As you may know, Allan and I are mountain bikers.
(This is that awkward moment when I realize that I don't have a single photo of me or Allan on a mountain bike...because we're always the ones taking the photos! So, just pretend you can see a slick photo of me with sweat and mud covering my face, legs and arms as I careen, in complete control, down a steep, rocky trail. I look good, right?)
Allan has been biking for years and I am relatively new to the sport but love learning to ride over rocks and roots, down hills and well, up hills too. If you live in Knoxville, you may know we have a fairly extensive trail system in the Urban Wilderness located near Ijams Nature Center in South Knoxville, IC King also in South Knoxville, Concord in West Knoxville as well as a growing number of trails at Sharps Ridge in North Knoxville.
If you love to mountain bike, Knoxville has something for everyone, except a super-technical downhill gravity trail. And that's where the Bell Helmet's Bell-Built trailbuilding grant comes in. Bell, in association with International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA), is awarding one $100,000 grant to fund the project for one of the nine semi-finalist's from the West coast, midwest and East coast. Knoxville, through its sponsor Appalachian Mountain Bike Club (AMBC), is in the East coast semi-final round competing against Timber Trail in Alabama and Gorges Jump Line in North Carolina and voting ends on May 24th. The East coast semifinal winner will be announced and then another round of voting will determine the winner from the three semifinalists. So, when Knoxville wins, I'll be asking you to vote again to help make the dream of #DowntownDownhill come true! (The Downtown Downhill website has lots of social media friendly graphics and info to help you spread the word!)
So, the whole point of this post is two-fold, first to clue you in to the awesomeness of Knoxville's mountain biking trail system and community and second, to ask you to vote for Knoxville for the #BellBuilt trailbuilding grant. It's really easy to vote and will only take a minute, and another minute to click on the confirmation email, so two minutes tops!
Here is the link to vote: http://www.bellhelmets.com/bell-built
Oh, and ALM Photo took the photos you see in the project story! We love the Appalachian Mountain Bike Club (AMBC) and everything they do to make Knoxville a rad place to mountain bike!
Find out more about AMBC and Knoxville's mountain biking trails on one or more of these links!
AMBC website
AMBC Twitter
AMBC Facebook
Knoxville Trails
Legacy Parks
Visit Knoxville
Media posts:
WBIR
Knox News
Please vote for Knoxville and share this information with all of your friends whether they mountain bike or not. because 70,000 people make a living off of the outdoor industry in Tennessee, recreational bicycling is a $200 billion industry in the US, property values next to trails and greenways are up to 30% higher and for every dollar spend on bicycling tourism $7 is spent in the locations they visit.
Oh, and don't forget to give us a call to photograph your next social or company event! From red carpets to fundraisers to corporate retreats, we can cover it all. Give me a call at 865-406-3870 or send me an email for a quote. And we also love to shoot action!
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