News
Join us for a Trail Work Day on Saturday, May 8 to work on Charlies. Meet at the Alberg Lodge parking area at Cranmore Mountain Resort. We’ll hike in to Charlies to get it ready for spring riding!
Time: 9:00am
Meeting Place: Alberg Lodge at Cranmore
Tools provided
Join us for a trail work night on Thursday, May 6 to work on Hurricane Trail! Meet at the parking lot at the top of Hurricane Mountain Rd. We will hike in to clear, rake and get Hurricane primed for the season!
Time: 5:30pm
Meeting Place: Black Cap Parking Lot
Tools provided
Over the last three years, the Hurricane Mountain Zone has seen a major increase in traffic as a result of building and fine-tuning several trails including Hurricane, Sendero, Charlie Don’t Surf, Knight’s Trail, Kandagnar and Pinball. Prior to this, the HMZ had three primary trails including Red Tail, Kettle Ridge and Cranmore Connector. In an effort to address surmounting issues including access and parking, Ride NoCo partnered with the White Mountain Trail Collective to help build a two-way, beginner trail to connect the base of Cranmore Mountain Resort to the HMZ. A great deal of funding was provided by the WMTC, and Cranmore has been gracious enough to offer parking at its base area. The Cranmore-Kettle beginner trail — Trail 1 or the temporarily named Lower Flank Trail seen on Trailforks — was recently completed. And, it is serving its purpose: to solve parking issues at the water tower on Hurricane Mountain Rd. and to resolve access issues on private land around Kandahar Lane. We are excited to see how these positive changes help improve our relationship with nearby landowners and help us better serve our community of riders.
When it was completed, Trail 1/Lower Flank Trail brought riders to an intermediate/expert level trail when it intersected with Lower Kettle Ridge. Therefore, it was a part of the 2020 projects plan to create a new corridor that is accessible to Novice riders. The new corridor is designed to handle heavy, two-way traffic, as this section serves as both the outlet for Red Tail, Sendero and Hurricane riders to climb back up to the Trail 1/LFT and for Trail 1/LFT riders to enter the Hurricane Mountain Zone. Unfortunately, it was necessary to utilize an existing section of the lower Kettle Ridge trail in order to create this new corridor.
With the completion of Trail 1/LFT and a window of opportunity to wrap up the entire Trail 1/LFT and Lower Kettle Ridge update before winter, trail crews advanced down Lower Kettle Ridge in the last week.
Looking ahead to 2021, our priority will be to relocate the section of Lower Kettle Ridge that was lost to the new corridor. In order to accomplish this reroute, our trail crew will be working with the original trail builder of Kettle Ridge to preserve the natural hand built and technically challenging character of the section of trail that previously existed. Trail 2 will be a single track, intermediate descent trail with natural and machine built features. We are excited for more additions to the HMZ and are so grateful once again to have the WMTC assist with funding on the project.
It has been an incredible year for mountain biking in North Conway! We want to thank all of you, including our members, volunteers, board members and local partners and landowners for making it a successful season.
We want to thank our members for joining Ride NoCo and believing in what we want to achieve across the entire network of trails. We feel the longstanding goal of the mountain bike community has been to preserve and maintain our current trails, and create new riding opportunities. Ride NoCo has worked tirelessly this summer to fulfill these goals and we can't wait to continue in 2021!
2020 Trail Building and Expansion Highlights
We added amazing new terrain to our network this year including a renovation of Charlie Don't Surf with the help of Tulip Trails, our NoCo Trail Crew and volunteers.
The White Mountain Trail Collective helped us achieve key infrastructural projects including a new Black Cap to Cranmore connector trail, which will serve as the preferred descending route and top flank of the Hurricane Zone, a project built by IdeRide Trail Builders during the month of August. The trail helps alleviate descending pressure on the original Cranmore Connector. It can be accessed from a spur off of the Hurricane Trail with several crossings to access Red Tail, Kettle Ridge, Kandagnar and eventually leading to Charlie Don't Surf.
Additionally, the White Mountain Trail Collective helped with a beginner friendly, two-way trail, linking the base of Cranmore with lower Kettle Ridge. This new trail will be acting as a lower flank to the Hurricane Zone, providing an easy avenue from the water tower at the base of Hurricane Mountain Road to the main parking area at Cranmore. With this project, we are helping alleviate parking congestion and directing the traffic flow to a parking lot that can sustain a higher rider capacity. These trails are being built by local trail builders Tyrol Trails and Tulip Trails.
Elsewhere around the network, additional attention was given to a reroute on High School Loop in the West Side Zone, during our annual Summer Trail Work Day in July. In Marshall, the new Holy Cow trail was reconstructed and completed by volunteers led by Rob Adair and Lucille's Loop was completed thanks to the Town of Conway. On the East Side, drainage improvements were made with efforts from our trail crew and volunteers on Old Sidehill and Cheater.
