Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship

The 2009 Classic. Chalked full of stories as is the case every year. The highlights from the SBTS angle.

The showdown with the "Win Rob's Bike" contest...

Burl Darden did in fact race against Rob Roskopp, the owner of Santa Cruz Bicycles, and did in fact well, come in a close second. Santa Cruz thought he was such a cool guy though for traveling all the way from Oregon at the last minute, so they decided to give them the bike anyway. What a lucky guy. We are all jealous of you Burl. Congratulations! Read about it more on the SCB Blog. (Written in better detail that my sorry incantation here...)  Read More »

Hot news! - SBTS is introducing a HUGE new feature to the Downieville Classic festival. On Wednesday and Thursday, July 8th & 9th, pro riders will be partnered with students (ages 12 to 21) in the On Mountain Pro/Youth Days. This is a fabulous opportunity for young riders to learn about mountain biking skills, the racing scene, and stewardship of the trails we all love to ride. Professional riders are taking a break in their valuable race preparations to “give back” to the community, sharing good times and great ideas with area youth. Here’s how it goes: Youth riders meet in Downieville at the Yuba Expeditions bike shop at 10am. Students and pros will be shuttled to Packer Saddle for a mountain-top orientation at 11. We break in to small groups and ride the upper sections of the Downieville Downhill (Sunrise/Butcher Ranch) course. All riders will assemble mid-mountain at an SBTS trails demonstration area where our Trails Crew chiefs will explain how mountain bike / hiking trails come to be, and how we take care of them. And while we’re at it, expect a little hands-on digging in the dirt for everyone! The pro riders will talk about trail riding vs. racing, and provide their real-world insights on blending environmental stewardship, smarts and fun in mountain riding. With our minds expanded and fuel in our bellies, the students and pros will finish the course back to Downieville. The ride is a chance for youth to pick up technique pointers from the pros – perhaps learning a thing or two for those entered in the weekend’s races!  Read More »

Forest Lands around Quincy are looking better than ever thanks to recent efforts by a local group the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship (SBTS). The group staged their second volunteer cleanup in as many years on public land adjacent to Chandler Road and in the Oakland Camp and Cascade Trailhead areas. The cleanup area included the popular Southpark trail system located north of Chandler Road. Several volunteer teams led by SBTS Board members Brett Marty of Quincy and Ron Heard of Clio set out on June 4th to collect illegally dumped garbage including car parts, roofing material, appliances, and other assorted garbage. Their efforts were assisted by generous donations from local businesses including Feather River Disposal, Hope Smith of Quincy Courtyard Suites and the Drunk Brush Wine Bar, as well as the Mt. Hough Ranger District of the US Forest Service. While expressing hope that there will be no need to clean up the area every year, the group promises to do whatever it takes to keep the area clean and enjoyable for the public. The SBTS also has plans to restore many of the trails in the area which have been degraded by a lack of maintenance. These trails are popular with hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians and the location near Quincy makes this a popular neighborhood trail system, free of snow for much of the year. The SBTS is a local Plumas and Sierra County non profit 501 ( c ) 3 group dedicated to trail preservation, restoration, and construction on public lands.  Read More »

SBTS celebrated National Trail Day by hosting two separate volunteer work days; one in the Downieville area on the Tahoe National Forest, and the other in the Lakes Basin on the Plumas National Forest. Despite the rain and cold temperatures that mother nature threw at us, 45 trail enthusiasts showed up to contribute 270 volunteer labor hours to area trails.

In the Lakes Basin the morning started off in typical fashion with bagels, sandwich fixins and a safety talk. Then the Plumas Forest surprised the group by presenting Ron Heard with a national award for his volunteer work in the Plumas National Forest. Nice work Ronnie!  Read More »

Attention: this contest is over. Here is the winner

*Reposted from Santa Cruz Bike's website*

The guy who owns this company, Rob Roskopp, went and took one of our entries into the Downieville Classic All-Mountain race this year. It’s his company, and he gets to enjoy the perks of that kind of thing. But it still got some of our backs up. Since the guy has only ever shown up in that town once in the past decade, some of the more loyal employees who spend a lot of time riding and working on trails there felt a little miffed about their available race entries being snapped up by the boss.

So, as retribution, we’re throwing him under the bus and having a contest.  Read More »

Well, we had another superb Epic in the beautiful Sierra Nevada. Great weather, awesome participants, and lot of good times were had. We did an extra credit Friday ride which was led by Zachi Anderson, showcasing some of the quality trail work that he and his crew have been knocking out over in Forest City. The big ride Saturday was attempted by the majority of the crew, many of whom looked fairly peppy after 36 miles or riding with 6K feet of climbing. No small feat. We got to break in our new cook top created by Shane Bresnyan and our new barbecue created by John Ames, both of which were top notch and absolutely amazing. Each had extra SBTS and Yuba Art inscribed in them. These new stoves will make feeding our volunteers about 500 times easier. Thanks guys! Saturday night campfire entertainment was led by Squeeky Tom and a group sing along which was amplified by our enthusiastic New Zealand rafter camping neighbors who came in to join in the festivities. I never knew that so many people could sing Metallica that well. We knocked out some trail work on Sunday with those who still had the energy to spin or hike up to the middle of the North Yuba Extension. We spent time widening the trail, dialing it in, and blowing up some rocks. Good times were had by all, and more good times will be had by those who get to use it. Thanks again to Marin Bikes for coming out, bringing a large posse of their crew along with their fleet for people to demo. Another big thanks to Hoppy Brew for their continued support.  Read More »