CHARLOTTE -- A local organization's hard work is paying off in a mountainous way. About 150 professional and amateur mountain bikers rolled into the U.S. National Whitewater Center for the River Ridge Mountain Bike Championship.

"Basically what they will do at the Whitewater Park is six 8.5-mile loops,” event organizer Neal Boyd.

Mountain bike trails were carved through the area long before the Whitewater Center was ever constructed. Neither the city, county, nor private businesses blazed the trails though. It was all thanks to people like Paul Bellin who belong to a nonprofit group called the Tar Heel Trail Blazers.

"We build and maintain most of the trails in the Charlotte area,” Bellin explained.

That's about 75 miles worth of wooded trails like the ones at the Whitewater Center. Bellin is the club’s vice president, and he said aside from occasional grant money, he and club members do all the trail planning, creation, and maintenance as volunteers.

"We rely on club membership and a couple other sister clubs like the Dirt Divas,” he explained.

The sport of mountain biking has grown so much in Charlotte that two more trails are in the works, and a couple additional miles will be added at the Whitewater Center, adding to the Trail Blazer club's list of pro bono responsibilities.

If you would like to learn more or even join the Tar Heel Trail Blazers, log on to www.tarheeltrailblazers.com.