Big Jumps & Smooth Tricks at Post Canyon’s Second Annual AirJam

Schumacher discovered mountain biking in Post Canyon after moving to Hood River for a wine internship in 2016. She now coaches School of Send’s freeride team, which focuses on getting big air and learning tricks on the very trails she learned on.

The organization was happy to support the event, said Courtney Cunningham, School of Send general manager, adding that it’s like the Super Bowl for the mountain biking community here.

“Our owner, Gary Paasch, is the trail adopter and builder for both Extended Play and Yogarobics. He’s been dreaming of an event like this for years,” Cunningham said. “So when Sydney [Schumacher] wanted to start doing them, we were fully on board and wanted to be as involved as possible. It’s now a reality and growing each year.”

The event focused on two jump lines in Post Canyon running parallel to each other. Extended Play is a small jumpline suited to a wide variety of skill levels, while Yogarobics’s larger lines were for experts only, with jumps ranging from 10 to 30 feet over mandatory gaps. Throughout the afternoon, around 40-50 participants hit the lines, to music from DJ Louie Clark.

“There’s plenty of experienced and awesome riders in town who are super talented, but just never had the platform to showcase their talent,” Schumacher said. “Giving the community an opportunity to showcase their jumping abilities in a public format was really cool.”

One such local rider was Casey La Rue, who noted she feels lucky to call Post Canyon her home trail system. This year’s AirJam was the her first jump event.

“With the excitement of the event came a lot of nerves, but all those nerves melted away within my first couple of laps,” La Rue said. “The jam brought together so many supportive and friendly faces. I’m happy to say I left that day with a full heart and a handful of new rad ladies to ride with.”

Riders voted for their fellow peers in three co-ed categories to win: Best Trick, Rider’s Choice and Best Whip, which is when a rider turns the bike sideways while in the air.

“I had a lot of people come up to me specifically after the jam just exuding excitement, which is pretty cool. Even from a spectator standpoint, I feel like it got a lot of people fired up on even wanting to pursue this style of riding,” Schumacher said. “Some kids told me that was the best day of their life… so far at least!”

Schumacher said that to create an inclusive event for the community, no entry fee or official invite was needed.

“This is kind of unique because a lot of jump jam events are invitational only, so it was fun to just have it open to the public,” she said.

Sponsors included Mountain View Cycles, Intense Cycles, Smith Optics, Lolo Racks, Cascade Armory and SRAM. The companies donated contest prizes and raffle swag, raising funding for Hood River Area Trail Stewards, an organization dedicated to building and maintaining trails in Post Canyon.

Schumacher expressed the sponsors were a key aspect to the event. “This is a grassroots event without a budget, and having them all on board and believing in a similar like-minded thing helped make the whole event happen,” she said.

Rafe Lehner, owner and operator of Mountain View Cycles, said he felt this event would help build the local cycling community.

“I love this event because it’s an open format, spectator-friendly event,” Lehner said. “There was such great energy from everyone at the event and every person I talked to was so excited to be there. That vibe was so contagious and such a great feeling.”