When Dawn Hummel heard a mountain bike outfitter and tour guide had opened a shop across the highway from her Dillsboro bed and breakfast, she wasted no time spreading the word.

She emailed Dirt Addiction’s Web site to a cousin in Atlanta, who quickly replied with a raving review of the site and a pledge to circulate news of the tour company to his mountain bike buddies in Atlanta.

“I hope this takes off like a rocket,” Hummel said between mouthfuls of barbeque at Dirt Addictions grand opening last Friday (March 3.) “I think it is going to be a great addition to the town.”

Dirt Addictions was launched by Timm and Alli Muth, who moved to Dillsboro 18 months ago with the dream of starting a mountain bike touring company.

“I tell people that mountain biking around here is equivalent to skiing in Colorado. It’s an incredible resource,” Timm said. “But it’s not been realized. There needed to be someone to take them out and show them a good time.”

Ben Coffey, head mechanic at the Nantahala Outdoor Center bike shop and rental desk, gets calls all summer from groups planning mountain bike trips who are looking for a guide.

“I usually just tell them you can come in and we’ll give you some maps and you can go ride by yourself,” said Coffey. But riding with maps is less than ideal.

“Personally, I don’t like riding with a map. You don’t know if you are lost and you’re constantly stopping at every trail junction wondering whether that’s the one you are supposed to take. And then you wonder if you missed the turn and should back track,” Coffey said. “Next thing you know it’s closing time and the rental bikes aren’t back yet.”

But until now, he didn’t know who to refer these groups to. Dirt Addictions will be an official partner of NOC. When requests for guides come in, NOC will contract Dirt Addictions to take the group out.

“It’s a perfect fit for both of us,” Timm said. “People could go whitewater paddling one day and mountain bike the next.”

Timm is the author of the Falcon Guide to Mountain Biking in North Carolina. A mud stained, dog-eared copy can be found kicking around on the floorboard of most avid mountain bikers’ vehicles.

“The author of that is a good person to have in your community,” said Mike Wright, a mountain biker from Cary who came up to Dillsboro for the grand opening. “He’s fairly famous in the biking community.”

Julie Spiro, the executive director of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce, is thrilled with the presence.

“I think it will open up a new venue of tourism, something that has previously been untapped,” Spiro said. For just $25 a day, Dirt Addictions rents mountain bikes, which is great for beginners who don’t know if they will like it and for skilled bikers who just don’t want to haul their bikes on vacation, Spiro said.

“I think it would help tourists stay longer, spend more and have fun,” Spiro said.

Timm’s favorite analogy compares the mountain bike potential to the whitewater industry of 30 years ago. The vision of one mom-and-pop rafting company put WNC on the international map of whitewater destinations. That company, Nantahala Outdoor Center, is now one of the largest employers in the region and a major economic engine.

Muth’s shop is on U.S. 441 outside Dillsboro, a strategic location by the Tuckasegee River with excellent visibility and a straight shot up from Atlanta. Go to Tsali, the most popular mountain biking destination in the region, and two-thirds of the vehicle sport Georgia plates any given weekend. But going to Tsali all the time gets old, Timm said.

Some people might just need maps. Timm has stacks of hand-drawn renderings of area trails he gives out for free at the shop — all within a one-hour radius.

“When we were deciding where to move, we realized Sylva and Dillsboro were in the geographic center of this mountain biking Mecca,” Timm said.

Timm’s wife, Alli, 44, said she feels like they are hitting the ground running thanks to community support.

“When we first moved here it was like ‘OK we need to do this now.’ But we had to slow down a little bit,” Alli said. “It’s made the experience so much richer because of all the people who have come together around us.”

Timm and Alli went through an 8-week entrepreneur course with Mountain Micro Enterprise.

“It really taught Timm and I how to set up a proper business plan. We met all small businesses, people we could relate to,” Alli said.