DOD’s annual event draws the biggest crowd ever!
Smiles, old friends, new faces, crisp air, nervous energy and a sublime chaos surrounded the staging area for the tenth annual Disciples of Dirt All Comers Meet just before riders sped off into the mist to find the trails of Whypass and see how much fun they could unlock.
With 300 riders, dense fog giving way to sunshine and melting frost ACM X was far and away the biggest and rowdiest All Comers Meet of all time. It’s astounding, awesome and humbling to think that what began as a small band of mountain bikers has grown into, truly, the premiere free mountain bike event in the pacific northwest. What started with a couple dozen folks huddled around a tailgate and a six pack after a few miles has turned into a destination event with folks from several different states, all manner of abilities/riding styles, vendors, demo fleets, hot food and a six tap beer wagon!
Aside from 300 riders representing endurance racers, downhill addicts, moms and dads riding with kids, weekend warriors and everything in between, we had a great vendor area and lots of sponsors to stack the best raffle ever! Both On One/Titus and Niner brought their demo fleets. Rolf Prima and Bicycle Way of Life came out to show us how much cooler our bikes can be and of course Ninkasi brought their famous trailer full of suds and turned the pile into an outdoor paradise with their fire pits and foosball. They were all joined in the raffle swag by SRAM, Life Cycle Bikes, Endura, Web Cyclery, Oregon Adventures, REI, Hutch’s and Co-Motion. A huge thanks to everyone who donated prizes and made our fundraising raffle so successful!
Muddy faces were busy sipping Ninkasi’s suds, hot chocolate and getting stuffed with hot chili as the raffle began and the air was filled with the yelps, cheers and hurrahs of the masses as our friends—old and new—walked away with some prime gear. Seeing the Rolf Prima wheelset go to a Disciple from Sacremento was epic, seeing the excitement of the On One frame winner was icing on that cake and then the giant smile on the winner of the RockShox fork just put an exclamation mark on the stoke. We’ll mix our metaphors for special moments and ACM X was nothing short of a truly special moment.
We’re not done though, ACM XI is in the hopper so mark your calendars for January 18, 2015. Ten was good … but this thing goes to eleven!
Photos by Shawn Litson
