Pisgah Podcast - 172- The Future of Polk County, Little White Oak Mountain Trails

Hurricane Helene has left Western North Carolina devastated. From the large city of Asheville to the hollers of Old Fort, Bat Cave, Mortimer and more, have all seen destruction. We've got friends all up and down these blue ridge mountains and felt it was time to check in with them and give you all an update from the source with hopeful tales of good news. Special thanks to Peter Mills, Kristian Jackson, Jared Hartman, Jane Dauster, Michael Thomas, Neko Mulally and Jason McDougald. The organizations mentioned in this episode: ⁠NW NC MTB Alliance⁠ ⁠Pisgah Area SORBA⁠ ⁠Friends of Dupont⁠ ⁠Neko's bike raffle⁠ ⁠Old Fort Strong⁠

We got a kickstart from Daniel and Natalie at Pisgah Area Sorba to crank this thing back up, so here we are! We've got the PAS folks on the mics to give us some updates on new trails and whats new in the scene while we've been away. Did you get an email from SORBA main too? if you didn't, here's the FAQ Link to answer some questions. If you've ridden the newly reworked Greenslick and Butter, smash that subscribe button!

Ever been so deep in Pisgah that you thought no one had touched that zone in forever but then you come across some fresh cut timber trail clearing and you’re completely flabbergasted that someone brought a saw waaaay back there. Well, that someone was the Back Country Horsemen of Pisgah and we owe them a ton of thanks. A really great video was just released showing some of the story on what the club does and this podcast is a little bit more of that. If you have a little hitch in yer giddyup then check out The Back Country horsemen and click subscribe!

Matt Zuniga, a rising senior with the Brevard College Cycling team stops by to give us the run down on what these crazy college kids are up to, their operation and what their favorite rides are. Drew and Mangler wrapped up a busy year of downhill with a Central America visit and dropping a new USDH focused podcast, The Gravity Coop’s Hot Seat. If you dropped out of college to ride bikes rather than go to college to ride bikes (LIKE DREW DID) then click subscribe!

About 7 months ago we dropped by Rockgeist so Drew could get a fancy custom bag made for his Tallboy and spent the morning documenting the process of making a bag the crew and the makings of Rockgeist with Greg Hardy PHD. So after 7 months, Drew has great things to say about his bag but some minor changes he would make. If you have bags full of water bottles strapped on your bike then click subscribe!

Western NC has been sprouting up some new trails over the summer so like any good podcast producers, we wanted to deliver some sweet sounds of ripping. Drew and Mangler convinced Adam Hobbs to join in as they visit some new trails at Chestnut Mountain and Old Fort. IF you have rolled the rock on Union then click subscribe!

NC has legally declared 2023 as Year of the Trail so we got some of those behind the scenes of this movement on the mics to talk about the who, what and why. Daniel Sapp and Seth Alvo of Backslope along with Beth Heile from Friends of Valdese fill us in as we hung out at Berm Peak. October 21st is the first Great Trails State Day and it will continue every year as the third saturday in October. So to help us celebrate, lets all get outside and invite others to enjoy one of North Carolina’s finest assets!

Like many of you, we had lots and lots of questions regarding the proposed user fees for Pisgah Ranger district for mountain bikes and equestrians. So after a week of gathering questions, our friends at Pisgah Area SORBA got a lot of them answered from the USFS and brought us that info. Huge thanks to Natalie Narburgh, the Executive Director of PAS for sitting down with us for this rapid fire. You can find a link to the FAQ here: https://pisgahareasorba.org/2023/06/30/usfs-proposed-fee-faq/ And there is a paragraph at the bottom that gives you some pointers on submitting your comment.

Little White Oak Mountain may be an unfamiliar name for most listeners, but you’re going be remembering it after listening to Craig Lee of Community Trail Designs and Ed Sutton of Trail Dynamics fill us in on the juicy details of the soon to be project. 900’sh feet of descent on a south facing mountain in a public trail system, easily highway accessible and way closer to the major metros to our east and south. Sounds dreamy! Also, while we’ve got Ed on the mic, he fills us in on the Bernard Mountain project over in Old Fort, thats opening June 16th. If your local trails are beginning to be built like a bike specific trail park the way that white oak, Chestnut MTN and many other projects are then click subscribe!

Nick Bragg is no stranger to podiums and he’s also a real good friend of the podcast but after our interview with Eric Wever / Pisgah Productions for episode 166 we decided to put Nick on the spot and inquire about his thought on chasing the King of Pisgah for a second time, cause he’s already won it once… With a little bit of pressure and some sweet talking, Nick committed to the series and we’ve got him on to talk about his background of racing and how the first 2 races of the series went. Lots of other racing going on in the region and $5 after 5 is back at Kolo! If you are as ready for Pisgah Podcast to get back in the regular rotation then click subscribe!