Dozens of volunteers helped out in the early part of the season clearing trails of winter debris and getting the trails ready for the summer riding season. Special shout outs to Tim Simoneau and Daren Morneau, logging 85 hours of trail work in the early season.
Learning and Moving Forward
The White Mountain Bike Coalition is officially a 501 (c) 3 and here to serve the Mount Washington Valley bike community. With our unpredictable summer and official formation of WMBC, we have learned that to best serve our riding community, a transparent and open communication line is needed to be successful for the future. Our volunteer board has recently added two new members to address public relations and municipal relations. You may ask, who are the board members anyway? Well, the new public relations member is working on getting profiles on all the board members together and will add them to the RideNoCo.org site for folks to see who is behind the scenes! In the meantime, the board would like to thank you all for a great season.
Chris McKay - President
We want to close out this incredible season with a bang! Please join us for our annual Leaf Peeper Bash on Saturday, October 10. Join us for informal rides starting at 9 a.m. at the base of Cranmore. Keep your eyes peeled on our Facebook page and Instagram for complete details next week.
August 3, 2020
Message to the Riding Community:
The Board of Directors of the newly-formed White Mountain Bike Coalition (WMBC) are excited with the positive response of the local, regional, and national mountain bike community from its July 20, 2020 press release regarding its move toward local independence and sustainability.
Despite the generous enthusiasm and support from a majority of the riding community, many valid questions and concerns were raised from community members regarding the change in direction - specifically the separation from New England Mountain Bike Association (NEMBA) and membership status of current members. The purpose of this communication is to state WMBC’s reason for independence, and declare WMBC’s unwavering allegiance and dedication to the local riding community.
The announcement was based on a strategic planning process including the successful co-branding effort of “Ride NoCo” and the investment of over $225,000 in local trail development this summer with a variety of project partners. Reorganization became necessary to create a sustainable organization to support both trail development and maintenance, all to create a long-term benefit for the local riding community.
As a result of the new strategic direction of WMBC, the Board of Directors officially separated from long-time partner (NEMBA), which was a key partner in supporting the development of local trails over the past 20 years. This decision was not made lightly, or in haste. Months of due diligence went into this process and this was a bittersweet decision for many on the board (who have served the WM NEMBA Chapter faithfully for a combined forty plus years). There have been countless hours of volunteer work that went into making this community what it is. We honor that commitment and those volunteers, by ushering in a new era of local mountain biking advocacy.
We have been asked what brought us to this decision and that is fairly straightforward (1) Our riding community will have local control of funding and trails (2) Membership - right now we receive $10 of every $35 WM NEMBA membership. The rest is retained by NEMBA as an administration fee. We would like to be able to expand our membership base past the local community to all who enjoy riding our trails. (3) Grant Writing - being a North Conway, NH non-profit opens us up for grants from local foundations and the NH Charitable Foundation that we are otherwise not eligible for as a Massachusetts based 501(c)3. These benefits far outweigh the average $1250 in annual Chapter rebates (dues income) from NEMBA. As a leadership team, it is our fiscal responsibility to create an entity structure that will allow us to be a sustainable organization and the steps we have taken are for the benefit of the local mountain biking community.
As of this date, all WM NEMBA members are still members of NEMBA. We understand the value of our local members and will honor all WM NEMBA memberships with WMBC memberships for any and all who would like to continue to support the local community and continue to be a part of the past 30 years of progression. As a Board of Directors, we also recognize NEMBA’s many contributions to our mountain bike community, both past, present and future. It is for that reason, that we would like to encourage our WMBC membership to join NEMBA as well.
Members of our biking community have asked what will happen to the remaining WM NEMBA funds. NEMBA will be issuing a letter to all WM NEMBA chapter members to vote on what should happen to the chapter. The WM NEMBA members will also get to vote on the final dissolution of the Chapter or continuing the chapter under new leadership at the time as well. Regardless of the final vote the leadership team will be moving forward with WMBC.
We are a volunteer based organization. The WMBC Board of Directors are a group of folks who have dedicated their spare time to serve the local mountain bike community and have spent countless hours advocating for our shared passion. As a group, we are only as strong as our membership. Please, if you have a concern or would like to voice input please feel free to contact Dyane McIndoe, Board of Directors member and Group Secretary, and get involved. We are actively seeking motivated individuals who share our passion for the local mountain bike community.
Happy Trails,
White Mountain Bike Coalition
Chris McKay - President
Rob Adair - Vice President, WM NEMBA Past President
Phil Ostroski - Treasurer
Dyane McIndoe - Secretary
Michael LeBlanc - Vice President
Peter Ostroski - Vice President
In an effort to evolve our local mountain biking advocacy group, we are pleased to announce the formation of the White Mountain Bike Coalition (WMBC), a new local non-profit focused on providing mountain bike opportunities in the Mount Washington Valley. The longstanding goal of the mountain bike community has been to preserve and maintain our current trails, and create new riding opportunities. WMBC seeks to fulfill these longstanding goals, and bring a localized effort to create a sustainable non-profit organization. WMBC will be using “Ride NoCo” as a trademarked brand and logo as part of creating awareness around the growing advocacy group.
