Photo Courtesy of John Laptad

By Ashton Z. Thurneyssen   Mountain bikers, rejoice! Thanks to a partnership between the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA), you’ll soon have a few more miles of trail to rip up. Construction is already underway on Communication Breakdown, an eight-mile addition to the new Sandy Ridge Trail System, located off Highway 26 just west of Mt. Hood. [visit: nw-trail.org]

Photo Courtesy of John Laptad

The new section will have something for everyone, says Zack Jarrett, lead outdoor recreation planner for the BLM in Salem. Located below 2,100 feet, it will be rideable most of the year. They’re adding bumps, berms and jumps, and four-legged friends are welcome, too.     Communication Breakdown isn’t slated for completion until October, but you can still enjoy the five miles of single track that opened in the area this past winter. The three-quarter-mile Laura’s Loop is a good warm-up trail that’s also suitable for beginners, while the longer Hide and Seek is a preview of what’s to come with CommunicationBreakdown.             One thing to look out for is the crowd. Jarrett says 160 riders showed up the day after The Oregonian ran a story on the Sandy Ridge Trail System back in March. He says its proximity to Portland helps fill the void in mountain-bike accessible trails in the city, so keep an eye out for urbanites.          If you’re interested in helping the project along, check out the Northwest Trail Alliance, a chapter of the IMBA, at nw-trail.org to see when the next trail work party is going down.