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Summit Daily/Eric Drummond
Road cyclists pedal alongside the Dillon Reservoir during the Courage Classic in July. The online Summit Biking Forum was created by local biking enthusiast Jared Roy as a resource for local riders. Postings for group rides, car pools and race reports are among the forum's features. Visit www.summitbiking.com to check it out.
SUMMIT COUNTY - Biking enthusiast Jared Roy recently founded the online Summit Biking Forum as a way to bring local riders together.
Roy, who picked up bike racing during a five-year Summit County stint that began in 1991, returned to the High Country a year and a half ago from Minnesota.
When Roy arrived to assume a marketing job with the Keystone Symposia, he knew some bikers, but wanted to know more.
"It seemed like a spread-out group," Roy said during a phone interview on Thursday. "I wanted people to be able to find people to ride with, to get trail conditions and to find rides to races."
Roy, who picked up bike racing during a five-year Summit County stint that began in 1991, returned to the High Country a year and a half ago from Minnesota.
When Roy arrived to assume a marketing job with the Keystone Symposia, he knew some bikers, but wanted to know more.
"It seemed like a spread-out group," Roy said during a phone interview on Thursday. "I wanted people to be able to find people to ride with, to get trail conditions and to find rides to races."
Roy, who launched his website, www.summitbiking.com about three months ago, seems happy with the 20-something list of members, but would love to see that number grow.
"My goal is to get everyone who bikes in Summit to join," said Roy, who monitors and maintains the website during his free time at no financial gain. "There's no cost to join - it's a win-win (situation)."
Roy said securing the website domain (address) costed him a mere $6 for one year.
"There's not a lot of activity right now - it's still on the ground level," said forum member Jeff Westcott, owner of Maverick Sports and director of the Summit Mountain Challenge (SMC) mountain biking series. "It's good he got it going, I think it could absolutely fill a niche in the future."
At this point, the Summit Biking Forum seems most geared toward mountain bikers, according to both Roy - who's hung some fliers around SMC races - and forum participant Richard Light of Frisco.
"My goal is to get everyone who bikes in Summit to join," said Roy, who monitors and maintains the website during his free time at no financial gain. "There's no cost to join - it's a win-win (situation)."
Roy said securing the website domain (address) costed him a mere $6 for one year.
"There's not a lot of activity right now - it's still on the ground level," said forum member Jeff Westcott, owner of Maverick Sports and director of the Summit Mountain Challenge (SMC) mountain biking series. "It's good he got it going, I think it could absolutely fill a niche in the future."
At this point, the Summit Biking Forum seems most geared toward mountain bikers, according to both Roy - who's hung some fliers around SMC races - and forum participant Richard Light of Frisco.
"It's hard for local cyclists to communicate," said the 10th-year local, who pointed out that local road bikers don't have an equivalent to the SMC. "Instead of keeping a whole list of numbers in my cell phone, I just go on (the site)."
The Summit Biking Forum Index features a variety of listings including Group Rides, Riding Partners, Race Reports, Race Photos, Race Schedules, Trail Conditions, Need a ride to a race?, Classifieds (bike-related), Volunteer and Miscellaneous.
Although many current forum members do love to race, Roy contends that his creation is not just for competitors.
"It's for all levels," said Roy, who visits about 10 different cycling forums himself, "including beginners with questions."
Even experts like local Tim Faia have questions from time to time, often regarding who's traveling out of town for races and training sessions.
The Summit Biking Forum Index features a variety of listings including Group Rides, Riding Partners, Race Reports, Race Photos, Race Schedules, Trail Conditions, Need a ride to a race?, Classifieds (bike-related), Volunteer and Miscellaneous.
Although many current forum members do love to race, Roy contends that his creation is not just for competitors.
"It's for all levels," said Roy, who visits about 10 different cycling forums himself, "including beginners with questions."
Even experts like local Tim Faia have questions from time to time, often regarding who's traveling out of town for races and training sessions.
"I plan on using (the forum) much more this fall for cyclocross," Faia said. "And in the winter when we go down to the Front Range for rides that usually last 3-6 hours. It's pretty hard to do those long rides by yourself."
The Summit Biking Forum doesn't require registration.
"You only need to sign up if you want to create or respond to posts," Roy explained. ""We had to start a registration because we were getting a lot of spam without it."
The Summit Biking Forum doesn't require registration.
"You only need to sign up if you want to create or respond to posts," Roy explained. ""We had to start a registration because we were getting a lot of spam without it."
