Hello, it’s me, Karl Rosengarth, IMBA member #784, up here on the soapbox. Just the other day I received the following great news from IMBA:

SRAM Steps Up to Support IMBA Trailbuilding Fund

For Immediate Release
03-03-08
Contact: Mark Eller, IMBA Communications Director
markeller@imba.com
303-545-9011

SRAM president Stan Day has announced a new initiative directed toward IMBA’s Trailbuilding Fund. SRAM will contribute $25,000 in 2008, beyond their annual dues, to support IMBA’s advocacy and trailbuilding efforts.

A leading manufacturer of bicycle components, SRAM is a longtime Above and Beyond-level IMBA supporter. “This outstanding level of commitment will allow IMBA to further leverage public and private funds for new trails,” said Rich Cook, IMBA’s development director. Trail Solutions, IMBA’s professional trail design and trailbuilding arm, currently has 32 projects in 26 states planned for 2008. “The additional support will go a long way toward supporting Trail Solutions projects, and through them IMBA’s affiliated clubs,” said Cook.

Day’s decision was inspired in part by Trek president John Burke’s One World Two Wheels initiative to support IMBA, and by Burke’s recent speech on bicycle advocacy at the Bicycle Leadership Conference. “It’s clear that the path to growing mountain biking is through advocacy, preservation and trailbuilding,” said Day. “IMBA has been effective at preserving great trails and is continuing to build new trails to bring more riders to the sport. SRAM wants to support those efforts.”

IMBA’s Trailbuilding Fund is used to enable every aspect of a trail project, from initial scoping and design, to getting volunteer groups involved and actual construction and signage. The fund is driven by member donations, with gifts from corporate partners used to leverage partnerships with agencies such as the National Park Service, the Forest Service and local governments. Additionally, SRAM’s support will be used to further trail projects at five IMBA Ride Center locations. Ride Centers are model trail systems that form the apex of IMBA’s strategy to bring new riders to the sport and showcase the state of the art in sustainable trail design and mountain biking experience.

For more information on supporting IMBA, contact development director Rich Cook.

On behalf of all mountain bikers who roll up sleeves, pick up a Pulaski and drip their sweat into their local trails, I offer a heartfelt: THANK YOU SRAM! This sort of generosity shall not go unrecognized, as long as I’ve got the Dirt Rag Blog at my fingertips.

In fact, thank you to all the companies who support IMBA, especially those at the Above and Beyond level. I encourage readers to check the list of IMBA Corporate Sponsors and take a moment to check if your favorite brands are represented. If so, use the provided web links to send them a thank you note. If not, allow me to suggest sending a note encouraging them to support IMBA.

In the meantime, I’ll keep on rolling up my sleeves and digging in the dirt. I hope you’ll join me.

For those not paying attention, 650B is a tire size between the two standards out there now; 26 and 29″. Quick history-650B is a French wheel size,often used on older touring and camping bikes. It never completely disappeared, with contingents in France and the US continuing to use and talk about the wheel size (see Rivendell, here, and many small builders).

Kirk Pacenti is the man behind the mountain bike application that is causing a buzz in the industry. He sees this as a great in between size for applications where 26″ is too small and 29″ is too big. There are
a few companies with 650B bike plans for 2009, but almost all are hardtails. The only exception I know of is the Ventana El Bastardo, shown at NAHBS this year. Personally I think the best application for this wheel size is full suspension, 5″ and over. So with help from quite a few companies we now have all the parts needed to build ourselves an full suspension bike to see if that theory holds water.

Some highlights of the build:

Frame- Santa Cruz Heckler
Shock-Rock Shox Pearl 3.3 travel limited by Rock Shox
Fork- White Brothers Fluid 135 650B specific with 20mm axle. Currently using a Fox Float 130 RLC 2006, shortened to 120 travel to prevent crown-tire contact. White Brothers fork should be here soon.
Tires-Pacenti Neo-Motos
Rims-Velocity Blunt
Hubs-Hope Pro II with 9MM QR and 20mm thru-axle

Also in the news, we just received pre-production samples of a new race/hardpack tire from Pacenti, the Quasi-moto. Manufactured by Panaracer the Quasi uses the same casing as the bigger Neo-moto(2.3 versus 2.0). Combined with No-Tubes lightweight 650B rim, 650B now as a viable XC race set-up.

