Ok, so we had a meeting the other night, it was pretty much the most dedicated Chattanooga and Cleveland guys who were invited. We got together to decide several things, first of all we needed to make more of a governing body to help shape the group and help keep our goals in focus. Second, utilizing that governing body, we wanted to discuss the future for the TTC Gravity Park and what we would like to see happen. Third, and what is most pressing at this time was to decide what trail maintenance and new trail work needed to be done and or needs to be done in order for us to meet our goals. Those were the top three things that were discussed in detail, although several other subjects came up as well.
Troy Roberts is now the president, I'm the V.P. and Zack Gaston is the Treasurer. This was decided based on what the group thought, who wanted the positions, and who has most of the trail work and put effort into creating this park. It has become more of a legit club as well, we now have dues, which is $30/year, and more regular meetings to make sure that our goals are on track. No decision is made by one person alone, if its something big then its brought to the group and discussed at large and if something small such as a water break then it can be made on the spot.
Part of the reason we have created this group or club, or whatever you want to call us, is that in the future this park has the potential to blow up!! If you look at all of the big mountain bike parks in the southeast, they are more than a couple hrs drive from Chattanooga. The TTC is a 30 minute drive from the base of signal mountain. Not only that but its 700 acres of land that we have access to out there, with incredible land features and excellent elavation. If you compare that to all of the big parks on the eastern seaboard you come up with a relatively small list. Sure you have West Virginia with Snowshoe mountain, but what happens when it gets cold, no more riding, its snowboard season. Then to the south of us is Hurricane Creek freeride park, but how much land do they have to work with and most of their features are man made. Theres nothing wrong with that but nothing beats riding natural gnarly landscape!! Think of it this way, we are at the bottom of something big! We have the chance to build a freeride and downhill park our way. Its on private land, and we are working with the landowner's and the TTC owner's requests and provisions, but we have to potential to build the biggest mountain bike park in the southeast!!
I personally am a huge fan of freeride and an advocate to see several freeride trails go in at the TTC Gravity park. One of the essentials to having a good freeride park though is having access to natural wood, which we have, and alot of cut lumber, which at this point we don't have. We area also in the process of building a skills course, something that is geared towards a beginner to teach people the essentials of riding downhill and freeride. The skills course will include a teeter totter, skinnies, small drops, ladder bridges and small jumps. Again this skills area is made of, you got it, wood!! There is an opportunity that will be coming up for us to receive wood from Volkswagen. I've been working with a local non-profit to help them realize their goal with this project and at the same time it will benefit our park, but we need volunteers. I will be going next week and doing the initial trial run with Create Here to see how its going to work out and if its a viable option then I will fill you in on it more.
Also one thing that we decided at the meeting is that we want to get the "big side" bench cut before the spring and the foliage, such as poison ivey comes out. What I mean is that our current network of trails is on one side of the valley, and we have yet to touch the other side. The potential for the other side is HUGE!!! There is a 7.5 minute ride to the top via a paved concrete road, and that puts you directly on top of 1600 to 1700 ft of elevation. If you are farmiliar with Windrock the ride to the top is far longer and much bumpier than this one is. The top of the ridge though is lined in by pretty steep cliffs all around, but we do have an access point that will have to be bench cut in order to get us from the top to the rest of the mountain. Thats going to take some work, and that work is not going to be easy, but the result and the end product will greatly open our options. There are already multiple fire roads and single track trail cut on that "big side" but there isn't any access from the top, thats what we want to create, and once that happens the potential for a 6-10 minute downhill or freeride run is very possible!!
We will keep you as up to date on the goings on with the park, but my suggestion, get involved, this place is going to be big, and you don't want to be left out in the cold!!
Thanks David Snyder V.P.
If you are looking for pics and some vids check out our Facebook group @ Chattanooga Freeriders.
Troy Roberts is now the president, I'm the V.P. and Zack Gaston is the Treasurer. This was decided based on what the group thought, who wanted the positions, and who has most of the trail work and put effort into creating this park. It has become more of a legit club as well, we now have dues, which is $30/year, and more regular meetings to make sure that our goals are on track. No decision is made by one person alone, if its something big then its brought to the group and discussed at large and if something small such as a water break then it can be made on the spot.
Part of the reason we have created this group or club, or whatever you want to call us, is that in the future this park has the potential to blow up!! If you look at all of the big mountain bike parks in the southeast, they are more than a couple hrs drive from Chattanooga. The TTC is a 30 minute drive from the base of signal mountain. Not only that but its 700 acres of land that we have access to out there, with incredible land features and excellent elavation. If you compare that to all of the big parks on the eastern seaboard you come up with a relatively small list. Sure you have West Virginia with Snowshoe mountain, but what happens when it gets cold, no more riding, its snowboard season. Then to the south of us is Hurricane Creek freeride park, but how much land do they have to work with and most of their features are man made. Theres nothing wrong with that but nothing beats riding natural gnarly landscape!! Think of it this way, we are at the bottom of something big! We have the chance to build a freeride and downhill park our way. Its on private land, and we are working with the landowner's and the TTC owner's requests and provisions, but we have to potential to build the biggest mountain bike park in the southeast!!
I personally am a huge fan of freeride and an advocate to see several freeride trails go in at the TTC Gravity park. One of the essentials to having a good freeride park though is having access to natural wood, which we have, and alot of cut lumber, which at this point we don't have. We area also in the process of building a skills course, something that is geared towards a beginner to teach people the essentials of riding downhill and freeride. The skills course will include a teeter totter, skinnies, small drops, ladder bridges and small jumps. Again this skills area is made of, you got it, wood!! There is an opportunity that will be coming up for us to receive wood from Volkswagen. I've been working with a local non-profit to help them realize their goal with this project and at the same time it will benefit our park, but we need volunteers. I will be going next week and doing the initial trial run with Create Here to see how its going to work out and if its a viable option then I will fill you in on it more.
Also one thing that we decided at the meeting is that we want to get the "big side" bench cut before the spring and the foliage, such as poison ivey comes out. What I mean is that our current network of trails is on one side of the valley, and we have yet to touch the other side. The potential for the other side is HUGE!!! There is a 7.5 minute ride to the top via a paved concrete road, and that puts you directly on top of 1600 to 1700 ft of elevation. If you are farmiliar with Windrock the ride to the top is far longer and much bumpier than this one is. The top of the ridge though is lined in by pretty steep cliffs all around, but we do have an access point that will have to be bench cut in order to get us from the top to the rest of the mountain. Thats going to take some work, and that work is not going to be easy, but the result and the end product will greatly open our options. There are already multiple fire roads and single track trail cut on that "big side" but there isn't any access from the top, thats what we want to create, and once that happens the potential for a 6-10 minute downhill or freeride run is very possible!!
We will keep you as up to date on the goings on with the park, but my suggestion, get involved, this place is going to be big, and you don't want to be left out in the cold!!
Thanks David Snyder V.P.
If you are looking for pics and some vids check out our Facebook group @ Chattanooga Freeriders.
