JACKSON, Wyo. — The annual Mountain Bluebird Classic, a mixed road/gravel community bike event, will take place this Sunday, May 21, starting at 10 a.m.
According to Aaron Nydam, the event founder, the route will be approximately 40 miles with 2,000 feet of elevation gain. Riders can expect three to four hours of riding, 30 percent on pathways, 40 percent on gravel and 30 percent on roads.
Participating riders will start at the Jackson Hole High School and then head onto South Park Loop, taking the bike path to Henry’s Road and then back to the new pathway along the highway to Hoback Junction. Riders will then switch to dirt on the southside of the river, cross back over at Astoria and head up Fall Creek and over Pritchard Pass before finally rolling north to finish in Wilson, on the lawn at Pearl Street Bagels.
An alternative route could be posted based on conditions.
Riders are encouraged to bring friends, food and water for the long ride, and to dress accordingly for spring weather.
“Be a fully self-sufficient, responsible cyclist (food, layers, repairs, etc), and partner up with a friend to ride who rides similarly,” Nydam recommends.
Optional donations will go to the Mountain Bluebird Nestbox Monitoring and Color Banding Project, a project created by the Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation in partnership with the National Elk Refuge, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The project’s aim is to collect data “related to survival rates of young [bluebirds], dispersal patterns, re-nesting rates, productivity by age and other elements of population dynamics.”
According to Nydam, the idea for the community bike event came from springtime riding in the national park with a group of friends; they would bird watch and keep bird lists of the species they saw on their rides.
“It was always the bluebirds,” Nydam says. “We were always talking about the bluebirds because they were always so magnificent, especially against the snow.”
Nydam saw so many bikers having to travel for bike events that he decided to create a local event where everyone could come together for a community gathering. While the event took a two year hiatus during COVID-19, it returned last year with its new gravel component.
The event has raised over $1,500 for little birds over the years.
