BONC Monthly Ride - 2/7, 10AM - Empire Mine

You are welcome to join the inaugural monthly BONC ride on Saturday, February 7th @ 10AM from Penn Gate at Empire Mine State Historic Park!

This will be a No-Rider-Left-Behind ride, which means that although faster riders are welcome, I will host the ride from the back of the pack. We'll explore some lesser known trails in the Mine and nearby Osborne Hill. When we finish, we'll gather at Penn Gate to enjoy some complementary food prepared by BONC chefs Fred Bergman and Shannon Wright.

Please bring a bike, helmet, water and a mid ride snack. If you want to join BONC, we'll have memberships cards available. See you there!

UHS Mountain Bike Mayhem

Yesterday's Ned Overendapalooza at Union Hill School was just sah-weet. We had who-knows-how-many kids queued up to ride skinnies, teeter totters and obstacles for hours, a BONC bike booth with mechanics at the ready, free cookies and multiple rides with the legend Ned.

To finish things off, Ned gave an inspiring speech about racing, training and trail advocacy which was followed by a showing of the Collective film "Seasons". I am guessing there were some 100 people there through the event, which raised money for the kids' teams.

Thank you to all the volunteers and organizations that made this day happen, including the Bicycle Recycling project, BONC, Tour of Nevada City, Specialized, the school teams and others. Ned noted several times that we have an incredible community of riders up here, in addition to amazing trails. He is dead-on right and it is wonderful to see events like this that further strengthen what we have.

Pictures of the event. And BTW, Ned signed up as a member of BONC yesterday :-)

Ned Overend This Weekend

BONC hopes you can join us at Union Hill School this weekend as we hang out with Ned Overend (our close personal friend) and junior mountain bikers. We'll be providing riding and bike maintenance tips to students, eating too many BONC baked snacks and having a good time. All in perfect sunny weather in January.

BONC will also debut the internationally acclaimed new BONC membership card and banner at our booth at 3PM. You can renew your membership then or pick up your card if you've already renewed. So join us!

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Union Hill School MTB Day with Ned Overend
Saturday, January 17, 2009.

Learn new riding skills and review the basics with Mountain Bike Legend Ned Overend.

12:30 p.m. – BEGINNER/INTERMEDIATE MOUNTAIN BIKE RIDE
WHO: Open to all middle school youth
Ride the trails of Empire Mine park in Grass Valley, CA, discussing bike-handling skills during the ride. Meet at Union Hill Middle
School main parking lot, 11638 Colfax Hwy, Grass Valley, CA .

2 p.m. – LUNCH AND SOCIAL TIME
WHO: Open to all middle school youth.
Bring your lunch or purchase a lunch for $5 at Union Hill School.

3 p.m. – BIKE MAINTENANCE CLINIC & SKILLS CHALLENGE
WHO: Open to all middle school youth.
Skills will be taught by MTB legend Ned Overend, former
Specialized Pro Racer, and Chuck Ross, current California Expert MTB Champion with help from the USCF Cat 1 (expert) riders from the Sierra Express/Sho-Air Racing Team.

5 p.m. – NED OVEREND SPEECH & MOVIE
WHO: Open to the general public.
Ned Overend will speak about training and racing, followed by the MTB movie "Seasons," an extreme mountain bike film by The Collective. Both will take place in the Union Hill School Gym as a fundraiser for the Union Hill Mountain Bike Club.

COST: The ride and clinics are free. $5 gets you in the door to hear Ned speak and see the film. All proceeds go to the Union Hill Mountain Bike Club.

Feedback to BONC

Bullard's Bar Clear

Joe Chavez of the USFS passes this along:

"Thanks to motorcyclist volunteers Dave Wood and Kevin Liles, working under Forest Service authorization, the entire Bullards Bar trail system was logged out on Monday (1/12). They cut out about 25-30 trees. No reports of new landslides."

Wooohooo! A very selfless act by Dave and Kevin. Thanks indeed. Sounds like you guys did a lot of work.

Perfect weather and no downed trees at Bullards in January? Am I dreaming?

New Monthly BONC Rides - First Saturday of Each Month

BONC is instituting a new Monthly Ride Gala, which will occur on the first Saturday of every month. This will be a No-One-Left-Behind social ride, however, we will split into experience levels at at the start, so all are welcome! Our initial schedule is as follows:

February 7th - Empire Mine, Penn Gate (ride host: John Gardiner)
March 7th - Empire Mine, Penn Gate (ride host: Dave Hughes)
April 4th - Hidden Falls Regional Park, Auburn

We should have some snacks and surprises for participants at the end of each ride. Stay tuned to this email list or bonc.org for additional details.