Santa Cruz Mountain Bike Festival Raffle is growing and growing...

The raffle after the Women of Dirt film premier on Feb 28th is gathering steam. We have OVER $15,000 in raffle donations to giveaway. Yes, that's right. We will be giving away over $15,000 of merchandise on Sunday Feb 28th - all for $1/ticket. This does NOT include the ~$4,700 El Guapo that Titus has donated for a separate raffle (we will draw for the bike at the Sea Otter). Most of the proceeds from the film and raffle will go towards an environmental mitigation project at Soquel Demonstration State Forest.

The big ticket items include an Intense 5.5 EVP frame donated by Trailhead Cyclery. A Fox 36 Talas RC2 donated by Fox Racing Shox. A Black Market MOB frame (Chrome) donated by Black Market Bikes.

Thank you to the bike industry, local bike shops and local businesses for your generosity. I would love to call out the following companies and businesses for being above and beyond supporters:

• Titus Bikes
• Trailhead Cyclery in San Jose
• Fox Racing Shox
• Black Market Bikes
• The Spokesman in downtown Santa Cruz
• Luna Sports Gear
• Gamut USA
• Kali Protectives
• CamelBak
• Light and Motion
• Robert Mann
• Giro Sport Design
• Aptos Core Care Chiropractic (Buff),

A special mention to:

• Jamis Bikes
• Epicenter Cycling
• Aptos Bike Station
• Family Cycling Center
• Surfrider Cafe
• Seabright Brewery
• Lola Addictions
• Barry Swenson Builders

Thank you for supporting our event for your support of mountain biking in Santa Cruz County. We hope the membership will consider supporting these companies and local businesses.

Please come out to the film premier on Feb 28th and buy raffle tickets so you can be a part of all this goodness. Tickets can be bought at the best bike shops in the Santa Cruz area. Look for our event poster with the bright "Tickets Sold Here" stickers.

Introducing the 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 Cycleryand 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 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.

You will be able to get tickets before the show at local bike shops. Details later....

Freedom Riders Showing Raised Money for State Parks District

MBOSC presented the Santa Cruz premier of "Freedom Riders" at the Rio Theatre on Sept 17. This presentation was a fund raiser for the local state parks and I'm happy to announce that it was a success. We had 196 paid attendees and sold about $1400 in raffle tickets for a total of about $2000 raised for state parks.

An event like this takes a lot of work and many people donated their time and goods to make this event a success.

Thanks to Megan Zemny, Steve Gemelos, Sebastien Praly, Eve Davidson and Mark Woodhead for the planning, logistics and doing the legwork for this event. Thanks to Jesse Nickel for soliciting, acquiring and donating raffle items.

A big thanks to the event volunteers Tim and Shannon Park, James B, Chris, Tracy Cotten, Johauna Rathbun, Melissa Cline, Buel Proffit and Amiel Sagpao.

Thanks to Michael Horn for providing the short films before the main feature and spending time in the projection booth to ensure that the films ran smoothly.

Thanks to Charlie and Jason at Seabright Brewery for the after party (film attendees were treated to Happy Hour pricing). Thanks to Austin Sprague for working with Seabright on the after party.

We would like to thank some of the people and businesses who donated to make our raffle a success.

• Alex Stover from Kali Protectives
• Andrew Cavaletto from Scotts Valley Cycle Sport
• Danettee Shoemaker from the City of Santa Cruz
• Elayna Caldwell from Fox Racing Shox
• Eric Richter from Giro
• Jesse Nickell from Barry Swenson Builders
• John Caletti from Caletti Cycles
• Juan Graziosi from Gamut USA
• Lars Thomson from Trailhead Cyclery
• Patti Bonnet from IMBA
• Patty Ciesla and Charles Jalgunas from Passion Trail Bikes

These vendors have demonstrated their support for mountain bike advocacy and they deserve our support as well.

This event raised money to replace the trail head sign at the entrance of the Wilder Ranch back country.

Thanks again for your support!

Freedom Riders Showing Thursday Sept 17th

MBOSC presents the Santa Cruz showing of Freedom Riders 7 pm Thursday September 17th at the Rio Theatre.

This film is a benefit to raise money for our local State Parks district to replace the sign at the entrance of the Wilder Ranch back country.

Tickets are $10 available at the following locations (cash only):

• Another Bikeshop


• Bicycletrip


• Spokesman


• Scotts Valley Cycle Sport


• Aptos Bike Station


• Sprockets


• Family Cycling Center


• Trailhead Cyclery (San Jose)


• Passion Trail Bikes(Belmont)

Tickets are also available at the door and will include a raffle ticket. We will also sell additional raffle tickets in the theater.

Freedom Riders is the story of a core group of riders who evolved from covertly building rough and unsustainable trails, to creating a precedent setting relationship with the Forest Service and creating some of the best Freeride trails in the country.

This is a great way to raise money for our local state parks

Hope to see you there!

MBOSC Presents Freedom Riders at the Rio Sept 17

MBOSC presents the Santa Cruz showing of Freedom Riders 7 pm Thursday September 17th at the Rio Theatre on This film is a benefit to raise money for our local State Parks district to replace the sign at the entrance of the Wilder Ranch back country.

Tickets will be $10 at the door and will include a raffle ticket. We will also sell additional raffle tickets in the theater.

Freedom Riders is the story of a core group of riders who evolved from covertly building rough and unsustainable trails, to creating a precedent setting relationship with the Forest Service and creating some of the best Freeride trails in the country.

MBOSC is presenting this film because we feel it’s a story that could resonate in this community and it could lead to some wonderful future possibilities in our local scene. The current state fiscal crisis and the change in leadership in the local district is creating more dialog between land managers and the local mountain bike advocates. They are looking for allies and partners. Since February, we have been actively working with our local State Parks district to create more legitimate mountain biking opportunities. We are inviting local land managers to the showing of this film and hope that they can see how co-operation between downhill/freeride mountain bikers and land managers has worked in another part of the country.

Hope to see you there!