Search This Blog

Thursday, April 24, 2014

BIKES GONE WILD!



At Prescott College, we've got a few sub-cultures going on here.

You've got the Cultural and Regional Studies people, continually and admirably fighting for justice against our warped societal expectations and judgments.

You've got the Environmental Science guys and gals, lovingly referred to by some as the "bio-nerds" (...and only here will you be able to learn about riparian areas and raptor habitats at a college party).



And then you've got the AE kiddos. The thrill-seeking future adventure educators that seem to be in constant motion, whether it be from activity to activity or location to location. This weekend, these folks as well as the active townies Prescott, Arizona will be dominating the 11th annual Whiskey Off-Road mountain bike races taking place in the Prescott National Forest.

If you've ever hiked/biked/horse rode through the Prescott National Forest's trails, climbed Thumb Butte, been to the Copper Basin Lookout, or even really just been through Prescott, Arizona, you know how freaking gorgeous the landscapes are here. As reported by Epic Rides, "While riding the Whiskey course...once in the forest, participants will experience technical fast single track, smooth fire roads, quality climbing and vistas that will leave them speechless."

Vistas like this....

Bouldered to the top of Thumb Butte this past fall, with my friend Orion!

Copper Basin Lookout one sunny morning in March!

Hopefully, views like these two won't be so speechless so as to distract from the real goal: the custom, commemorative Finishers' Pint Glass that is an homage to the namesake of the event, Prescott's very own Whiskey Row.

(But really, there's a pretty hefty cash prize, too. Here's how the prizes are split up.)

For those of us who are not so dexterous on a two wheeler bouncing up and down 135 degree angles of essentially just rock and cactus and maybe a pseudo-flat part in there somewhere (me), there's still the opportunity to revel in the mountain biking culture!

Events and vendors will be all around the closed-off downtown area all weekend, meaning DO NOT EVEN TRY TO DRIVE THROUGH! Seriously, you'll go nuts trying to navigate around the blocked off areas and people flooding in. Downtown Prescott's events are always like that. Your best bet is to find parking somewhere else and walk over, or if you're like me and live within walking distance (yet still use a car...) get your lazy bum up and about in the spirit of fitness and activity!

Here's the schedule of events, with tons of live music for all, kids activities during the day, and special offers for those 21 and over throughout the weekend!


...And to tie this right back in bicycles at Prescott College, we've got an awesome club on campus called HUB. HUB stands for Helping Understand Bicycles, and began as someone's senior project. Essentially, he gathered together all the abandoned bikes and bike parts he could find from police stations, junkyards, and the like, and rallied volunteers together to teach people how to build and fix their own bicycles, completely for free.

This program is still going on today, and I'm hoping that this weekend will inspire me and others to get into HUB and build a bike! You can get basically anywhere in Prescott on bicycle, and I, personally, feel wasteful (and underactive) using my car. Allegedly, you can build your own bike in two hours...

But hey, maybe y'all will see me next year, stumbling down the trails and sliding roughly into the finish line three hours after the rest of the crowd! I can dream...

--Steph Doss

(First and last pictures were found on Google, middle two are mine.)


No comments: