Last Saturday was a
pretty special event. Our local club
here, the Tarheel Trailblazers, said goodbye to one of our own. Most of you here locally know Big Bike Mike,
and no doubt have seen him working hard on our trails. He’s decided to retire and move on to
Snowshoe where he’ll be doing more trail work and riding some downhill. Definitely not your typical retirement.
Anyway, he’s done
most of his work up at Lake Norman State Park, keeping that place in pristine
condition. He worked as hard as a crew
of ten (or more) men, and gave up a ton of riding time so others can enjoy
their rides. That's commendable, so we
gathered up there for one final ride with him.
We had two groups
scheduled, and I somehow ended up in the one without Big Bike Mike. I rode with the “fun bunch”, a crew of folks
that are know for flying through the air instead of racing through the woods
(not to say that the other group was a bunch of racers, mind you.)
We did “race” through
the woods a little though:
But we also stopped
to session little jump line and it was rad.
Rocky sez, “RAMFB”
Eventually, both
groups made it back safe and sound. Much
fun was had. We gathered around one of
the shelters for a big cookout and some socializing.
TomTom and Good Guy
Greg “handled the meats.”
When our bellies
were full, we gathered around to present an award to the man of the hour. For some reason I was designated as the
public speaker and I presented the first time award to Big Bike Mike:
Mike on the left,
and some dude standing next to him.
In case you can't see it well enough, the text on the
award reads:
The Tarheel Trailblazers would like to award
Mike Hamm / “Big Bike Mike”
The inaugural
“Big Bike Mike Trail
Stewardship Award”
for his tireless efforts and
outstanding Volunteer service
to the mountain bike community
of the greater Charlotte Metro area.
This Day March 26th, 2016
No one is more
deserving of such an award for sure.
Being the “inaugural” award though, it’s gonna be hard for anyone else
to win it in the future. He definitely set a high standard as far as trail work goes, and it will be
extremely difficult to match his accomplishments. He is a helluva good rider too, and a great
all around guy. If you had a chance to
work or ride with him, count yourself lucky.
We’ll definitely miss him around here for sure.