TCMBA History

From “The Neverending Story of TCMBA,” by Edley Jones (2017)


As so many great ideas are, TCMBA was born out of frustration. Frustration with having no trails to call our own. When I started mountain biking and began reading the magazines about all the wonderful trails systems and clubs around the country, I knew it was time to try to organize a club to support a legitimate trail system in the Jackson metro area.  

Mississippi trails

As a backdrop, the trails around the Jackson metro area consisted of a few miles of trails mostly on public land off Daniel Lake Boulevard, and the illegal trails known affectionately as “Little Colorado” off Highway 25 in Rankin County on public lands managed by the school board.  

Little Colorado was created originally (and without approval) by motocross rides. As these guys had a throttle, they didn’t care too much about steep uphill climbs or erosion problems, so learning to ride a mountain bike there was brutal.  

When the mountain biking scene started to unofficially take over Little Colorado, they became more rideable, but were pretty beat up from years of hard motocross. Still, it was a start.

As I said, Little Colorado was on public lands governed by the Rankin County School Board. I knew that these lands could be leased, but also that the leasing was expensive. As I happened to be an attorney and knew the attorney who represented the school board, I started a conversation about forming a club to have legal access to the trails.  

Fortuitously, there had been 4-wheelers starting to ride in the area, and the school board was getting continuous complaints about the noise. Strangely, it became our opportunity. We put together an agreement that TCMBA would have a “license” to use the trails in exchange for policing the trails and keeping 4-wheelers off of them.

With that tentative agreement in my back pocket, I began the effort to organize the club. So, I posted signs on the trails stating that we would have legal access if we were able to organize a club. But, there would be dues.

Now, mountain bikers back then tended to relish the idea of being quasi-outlaws and free spirits.  Trust me when I say that the idea of joining a club and paying to do what was being done for free did not sit well. Fortunately, I became friends with a core group, and that led to our ability to organize the club. If not for the support of David Donald, Kenny Rigby, John Frye, John Emling, Mike and Renee Coleman and Martin Tate, the club would not have gotten off the ground.

mountain biking benefits

With a core group of around 25 members, TCMBA took its first baby step towards becoming a legitimate club. It entered into the license with the school board, and all was good. For about 3 years.  

Remember my statement that this was public lands? Well, that meant the Forestry Commission could remove the timber from the land whenever it wanted to. And, that’s what happened. And, that was the end of Little Colorado. The devastation was so extreme, that to visit afterwards would literally bring a tear to the eye.

So, now TCMBA was a club, or a tribe, without a homeland. I cannot begin to count the man hours of effort, all fruitless, to find land we could afford and suitable for trails in the tri-county area.  

The initial board of David Donald, Kenny Rigby and Martin Tate, and later Renee Coleman, spent months reaching out to public and private landowners, but to no avail. Things were looking bleak when at a board meeting we decided to meet with Ridgeland Mayor Gene McGee, a steadfast supporter of cycling, to see if he had any ideas. He had just put together the Multipurpose Trail along the Natchez Trace, and even though we didn’t have any expectation the City would have any land, we thought he might have some idea we hadn’t considered.

So, David and I went to see the Mayor. Things looked bleak, at first.  While the Mayor was very sympathetic to our plight, he initially said he didn’t have any new ideas. Then, as David and I were about to thank him for his time and drag our sad-sack selves out of his office, (and I’ll never forget this moment) the Mayor looked up and said, “Now, decades ago the City bought some land next to the county dump for us to put trash and debris on, but we never did it. You can go look at it, if you want.”

If. You. Want. Well, hell yeah, we want!

Anyone who has been to the trails knows how there is now a long driveway and uphill entrance to get to the parking lot.  Well, that was all thick scrub brush back then, and the Mayor warned that there is no easy way to get to the property. And, he was right. It took Kenny and David several attempts to get to the area we know as the parking lot, as there was no clear path, and we wanted to make sure we weren’t trespassing.

I recall the day they finally made it onto the property. David called me afterwards, and said in his cautious way, that the land looked pretty good and it would probably work for trails. I still tease him about his caution.

biking in Mississippi

After we told the Mayor we would like to use the property, there was the legal part of the process to consider. He had to present the idea to the City Counsel for a vote.  And, here’s where we received a payoff for being a legally organized club with an agreement with Rankin County. We were able to present the club's history of being a legal entity that had performed its agreement, including timely payments and insurance for liability issues, and not just some guys with bikes.  Because of that history, TCMBA was accepted as a club the City was comfortable to do business with, and thus we entered into an agreement to use the land. Afterwards, I asked the Mayor if he had any ideas for naming the trails. Well, we thought his idea was perfect, and so, The Ridgeland Trails were born.

Kenny was the trail boss and, after a great deal of hiking and legwork, laid out a perimeter trail.  We called for a workday, the first of many, and began to cut trail. The perimeter trail was a tough ride, and the club wasn’t initially jumping for joy over the trail because it was mostly up or down, and not much in the way of cruising, fast trail. But, it was followed by other internal trails, and over time, with new board members Ty Hardy and Jeremy Polk, serious progress was made.  

“The more trails we created, the more the members realized the potential of the land.”

The more trails we created, the more the members realized the potential of the land. After six years of leading the club, it was time for a change of leadership. First Ty, then Jeremy, and these guys took the trails to the next level. A monument to Ty’s efforts to make this a great trail system can be found in the Tree Bridge. He and Sallie Dog were out there all the time building that thing from a fallen tree, and it was so cool. Now closed, but if you peek over there, you can still see bits of it.

Jeremy began the efforts to polish the trails and bring them up the standards for hosting a race.  Then, a second Jeremy appeared, and with him, improvements at an ever-increasing pace.  

And there followed a succession of devoted members and leaders … Through this continual commitment of members of the club, The Ridgeland Trails have become awesome. It’s amazing what can grow from a bit of frustration …

And on a personal note, after looking back over the years of all the effort and man hours from so many members, I am filled with pride as to what we built. TCMBA. What a vibe, what a spirit. You can become a part of it, too!  

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