Mountain Bike Fest For Women Rides Into Bemus Point
Naturalist Adele Wellman educates her students about a plant growing alongside the trail during her Wonders of the Woods informative ride during last year’s Rooted.
Head bike mechanic Maggie Livelsberger educates attendees on bike chain maintenance at last year’s Rooted festival.
Kristen Muscaro-Winters catches air during a jump clinic presented by Deb Ice at last year’s festival. Submitted photos
Pictured are members of the Rooted planning committee, made up of Annie Chartrand, Ally Livelsberger, Heather Kinal, Kim Dulski, Jessica Devine, Dawn Page, Annemaria Nicholson and Julie Drake.
Naturalist Adele Wellman educates her students about a plant growing alongside the trail during her Wonders of the Woods informative ride during last year’s Rooted.
Head bike mechanic Maggie Livelsberger educates attendees on bike chain maintenance at last year’s Rooted festival.
Kristen Muscaro-Winters catches air during a jump clinic presented by Deb Ice at last year’s festival. Submitted photos
Pictured are members of the Rooted planning committee, made up of Annie Chartrand, Ally Livelsberger, Heather Kinal, Kim Dulski, Jessica Devine, Dawn Page, Annemaria Nicholson and Julie Drake.
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BEMUS POINT -- Women across the country will be gathering in Bemus Point to celebrate their love of mountain biking.
The Rooted Mountain Bike Festival will be held from July 21-23 at Loud Performance -- Bemus Point's local bike shop -- located at 4818 Route 430. The festival is centered around the love of mountain biking, and building the community, along with educating those who have never tried the sport before.
Heather Kinal, a member of the Rooted Planning Committee, said the festival is meant to grow the community and bring more people into the sport.
"Rooted is a festival for women and femme folks who love to mountain bike and enjoy being around like-minded people," Kinal said. "Education and empowerment are very important to us, so there is a wide array of clinics available for skill building that helps riders improve their technique and increase confidence on and off the bike. Fun is also high on our priority list and that can be found in abundance throughout this three day event."
Kinal said her main focus is the community building aspect of the festival, as that is her strong suit. The Rooted Mountain Bike Festival is the largest of the community building endeavors Kinal has attempted; she credited it to the help of all of the relationships she has made since she started mountain biking in 2017, one of the many reasons she said the festival is important to her.
"Rooted is a celebration of the sisterhood I have found through bike riding and I want as many women as possible to experience the joy, strength and community that exists within this sport," Kinal said. "I'm so fortunate to have co-created years three and four of Rooted with a group of extremely talented women that have become some of my closest friends. I also appreciate all the support I get from my husband throughout the planning stages and with his help as director of logistics for the festival."
Rooted is the only festival of its kind in the region. Kinal said the nearest similar event is in Arkansas or Colorado, and because of that attendees come from at least 15 different states. The festival is open to all women, no matter their biking skill level.
"We like to say if you're mountain bike curious, Rooted is the place to explore that curiosity," Kinal said. "We have amazing trails in our region and the bike shop that hosts us has trails for beginners all the way up to black diamond trails and features. Honestly, Loud Performance deserves an article all to themselves, that shop has built an incredible community and is an absolute gem here in Chautauqua County."
Other events at the festival besides biking include daily yoga offerings, nature hikes and meditation. This year's event sold out in two and a half days, selling 150 tickets.
Kinal said Rooted is a place to develop friendships with other women who ride and a good place to work on developing biking skills. Instructors come from across the country and share their expertise in small group clinics.
"Rooted is a lot like summer camp, if people love to be in nature and camp out and are into dance parties in the woods, they are going to have the best time," Kinal said. "There are also regional vendors that set up throughout the weekend selling their wares, as well as local food trucks offering up some of the tastiest options around."
The event's theme for the year is "Overcoming Fears and Cultivating Courage On and Off the Bike", and Kinal hopes that attendees will come and challenge themselves, leaving the festival emboldened to tackle new trails or features, and bringing a little extra courage home with them for anything that might come their way, on or off of the bike.
This will be the festival's first year hosting an adaptive mountain biker.
"Inclusivity is important to us and this will be our first year hosting an adaptive mountain biker so I am excited to show her a great time, but I also know we are going to learn a lot about adaptive bikes and how we can best serve our aMTB friends in the future," Kinal said. "This year we will have an all female bike mechanics crew and are really expanding that side of our educational programming thanks to our lead mechanic Maggie Livelsberger of 814 Outdoor Sports."
In the future, Kinal said the group is looking forward to their fifth year next year, and is also looking to become an official non-profit.
"We are excited to make a bigger difference in Chautauqua county once we are established," Kinal said. "We literally could not do this without the support of Loud Performance, as they allow us to camp and take over their trail system for three days."
Other sponsors for the event include, Western New York Mountain Biking Association, Mazza Wines and Five and 20 Spirits and Brewing, and Kickstand Culture in East Aurora.