Mayor aims to make Redding mountain bike destination

It was 1981 when the Redding area hosted what is believed to be the world's first organized mountain bike race.

The Whiskeytown Downhill and its 36 miles of winding trails through Whiskeytown National Recreation Area that year drew 76 racers from around California, Oregon, Washington and Nevada.

Five years later, organizers at the Chain Gang Bike Shop counted 503 racers at the start line, with interest growing as word spread about the exhilarating descents, hilly climbs and creek crossings in the pristine park. Many professionals and avid cyclists from as far away as Europe and Puerto Rico came for the race, remembers Gary Larson, the Chain Gang's owner.

Then the parks service limited entry to 350 contestants, forcing Larson to discontinue Whiskeytown Downhill at the height of its success in 1987. Since then, the rules at the park have been relaxed and the Lemurian Shasta Classic has replaced the Downhill.

But to some bike advocates, mountain biking has yet to rediscovered in Redding.

Thirty years later, Mayor Brent Weaver and several helpers are looking to reclaim Redding's place as a mountain bike destination. To that end, they want to highlight some of the area's trails and challenge people here and from the outside to bring out their bikes.

Weaver has introduced the Mayor's Mountain Bike Challenge, which will feature 14 trails in the area, five each for beginning and intermediate riders and four for the experts. The challenge rolls out next Wednesday and continues through May 19 to coincide with National Bike Month.

"I'm totally all in and totally all for it," said Larson, who has briefly spoken to Weaver about his goals for the event. "What it's going to do is make Redding more of a destination."

Anne Wallach Thomas, the executive director of Shasta Living Streets, said Redding has a long cycling history, and bicyclists have helped lift tourism and the local economy.

People for years have been making this area their secret place to ride the trails. But the upcoming event may give the city the right exposure, Thomas said.

"I try to say that all the time, we've been biking since 1890," Thomas said. "We've been there from the beginning."

At Weaver's request, Thomas' group will be handling valet bike parking for the challenge's launch party in the downtown. It is scheduled at 5 p.m. next Thursday at Maxwell's Eatery on Market Street.

"We're going to take a group photo and get people pumped up," Weaver said.

The concept for the challenge came to Weaver several months ago as he thought of a way to tell cyclists in the Pacific Northwest, who may be waiting for snow-covered trails to thaw out, there's an entire trail system in the Redding area, where the sun shines almost year round.

Weaver contacted members of the Redding Trail Alliance about his idea and asked for help with planning from the McConnell Foundation and the city's Brian Crane, the public works director and a mountain biker in his personal time, and Kim Niemer, community services director. He spoke to bike shops and Healthy Shasta and Visit Redding to promote the event.

Racers, who finish all the trails in their category, will be able to compete for gift certificates to local bike shops of $500 for beginners, $750 for intermediates and $1,000 for experts. Participants are required to get their "passport" stamped to prove completion of a ride on a trail, an idea that Weaver, a father of four young children, has borrowed from his visit to Epcot Theme Park at Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

"People have said they will do all the trails in one day," he said.

That's a serious challenge. Skilled experts will climb 4,000 feet in one of the advanced trails and 4,500 in another. Each is more than 35 miles of riding, Crane said.

One of the featured trails is the French Fry in the area of Keswick Dam. The trail alliance, with help from the McConnell Foundation's trail expert, Brian Sindt, completed that course last year.

Ryan Schuppert, the alliance's vice president, said he already has heard from people in Chico and southern Oregon who plan to be in the area for the challenge.

"We do have some great mountain biking that people don't know about yet," Schuppert said.

There aren't any bells and whistles in the event's name. But that's for a purpose. Weaver said he is hopeful the community will embrace the challenge and future mayors will promote it.

Larson looked forward to seeing mountain bike ridership roar back. Participation in the outdoor activity has stayed steady since it peaked in 2001, according to the International Mountain Bicyling Association.

"There are so many races now. The ridership has been down because there are so many to go to," he said. This one "will be strong in the future."

Take action

What: Mountain bike challenge

When: Feb. 8 to May 19

About the event: Riders can download trail maps and their challenge "passport" at www.healthyshasta.org or by picking them up at a local bike shop. To be entered into a raffle for gift cards, stamped passports must be dropped off by May 19 at Turtle Bay Visitors Center, 844 Sundial Bridge Drive or at city of Redding's recreation department office, 777 Cypress Ave. during regular business hours at each location. More information is available here: http://bit.ly/2jXXjxK.

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