AMBC's Fall Fest fills Baker Creek with group rides, a Whip Off, five bands and a lit-up jump line Friday and Saturday
Free, and the trails are the point.
The Appalachian Mountain Bike Club calls Fall Fest its homecoming, and the 17th one lands this weekend at Baker Creek Preserve, the gateway to the Urban Wilderness at the end of James White Parkway. It is the club's biggest fundraiser of the year and it costs nothing to walk in: two days of guided rides for every speed, kids' events, a jump contest, a night-time jump exhibition, five bands on a main stage and a beer garden, with a bike raffle and a silent auction paying for the trails. Riders come from around the country for it. Most of the people on the lawn are from around here.
- When
- Fri Nov 6 · 5 – 10 PM · Sat Nov 7 · 8:30 AM – midnight
- Where
- Baker Creek Preserve and Urban Wilderness Gateway Park · 1516 Taylor Rd
- Cost
- Free · beer garden and food trucks on site · the bike raffle and silent auction are the fundraiser
- Friday
- Knoxville Utility Band 5:30 · pump track and jump line lit at 6:30 · Best Day Ever film 6:45 · Adventure Slideshows 8 · after-party at Climbing Roots 10
- Saturday rides
- Joy Ride and adaptive-bike demos 9:30 · social, advanced and vintage rides 10 · South Loop ride noon · bike parade 12:30 · kids' rides 1 · Whip Off at Devil's Racetrack 3 · strider race 4:45
- Saturday stage
- Mal Nombre noon · Mercy Lights 5 · Butcherbird 6 · Best Line Invitational 7 · Megaweed 8:15 · raffle drawing 9 · New Speedway Honkers 9:30 · silent disco 10:30
- Parking
- Free at the Baker Creek Bottoms overflow lot, South Doyle Middle School (after 5 Friday) and the Gateway Park lot under Sevierville Pike · free camping on site · stay out of the neighborhood streets
- Weather
- Friday partly sunny and 70, 45 overnight · Saturday mostly sunny and 66
Friday night
Friday is the easy half. The campground and beer garden open at five, the Knoxville Utility Band plays bluegrass on the main stage at 5:30, and at 6:30 the pump track and the jump line are lit for Friday Night Lights, which is exactly what it sounds like. At 6:45 Catalyst Sports shows the film Best Day Ever, and at eight nine women tell their biggest adventures in the PechaKucha format, twenty slides at twenty seconds each, under the stars. Last call is 9:30 and the after-party moves to Climbing Roots, the bouldering gym. A quarter of Friday's beer profits go to Catalyst Sports, which runs adaptive mountain biking.
Saturday
Saturday starts with coffee at 8:30 and rides at 9:30: the women's Joy Ride, adaptive-bike demos, then at ten a social ride, an advanced long ride with Tennessee Valley Bikes, a vintage mountain bike ride with Two Bikes and a shuttle to Devil's Racetrack. At noon Mal Nombre plays and Harper's leads the South Loop ride. The bike parade at 12:30 is for everyone, decorated or not; at one the kids ride with Trail Blazers and the jump line is women-only for an hour. The Whip Off at three is the crowd event: riders send the big jumps at the bottom of Devil's Racetrack and anyone can enter until 2:30 at the booth, men, women and groms. The strider race for the smallest riders is at 4:45.
After dark the main stage takes over: Mercy Lights at five, Butcherbird at six, and at seven the Best Line Invitational puts invited pro and local riders on the lit jump line with commentary and cash prizes. Megaweed plays at 8:15, the silent auction closes at 8:30, the bike raffle is drawn at nine, New Speedway Honkers close the stage at 9:30 and a silent disco runs until the festival turns in at midnight.
The practical part
Parking is free at the Baker Creek Bottoms overflow lot, at South Doyle Middle School after five on Friday, and at the Gateway Park lot under Sevierville Pike; the club asks everyone to stay off the neighborhood streets. Camping on the site is free and first come, with portable toilets and nothing else, no fires. Friday is partly sunny and 70 before dropping to 45 overnight, and Saturday is mostly sunny and 66, so the night events want a jacket.
