Winter Mountain Biking In Bellingham

Where is the weather as bad as in the UK? Ah, look. Bellingham. Riders here have to endure winter weather conditions like us here in the UK. In fact, our weather and the Tea and Biscuits film inspired this film, which is a joyous mashup of riders from the Bellingham area out doing their thing.

As well as being great fun to watch (even the naughty bits, which they 100% tell you to 100% not do, 100% not ever, OK?) there’s a serious point to the film, because they’re hoping to raise money for two different projects – one is a mountain biking project, the other is a school scholarship in memory of their riding buddy. Watch, enjoy, and remember that bikes are fun.

Inspired by British mountain bike movies like “A Slice of British Pie”, “Tea and Biscuits” and 50to01 vids, we set out to make a mountain bike movie in our town Bellingham, Washington. The key difference being that we wanted to avoid filming only “pro” riders and instead wanted to capture a diverse range of skill levels. The winter of 2021/22 was especially wet in Bellingham with the “atmospheric river” bringing in especially foul conditions. Most self respecting mountain bikers would have hung up their helmet for the season but many of our local river rats continued on with their trail building and riding. Despite mud, grit, snow, hail and torrential rain our local riders were still out there. Capturing these creatures in their natural habitat was our goal. We proudly present to “Atmospheric River Rats” a Bellingham community mountain bike movie.

This movie premiered April 16th, 2022 at Kulshan K2 brewery in Bellingham, WA and the event was in support of Vamos Outdoors Project. If you enjoyed this movie please consider donating at https://www.vamosoutdoorsproject.com/ “Vamos Outdoors Project works to eliminate barriers to access that make it harder for Latinx and English Language Learner families to participate in outdoor, recreational, and environmental education activities. We provide supervision, transportation, food, and all necessary equipment for the activities provided by our partner organizations. All programming is free, through scholarships provided by our partner organizations or by Vamos Outdoors Project covering the fees. Our participants discover new passions, make friends, and connect with the greater Whatcom County community and environment.”

In regards to the final segment of this movie. JZ was one of the first people to support Jank. He was the 3rd Instagram follower. It’s hard to believe he is gone. His trail and this movie are in his memory. We want to share the Jackson Zechnich “JZ” Memorial Scholarship. https://www.vikingfunder.com/project/…

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Hannah Dobson

Managing Editor

I came to Singletrack having decided there must be more to life than meetings. I like all bikes, but especially unusual ones. More than bikes, I like what bikes do. I think that they link people and places; that cycling creates a connection between us and our environment; bikes create communities; deliver freedom; bring joy; and improve fitness. They're environmentally friendly and create friendly environments. I try to write about all these things in the hope that others might discover the joy of bikes too.

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