When Richard Mull first bought more than 1700 acres of land in North Carolina he didn't realize at the time what he was sitting on. One day he was talking to his sons, at the time ages 8 and 10, about how far and wide he could ride his dirt bike when he was their age. In essence, he could ride just about anywhere - back then. One of his sons remarked how lucky Richard was that he had all these places to ride and you didn't have to load everything into a truck or trailer and drive a long distance just to ride a dirt bike.
Richard didn't really think about it at the time but his new piece of land turned out to be the perfect place for families to make memories.
Club Name: Brushy Mountain Motor Sports Park
Year Founded: 2002
Who Founded: Richard Mull
Home city: Taylorsville, NC
Website: BMMSPark.com
Club Email: richardmull@embarqmail.com
Member dues:
- Individual $250.00 for 12 months
- Family of four $425 for 12 months and $50.00 per additional child for 12 months
- Side by side Individual membership is $350 for 12 months
- Side by side family membership is $500
- Congratulations on your 10 year anniversary - how were you able to acquire the land for off-road riding purposes?
I had recently bought a 50 acre piece of land and it had creeks, a mile of river frontage, miles and miles of trails, swimming holes and campsites. Once word got out that I had this great piece of dirt bike and ATV riding property I soon had more "new" friends with toys than I had ever known before.
After about 6 months I had a pretty good idea of the public trail riding system in North Carolina. At the time the state only had four National Parks that allowed motorized recreation with a total combined trail mileage of 115 miles. At this time - 1999 to 2000 - the National Off Highway Vehicle Council's study said that North Carolina had somewhere around 450,000 ATVs and around 150,000 off road bikes. If you do the math this shows slightly over 5,000 riders for each mile of trail listed for riding at the four National Parks. This did not take into consideration the private trail riding facilities in North Carolina but at that time there were only a small handful of riding parks and most were just Motocross tracks.
I knew then that I had to do something to change this problem for the better.
- A sports park for dirt bikes and ATVs is a great idea - this something new or a growing trend across the country?
It seems to be a growing trend but too many people think this is a "get rich quick" plan. If anyone thinks that all you need to do is buy a piece of property and call it an Off Road Park then they have made a great mistake in my opinion. Brushy Mountain was one of the first OHV Parks to open in North Carolina that was being done as a large scale project.
Since we opened in 2002 there have been many places that have opened and closed in the 11 years we have been open. Many only lasted a couple of years or less. If money is your only reason for doing this then you are destined to fail. Your love of the sport must be your main reason or you will give up and close down due to the extremely hard work and financial drain this can put you into.
Even though we are only open to the public three days a week we are at the Park Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday doing all the things necessary to make riding at Brushy one of the safest and most fun places to ride in the South East. It just kills us when people ask "What are your real jobs when you aren't out here collecting money on the weekends."
- Is the concept similar to mountain ski runs?
Only when you consider grading the trails on their degree of difficulty.
- How many different trail routes are there and how many miles in total trails in the Brushy Mountain Motor Sports Park?
We currently have 77.5 miles of trails open with plans for a total trail mileage of 100.5.
- What's your process of maintaining all these trails?
When they show signs of wear we repair them ASAP. Otherwise we groom the entire trail system twice a year. We clean out the sedimentation traps and place soil back onto the trails to fill in ruts, cover roots and embedded rocks. We ride the trails weekly to clear them of any fallen branches, limbs and fallen dead trees. We'll reshape the trails to drain water quickly and prevent them from getting water logged and saturated. We also cut back the vines, trees and weeds that grow out into the trails that could possibly obscure a rider's vision or cause them to lose control, among other maintenance necessities.
- Do you ever host racing events?
We host one to two races a year for the North Carolina Hare Scrambles Association but we plan on having a couple Iron Man Races in the near future.
- How much room is there for expansion and what plans do you have, if any, for that purpose?
We have an additional 153 acres we are turning into bike only black diamond single track and it will increase our single track to over 40 miles and then another 350+ acres that will be dual use trails. It will take a couple of years to finish the remainder of these trails.
- What should people know before they go?
Please go to the Brushy website to read the rules and regulations and to also learn what is required before minor children can ride at Brushy Mountain.
