A message from Event Headquarters …

Howdy! from the production crew of the Bike Festival here in the Big Bend. We’ve been putting together Mountain Bike Events out here in West Texas for a very long time. This Festival is the latest endeavor in continuing this tradition.

For the last two years we have put a cap on this event at 500 riders. This year we filled all those spots two weeks before the event. Quite a few folks missed the opportunity to sign up. We have heard from a number of people that have said they are going to come out and ride anyway.

The purpose of this event is to promote Mountain Biking in the area and to help raise funds for our trails group, The Big Bend Trails Alliance. If we cannot control the attendance, we may be be harming the very trails we are working to protect, and damaging our relationship with our local partners.

We, along with those partners, looked at this event over the last few years and decided to limit attendance. Setting the maximum number of participants was not an arbitrary decision. There are all sorts of good reasons the number 500 was chosen, including: our ability to staff the event, the EMS services available in the area, and the impact that our event has on the local trail systems.

All the trails used for the Festival are open to the public to ride any time of the year. Attendance to the event is not necessary to enjoy the great riding in the area. C’mon out riding another time, or get your registration in early for 2017.