The Dirt

New Year! New Trail Status, Zones, and Trails -Cobb and Paulding Trails Added

For the second year in a row meteorologist Kent McMullen of AMB Weather will be doing our Forecasts and Trail Status updates. Kent is the retired Lead Forecaster for the National Weather Service in Peachtree City and is an avid mountain biker and founder and coach of the Georgia Cycling League SWAY MTB Club. Kent also does event forecasting and status for the Georgia Cycling League, Chainbuster Racing and others.

With the merger of SORBA West Georgia trails to MTB Atlanta, the MTB Atlanta area has become quite vast, not only in areal coverage but also by climate. We have therefore reorganized the trails into forecast Zones to reflect this. When looking at your forecast, please make note of the New Zone Forecast and the trails that are in a particular zone. A list of trails and their respective Zones are on the Daily Rainfall Graphic. The list of trails is also on each Zone Forecast graphic.

Remember one of the most important things you can do to help the long term maintenance of the mountain bike trails that you love to ride on public land is to follow the trail status and not ride when the trails are wet or in Freeze/Thaw. Because we live in a major metropolitan area with a huge population, our trails get a ton of use. Combine that with the clay based soils that we have in the piedmont of Georgia, and you have a recipe to add thousands of volunteer maintenance hours on our trails when people ride wet.

You can follow the trail Status on Twitter at @mtbatltrails or @mtbatl and here on our home page at mtbatlanta.com. The @sorbawestga Twitter feed will still be available for Cobb and Paulding Trails if you actively follow it.

For Sope Creek Status always text (770) 727-5061.

For Gwinnett Trails call (770) 978-5270.

Follow Kent’s website at https://ambweather.com and if you are a SORBA Chapter or event promoter who needs with help with forecasts and status, don’t hesitate to contact Kent to help you out!