 visits a year, has become a "destination trail" that attracts mountain bikers from other locations, he added.
Boyd, 47, who will be racing as a two-person coed relay team with his runner-wife, Paige, said he has several reasons for being in the race.
"The biggest thing is it's a fundraiser to help finish some trail building we're doing out there," he said. "We've been working on it eight years, trying to get as much trail cut as we can. And it gives us a chance to do something together that we both enjoy. It's not necessarily about winning. It's just being out there together."
Boyd said he began mountain biking in 1996 as a way to spend time with his then-11-year-old son, D.J., who was "tired of team sports."
They both "fell in love with it" and traveled to races all across the country until D.J., now 21, "grew up and found out about cars and girls," he said.
"That ended his riding career, but I stayed with it," he said. "The biggest thing is the freedom of being outdoors. It gets you back to the wilderness. When you're mountain biking, you don't have to worry about cars and traffic, and except for roots and rocks, it's relatively safe. It's exhilarating and good exercise. Overall, it's pretty good for you as long as you don't wreck."
Better health has been a major benefit for Boyd.
"It's amazing how much better I feel," he said. "And I'm the director of a drug rehab facility in Atlanta so my business is very stressful. Mentally, it gives me an opportunity to relieve my stress and keep my sanity."
SORBA members Alan and Marcia Gibson of Woodstock also will participate as a two-person coed team. Though both have been mountain biking for four years, he will do the ride, and she will do the run.
"We ride up there a lot so we wanted to help raise funds for the trails," Mrs. Gibson, also an avid runner, said.
The couple, who also do kayak racing, began riding because it was "something that looked like it was different and fun to do," she said.
"It's a reason to be outside," she said, noting they ride about three times a week in the winter and five or six times a week in the summer. "And the mountain biking community is really good people who tend to be a little bit older (late 30s). You wouldn't think that because of the nature of the sport, but it tends to be an older crowd."
Two years ago, the couple started racing in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. Gibson, 47, does 15 to 20 races a year, and Mrs. Gibson, 46, competes in 20-plus races, including her running.
dharris@cherokeetribune.com
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