Beatty grand opening of first bike trails May 2

BEATTY- The town will celebrate the opening of the first seven miles of completed mountain biking trails in true town fashion with a Beer and Taco Mountain Bike Festival on May 2.

This will be the official grand opening of the first mountain bike trails in Beatty.

The trails are an ongoing project started by David Spicer, who founded Saving Toads through Off Road Racing in Oasis Valley, commonly called STORM-OV.

Spicer hopes many come out to celebrate the opening of these trails. The festival is a fundraiser for the construction of new trails. His goal is to construct 300 miles of trails between Beatty and Death Valley National Park.

Spicer believes the construction of the trails could transform Beatty into a mountain biking destination, which could bring anywhere from $25 million to $42 million, according to Patrick Kell, the Southwest Regional Director of the International Mountain Biking Association.

Kell shares Spicer’s enthusiasm for the development of Beatty as a mountain biker’s destination.

“Beatty has really easy access to Las Vegas, which is a large metropolitan area with lots of residents and visitors and it’s really easy for Vegas people to get to Beatty,” Kell said. “The ease of access is the main thing. You also have all this BLM land to work on where you can design great mountain bike trails.”

Cimarron Chacon, who owns Gro-Promotions, a mountain bike trail consulting firm, was hired to design the trails for the project. She says the project will be creating a system of trails that are interconnected to a primary hub, which in this case will be Beatty. The intention is to surround the town with fun trails to ride and to hike.

She believes creating a mountain bike destination is more than just creating great trails.

“It’s all about an attitude,” she said. “Mountain bikers ride for the experience, not the end destination. Mountain biking is physical, mental and social, so when designing a great system you have to keep all three in mind.”

The first seven miles of trails on Spicer Ranch consist of four trails: the Spicer Ranch Trail (2.5 miles), the Storm Trail (.75 miles), the Southpond Mountain Trail (1 mile) and the Dynamite Trail (2 miles). The trails range from easy to difficult. There are another 30 miles of trail opened on BLM land.

Spicer describes the BLM trail as “30 miles of ass-kicking single track and dirt roads,” which takes you to the edge of Area 51 at Plutonium Ridge.

Spicer grew up in Beatty, and is interested in the town’s future.

“I felt like my whole future was ahead of me,” he said. “We mostly made our living from the land by farming, ranching, and mining, created the wholesome sense we all enjoyed.”

These trails is one of the ways to pass on to future generations a solid future.

“This is what is worth passing on to one’s community,” he said. “To find a way to create employment and prosperity and our children will have a future…. a chance to know the things we know, to share experiences, become inspired. There is nothing like a great bike ride accomplishes this better.”

The Celebration starts on Friday for those planning on camping, with check in at 4 p.m. The festival starts at 7 a.m. on Saturday with a registration period, which continues until 11 a.m.

A ribbon cutting ceremony will take place at 8:30 a.m. and then group rides on the new trails will commence at 8:45 and 9:30 a.m. and then again at 10:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.

At 2 p.m. there will be a cowboy shootout and ranch races and then at 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. there will be beer and tacos.

Live music will run from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., and there will be a campfire from 7 p.m. until 10 p.m.