Get Moving'

Hundreds of cyclists will wheel out their best moves for two upcoming biking events: the Eighth Annual Bump and Grind mountain bike race at Oak Mountain State Park on Sunday, June 2, and the slowerpaced Bike Across Magnificent Alabama (BAMA)taking place June 8 through 15. Two-time mountain bike Olympian David 'TInker" Juarez will return this year to race for the Bump and Grind title after he "flatted out" last year and was unable to finish. "He's one of the few people to ride in the only two mountain biking races in the Olympics in 1996 and 2000," says Hardwick Gregg, co-organizer of Bump and Grind. "We'll also have one of the top women professionals, Mary Grigsbn, who's the current solo world champion in the relatively new Adrenaline 24-Hour Solo event." Though not yet confirmed, one of the people credited with the invention of the mountain bike, Gary Fisher, may also make an appearance. In 1974, Fisher, together with other mountain biking devotees, created the forefather of the contemporary mountain bike, called "The Klunker"-a contraption with a wide gear range and motorcycle brakes built on a 1930s-era bike frame. "He and a bunch of other guys started racing old single speeds, cruisers, and stuff; and modifying them for off-road racing in Marin [County, California 1 in the late '70s," says Gregg.

More than 600 competitors of all skillleveIs and ages will compete in 45 different race categories. "We started with a little over 300 [bikers 1, so [attendance 1 has approximately doubled," says Gregg. The race is on the UeI World Cup Calendar this year, meaning that the professional racers who place in the crosscountry event will be awarded World Cup points by the Union Cycliste lnternationale. The entry fee to compete in the race is $30 before Saturday, May 25, and registration forms are available at Cahaba Cycles and Home- . wood Cycles. After May 25, online registration will be available at www:active.com for a $40 fee. All riders must present a NO~A license. One-day trial licenses are available for $5 and can be purchased the day of the race. For more information, call 592BUMP or visit www:bump.org. For bikers who prefer a more leisurely pace combined with plenty of sightseeing, Bike Across Magnificent Alabama will follow a route that covers more than 400 miles, from Dauphin Island to Alexander City. 'We want to make people aware of bicycling as a feasible mode of transportation," says executive director of the event Morton Archibald, who started BAMAin 1995. '1\nyone who's gonna be on this ride should not expect to lose any weight, even though they'll be peddling and using a lot of energy The food is absolutely fabulous along the Gulf" The tour will stop at what was formerly called "Massacre Island," after a large pile of human skeletons was discovered there in 1699 by French explorer Pierre Le Moyne. The site was later renamed Dauphin Island in honor of the heir to the French throne. The biking tour will then continue to the '!!1SY haven of Fairhope, w"htChwas founded more than 100 years ago by a group of settlers looking to create their own personal Utopia (it's a town where even the trash cans double as planters). According to legend, one of the settlers said the new colony had "a fair hope of success," and thus the community of Fairhope was born. After stops at Evergreen, which is, according to Archibald, "the best kept secret in America," Greenville, and other towns, the trip will conclude in Alexander City. The trip costs $250. To register, visit www:bikebama.com, or call 256-658-5189.

-VB