Dan Olmstead, Mountain Biking Visionary

Andy Olmstead (L) and his Father Dan, mountain biking near Bowman Lake @1989.

1937- 1993

Dan and his wife Mickey bought Auburn Bike Works store in 1979 and worked at the store  until he passed away in 1993. In 1993 Olmstead’s idea of a mountain bike race on the Knickerbocker Trail in Cool materialized and the Cool Mountain Bike Race was born. In honor of Olmstead’s work for the trail systems, the approximately 10-mile multi-use trail in Cool behind the fire station is now called the Olmstead Loop.

Dan Olmstead had an avid love and respect for the outdoors.  He was involved as an advocate for off-road bikers as mountain bikes became popular. He worked tirelessly with other trail users and with local Rangers like Greg Wells (retired) to gain access to trails in the American River Canyon for bicycles. As mountain biking became popular throughout the Auburn State Recreation Area, he combined his love of nature with his dream of creating harmony on the trails between hikers, runners, equestrians and the emerging sport of mountain biking.

He participated in a horse pack trip so he could better understand trail use from the equestrian’s perspective. He helped to organize work parties to improve trails inviting all groups to participate.

In 1993 Olmstead’s idea of a mountain bike race on the Knickerbocker Trail in Cool materialized and the Cool Mountain Bike Race was born. Sadly he passed away from cancer the day before that first Cool Mountain Bike Race was held. The Cool Mountain Bike Race continued to be held annually for 17 years, managed by Lisa Kodl who bought Auburn Bike Works from Mickey Olmstead in 1999.  The event attracted more than 400 participants each year and originally benefited trail building and maintenance projects in the ASRA. By 1996, permitting became an issue and the event has had several owners including Jim Northey (Northlander Events, Global Biorhythms Events), Duke of Atown Bikes, and Dan Tebbs of Victory Velo. The most recent event was held in 2017.

Another very popular event held on the Olmstead Loop for many years was the Coolest 24-Hour Mountain Bike Race Against Cancer that benefitted local cancer research organizations.

In honor of Dan Olmstead’s work for the trail systems, the approximately 10-mile multi-use trail in Cool behind the fire station is now called the Olmstead Loop.

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Auburn State Recreation Area; U.S. Highway 49 at the town of Cool, El Dorado County

by Robert H. Sydnor, M-LBHA, M-AERC

A native Californian, Dan Olmstead was born in 1937 and died prematurely of cancer in 1993 at age 56. But in his life, he accomplished a splendid legacy of lasting value: the Olmstead Loop Trail.

From: https://golatintos.blogspot.com/2018/10/named-for-mountain-biker-dan-olmstead.html

Dan Olmstead purchased the Auburn Bike & Hike Shop in 1979 and was a pioneer converting road bikes to mountain bikes. Dan was also a horseman and earnestly wanted harmony on the trails with horsemen, hikers, and bikers. In the early days of the newly-formed Auburn State Recreation Area, Dan Omstead realized that the interconnected ranch roads and old mining trails west of Cool would form a natural loop on the elevated plateau of western Knickerbocker Creek. It took years of advocacy within the state park system to finally establish this looped trail system. At his death in 1993, the trail loop was named as a fitting memorial to Dan Olmstead. So the place-name for the trail was not for a historic miner or pioneer from the Gold Rush Era; instead, Dan Olmstead was an early advocate for trails in the El Dorado and Placer Counties. Dan Olmstead realized that bikers and horsemen needed separate parking lots to minimize predicaments, and this successful insight is now manifest at Cool.

Dan Olmstead had an avid love and respect for the outdoors. Dan with his wife, Mickey, and son, Andy, owned and operated the Auburn Bike & Hike Shop. As mountain biking became popular throughout the Auburn State Recreation Area, he combined his love of nature with his dream of creating harmony on the trails between hikers, equestrians and the emerging sport of mountain biking.

He participated in a horse pack trip so he could better understand trail use from the equestrian’s perspective. He helped to organize work parties to improve trails inviting all groups to participate. He passed away from cancer the day before the first Cool Mountain Bike Race – a race that continued in popularity over 20 years after his death. The race takes place on the Olmstead Loop, the Knickerbocker Area trail, named in his honor.

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The 24th Cool Mountain Bike Race took place on the Olmstead Loop in March 2017 [3].

From: https://trailingahead.blogspot.com/2018/10/olmstead-loop-trail.html

The Auburn State Recreation Area (ASRA) with the Olmstead Loop Trail is a trail in El Dorado County, California.

The Olmstead Loop is a nine-mile-long round-trip trail through the Sierra foothills between Highway 49 and the North Fork American River west of the community of Cool. The trail was named in 1993 for outdoor enthusiast and mountain biker Dan Olmstead, who purchased  and operated the Auuburn Bike & Hike Shop (later renaming it the Auburn Bike Works).

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https://www.canyonkeepers.org/tgolm.pdf

Did You Know? –

The Olmstead Loop Trail, was formerly known as the Knickerbocker Trail. It was named for Dan Olmstead in 1993. Olmstead was a local, avid mountain biker and hiker. He dedicated himself to creating harmony between hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians, and to multi-use of trails in this area. He also worked tirelessly at Auburn Bike Works where he advised cyclists about the trails and worked to convert road bikes to mountain bikes.

Below is Andy Olmstead competing in the Cool Mountain Bike Race.