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Prez SezA Ye ar O f A c c o m p l i s h m en t s

1993 has been a great year for BUMP -largely due toparticipation from mountain bike riders and local bike shops helpingus achieve our goals. Bob's Bikes, C ahaba Cycles, HomewoodCycles and River Oaks Cycles have been very supportive of ourclub and continue to work with us to expand our membership andvoice in the trail-using community. O'1eof the ways we are workingtogether toward this goal is by placing tags on each new mountainbike in these stores, describing the BUM P Club and that store'soffer to pay half of their membership if they buy a bike. This gives

the buyer the option to sign up wit:l BUMP within 30 days o f purchase and pay only $10 while the shop contributes the other $10.Members also receive a 10% discount on accessories at the aboves tx :>p s .

Our November trail workday was very successful. Over 30volunteers turned out to work on constructing the newest section.Afterwards almost as many came to our skills work-shop to hearWilliam Owens of Homewood C ycles go over basic riding skills andlog jumping, and Laurie DeShazo discuss racing skills- just in timefor the upcoming Maddog Race. O ur thanks to Laurie and Williamas well as to everyone who came to work or to learn. We will beholding s imilar activities in the near future.

A number of BUMP members participated in the Maddog Raceheld November 13th in Springville. And several members placedvery well in both the Duathlon and the NORBA races . The event

was a lot of fun and very well organized by Team Magic. We lookforward to participating in it again next year.We will begin holding open steering committee meetings monthly

to plan trail maintenance days, group rides and special events. Allmembers are encouraged to get invoived. Look in the Calendar ofE vents for the first meeting to be in late J anuary.

We will be incorporating in J anuary as well, and the newofficers elected at the December meeting will begin serving after thefirst of the year.

In closing I would like to express my gratitude for having beengiven the opportunity to hold the position of President ofthe BUMPC lub and make a contribution to our sport in Birmingham. It hasbeen a fun and valuable learning experience.

TRAIL WORKDAYWe had over 30 people show up for our last work-day in

No vember and we made a great start on the last leg of our trail.

Ho pefully we'll be able to push the last section through on the

next work-day Saturday December 4th. As always, we'll

meet at the Park Office on Terrace Drive at lOam. Bring work

gloves, water and a snack. If you're late, we'll be parking on

the Cabin Road near the North T railhead.

In response to a request made by BUMP to the Oak

Mountain Park-Manager Hayden Montgomery, the Park has

installed Donation Boxes at the "Shrines" located at both

North and South tr ailheads. We encourage all BUMP

members and Mountain Biking supporters to d onate at least

one additional dollar each time they ride at Oak Mountain.

The money collected will go into a general trail maintenance

fund. All trail users hopefully will be contributing and will

have access to the fund. To earmark Mountain Biking

money. use the small envelopes marked BUMP or write

BUMP on your check. Please be generous. We are workingtoward gaining credibility and respect in the Park Trail-Using

community. We hope that we will eventually be awarded

access to ride and preserve additional trails in the future.

AUCTIONCh ris tm as will be com ing a litlle early for those ofus w ho only shop in bi ke

stores .... .The r e will be an Abs ol u te Auct ion of th e bike shop inventory of theMagic City Tri-S hop on Thurs day D ec ember 9 th at 5pm . The Au ctio n held by

Investm en t Recovery Auction, Inc. w il l t ake place at th e Ca rr iag e Antique V illage

at G reensprings and V alley Ave nue in H omewood. Th ere is a prev iew of th e

inv ento ry on W ed nes day D ecember 8th from I p m t o 6pm and a pre-sa le

in spec tio n at 3pm on th e 9t h. There w ill b e bik es, clo th ing , accessori es , pans,too ls a nd mor e. For m ore inform ation , co nt ac t H ugh.

$qJ~$$ t J 1f J : r l t l $by Hedda Rockhopper

What local hiking club member was seen preparingto ride Ws bike on one of the trails closed to bikes? One ofour membe'rs spoke with this hiker-type person who willremain unidentified, and our new mystery friend f reelyvolunteered that this is how they (the hikers) "check thetrails". He went on to explain that there are two factionsin his particular hiking organization: the older hikers whodislike Mountain Bikers, and the younger generation, who

like to mountain bik e a s w ell as hike. Perhaps it alsofollows that they like to "check their trails", you know, theones closed to bikes, as much as they like to check ourtrail, you know, the one we had to build eleven miles ofourselves so we would have any place to ride at all. Ournext course of action seems clear. .. Why, we have only to

join the hiking clubs to explore the possibility of perhapsbeing awarded the arduous task of regularly "checkingthe traUs". So look for the dates of hiking club meetingsto appear soon in the Grinder Calendar ofEvents, and let's

show up enforce.

