Spokane, WA

Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew find lots of riding in eastern Washington.

Nat and Rachael taught a trailbuilding school to a small group of mountain bikers and rangers. With so few trail issues and little threatening trail access for bikes there aren't as many trail advocates as you may find in other cities.
Mike Brixey, IMBA's eastern Washington representative, gets down and dirty doing trailwork.
Mt. Spokane State Park Manager Steve X on his new Giant Trance shuttled the downhill run with Nat and Rachael to scope out which sections needed to be rerouted to offer more sustainability and a longer, more fun ride.
This switchback at Mt. Spokane State Park was built by volunteers when former Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew leader Joey Klein visited three years ago. Constructing a well-built switchback designed for mountain bikers has preserved this turn for years without maintenance.

The Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew leaders Nat and Rachael Lopes were invited by the newly formed Fat Tire Trail Riders club to meet with land managers and teach a trailbuilding school. Spokane has hundreds of miles of legal singletrack within an hour of the city, and it's interesting to see how it effects the local mountain bike scene, the quality of the trails and the user conflict situation.

Here's a glimpse of the Spokane riding scene:

• Four ski resorts that offer mountain biking within an hour
• Mt. Spokane State Park (the largest state park in Washington), offers 90-miles of bike trails and embraces the downhill riding trend
• Riverside State Park (the second largest state park in Washington), offers dozens of miles of beginner and intermediate trails.
• Camp Sekani City Park that has a network of intermediate and advanced cross-country, freeride and downhill trails within its 200-acres.

The Crew had great meetings with park managers from each of these parks. In this large city of around 200,000 residents, there is little to no user conflict involving mountain bikes. The mountain bikers have so many places to ride that there isn't a concentration of riders in any one place. This amounts to more variety, less conflict and greater trail sustainability.