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Blue Ridge Adventures was officially formed in 1998 by Todd Branham as a bicycle guide and race promotion company. It has grown into a full force race promotion company with a committed staff.
Todd Branham
Todd Branham grew up in Columbia, SC and started racing bikes in his early 20s. He soon secured a job at one of Columbia's best bike shops, Outspokin'. It is here that he cultivated his love of racing. He has raced all over the country in various race formats and can disect a race right down to its primary formula. He worked and raced for Outspokin' while attending The University of South Carolina where he double majored in Marketing and Management. Directing races evolved as planned group rides with friends that got larger and more elaborate and soon Blue Ridge Adventures was born. After graduation, he moved from the sandhills to the big hills of Western North Carolina where Blue Ridge Adventures operated as a mountain bike guide service in Pisgah National Forest as well as promoter of mountain bike and running events in the area. At one point, Blue Ridge Adventures was promoting 18 races a year! Races became so successful, in fact, that the guide service is no longer operational. Now, Blue Ridge Adventures promotes three primary races - The Off Road Assault on Mt. Mitchell, The Pisgah Mountain Bike Stage Race and the Swank 65. In 2009, Blue Ridge Adventures began extending its timing services to other friends that promote races. Todd's role as Race Director includes the responsibilities of course design, race logistics, sponsorship relations, and competitor relations.
Working with the Blue Ridge Bike Club helped to develop his love of trailbuilding. From there his work was noticed by the trail company Long Cane Trails and he was invited to come build trail with them on a big project at the Forks Area Trail System, referred to as "F.A.T.S." Todd's commitment and dedication was appreciated and he was soon offered a partnership with Long Cane Trails. He has since helped the company expand the breadth of their work. He has worked on trails in South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Oregon, and Guatemala. As part of the dedication to maintaining trails in his beloved Pisgah National Forest, Todd often leads out trailwork days with local SORBA chapter, Pisgah Area Sorba, to directly benefit the trails he regularly uses.
After a 1st place finish at the 2006 National in the Super D genre, Todd decided to pursue the national circuit in 2007. Since then, he has accumulated a host of National titles to accompany his already vast bike medal/karate trophy collection.
●2007 National Mountain Bike Series Super D Champion
●2008 National Mountain Bike Series Super D and Expert XC Champion
●2009 Kenda Cup East Expert XC Champion, 2nd Unification Cup XC
Heather Wright
Heather Wright got started with Blue Ridge Adventures back in 2006 at the ORAMM. Since then, she has thrown herself into the race world full force and helps to plan the events all year long. She implemented a computer timing system, a website and brings lots of technical and organizational skills to the job. Over the years, her involvement in the company has grown to encompass a lot of responsibility and in 2011, she formed Blue Ridge Event Productions to facilitate extending these race services to other organizations interested in hosting sporting events. Heather first got into mountain bikes back in 2001 as cross training for rock climbing while living in her hometown of Augusta, GA. A few years later she moved to North Carolina and her passion soon shifted to bikes. She still enjoys climbing, trail running, swimming and snowshoeing in her off time.
