Photos by Eric Mickelson
Every year Bellingham’s local trail stewards host an event designed to raise money for their world famous mountain bike trails. They’ve managed to weave in the added bonus of bringing their community together through generally heartwarming photo and video creation and the stoke that only comes from your hometown cheering you on as you do what you love most– dig and ride.
To kick off the WMBC‘s 12th annual Shoot the Trails event, our very own Ambassadors Shire Built hosted a casual jump jam on the Waterfront dirt jumps that is conveniently located right next to the event’s venue in downtown Bellingham. With everyone invited to participate, It was the perfect segway into a community driven event and bring things full circle for Scotty and Spencer of Shire Built. In 2019, the WMBC and Shire Built did just what their names suggests and built these dirt jumps to attract all ages and types of cyclists to ride.
To say the stoke was high is an understatement. The open jam format made it so kids and adults alike could show up and show off– with mini competitions throughout the evening like a high jump contest, whip-offs, and follow-the-leader trains.
Kona Advocacy Ambassador Spencer Baldwin (Shire Built) spends some time with the crew before leading them through the line.
Kids were building off each other and hyping their buddies up all day which lent to an energy that was overwhelmingly positive and contagious. The Shire crew had a brand new Shonky frame to giveaway, but it was agreed that it shouldn’t go to who went the highest or the farthest. It was agreed it would be most fitting to go to a young grom who scored high in the run-whatcha-brung category. Despite being surrounded by new and flashy bikes, this young rider absolutely shredded on a bike older than them – and with the best possible attitude. He was over the moon about this upgrade and his friends were equally stoked for him to be on a freshie.
Kona Advocacy Ambassador Scotty Scamehorn (Shire Built) holds out the official measurintg stick for the High Jump Contest .
Aside from the contest prizes, Shire Built made sure to spread the Kona love and end the evening with a product toss of Kona swag to fans and participants. While the Jump jam officially ended when the Shoot The Trails event began, you could still see riders taking laps around the track and throwing their style into every jump.
