Fat Tire Tuesday: California trail project in running for $100,000 Bell Built grant

Exchequer Mountain Bike Park in Mariposa vies with projects in Minnesota and Tennessee for coveted grant

Bell Helmets – in association with the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA) – is at it again, offering a staggering $100,000 grant to fund a downhill trail building project … and the public gets to choose which project wins.

This year, the focus is on new black or double black diamond level gravity trails designed with a 300 foot or more elevation drop and features such as berms, rollers and jumps, plus particularly steep sections.

Semi-finalists from the West Coast, Central, and East Coast regions vied for a spot in the finals, which is now open for voting.

The California contender is a downhill trail that will be the highlight of Exchequer Mountain Bike Park in Mariposa, near Yosemite National Park. Located within two hours of the Bay Area – home of hundreds of thousands of mountain bikers – this gravity run will challenge riders and offer panoramic views of the open terrain. The project, sponsored by Merced Irrigation District, competes for the grant with Spirit Mountain Bike Park in Duluth, Minnesota and Urban Wilderness Gravity Trail in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Voting is open through Thursday June 4, 2015 with the winner announced June 5! Learn more at bellhelmets.com/bell-built. Voting Exchequer? It’s easy peasy at votewestcoast.com.

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Missing your regular Fat Tire Tuesday blogger, Sarah Hansing? Don’t despair, Sarah will be back next week! In the meantime, revisit your favorite posts from weeks past here.