Mountain Bikers will kick off the New Year on the rugged trails of Big South Fork during the park’s annual New Year’s Day “Mail Run” ride.
The annual bike ride began back in 1974 when the park was established. Big South Fork’s Chief of Interpretation and Education, Christopher Derman, said the park’s mountain bike club calls the ride “Mail Run” because it has not been canceled.
“They hold this event every year regardless of the weather,” Derman said. “If it’s really cold, if it’s not really cold, if it’s a bit rainy or snowy, for that matter, the event still goes on.”
Derman said the park has roughly 300 miles of biking trails ranging from eight miles long to 35 miles long. Derman said the ride has become a tradition at Big South Fork as mountain biking continues to grow in popularity.
“Big South Fork is an outstanding place for people to go mountain biking,” Derman said. “And more and more people are becoming more aware of this location as a place to get into mountain biking.”
Derman said he is unsure when the tradition started, but knows the annual ride was started over a decade ago. Derman said the ride has seen more people participate each year.
“As more people become aware of the activity, more and more people that we have found participate in this annual event,” Derman said. “And it’s great! We welcome folks to come out and discover the park, whether it’s their first time coming or they, you know, that they have been here many times before and they participated in this event every year, we welcome people back, and we encourage people to come out and explore why this park is so amazing.”
The ride will start at the Bandy Creek Visitor Center at 10 am on New Year’s Day.