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GRINDER

()ak M()untalnTrail ~ames

For those of you who have just starte d riding our trai ls at Oak M oun tain , or

have bee n rid ing them al l a long but nev er kn ew what they w ere ca JJ ed ,o r

for theres t of us who are j ust tired of call ing th e un named trails: th e New Trai l, Th e

Rea lly New Trai l, and The Top Of The BUMP T r ail Y ou K now The Sec tio nWith Bloo d Rock In It... .the follow ing is a verb al ride th rough th e 1 6 existingm iles of trai l th at w e as m oun lain b ik ers hav e ac cess to at O ak M ou nt ai n.

W ell go cloc kw ise for t hos e ofus w ho like a m ore co nsistent ca rd iov asc ul ar

w ork-out. St art ing f r om the Picnic Area pa rk in g lo t at th e bot tom of P eavineFal lsRoad,pedal bac k on Terrnc e Drive past Ire Park H ea dq uarters.

The fIrst section of trail starts on th e right, acro ss th e levy, down from the bo at

ren tal dock . I t is a winding and ro l l ing s ingletrack cal led Seven Br idges.W hen you h it the Camp Road aft er the seventh bridge, you turn right and rideforabout a mile and a half.

The nex t trai l-hea d i s o n the le ft and is a ls o a w ind ing s l ight ly rolling

singletrack. Th e w hole section is called th e Three "R" Tra i l which has th ree

pa rt s, th e fi rst is R o l le r C o a s t er, un ti l t he bi g log w hen it bec om esRoo tl es s (w e w ere going to call it Root Torture but then som eo ne w ent inand stole a ll the roo ts.) And the th ird part w hi ch b eg ins after t he second bridge is

ca ll ed R o c k G a r d en.The nex t t ra il s ec tion b eg in s a ft eryo u rea ch th e RC Trac k roa d. This is your

la st ch ance for water . This trail, call ed C h im n e y S w eeps, is a lso a windingsingletr'dckwhich is mostly a gradual uphill going in this d irection until tow ard the

em w here th ere a re s om e steepi sh sw itchb ack s and then a sw eepi ng do w nh il l.

Y ou will co m e out on th e M ain Park Road a t the in te rse ction of th e Cabi n

Roa d. G o to the right on the M ain Park Road for about a m ile mostly dow nhill,

am th e N ort h Trailhea dw ill b e o n yo ur right

Thi s is w here th e 5. 8 m iles of Or ig ina l Red T r a i l beg ins. Be sure tostay on t he Red Trai l b ec ause th is is a ls o a n in tersection ofth e Y ellow , W hite a ndB lue trail s w hich are hi k ing t rai ls closed to bikes.

The fI rst part of the O ri g inal Red Trail is over tw o m iles of roc ky, ro oty,relent les s uphill, the highl ight of w hi ch is Root Hil l w here th e rea l climbing

beg in s. After the fi r s t really steep en dl es s cl im b, yo u w il l reach th e Foot B ri dge . From this point you have only a mile to go until the top, and on ly twoba d hi ll s left. This two mile s t r etch is also the favor i te downhil l for a ll theCaree ning Treads coming the o th er direc tion and is th e sec tio n to be m os t v igila n t

and poli te w hen encountering other b ikers and hikers. Wh i le rid ing thes e tw o

m iles w e are in co nst an t Tread Dr ead.At the top of t he last climb is an are a w here you w ill nea rly alw ays see other

b ikers res ting from th e smaller hill co m ing the other w ay . Y ou w ill very likely

w ant to stop a m om eni or two to catch yo ur breath too , or just soc ialize. Th is iscall ed Shack le jord Gap . It is also th e in ters ection of the Orange hiking trail ,so remember to sm il e.

The next several miles is the Red Road which is a fI.reroad w ith a couple

of good downhills but is for the most part rolling. This brings y ou to th e top ofth e BUM P trillion the right about a mile pa!>1th e gr een s helt er, and a half a mile or

S O befo re th e scenic view at Peavi ne Falls Roa d

Th is fi rst pan o f t h e BUMP trai l is n am ed Caution Wi: lding Trail

un les s you h ave a b etter id ea Ch aJJ engi ng dow nhil l sw it chb ac ks w il l bring yo u

to B lo od R o c k or so m e peopl e ca ll it The N otch . Pas t t h is beg in s The

Old Quar ry Road or D ebb ie Sp row l l calls it the Termina tor Tra i l be ca use

w het he r you go up or down-it w ill k i ll you . T he p oin t a t which you se e

Pe avine Fall s Road and you m ake a sharp turn to th e right is w here Twis ting

O ak begins . This is a rollick ing downh il l o f sharp sw it chb ac k s a m id t he

hardwoods which will lead you again to Peavi .re Fall s Roa d .