Today over at NameWire — a corporate branding company — they’re discussing a new South African mountain bike called the “Silverback.”

A Silverback is an adult male gorilla. This got them thinking about other bikes named after animals, but the only one additional ones they came up with were Kestrel (bought last fall by Fuji, who are clearly beefing up their American lines) and Mongoose.

I can’t think of any off hand, either. Would Yeti count?

But it got me thinking about Marianne Moore, the New York poet who was asked to propose some names for the Ford automobile that eventually became the Edsel. Among the names she penned? Resilient Bullet, Utopian Turtletop, Pastelogram, Mongoose Civique, Andante con Moto, and the Varsity Stroke 3. Any of those would make fine monikers for a bike, doncha think? Watch out, Big Dummy and Karate Monkey!

Resilient Bullet = carbon road racer

Utopian Turtletop = steel commuter with fenders and matching helmet

Pastelogram = recumbent tandem

Mongoose Civique = BMX cruiser with a hatchback saddle-bag

Andante con Moto = kids bike with card in spokes

Varsity Stroke 3 = Schwinn fixie conversion

One of the first things you see as you walk through Ray’s Indoor MTB Park doors are the words, If You Build It, They Will Come formed in lengths of chain on a rough piece of plywood. I think Ray’s borrowed philosophy can apply to Dirt Rag’s First Annual Women’s Weekend at Ray’s (Feb. 22-24th). It’s important to note that without Ray, this event would not have happened. He built it and we came.

Nearly forty amateur and eight professional women riders participated in the Weekend. They came from as far away as the West Coast and stayed as long as they could. We ranked from the novice beginner to the top-of-the-class professionals. The youngest rider was around fifteen years of age and the oldest around fifty. Not one attendee would be swayed from their goal of riding by the tempting KISS Convention at the Holiday Inn nearby.

Friday, Ray had opened the doors early for the girls and once everyone had trickled in, Karen proceeded to officially start the Weekend with an introduction to the pros and a raffle. Many of these professional women riders came to support this venture and lend a hand on their own dime. All were eager to spread their love and knowledge of mountain biking with other women.

- Jill Kintner, longstanding champion of mountaincross and BMX schooled us on the pump track

- Kathy Pruitt, 2007 downhill National Champion showed us how to handle the drops with style

- Sue Haywood, queen of cross country, not only gave good advice, but traded lycra for jeans the second day

- Gale Dahlager, DH pro who was instrumental in getting this weekend together

- Emily Johnston, BlkMrkt jumper and jammer, inspired us to go higher (she’s also a coach at the Dirt Series camps)

- Lisa Myklak, another BlkMrkt styler and profiler, taught us how to handle the steep and tight corners

- Tammy Donahugh – IMBA’s Operations Manager, freerider and jumping aficionado

- Nina Buitrago, a top female BMX freestyle thrower-downer and Ray’s employee who showed us how to get the most from her home turf

Thanks also goes to Elizabeth Klevens, Dirt Rag’s first subscriber and fantastic rider, and Mindy Kuth from IMBA, part of the nucleus for Women’s Weekend.

A nod must also go to our sponsors who were beyond generous in support for this maiden (pardon the pun) venture. Both GT and Trek brought a stable of demo bikes, and Trek’s Chris Garrison even joined in a few sessions. For the raffle we gave away goodies from SRAM, Giro, Fire Eye, Fox, GT, and Dirty Girls. Since this was officially a World Tour stop, WTB tires were offered as a Dirt Rag premium for subscribers.

Ray’s staff went above and beyond the call of duty (especially since Ray himself was getting over a nasty illness and couldn’t stay for Friday’s fun). They helped out with anything we needed and got to ride some too. Nina herself took a few riders under wing. Lindsey Prosky, another of Ray’s employees and one of the youngest riders I’ve met, was also on hand to lend advice.

