Gorham Spooky Ride + East Windham Celebration This Weekend
Plus more new trails!<!–
Hey team,
It’s October, just about peak leaf season here in Greater Portland, and your fearless volunteers here at GPNEMBA still got the pedal stuck to the floor when it comes to spinning up group rides and cranking out trail projects. A bunch of exciting updates below. Don’t forget, we still got plenty of riding left to do this season. If you need a friendly reminder of how rad this time of year is to ride in this special part of the world, the folks at Patagonia just re-shared a story I wrote for them a few years back about the “full-scale sensory rebellion” that is fall riding in New England.
Enjoy, and enjoy us for the many events still incoming from your pals at Greater Portland NEMBA.
Ryan Dunfee
Volunteer President
Greater Portland NEMBA
GPNEMBA Fall Trail Projects
Gorham: work is nearly complete on the totally revamped jump lines at the Lavoie Bike Park. Max Southam from Mt. Abram Trail Crew had us bring in dump truck after dump truck of dirt to make for beginner, intermediate, and advanced jump lines that truly live up to our world-class aspirations. Volunteers have been out hand packing the jumps and we hope to open them soon!
Falmouth: GPNEMBA has partnered with Falmouth Land Trust and the Town of Falmouth on our first professional trail planning project to a brand-new trails master plan for Blackstrap & North Falmouth Community Forest. Last week, the team at Outdoor Sport Institute began fieldwork to evaluate every mile of trail at both properties and develop a trail master plan that will solve for long-term sustainability, reduce user conflicts, and provide the world-class experiences for all users we’ve long believed these properties could host. Join us Wednesday, November 5th at the Falmouth Town Hall from 6:00-8:00 for an Open House where, in as little as 10 minutes, you can pass through interactive kiosks and chat with the project team to provide your feedback on what you want the future of these trail networks to look like!
Portland: work continues on the Barred Behavior XC trail in Fore River Sanctuary. We hope to open the first segment of this trail in the next two weeks and complete this project by the end of the season.
October & November Events
We’re closing in on nearly 60 (SIXTY!) group rides and events organized and led this 2026 riding season — incredible! And there’s still loads to come, check out these great fall MTB events in the area:
Saturday October 17th: Gorham Spooky Group Ride at Weeks/Moodys. Part of the Go Outside Gorham festival, GPNEMBA will be leading Halloween-themed group rides from the Weeks/Moody’s parking lot, followed by a special screening of the Maine Film Festival in Lavoie Bike Park with pizza and beer on tap!
Sunday October 18th:Windham Community Forest Ride & BBQ. Join GPNEMBA, Allspeed & Brickyard Hollow to celebrate the new name for the combined conservation lands formerly known as the East Windham Conservation Area and Lowell Preserve — Windham Community Forest! Ride will start at 3:00 from the Lowell Trailhead (now the “Lowell Farm Trailhead”), with BBQ provided by Allspeed Cyclery to follow.
Saturday, October 24th: Rescheduled Foundation Brewing Bikes & BBQ. Rides will leave from Foundation in Portland around 10:30, exploring Portland-area trails with an intermediate/advanced and beginner group ride, meeting back at the brewery by 12:30 for food, drinks and raffles supporting GPNEMBA’s work.
(Also) Saturday, October 24th: 4th Annual Libby Jump Jam. Always a hoot. Lap Libby Chill and Libby Thrills with a huge squad of pals from the community who always come out to enjoy the biggest public jumps in Maine. Bring some grillables for the BBQ. Starts at noon, park at the school lot and ride up the trails to join.
Wednesday, November 5th: Blackstrap Trail Planning Open House. Details above. Provide your input and dreams for the future of trails at Blackstrap & N. Falmouth Community Forest!
TBD, December: 2026 GPNEMBA End of Season Social (details to come)