Take a rig h t and you 'll see th e Johnson's Mountain trail head onyou r lef t in abo ut a hu nd red yard s. You wil l encounter gut-bust ing uphi l lswitchbacks r ight away, th en some gradual c l imbing and p ine- nee dle s t ra ight -

aw ay s , mor e uphill switchb ack s-n ot s o bad , to the top. Then th e desc ent which

is rocky in sec tions and has seve ral big logs will lead you again to the road.

To shorten the ride about a mile, you can skip Johnson's M ounta in an dgo to th e next sec tion by th e ro ad to the big gravel turn-around where the next tIailcaJJ ed Foreplay (n amed by H ug hie) begins. This will lead aga in to the roa d and

Ire irte rs ec tirn ofa horse tra il .

Th e las t sec tion is calle d M r. Toad's Wild Ride and is a wonder fulcu rvaceous on- ca mbe r s ing letrac k w hich is grea t for a co ol-dow n, or one las tka m ika ze sp rint. Turn right w hen yo u com e out ofth e w oo ds and yo u are bac k

w here y ou start ed- 16 m iles later.

The final tra il which will connect Otirnney Sweeps to the North Trailhead

sh ould be open by Janu ary . Wel l wo r r , about naming that one next year.

It was an awfully cold morning on November 6thwhen fourteen very hearty members of BUMP,including new member Amy Hunter, assembled at 8amat the Olive Garden near Eastwood Mall to make thetrip up to Trenton, Georgia. Debbie SprowII was ourleader and had been there several times in precedingmonths to "map" the trail in that trail-mapping mind ofhers.

After about a two hour drive, our caravanreassembled on the top of Lookout Mountain and webegan donning our layers of cold-weather gear. Off wewent into the woods, and at the top of the first hill we allstopped to shed some of that cold-weather gear. Wetried to get Karla Simpson to carry everything since shehad a big knapsack, but she objected so we all worelittle jacket skirts around our waists for much of the ride.

Itwas a totally georgeous day, and the fall colorswere glorious. We had been warned about the mud,and while Beth Ballenger and Debbie had switchedwisely to toe clips, many of us stubbornly stayed withclipless and carried a small can of WD40.

The trail was diverse and wonderful. We startedout on singletrack with lots of climbs and technicalchallenges, and a few very steep hills we had to ridebecause they were too steep to walk. Then we were onsweeping, rolling wide trail with small ponds at regularintervals that Debbie called puddles. Greg Waldrupwas observed plowing thrcugh most of them at speed,kicking up a big bow-wake before falling over, stillattached to his new Onza pedals, into the slimy greenwater. This was very entertaining.

We made a lot of stops to regroup and chat withdeer hunters. The WD40 was passed around a lot andJ erry Akers was climbing trees to try to stay warm in thesunlight. Ken Hester inexplicably bent his stainlesssteel small chainring toward the end of the ride andhad to run his bike out of the woods which was okaysince he was training for the Maddog.

Debbie did a wonderiul job leading us, and Toddwas great as ever at shepherding the stragglers. TheTrenton ride was just about as fun as it gets, so look forthe next scheduled trip up there in the Calendar ofEvents early in the Spring--and don't miss it.

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GRINDER

~(ID ~U ~ ( ID [r1 )(Q ][p~U [r1 )~~Dr. Juan Saxon on Sniffles

I don ' t know m uc h a bou t e xe r c i s e i nduced sn i f fl e s , i t's n o t m yarea o f expe rtise a nd I do n't h av e tim e to lo o k it u p ....b ut I

m en t ione d s om e t h ing a bou t i t to H ugh i e a t t h e la s t G r ind er s ta ff m ee ti ng a n d h e sa id h e k n e w a ll a b ou t i t o n a cc ou n t o f ho wm uch he w atche s A l aba m a f oo tb a l l. H e sa id tha t i t i s a com m on

