If you’ve ever heard the breeze rustle through the leaves in the trees of Oak Mountain State Park on a bike ride or felt the sun on your face as you raced down Trussville City Park, you’ve benefited from the work of a group of volunteers—even if you didn’t know it.
Come for the biking, stay for the community
Birmingham Urban Mountain Pedalers, or BUMP, is a volunteer-run organization with the mission of building, preserving, maintaining, and riding trails in Birmingham and surrounding areas. Since 1994, the group has maintained and built new trails at Oak Mountain State Park, Tannehill State Park, and Trussville Sports Complex.
Butch White’s story
Butch White began biking after his family moved to Birmingham from Huntsville, starting with a bike with a rigid bike stand and no suspension that he purchased from a local shop in Pelham. Around the time he upgraded his bike, BUMP was getting its start. As BUMP was doing its advocacy work at Oak Mountain State Park, Butch continued biking when he could.
A few decades later, when his children got older and left the house, he got back into mountain biking more seriously. As he had traveled throughout the Southeast for work, he saw that other states were building and maintaining trails that were setting them apart. That’s where the BUMP team came in.
“We just decided that if we didn’t get involved, nothing was ever going to change,” Butch told me. “So we all got involved with not only the trail crew and maintaining the trails, but we also started advocating for building the types of trails that other areas were building.”
Putting Alabama’s mountain biking trails on the map
Thanks to volunteers like Butch and excitement from the community, BUMP is adding new features to the parks that will not only make them go-to spots for Alabama residents but will also give biking enthusiasts a reason to visit the state’s trails.
Two that stand out? First, Oak Mountain State Park, as part of an Innovate Alabama project with Shelby County, is opening a skill zone this year that will let bikers practice challenging features before they encounter them in the trails. Second, thanks to BUMP, Alabama will get its first Paved Pump Track, an asphalt rolling surface with turns and corners that you can ride without ever pedaling.
New features like this aren’t just a win for the bikers who take advantage of them—they also positively benefit the parks for visitors who don’t bike.
“Mountain bikers will travel and spend money to ride new trails,” Butch explained. “Mountain bikers contribute significantly to Oak Mountain’s annual park entrance fees.”
Plus, in addition to advocating for and building new trails and trail features, BUMP and its volunteers are responsible for maintaining the current trails to make sure they remain great places for bikers to enjoy.
Birmingham Urban Mountain Pedalers, or BUMP, is a volunteer-run organization with the mission of building, preserving, maintaining, and riding trails in Birmingham and surrounding areas. Since 1994, the group has maintained and built new trails at Oak Mountain State Park, Tannehill State Park, and Trussville Sports Complex.
For plenty of Alabama residents and visitors alike, the outdoor spaces of the state set it apart. And while we have plenty of beautiful vistas perfect for solo reflection and opportunities for an individual to get in touch with themselves while getting in touch with nature, these outdoor spaces and groups also serve as a backdrop for community building.
BUMP offers community trail rides that give people a chance to connect and spend time with friends and strangers, often across different industries. The board alone features a variety of professional backgrounds, including medical salespeople, a PhD economist, and a project engineer.
Whether they talk about their days at work or just hit the trails, the rides and group foster the relationships that set Alabama apart. And for tech workers logging in for a remote job or researchers who need a break from the lab, joining a group like BUMP can facilitate those connections and introduce them to the outdoors.
What’s next for BUMP
This year, BUMP is continuing its mission with two Innovate Alabama grants. One of them at Oak Mountain State Park, in partnership with Shelby County and Alabama Department of Conservation of Natural Resources (DCNR), is working towards creating and earning a silver level Ride Center designation from the International Mountain Biking Association for Birmingham. The designations require certain features like downhill-only trails.
The other grant is for Tannehill State Park and will support building adaptive trails, where they’re attempting to build the largest adaptive accessible trail system in the Southeast. So far, they’ve completed five out of ten adaptive trails for a total of nine miles. All of them are accessible to adaptive bike riders and will give them new places to ride. To further make the parks accessible, they’re updating the infrastructure in the park to accommodate other needs and to upgrade facilities to modern ADA standards.
“This is a really solid foundation that the Innovate Alabama grant is allowing us to put in place for the parks long-term,” Butch said.
How to get involved with the Birmingham Urban Mountain Pedalers
Ready to join BUMP’s mission? There are multiple ways to get involved.
- Become a BUMP member: Your membership dues support BUMP and the Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association to fund efforts in Birmingham and throughout the Southeast.
- Volunteer: Join BUMP in one of its recurring volunteer opportunities, like coming out on a trail work day to maintain trails or leading a group ride.
- Join a trail ride: BUMP’s monthly group rides are open to riders of all abilities, so check out its Facebook to see when the next ride is.
“Wellness communities are talking about how good it is for us to just be out in nature. You don’t need a mountain bike to do that, just walking in the woods is good for you,” Butch said. “But if you want to have fun while you’re doing it too, there’s no better way to be in the woods than mountain biking.”
