It didn’t take Matt Plush long to recognize that he was standing on fertile ground for mountain bikers.
While maintaining trails along the Kettles Trails system on Central Whidbey over the years, he’s watched the popularity grow among such riders, particularly around this time of year.
“What I see, and what I’m hearing, so many people are now coming to Whidbey to ride in the winter,” said Plush, an avid rider and president of the Whidbey Island Bicycle Club. “They see we have dry trails. They’re from off-island. Everybody else is mudded in right now. Our trails, because of the rain shadow and because they’re so sandy … you’re pretty much guaranteed it’ll be dry out there and you’re not going to get covered in mud.”
It’s dry enough, at least, to lure riders from counties near and far.
The Kettles Trails will be teeming with mountain bike riders this weekend during two events that have grown in numbers.
The non-competitive Mussels in the Kettles Mountain Bike and Poker Ride will go from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday, March 12, expecting to draw roughly 300 participants.
The Cookin’ in the Kettles racing event is Sunday, March 13, beginning at 10 a.m. It involves points races in three different categories from beginner to expert and is one of the stops along BuDu Racing’s West Side Mountain Bike Series. Anywhere from 200 to 300 racers are expected for that event.
“There’s a chance there are going to be actual Olympic athletes there,” Plush said, noting that a group of world-class riders have been recently training in Bellingham.
Plush and other members of the Whidbey Island Bicycle Club have been busy grooming the trails to prepare for their club’s signature event, Mussels in the Kettles, which is in its sixth year.
The club was formed in 2010 to essentially to get the event off the ground. The ride has grown from about 60 participants in its first year to 278 last year.
Plush said Tuesday that already 250 people have pre-registered for this Saturday’s poker ride, which will include three courses and involve portions of the trail system on Island County land and in Fort Ebey State Park.
The event will start at the Coupeville High School gym, with registration beginning around 9 a.m., and will conclude in the heart of MusselFest at the club’s booth near the Coupeville Rec Hall downtown.
That booth will mark the last of five stations where participants receive cards, then show their poker hand to collect prizes.
The entry fee is $30 per individual or $45 for a family of four until Thursday. The entry fee is $40 with no family rate on the day of the event.
To find out how to register online, go to www.musselsinthekettles.net.
The Whidbey Island Bicycle Club is made up of nearly 100 members with about a 50-50 split of those who favor riding mountain bikes to road bikes.
“Most of us do everything,” said Plush, who co-founded the club along with Brian Wood.
Plush, who’s 49, said mountain bikers range in age from 20 to 70 yet most of the riders he sees are “the baby boomer type” between 40 and 60. There is a 6-year-old registered for Mussels in the Kettles.
Brad Nelson, 26, of Oak Harbor, said he’s been riding since he was 14.
“I remember when I first started riding, a lot of the guys who were teaching me were in their 40s and 50s,” Nelson said. “A bunch of people were runners growing up, blew out their knees and started riding bikes.
“Cycling is one of those lifetime sports. It’s kind of easy on the body.”
Nelson works at the Skagit Cycle outlet that opened in Oak Harbor last summer and said that business has been strong thanks to the island’s cycling community and a downtown location that brings frequent pedestrian traffic.
Nelson said Whidbey’s milder summer temperatures and drier trails during the winter make the Kettles Trails a nice stop for mountain bikers.
He said that if you look at the number of vehicles that are regularly parked near trailheads along State Highway 20 near Coupeville, most will have bike racks.
“It’s kind of a unique trail system,” Nelson said.
