Fall is in the air … still.

It has been an incredibly long summer season in Jackson, which seems to still be kicking with this extended Indian summer (Editor’s Note: Now it’s raining and snowing, but when Chad wrote this a few days ago, the weather was brilliant).

I cannot remember a fall when the trees stayed yellow for this long and October had this many nice warm days. The morning air is cold and crisp but by midday the sunny days make it impossible to focus at work. My mind drifts to what I am going to do as soon as I am off work. I am going to ride Jimmy’s Mom.

Jimmy Hartman’s real mom probably has no idea that there is actually a freeride mountain bike trail on Teton Pass named after her. At least I hope she doesn’t know. Jimmy’s Mom is one of the great creations of the Teton Freedom Riders. The Freedom Riders are a group of dedicated men and women who are responsible for advancing the sport of freeride mountain biking in Jackson Hole.

To be exact their mission is to “coordinate the growth of mountain biking in the greater Teton County, Wyoming area through sustainable trail construction, maintenance, advancement and safety.”

As far as safe, I have to say I get hurt way too often trying to hit the jumps and terrain features they build, but that is all in the name of advancement.

Organized by owner of Fitzgerald’s Bicycles, Scott “Fitzy” Fitzgerald, the Teton Freedom Riders have built some sick trails all over the county. There are the nice cross-country trails like Ferrins Trail, and parts of Putt Putt, (both in the Cache Creek area) as well as the freeride trails on Teton Pass: Lithium, Parallel and, of course, Jimmy’s Mom.

Harlan and the boys over at Wilson Backcountry Sports, along with a bunch of other fanatical riders, have been diligently piling dirt and rocks for the last few years to create a series of gap jumps, log rides, step ups, berms and whoopties. Teton Pass has turned into a full on playground for mountain bikes. There is a lot of Pass passion hard at work.

So…I am going to take advantage of all these sunny days. I bet it won’t last for long especially with daylight savings creeping up on us. No more after work rides when that hits. Get ‘em while you can.

Chad is a mountain man raised in the hills of Colorado. He now lives in Jackson where he’s trying not to grow up while also working on a documentary film, “Swift. Silent. Deep.”