p hy si o lo g ic a l p h e n om e n o n t ha t o c c u r s dur ing s t r enuous e xe rc i sein co ld w eath e r an d its m ed ic al n am e is Athle t ic R h i n or rh o e a.S i m p l y pu t, th e ex t r a s e c re t ion s ou r no ses p ro du ce m a y b en ecessa ry to m o is te n t h e c o l d d r y a i r . H e w e n t on t o e xp la in th a tse c re t ions f ro m b o th s e ro u s a n d m u cou s g la n ds is th o ug h t t o b einc r e ase d b y p a ra s ym p a th e tic n erv e s tim ulatio n . H e f u r th e rill um i n a te d t h e m a t te r by exp la in in g t h at i ncre a se d c ircula t ingcate cho lam in es c on c en tr at io n s a n d a dr en e rg ic a ct iv it y i n th em uco sa l b l o o d v e sse l s dur ing exerc ise m a y t hu s c on t ri bute to th e

p roduc tio n o f th e se n a sa l se cre tion s . In shor t , t he re i s no th in g w ec a n do a bou t i t. H ugh ie se n sed m y fee l ings of h e lp le ss ne ss a t this

po in t and so o th i ng l y a s su r ed m e t h at w h i le w e c a nn o t p r ev e n tAthle tic Rhinor rho ea , w e c an d ea l w i th t he p r ob l em by u t il iz i ngcer ta in e ff ic ac io u s techniqu es pe rfe c ted b y th e Alabam a foo tba l ltea m . In te rm s o f M oun t a in B i k i ng, H ughie advi se s tha t w e w ea r g love s w i th te rr y c lo t h p a ne ls f o r q u ic k w ip es . W e a l so s houldta ke a cl o th h a ndkerch ie f o r ba nd an a w h ich w ill h old u p b e ttert h a n t iss u es f o r b l ow i ng ou r no se s d u ri ng r es t s to p s. T h e m oste ffe c t iv e m easu re how ev er , h e a sse rt ed , is c a ll ed t h e R o ll T ideH andkerch ie f. W h i l e r id ing a t a t l e as t fi fte en m i les p er h o u r, y o ucom pr e ss one no s tr il a n d b l ow t h ro u g h t he ope n one w i th g r e atv e lo c i t y t o e xp e l e xc e ss ,sec re t ion s a nd t h e n h a s t i ly d a b y o u r n o s ew i th t he b a c k o f you r g l o v e b e fo re s m a sh i ng i n to a t r ee . On a

p e rso n al n ote , H ugh i e c on f id ed th a t h e sa lv e s h is r a w i rr it a ted

no stril s w i t h v as e l i n e e ac h n igh t b ef o re go i ng t o b ed .

" " " " 0 1 1 Race Resul,sBUMP members turnec out for the Maddog

in droves both to race and to che'Bf, Thefollowing are the results of participants from ourclub:

Duathlon

SallyBillstrom-3rd female. overallJ erryAkers-3rd male. age group 25-29J enifer J ackson- 1st female. age group 30-34Roger Byrd-1st male. age group 30-34Lee Rivers-1st male. age group 35-39

J ohn Griffen-1st male. age group 40-44KenHester-2nd male. age group 40-44

NORBA

LaurieDeShazo-1st. Expertwomen

Hardwick Gregg-3rd. Sport men

Lee Rivers- 12th.Sportmen

MarkRichman- 19th.Sportmen

I!!!,l " t rack : " a nd t h e s l ow e r r ac er w i l l u s u al lyp u l l o u er o r g iu e i n s t ru c t io n s o n w h ic h s i de t o p a ss .

Tr f l in in gC o n d it io n i n g i s m o r e im p o r ta n t t h an t ec h n ic al

s k : i IIs . B u ild y o ur aer ob ic f i t n es s b y r id in g s lo w lys om e d ay s . B u i ld y ou r s tre n gth an d re c o u e r ycapab i l i t ie s b y r eal ly p us h in g i t o th er d ay s . R es t is

re al ly i m p o rtan t to r eb ui l d y o u r m u s cl es , s t r e n g t h ,s tam in a, e ne rg y an d m en ta l ac u i t y. O ue r-t ro i n i n gle ad s t o b u rn o u t . U p pe r-b o d y w e ig h t t r ain in g i s u er yim p o rt an t, es pec ia l ly s tr en g th en in g y ou r ab s an db a c k : . S t r et c h b e f o re a n d af t er ri d i n g .

K a r m a

R ac in g i s fo r f u n. W h en y o u p l an t o p art i c i pa tein an e u en t, i t g iu es y ou s o m et hin g t o s et f it nes sg o als f o r . Yo u r m a in g o a l s rac e d ay s h ou ld b e: tof in is h , t o f el lo w s h ip w ith o th e r m o u n t a in b i k :e r s a n dt o h a u e a g o o d t i m e .

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GRINDER

Needmur-e Tr-ailsThe La nd Acces s Com m i t tee--