I have traveled to Jamaica the past 2 years for the Jamaican Fat Tyre Festival. I feel like I talk about Jamaica way too much? Maybe I do. haha. Anyway, when I went to Jamaica for the first time two years ago I found out that they were getting the first BMX track in the Caribbean and I thought that was so cool. Basically USA Cycling put out a call for proposal from Caribbean countries and Jamaica won. By winning, they got a course designer, builder and a start gate and in return they had to lease the land, get the dirt, equipment etc. This all cool and everything but there was one minor problem….no bikes. Jamaicans love their bikes A LOT. But riding those bikes on a BMX track is not a good idea for many reasons. Sooo 2 years ago a submitted a proposal to Specialized’s First Gear program to get some bikes to Jamaica and it was accepted!!! So fast forward to present time….it has all come together. The track, the materials, the bikes, the grand opening celebration. SOOO COOL. I wouldn’t miss it for the world so I made the trek down there to see the track in real life, see all the bikes getting loved and also see a pretty public stoke of many Jamaican government officials.
Oh and its Jamaica so I couldn’t come and not get my shred on right! :)
I just want to thank Specialized for donating bikes and gear, Pro-Tec for helmets, the Oracabessa Foundation + Goldeneye for helping to fund this project Simon Dunne and Jonathan Gosse <- none of this would have happend without this guy!!!!
Probably my favorite event of the year. I loveeeeee Crankworx. All of my favorite people come to my very favorite place to shred and party…what more can you ask for!
I love NYC. It’s as simple as that. I will pretty much make any excuse to go there. No, it’s not the mountains…it is as far as you can get from my ‘happy place’ but in a totally different way it is another happy place for me. I just love walking around. I love the sights, the sounds, the people, the smells, the bustle. There is always something going on, people are always on their way somewhere. I absolutely love it. I can spend day in and day out just exploring!
So yah, you get the point. I did an event with Rebecca Rusch last fall in NYC. I also ran the NYC Marathon last fall. I could not spend this much time out east and not come to NYC.
For this trip I partnered up with Bicycle Habitat which is a pretty awesome shop out of Soho. From there we held a free clinic in Cunningham Park in Brooklyn. We had a great turnout and I think everyone learned a thing or two.
NYC has quite a vibrant mountain bike scene. There are a bunch of die hards that work really hard to make sure that everyone can ride a mountain bike in NYC which is pretty cool. Aside from mountain biking, people just love bikes in general. Pretty awesome!
If you are ever in NYC, do yourself and check out Yonkers, Cunningham and Highbridge Parks. You can find more information on Ride the City. There are more details about the trails and it also helps you to get to the trails via subway. Which I must add was a real experience. I am pretty good on the subways but the subway at rush hour with a bike was a definitely a good life experience. I navigated my way from Jersey City to Brooklyn…3 train changes, a lot of stairs and a mad sprint to the park. Yewwwwwwww. :)
One cool thing that I did while in Vermont was coach the Little Bellas for a day. Little Bellas is an organization developed by the Davison sisters with the goal being ‘to help young women realize their potential through cycling’. They have weekend camps, week-long camps and month long camps…and let me say, the girls love it. They get dropped off every morning and get to spend the day out on the trails, doing yoga and hanging out with all of their friends. These girls are young but they learn fast and there are some real shredders. I had a great time helping the girls to make some small improvements to their riding which made some pretty noticeable differences. It was also so fun to answer a huge array of questions and sign some posters and sweet Camelbak schwag. LOVED THIS!!
I am on my way out to Pennsylvania right now for the Dirt Fest. It is going to be an awesome weekend. Miss Rebecca Rusch ie. The Queen of Pain has scheduled a stop of her Gold Rusch tour here so we will be around all weekend doing demos, coaching and skills clinics. I would love to see all of your smiling faces so be there!
If you can’t make it but you know someone that might be interested, spread the word.
Soooo we attempted a Women’s Day in Santa Cruz back in March, but the skies decided to let loose for a week straight and we had to cancel. Specialized held a Women’s Day this past weekend…which ELLEN promoted, how cool is that? Well, I was racing this past weekend so I had to pass on that specific ride. BUT third times a charm right? MAY 12th @ 12pm we are doing a women’s ride at Wilder Ranch in Santa Cruz, CA and I would loveee to see you there. Everyone is welcome…all ages, skill levels, speed, experience! It is just going to be a fun ride for everyone! It will be a great opportunity to ride some fun trails and meet some fun new friends and get some fun schwag. :) It’s going to be FUN.
You can sign up by sending me an email at katie@katieholden.com with May 12th in the subject line.
