Duthie Stewardship: Our Thanks to Sweetlines, Fluidride, and Progression Cycle
If you’ve ridden King County’s Duthie Hill MTB Park, your tires have rolled on countless hours of volunteer labor.
With over 100,000 visitors each year, Duthie requires constant upkeep and attention—and that’s why community involvement is such an integral part of our maintenance plan.
But it’s not just volunteers—bike businesses are a huge part of the community that keeps Duthie running—and we’d like to recognize three all stars: Sweetlines, Fluidride, and Progression Cycle.
Many groups join in the effort to make Duthie as fun as it is, but we consistently see these three pop up. Whether it’s unsolicited donations, constant trailwork, or mechanical support, these folks truly deserve our thanks for helping make Duthie great.
Kat Sweet and Sweetlines
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Run by pro rider Kat Sweet, Sweetlines is an institution atDuthie. With a flash of signature pink hair, epic teaching and riding skills, and legion of young followers, Kat is constantly arranging rides, leading youth work crews, and showing the next generation of riders the true meaning of trail stewardship.
And if you joined us for the 2016 Evergreen Mountain Bike Festival you saw Kat owning the Kid Zone, leading rides for 8-12 year olds, and running the mini pump track challenges.
Kat continues to be a major mentoring force at Duthie, working trail, teaching skills, and making sure safety and rad riding are top priorities.
Simon Lawton and Fluidride
A veteran pro and rider for Diamondback, Simon runs Fluidride, offering riding instruction for all “abilities, disciplines, and wheel sizes”.
Simon regularly partners with the Evergreen Education program, bringing his expertise and skill as a teacher to improve the techniques of both new and experienced riders.
Most recently, Simon surprised Evergreen Staff at the Evergreen Bike Festival with a $3,000 check from his Summer Solstice Ride Series at Duthie to help fund our maintenance work.
Huge thanks go out to Simon for the generous gift, his great partnerships, and his ongoing support!
Matt Moravek and Progression Cycle
Have a flat? Broken chain? Brakes not working right? Evergreen Dirt Camp riders have long known Matt and his crew at Progression Cycle as the Monday Morning Mechanics.
At the start of every Dirt Camp (on Monday, get it??) Matt and his staff check out participants’ bikes (up to 25 of them!) to ensure they’re in safe working order for the week of skillbuilding ahead. If they’re not, Progression will get them there.
Additionally, Matt also maintains all the donated bikes for the Evergreen Trail Access program, which gets underserved youth out on mountain bikes! Did we mention he does all this for free?
And if that weren’t enough, Matt also does trail work. A lot of trail work. “He’s always out there building,” says Evergreen Education Manager Mike Sidwell.
Thanks to Matt for always being there and look for the opening of his new Progression Cycle Shop later this month (he'll be organizing work Duthie work parties from there!).
Again we’d like to give a huge thank you to these three unsung Duthie heros for always being there to make our ride experiences great. It’s community members like these that continue to make Washington the best place to ride!
Volunteers generously donate their time to maintain the trails we all ride and love, and they obviously deserve a HUGE thanks for that. So THANK YOU, epic volunteers, for all you do.
The built features at Duthie with the combined number of riders each year means we need help, particularly from experienced trailbuilders. We're moving into the dry season now, but keep an eye out once the rain starts to fall again. If you haven’t made it out to a work party yet—join us! It’s fun and easy--Have You Done YOUR One?