Friday’s afternoon clinics were ideal with small groups teaming up with the pros to learn basics, jumping back flips, wheelies, bunny hops, you name it. As one exhausted participant remarked, it’s hard to take a break when there was so much knowledge to soak up. It was great to be able to quiz the pros on approach and technique and glean valuable advice from their years of experience.

Friday evening’s entertainment was provided by Uncle Scratch’s Gospel Revival, which consisted of Brother Ed (drums and megaphone) and Brother Ant (guitar and vox) and a picture of Jesus. Pabst provided the free social lubricant.

Saturday was one of the busiest days at Ray’s, but there were still plenty of chances to seek advice from the pros. This was a great opportunity to form friendships and discover some true die-hard mountain biking souls.

We’ve already got the weekend after President’s Day penciled in at Ray’s to do it again next year, and have been talking about some ideas to make it even better. Women’s jump jam, anyone?

Wanna see what ya missed? Check out these photo galleries:

Dirt Rag’s Gallery

bikemonkey.smugmug.com

Jill Kintner’s website

Bob Myers, Territory Manager for Trek - blog

Ahh, I know much of the riding world here in the Northeast is waiting for, well, actually chomping at the bit for dirt. Dry dirt. Under the wheels, hanging in the air, the sweet moist smell of spring. With each warming day I shake my head a little with dread, however. I like snow and I want more, a lot more. I am still not ready to give up skiing. Nordic skiing that is.

I am a restless soul with a lot of interests. One activity that I pursue is Skating. No, not with the little metal blade on white boot type — Nordic skiing, or XC as many people call it. Skating is a racing form of XC skiing where your propulsion is from a side to side lateral stride, just like you see on the Olympics. I love it, I love the speed and sweat from it, I love the whole culture of it. I routinely drive long distances to visit Nordic centers where the culture is alive and kicking to get my fix.

This past weekend I headed up to Lapland Lake crross country ski center (www.laplandlake.com) for a pounding winter storm as they got over 2 feet of beautiful powder in a few days. When it is around, it is all around and it is glorious. It is such a beautiful thing when it snows that much, and in a place where it remains through the winter, the world is just right. Time sort of just stops, it is still and still the morning after the storm, and your blood pressure rises as you adrenal glands notch it up. At an XC resort the Nordic culture is nurtured and vibrant, and the parallels to the riding culture are numerous. The basis of it is being healthy, constantly pushing and honing your physical abilities, and cruising through the trees under your own power. Flying is more like it, though — it is nearly silent, and when your glide is on you just fly through the woods on ribbons of smoothly groomed white rails with a lift in your heart and a lilt in your voice. Smooth, powerful, graceful… And, let’s face it — there is always that guy up the trail that you just have to reel in and pass. Gliding around on perfectly groomed trails in the brilliant sunshine on skis is like no other. While it is similar to riding, the pace is slower. You are in tune with the crisp wintry snow smell, the scent of pines and the moisture in the air from the snow. There is that intimate relationship between you and the weather and somehow you feel closer to it as you’re much more dependent on it for conditions. And when you get the perfect conditions, it is purely a state of bliss.

Folks, late winter is upon us and it is traditionally the snowiest time in the Northeast. XC skiing is a fleeting thing as winter gives way to spring, and spring skiing is the ultimate. Make tracks before your opportunity is gone. You won’t be disappointed.

Up in Alaska, they run a winter race called the Litte Su. It’s not nearly as ambitious as, say, the Iditarod. But the 31K backcountry trek is unique in that you can race it apparently any way you please — with dog sleds, skis, snowshoes, bikes. Or maybe any combination thereof.

And according to this article, cyclists on snowbikes routinely beat skate skiers. That should come as little surprise, since skate skis are designed for groomed trails, not deep powder. Which (a) makes me think the reporter doesn’t precisely understand this fact; (b) makes me wonder which would actually be faster, on a groomed skate-skiing trail.

I have to guess that the skis would have the advantage, at least on a hilly course, minus the weight penalty of your typical 35-50 pound Pugsley. What do you think? Should we arrange a time trial? A head-to-head mountain cross?

Photo of Pugsley (cc) http://flickr.com/photos/delorenzo/