The Double Trouble Duel Slalom was the second installment of Evan Voss's community rut racing party. Check out the video for some good times in the woods with a bunch of friendly racing.

“Bikes bursting from the garage, rally cars sitting in the lawn trying to cover up ruts cut in from bicycle tires the night before; the O-bloc house stuck out in the neighborhood like the kid who forgot sunscreen at the pool party.” Is how Bike Magazine’s ‘Bloc Party’ article read almost 10 years ago. Around that same time the ‘Rippies’ article came out, and with close eyes on the mailbox, folks were devouring Bike Mag for its stories on MTB culture. It was a time when mountain biking was really finding its identity in the world of action sports.

Fast forward ten years, and thousands of miles away from the original O-bloc stomping grounds, a group grumbled up a dead end gravel road in a line of vehicles clad with new age mountain bikes. The neighbors poked their heads up from car projects wondering what the centipede of vehicles carrying bikes was doing up their quiet road. Evan Voss, one of the original O-bloc members, and graphic designer for Transition, was hosting a party but not just any party. Infused with an ode to the original O-bloc races, this was the second year he hosted a backyard dual slalom race dubbed the “Double Trouble Duel Slalom”.

“Oh it's rideable, but you might not want to jump into it blind,” Jeff Bowers, local digger and ripper said as everyone arrived. Nervous energy floated around with people questioning what they were about to get into. Evan and a few friends had dug two sinuous tracks through the lush PNW forest, and before anyone could ride it smoothly, they strategically placed a handful of holes throughout the tracks to keep folks on their toes. 

The heckling commenced with practice as people tried to tame the chaos flying off track. Laps were on repeat walking up the side of the track dodging Kelend’s kids as they played in the dirt and mastered their rock crawling RC car. Chitter chatter echoed off the trees as acquaintances and friends caught up after a long hot summer. People were there to race, but something like this is more than that, and was evident as community conversation ran rampant growing the roots of the sport and the people involved. 

The race commenced a few hours later with a quick debrief from Evan and some pointed last minute heckles. Folks came from all over town pairing up with industry pros, carpenters, machine operators and everything in between. The battles began with folks still working out their kinks on the rowdy dueling tracks. From the beginning the most entertaining place to watch was the waterfall whoops. A four set of deep holes had been dug with logs acting as the high points in between leading into a 90 degree right hand turn. 

As riders duked it out advancing into the next rounds, the people losing out early lined up at the waterfall whoops to cheer on their fellow community members. Stepping back from the track, the roar pierced the quiet Saturday afternoon with vengeance in a way that even the neighbor, half mile a way, might question the quaintness of where they lived.

As the race wound down sorting out its winners; Hannah Bergemann for women and Brett Donohue for men, the community came together sharing stories from their runs, which paired nicely with the translucent moonshine passed around. Although O-bloc had its time, and is a thing of the past, it’s events like this that bring people together and hold onto mountain biking’s grungy roots. So next time you’re wondering what to do with your weekend, grab your friends, take to the woods and make a party around the people and happiness that two wheels can provide.