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McClellan mountain bike trails double in size | Anniston
Jeremy Brackett, Clint Payne and Larry Bassett journey Anniston’s new set of mountain-biking trails at McClellan on a scorching vacation weekend. Picture by Stephen Gross / The Anniston Star
Cyclists who resolve to hit the McClellan Mountain Bike Trails over Labor Day weekend will uncover that there is much more path than there was.
The McClellan Improvement Authority this week introduced the completion of the second section of the mountain bike path system, extending the paths from 5 miles to 10 miles.
“All the paths are executed, all of the signage is finished,” MDA director Julie Moss stated. “It’s open for individuals to go and luxuriate in.”
The MDA is an appointed board charged with discovering new makes use of for land on the Military’s former Fort McClellan, which closed 20 years in the past. Lately, that work has included carving horse and bike trails into the wooded hills that make up a lot of the previous base.
For years, Anniston has seen a gradual stream of vacationers inquisitive about biking the paths on Coldwater Mountain, throughout city from McClellan. The McClellan trails are a beginner-level counterpart to the Coldwater trails, designed partially to host mountain bike competitions for scholar athletes.
In March, the paths have been the positioning of a race sponsored by the Nationwide Interscholastic Biking Affiliation, a high-school mountain biking group. The competitors drew a crowd of roughly 2,000, and was one of many final massive public occasions held within the metropolis earlier than the pandemic hit.
It was additionally NICA’s final large Alabama occasion earlier than COVID-19 lower the season quick, stated Adam Crews, a state-level organizer for the group.
The group plans to return for one more competitors on March 20, 2021, although MDA and NICA officers say a lot will rely upon the standing of the pandemic.
“We’re hopeful we’ll be capable to have a racing season in spring,” Crews stated.
Crews stated many NICA racers have been biking all through the pandemic, although they miss the face-to-face interplay that was a part of competitors.
The pandemic canceled or postponed the biking occasions that sometimes deliver vacationers to the town in the summertime, together with the Cheaha Problem and the Sunny King Criterium, however there’s proof that day-to-day use of the paths hasn’t waned. Firefighters, as an example, say they’ve seen no vital discount within the variety of accidents they reply to on the Coldwater and McClellan trails.
Capitol & statewide reporter Tim Lockette: 256-294-4193. On Twitter @TLockette_Star.