East Texas Trail Advocates kick off annual 5x5 mountain bike event

EAST TEXAS (KLTV) - The East Texas Trail Advocates, a chapter of the International Mountain Bike Association, kicked off their third annual 5x5 series on Sunday in Kilgore.

Lynnette Wood, the president of the group says they choose five different trails across East Texas for the next several weeks to ride on.

“I come up with a route that is five miles or less and I challenge people to do anywhere from one to five loops that day on that trail. So, five by five by five because of its five trails. It’s not a race, it’s just a fundraising event,” Wood said.

There is no entry fee, but donations are welcome. All the money goes to maintenance of the trail they are riding on that day.

Each ride is also sponsored by a local bike shop. Dereck Yagle is the owner of Flugers in Longview, they were today’s sponsor. He says these donations go to things like gas for leaf blowers and materials to keep the trails fresh.

“They do need work. They do need maintenance. There’s things that people don’t understand when they come out to enjoy the trail, they walk it, they run it, they bike it but there is a lot that goes into it whether it’s the community or volunteer work, a lot of these people volunteer their time outside of coming to these events,” Yagle said.

Jody Clements attended the ride.

“We did this last year and I think I made four out of the five, so this year we’re going to try and make them all,” Clements said.

Here are the upcoming dates for the series.

November 26th at the Mineola Nature Preserve.

December 3rd at 29 Pines at Lake Cherokee.

December 10th at Faulkner Park in Tyler.

December 17th at Mobberly Baptist Church in Longview.

Registration opens at noon for every ride, and it begins at 1 P.M.

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