A mountain bike race outside of Rhinelander this weekend hopes to drum up financial support for trail maintenance.
RASTA, the Rhinelander Area Silent Sports Association is holding the bike race May 17th at the Washburn Silent Sports trails near Perch Lake.
Spokesperson Suzanne Flory says it’s a new location for the RASTA Rally…which could make it more exciting for riders of all levels.
“We’re excited about the new venue, it offers all kinds of different challenging single track for folks, and it offers kind of more beginner-intermediate race course areas too for folks that may be new to the sport. So there’s something for everybody.”
RASTA maintains the Washburn and Mud Lake trails for mountain biking and hiking in summer…and cross country skiing and snow-shoeing in the winter. Flory says the year-round upkeep is a lot of work.
“We do a lot of building of new trails and maintaining the existing trails. We have to do things like watch out for erosion and take care of those kinds of areas, and do trail clearing when there are downed trees. And it’s important too because the local economy really benefits from these trails – people come from all over to enjoy them all seasons.”
The RASTA Rally includes a short course race of about 7 miles; and a long course of about 12 miles. There’s also a free kids race after the main race.
