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Show A7 Castle Valley Review, April 2009 ISSUES Happy Trails A self proclaimed ‘bike freak,’ Fuzzy Nance’s effort to create a mountain bike ‘scene’ in Price is starting to take hold fun, challenging stuff. But for 20 years Moab was really the only destination. Then places like Fruita, Colo., started going, ‘hey, we’ve got cool stuff too,’ and started publicizing it and this whole grass roots festival moveMoab has long ment came about. There been the destinaare guys who will take two tion of choice for road trips a month and they will go to a mountain bike mountain bike festival and when they do enthusiasts, but they’re dropping a grand that is starting to every time,” Fuzzy said. change as riders The trick was convincing local political and business look for a more leaders about the possibili“pure” experities a “mountain bike scene” ence. might offer to a community. “I’ve done a lot of research and gathered a lot of data for the city and the county and presented them probably 20 different success stories of little towns, a lot of them in Virginia and Kentucky, where coal mining was the basis of their entire Continued from Page 1. economy and it died. But they had all of this space and they started building trails and getPrice and so I came here to hang out. I rode up ting people to come in and the amount of monon Wood Hill for the first time and saw all of ey it pumps into the economy is insane. They’re these mesas and thought ‘holy crap, look at all buying gas, buying food, staying in the hotels that.’ I had looked at Durango and it was going and then going away, so a lot of the money they to cost me a lot of money to live there. And spend goes into the schools and local infrastructhey really didn’t need me there. Half the guys ture. There’s a lot that needs to be done here I used to race with back in the 90s have retired and if we do it on the tax base that we have it’s and now live in Durango. They have a massive going to break us. So what do we do?” scene there. It’s all about mountain biking and He said he was excited when he learned they have hundreds of miles of trails. They that the county was planning a mountain bike don’t need me. They’ve got 60 of me. Utah festival of its own for the fall. With his Price has about 10 of me in the whole state and there Area Singletrack Society’s mountain bike feswasn’t one here,” Fuzzy said. tival, TrailFest, scheduled for May 1-3 and the The “me” that Fuzzy represented was San Rafael Swell Mountain Bike Festival schedsomeone willing to organize a mountain bike uled for May 15-17, the Castle Valley is becomcommunity, someone willing to put in the work ing a destination for mountain bike enthusiasts, to develop a single track trail system and somewhich is just fine with Fuzzy. one willing to butt heads if necessary to get the “For a long time it was hard to get the city job done. or the county to take it serious, because we’re “There’s always been a scene around every just peddling bikes around in the desert. But major population area, Denver, Salt Lake, then they started to notice how many people whatever, because there are colleges and there were coming in and spending money at the are trails. Places like this there’s an opportunity hotels and they realized it’s starting to happen here because a lot of people will travel for good, and they’d better grab onto it. That’s really We’re not going to become anexciting,” he said. During TrailFest orother Moab. A much more sustainganizers plan to develop able place is a place that is fun, a skills development park on the South Dead but is not like a trip to Las Vegas. Dog Mesa outside of Moab is like a trip to Vegas. The Price that will be a draw for mountain bike riders hotels are expensive, tourists are of all skill levels. Even as the county everywhere and when you’re down and city start to look there in the season every third perat what becoming a destination for mounson you see is on a rental bike that tain bikers could do for sounds like a piece of crap. I hate the area, Fuzzy said the risk of Price becoming that. another Moab are not as great as some naysayers - Fuzzy Nance might think. “We’re not going to become another Moab. “ A much more sustainable place is a place that is fun, but is not like a trip to Las Vegas. Moab is like a trip to Vegas. The hotels are expensive, tourists are everywhere and when you’re down there in the season every third person you see is on a rental bike that sounds like a piece of crap. I hate that. I might as well be in Vegas. If you come here it’s more of a pure experience. There’s a lot of small places like what we are trying to build here popping up all over the country and it’s nice to see. It brings everybody into a happier, healthier life. It’s not often you can go on a bike ride and come away with a crappy attitude. The cranky, crabbiest old guy, when he gets on a bike, he’s a joy to be around,” Fuzzy said. When he talks about the pure experience of climbing on a bike and riding is when Fuzzy the businessman or the surfer dude gives way to the philosopher. Riding bikes is his religion, his source of meditation, his answer for what ails you. “For the most part, everybody riding a mountain bike and having a good time will love each other. Whatever the political or social issues are, out there they go away once you’re riding. All that esoteric, political bull---- doesn’t matter once you’re breathing the same air, feeling the same sun on your face, tasting the same grit on your teeth. All that other crap just goes away. It comes back as soon as you go back into society, but that’s why I like being out in the desert all of the time,” Fuzzy said. Although the 30 to 35 members of PASS gather to build or keep up trails, Fuzzy quite often is out working on the trails with only his dog by his side. A self proclaimed loner, he enjoys the solitude of a bike ride as much as he enjoys the social connection of being with other mountain bike enthusiasts. He said it is hard to pigeonhole a mountain biker. “I’m pretty social at times, but generally I thrive in solitude. There are a lot of guys like me. It’s kinda hard to get group rides together because a lot of people like to ride for the solitude, but the other side of that are those who are very social,” he said. A transplant from Las Vegas, Fuzzy fell in love with bikes when he was a boy after the family moved to Hurricane. “I became a bike freak when I was nine or 10. I found myself in Hurricane where I could ride in any direction and in five minutes be Continued on A10. As the number and popularity of mountain bike festivals continue to grow in the Castle Valley, the possibilities for economic growth grows with it. |