Santa Cruz Mountain Bike Festival
Two-Day Mountain Bike Festival in Santa Cruz Brings Professional Female Mountain Bike Riders Including Lisa Myklak, Emily Johnston, Tammy Donahugh and Kathy Pruitt
Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz has teamed up with Bones Over Metal to host the California Premier of Awesome Land: Women of Dirt. The event is scheduled to take place on Feb 28, 2010, at the Rio Theater in Santa Cruz at 7 pm. This unique film spotlights some of the most talented women on knobby tires and the lifestyles that allow them to ride. Tickets can be purchased at the door or most local bike shops in Santa Cruz.
The film Awesome Land: Women Of Dirt looks through the eyes of the wondrous women that have helped grow the sports of gravity mountain biking, downhill racing, dirt jumping and free riding. Featured riders Lisa Myklak, Emily Johnston, Tammy Donahugh and Kathy Pruitt will be present at the premier, along with the filmmaker Mark Brent. There will be a Q&A session with the guests moderated Karen Kefauver, a freelance sports and travel journalist who authors the cycling column, Spin City for the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
"Our goal is to support local riding groups like MBoSC and cycling non-profits to host regional shows and share the 'awesomeness' the mountain bike has to offer. We want to give back to the community, and we want to do this in a way that the local organizations and promoters get to keep all the funds raised," said film producer Mark Brent.
The film premier is just one event tied to a greater two-day Mountain Bike Festival, sponsored by MBoSC and several others, including Fox Racing Shox, Black Market Racing, Gamut USA, Lights and Motion, Barry Swenson Builder, Trailhead Cyclery and a number of local bike shops including Bike Station Aptos, Epicenter Cycling and The Bicycle Trip.
Pending good weather, events held in conjunction with the premier include an open group ride through the Soquel Demonstration Forest (SDF) and Demo Day at Bike Station Aptos on Feb. 27, and a Jump Jam with the pro ladies on Feb 28th.
Proceeds from the festivities will go directly toward efforts to rebuild and reopen the SDF parking lot, which has been closed due to environmental issues.
The Big Picture
The image above captures the state of legitimate mountain bike trails in Santa Cruz county that I'm aware of. If you know if any other legal mountain bike trails in Santa Cruz County then please contact me. The orange and yellow lines represent dirt roads and single track respectively. The white lines represent paved roads which act as connectors within and between parks.
There is a lot of opportunity for more mountain bike access in the land holdings which do not have any trails open to bikes. We are currently working on initiatives and projects to expand legitimate access for mountain bikes. If you want to help out then please contact me at .
Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz (MBOSC) is an IRC 501(c)(3) non-profit educational organization which is dedicated to the promotion of mountain biking in a healthy and environmentally sound manner. MBOSC is an affiliate club of International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA).
MBOSC was founded in 1997 to raise money towards the purchase of the Gray Whale Ranch that was added to Wilder Ranch State Park.
There are thousands of acres of open space in Santa Cruz County on the table including the Nisene Marks State Park, Henry Cowell, Wilder/Gray Whale, UCSC, DeLaveaga and the Coast Dairies property. MBOSC is your strongest voice for more multi-use trails in these areas and to make that voice stronger, we need to work together to build MBOSC's membership and fight against those who don't want multi-use trails in your parks.