The foundation of the original advocacy group, the White Mountains Chapter of NEMBA, New England Mountain Bike Association, was created to give our local mountain bike community backing to what was a fringe sport 30 years ago. Now, being an established group in a sport that has gained popularity and greater involvement in outdoor recreation, the White Mountains NEMBA board has decided to step away from being a sub chapter in NEMBA, and create our own organization, bringing a unique identity to our riding community. This will allow: more localized functionality, a broad membership base (local community and visiting riders), trail work days, and local events. WMBC looks to engage and carry over the current chapter members as well as expand the membership base. We are actively seeking grant funding in an effort to have a sustainable organization, bring the community together, address the spectrum of riding disciplines, and create local job opportunities.
There has been a great deal of work put into our current network of trails from developing the Marshall Conservation Area as a beginner friendly zone, connecting the West Side system, maintaining the popular East Side trails, and creating one of the most popular networks of gravity fed trails in the region. We are fortunate to be in an area that has amazing terrain and supports one of the most diverse trail networks in the region. Our growing partnership with Cranmore has facilitated key capital connectivity projects and opened a safe centralized parking area that will access a majority of the trail network.
In the last two years we have invested time and energy into building awareness around Ride NoCo as a unique identity to riding in the valley. We have created an easy avenue online at ridenoco.org where people can support as members, donors, and corporate sponsors in an effort to build an operational budget and provide needed resources. In 2019, we organized three main events to bring the riding community together and fundraise for trails. These functions are part of our annual plan to bring three key events to the community during the riding season.
·The Spring Sender which saw 200+ people come out for a weekend of riding, music, beers, and a locally supported raffle.
·Our Annual Trail Day in July, where we had over 180 volunteer hours put into trails in one day.
·Our first annual Leaf Peeper Bike Bash event that brought together 300+ people from the region in a celebration of the fall riding season. During the day, rides throughout the valley took place. In the evening at the Theater in the Wood there was live music, local beer, silent auction, bike films, raffle, and a Rocky Mountain Bike raffle which saw over 5,000 raffle tickets sold online in North America.
In the last year we have secured grant funding for key projects through collaboration with White Mountains Trail Collective and the Mount Washington Valley Trails Association. A mountain bike trail parallel to the Cranmore Connector and connecting the Black Cap Trail to Cranmore Mountain will be built by IdeRide Trail Builders during the month of August. Additionally, two trails will be built connecting the base of Cranmore to Sendero on the Kettle Ridge Trail. The latter two trails will be infrastructural trails to allow mountain bikers to access the Hurricane Mountain Zone directly from the Cranmore parking lot. These trails will be built by local trail builders Tyrol Trails and Tulip Trails starting in July.
The Mission of Ride NoCo is to advocate and grow mountain biking in the White Mountains. We maintain, and responsibly build trails for riding opportunities available to all abilities. Ride NoCo works with the local mountain bike community as the liaison to land managers and owners for continued and future access of public and private lands. Ride NoCo builds awareness to progress mountain biking responsibly in the region. We do this by promoting sustainable land use, providing educational opportunities, and hosting events for new and experienced riders.
We continue to grow and support an outdoor recreational culture and contribute to Mount Washington Valley being a better place to live, work, and play.
Annual memberships can be purchased and more info can be found at www.ridenoco.com. Check the @ridenoco Instagram for updates as well.
Come out for a day of trail work and riding!
Given the unpredictable landscape this summer, we won’t be able to host a grand ride weekend, but we are looking forward to having a targeted trailwork weekend July 25-26. Help improve trail quality and your riding experience!
Meet at Cranmore 9am
Targeted Trails- Charlie’s, High School Loop, KandaGnar
Bring a mask!
Small groups of 6-8 people will spread out within the trail network for key projects
Bring small hand tools if you have them, other tools provided
Ride late afternoon/early evening
Sunday 26th: Rides on your own/with small groups!
Local breweries Saco River and Rek-Lis have teamed up to make a special collab brew that will help support RideNoCo and Bethlehem Trails!
The HopStroski IPA cans are available now at both Saco River, and Rek-Lis breweries! Get them before they run out!
Excited to help work on new trail projects and contribute to the riding in North Conway?
Come help us improve the riding experience!
Our first trail work day of the season is planned for July 28th.
Details:
*9am Meet at Cranmore Mountain resort
*9am to 2pm build, dig, improve trails!
*2:30pm Free hurricane shuttles and shredding.
*6pm, free brews and food at Echo Lake state park
Email- info.ridenoco@gmail.com for questions
Look forward to seeing you out there!
