The Sturdy Bitches have been intertwined with Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance from the get-go. Julie Crittenden, Ady Bee Lane, Katie Jackson, Jessica Mavica, and Michelle Brittenacher are the five badass women who continually push the limits on advocacy and support for mountain bike specific trails. 

Photo Credit: Zander Kroon

Ady Bee Lane sits on Evergreen’s Statewide Board as an at-large member, playing a hand in the strategic direction of the organization. Julie Crittenden is a Cascades to Sound at-large council member providing key organizational leadership for Snohomish, King and Pierce County. Katie, Jess and Michelle are active Evergreen members, volunteer trail builders, community movers and shakers, MTB racers, and shredders of Evergreen trails. The Sturdy Bitches are living local legends!

Photo Credit: Zander Kroon

History in the making for adaptive riders in The Sturdy Dirty Enduro

This year, The Sturdy Dirty Enduro launched its first adaptive MTB category (aMTB). The Sturdy’s and April Katz, Executive Director and Founder of The AIROW Project worked closely together to create an inclusive experience for racers. Part of that process involved working with Evergreen trail builders Paul Martin and Scott Miller to make the trails attainable for adaptive riders. What does this look like? It does not mean rebuilding trails, it means tweaking parts of the trail to make it at least 16 inches wide for adaptive mountain bikers to ride and race through. 

Photo Credit: Heather Carter, Courtesy of The Sturdy Dirty

“As a trail builder, we had to shift our mindset to how an adaptive racer rides. We look at the trail and think ‘how will two wheeled bikes with longer wheel bases shred?’” Paul said he was thrilled to be working on enhancing trails to make them accessible for The Sturdy Dirty on Poppin’ Tops and Flow State. “Widening a trail and adding in a bigger radius for turns actually makes the trail sustainable for the long term. And it makes riding more fun for everyone because we have more line choices.”

Photo Credit: Heather Carter, Courtesy of The Sturdy Dirty

The Sturdy Dirty continues to push the limits for Evergreen, and what our trail builders have learned will be key knowledge for future trail building, including Trail E.

Trail donations that are building Trail E on Raging River

Let’s take a quick trip back in time to 2019. Evergreen and the Department of Natural Resources worked to get the design concept for a long descent blue trail, Canyon Creek Downhill (CCDH)l. When the conversation turned to who should build it, The Sturdy Bitches were ready. In 2022, The Sturdy Bitches built the much beloved and award winning CCDH trail alongside Evergreen’s former trail builder Shawn Lorenz, receiving the Washington State Trails Coalition “Outstanding Trail” award in 2022. “It was extremely gratifying to watch the trail take shape and become exactly what we envisioned - a spicy track that everyone could enjoy,” Ady reflected on the process and anyone who has ridden CCDH can attest to the spiciness of this epic 2.5 mile descent. Women know how to build tough, rad trails.

Photo Credit: Zander Kroon

The Sturdy B’s organize eight work parties annually, generating over 1,000 volunteer hours maintaining or building trails. They believe that giving back to the trails they ride and race on is not just a good act for the community, but a way of life. 

Photo Credit: Zander Kroon

At every race since 2015, The Sturdy Dirty has donated money back to Evergreen accumulating over $29,000 in donations to the trails. Never before have they specified where the money goes, until this year. Why? Because Trail E is a big deal. 

Photo Credit: Zander Kroon

Here’s the sitch. Trail E is a new trail on the front face of Raging River that will parallel Poppin’ Tops. The current design concept is a ‘flow gnar’ trail, flow sections setting the rider up for smooth entry into challenging technical descents. It will take two years and $160,000 from a combination of community funding and the Department of Natural Resources to complete. Evergreen kickstarted this fundraising effort with Evergreen’s GiveBIG campaign, raising $20,000 for the trail. The Sturdy Dirty has now furthered these efforts with an extra $5,000 because of what this trail means for all riders. 

Photo Credit: Zander Kroon

Along with the Trail E build, Evergreen will be refreshing Poppin’ Tops and Flow State into a ‘Crank it Up’ style trail. The trails will remain the same difficulty level with refreshed features, and provide a progression matrix for riders of all abilities. Poppin’ Tops and Flow State will be focused on green and blue lines and Trail E on black, double black lines.

Photo Credit: Zander Kroon

From the bottom of our hearts at Evergreen MTB Alliance, thank you Sturdy Bitches for your donation and leadership. We are moved by your dedication to the community and the trails.

Photo Credit: Zander Kroon

If you are interested in learning more about Trail E or donating to the trail project visit our donation page here. If you are interested in The Sturdy Dirty or want to learn more about enduro racing visit The Sturdy Dirty Enduro webpage here.