Mark Reynolds Memorial Fund

Mark Reynolds was a family man, tech guy and avid mountain biker in the Bay Area. His passion for the sport inspired him to create his company Wicked Racin to create high quality products for gravity riders. He was racing Downhill at the Sea Otter on April 19th and he never made it to the finish line.

While I did not know Mark personally, his life, career path and passion for mountain biking is similar to my own and describes the many mountain bikers that I have the privilege of knowing in the Bay Area. I have been contacted by close friends and family of Mark and I have learned so much about his life in these past few weeks. I feel saddened by the fact that I may have ridden with him in the past but I never really got to know him.

Mark was passionate about mountain biking and wanted to bring more people into the sport. He was generous with his time, teaching his friends how to jump and be better riders. Mark's family have set up a memorial fund to honor his memory. The fund will raise money towards a freeride/jump park/pump track that will be named after Mark so that people of all levels can enjoy the sport of mountain biking.

There will be raffle at the CCCX DH season finale in June which will benefit the memorial fund. Raffle tickets will be sold at the races and other locations.

To contribute to the Mark Reynolds memorial fund, please visit the Wicked Racin site: http://www.wickedracin.com

As a friend and mountain biker I'm asking you to contribute to the Mark Reynolds Memorial fund. I believe that his generosity to the sport will benefit all Northern Californian mountain bikers and visitors to our region. A thriving mountain biking community, great trails and parks is an honorable legacy to Mark.

Thank you for your support.

--Mark

Mark Davidson - President
Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz
http://www.mbosc.org

Nat and Rachael Lopes of Hilride

Nat and Rachael Lopes were part of the IMBA Trail Care Crew for 3 years and in that time had traveled across 46 states and 9 Canadian provinces. Soon after "retiring" from the TCC, they came home to California to form Hilride Progression Development Group. Hilride is dedicated to realizing the potential of the global mountain biking movement by helping with community planning and assisting with the creation of the facilities and trails to realize the full economic potential of mountain biking. Hilride has also assisted in running events like the IMBA California Ales and Trails in Marin County earlier this summer. Currently, Hilride is helping to develop mountain bike tourism in Croatia.

MBOSC hired Hilride to attend a meeting with our District State Parks office and help us do a trail assessment in Castle Rock. This assessment helped the District determine the multi-use suitability of the Castle Rock portion of the Bay Area Ridge trail. They also attended the MBOSC meeting that evening and entertained us with movies and stories of mountain biking in far away places.

I really admired their professionalism and experience. On the trail in Castle Rock they would immediately recognize issues and prescribe solutions. They educated the State Parks staff about trail issues which related to mountain biking which included safety, mitigating trail use conflict, maintenance, environmental sustainability and providing a great user experience. Nat and Rachael work really well as a team. Their experience and backgrounds perfectly complement each other. They produced a high quality trail assessment very soon after the walk.

I really enjoyed working with Hilride and I would highly recommend their services. If your community needs experienced mountain bike advocate/trail/tourism consultants then consider hiring them. MBOSC would gladly hire them again and we hope to work with them again in the near future.

Laird Knight of Granny Gear Productions

One of the best things about being involved in bike advocacy has been the great people that I have met. I'll be writing a bit more about the people I have met over the past couple of years as a result of my advocacy efforts.

Laird Knight is the pioneer of the 24 hour racing format and the man behind the Granny Gear Productions. He is a gentleman and has been honored by his peers by being inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame.

I met Laird in Washington, DC during the Bike Summit earlier this year. I was really interested in his talk about the economic impact of his 24 hour event on a local community and how these races provide memorable lifetime experiences for the participants. During an evening walk to a DC restaurant for Tapas and beer, I talked to him about bringing a 24 hour race to Santa Cruz and discussed the possibility of using the Coast Dairies property as a future venue. Laird was interested in this proposition and we have kept up correspondence.

He flew out in August and stayed with us for a few days for a BLM meeting and a peek at the Coast Dairies property. He was a great asset in the BLM meeting since he has a long term relationship with the BLM near Moab. He is a articulate advocate of mountain biking on public lands and he made a great impression with the Field Manager.

He has the curious mind of an engineer/scientist despite the fact that he has no formal education as an engineer. He is interested in science and keeps tabs on technology and knows how to leverage technology to improve the race experience. Laird is the inventor of the 24 hour race format - which has been copied by many race promoters. However, he doesn't seem resentful about the fact that others have stolen his ideas. He seems amused and flattered. Having more promoters do the 24 hour race format increases the market (and racers) for 24 hour racing and that can only benefit all the promoters. The competition doesn't stop him from innovating. He continues to dream up new ways to improve the experience of Granny Gear races.

Laird is an amazing guy to know. I am really happy to have him as an ally partner and friend in advocacy.