Transition Bikes does a weekend at Blackrock

Posted: May 26, 2009

I've been to Blackrock a couple times now and every time there is always some form of new trail construction and extensive buffing of the existing trails. The trail network is large enough to support a full day worth of riding, mainly due to the fact that you have to pedal your feet to get yourself up the hill. To say that this trip was a bit different than my others is a vast understatement. Rich and Ryan of BRMBA organized a small industry-appreciation-style shuttle day in late April '09 for Transition Bikes and Race Face and had two trucks available to take us to the top. With friends, old and new, we enjoyed a great weekend of shuttle-shredding the minty fresh Oregon goodness!

words, photos, and video by Brad Walton

"To say that this trip was a bit different than my others is a vast understatement...With friends, old and new, we enjoyed a great weekend of shuttle-shredding the minty fresh Oregon goodness!"


We stopped in at our buddy Eric's house near the Oregon border and stayed the night, then left Saturday morning in his truck to make the hour drive to Salem where we met up with a bunch of riders on their way to a great day of shuttle riding Blackrock in Falls City.


It was awesome to see so many brand new bikes for the early season! From the moment we pulled up at "Basic Training", there was a vibe of excitement throughout the day as bros and pros alike shared the perfectly groomed Blackrock trails. Every run we would pile into the trucks and end up with a crew of no less than a dozen riders training down the mountain. The group dynamic led to a driving energy for everyone.


A light mist of rain throughout the weekend had some of the fresh dirt hooking up like velcro. The trails are full of berm-to-berm action with stunts and jumps of all sizes thrown in to keep things interesting. I was so impressed to see the locals hanging with pro riders! There were a lot of first-time attempts at some of the trail features, and I heard several times throughout the day "biggest thing I've ever hit" and "the fastest I've ripped that section". Everyone was stoked, from bike shop owners to downhill racers to dirt jumpers to Kamikaze Kinrade, there is something for everyone at Blackrock.


After a full day of riding, we were off to Salem to enjoy an entree from Venti's. Dino Venti has hands down the best atmosphere in town in his restaurant, and on top of that I see him digging trails at Blackrock every time I'm there. Venti's food is straight up delicious and at a good price, and if you're into beer, Dino keeps nothing but nectar on tap.


An amazing dinner wouldn't be complete without good conversation, so we bro'd down with the locals for a few hours to make new friends and get a better feel for a large part of the Oregon freeride scene. Many of the BRMBA builders were there and it was apparent how thankful they were to have the opportunity to create and maintain the Blackrock trail network. For those not in the know, Blackrock is Oregon Department of Forestry land and it has taken a lot of perseverance even in working with open-minded land managers to get to the point of where it is today. Even with Falls City being a fairly small and remote area, the impact of BRMBA reaches far into supporting the pacific northwest freeride scene, and I'm confident that as long as we can maintain the interest of such physically and politically hard-working individuals, future venues of our sport have a bright outlook.


A few goodbye's later and we were heading back to Blackrock for a camp session. Somewhere along the gravel road we got a flat tire on the rig. It seemed to take just a few minutes to complete the new mission as the tire was changed like a government-sponsored Nascar crew with 2 guys working and the rest of us watching in the dark. The night ended with a fireside brodeo and sleeping through light snow under the stars.


Sunday started out cold. We warmed up with a couple quick laps at Blackrock then hit the road bound for the jump jam and BRMBA raffle in Salem. We almost made it to pavement before getting another flat tire, for which we had no spare this time. Falls City isn't really equipped to deal with that sort of thing, at least not on a Sunday, so Eric, Kevin, and Chris drove to Salem to get the tire fixed while the rest of us just hung out on someone's lawn. It took long enough that we missed the jump jam and raffle entirely, but someone there ended up with a sweet new Preston FR frame courtesy of Transition Bikes!

Huge props and thanks to the many individuals that made this trip so much fun! Overall it was a great trip and was good to see the Oregon freeride scene solidifying. If you get a chance, Blackrock is a great destination spot for a day or weekend of riding. And be sure to check out Dino over at Venti's!

For more trip photos check out our Blackrock gallery.

I'll leave you with a video of a rider's perspective of the trails at Blackrock:

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