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Blazin' the Trail
Nestled on the side of a mountain in Altona, the Adirondack Bike Ranch occupies 100 acres of prime mountain biking real-estate.
Imagine waking up, hopping on your mountain bike and going for a five-mile ride...in your own back yard. Paul and Corinna Maggy have been living this dream since they opened the Adirondack Bike Ranch, and they’re working hard to let you in on the fun.
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One of the renal bikes available at the ranch. The Maggys just traded in their fleet of 2009 Konas for a new 2010s. |
The Maggys started the Bike Ranch, along with their non-profit organization, the Northern Adirondack Mountain Bike Association, NAMBA, last year to promote mountain biking in the North Country. "We’re trying to introduce a new industry to the area," says Paul, a North Country native who used to race professionally for Cannondale and Barracuda. "The Adirondack’s lends itself really well to the mountain bike industry; there just isn’t anybody promoting it.”
"We’re trying to introduce a new industry to the area."
Corinna, a personal trainer and corrective exercise specialist, met Paul in Florida through mountain biking. The young couple and their twin daughters moved up here and took over Paul’s father’s land when he became ill. "It used to be a miniature horse farm,"says Corinna, "we wanted to make something of the property and this is the dream we both had."
The Bike Ranch is open to riders of all ages and experience levels and this year they saw all kinds of customers, from young kids to senior citizens. The park is designed to be ridden by everyone from those who’ve never ridden to professional racers. Five dollars gets you in for the day, or for year round access you can buy a NAMBA membership, which costs between $25 and $35 a year for individual or family. Riders are welcome to bring their own bikes or you can rent one of the Ranch’s top of the line Kona mountain bikes for a fee which includes a helmet.
The Maggys understand that mountain biking is a progressive sport and they want people to have fun and not get frustrated. "Riders should feel ok about walking sections of the trials they don’t feel comfortable riding,"says Corinna. This spring the Ranch will be offering clinics in mountain bike skills, safety and bike maintenance. "We’re not about ego and we want to take the intimidation out,"says Corinna, "everyone starts somewhere and we want to get as many people hooked as we can.”
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The four trails that were open this season offered about five miles of cross-country style riding. They consist of one big loop that links up to the other trails, giving riders different options so the trails don’t get stale. There are also the beginnings of some more technical options on the trails. As of now, there is one large jump and a large wooden platform built over Paul’s old RX-7, which will be expanded in a series of elevated bridges through the woods.
"We're trying to get as many people hooked as we can."
The Bike Ranch also holds events on the weekends such as races, trail building days and group rides. The wet weather was an obstacle this summer, but they still managed to hold three of their planned races and will hold more in the 2010 season. "It got to the point where people were saying, ‘They must have a race planned because it’s raining again,’ and sure enough it was," says Corinna.
The Bike Ranch is currently working with The Northern Lights Track Club, which is a non-profit club based in Plattsburgh, to put on a 5K trail run on October 24. The Track Club is affiliated with the USA Track and Field organization and hosts a variety of events throughout the year to promote running and healthy living, including the 5K trial run at the Bike Ranch. "We’re thrilled to be holding an event up there,"says Matt Mederois, Northern Lights Track Club president. "Their facilities are top-notch.”
Mederois, a four-time gold medalist for snowshoeing at the Empire State Games, hopes to work more with the Bike Ranch. "We’d like to make the 5K run at the Ranch an annual event,"says Mederois. "Once they get more trails built we’ll probably host a series of events there in the fall." This year’s 5K run is open to runners of all ages and costs $10 to $20 for registration.
"We're thrilled to be holding an event there. Their facilities are top-notch."
Growing the mountain biking community in the North Country is the main focus of the Maggys and NAMBA. "I’d like to see a more unified biking community; people getting behind it and promoting this area as a mountain bike destination,"says Paul. "We have the same terrain to offer here that they have out in British Columbia and the North West, there just isn’t anyone promoting it like there is out there."
The approach to the RX-7 Jump. |
NAMBA is less than a year old and already has more than 100 members; some from as far away as South Carolina. Many NAMBA members don’t only ride at the park, they also pitch in their time and sweat to help build and maintain trials. Trail building is a very time consuming and labor intensive process and the Maggys have done much of it themselves. "We’re always looking for people to help build the trails,"says Corinna, "We spent hours building this one trail and we thought it had to be five miles, but when we rode it, it turned out to only be three. It’s that kind of process."
The Ranch only has five miles of trails cleared now, but the Maggys have a grand vision for their 100 acres of wooded hills. "I’d like to see this become a bed and breakfast mountain bike resort,"says Paul, "Eventually we’d like to have 12 or 13 miles of trails with some terrain parks thrown in."Aside from opening miles of new trails and terrain parks the Maggys are also planning to renovate their barns to build two indoor bike parks that will be open year round. One indoor park will be for mountain biking and the other for BMX and skateboarding. Once built, the indoor mountain bike park will be the second in North America. The only other is Ray's outside of Cleveland, Ohio.
Though, that may be a long way off, the Maggy’s plan to stay open and busy through the off-season. The Ranch will remain open all winter for snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. "We want to make winter activities available and promote a healthy lifestyle to everyone in the area,"says Corinna.
All told, the Adirondack Bike Ranch isn’t just some trails cut through the woods; it’s the realized dream of Paul and Corinna Maggy, two people brought together by mountain biking. And it’s in that spirit that they invite anyone with an interest in riding to come and ride and learn with them. "We want to promote the sport and get as many people involved as possible,"says Corinna, "Everyone has something to learn from someone else."
Would you like to help NAMBA build more mountain bike trails?
Trail Talk:
Flying down a mountain bike trail may only take a few minutes, but building one is a different story. Trail cutting is a laborious and time consuming process that the Maggys have down to a science. "We go over a trail eight or nine times before we get any ride-able spots," Paul says.
First they mark out the trails with paint to decide where they want them to go. Then they go through with pruners and trim back trees and branches. Next, Paul goes over the trails with a chainsaw, removing the large trees that can’t be avoided or pruned back. After the chainsaw, it’s time to go through the trail again and pull out the stumps. Once the stumps are out, they go through the trail again to fill in the holes, move the big rocks and rake out the path.
Once a trail reaches this stage, it is almost ready for riding, but before it can be opened, the Maggys will build bridges where necessary, mark the trail and add technical elements like ramps, jumps and skinny bridges. "We have five miles of trails open and another three or four miles cut and ready for raking," says Paul, "but we have double that marked with paint and ready to be cut."