It’s late Sunday night and I’ve just rolled back from a three-day road trip to western New York. Rather than sifting through a stack of press releases, looking for a newsworthy nugget to post in this space, I’ve decided to tell you about my trip.

Early Friday morning I pointed the trusty Windstar north, with my ultimate destination being the Raccoon Rally in Allegany State Park near Salamanca, NY. But before I rolled into The Rally, I wanted to sample the sweet singletrack in nearby Ellicottville, NY. Fortunately, Dennis Baldwin of the Ellicottville Bike Shop was kind enough to agree to slip out of the shop on Friday afternoon and share the local goods. Here’s a picture of Dennis, before he got all muddy at the Raccoon Rally XC race on Sunday:

It had been a few years since I last attended the Raccoon Rally, and I found this year’s action bigger and better than ever. There was a good turnout for Saturday morning’s road race, downhill and trials events. I didn’t partake in the competition, as I was hunkered down in the vendor expo area, a.k.a. Raccoon Alley. Fortunately, Saturday afternoon’s short track XC ran right down the middle of Raccoon Alley, so I was able to snap a few photos of the action. Click on the thumbnails below to see larger photos.

On Saturday evening the venue got hammered by a downpour that packed enough rain to turn Sunday’s XC race into quite the muddy affair. Again, I was on booth duty, so I was spared the mud bath. The sloppy conditions did provide an endless supply of muddy bikers, who were kind enough to pose for the camera.

This gentleman won my award for the best T -shirt slogan of the day:

The kids race followed the XC action. From the looks of determination (and joy) on these little bikers’ faces, I’d venture to say there may be future champions in this crowd:

After the kid’s race, the local radar was showing a line of severe thunderstorms heading our way, so I took my cue to bust down the booth and re-pack the van for a hasty exit. I got everything packed up and hit the road before the deluge arrived, but there were a few white-knuckle moments on my drive back to Pittsburgh. I made it home unscathed; however, I noted several weather-induced accidents on the way. At least the rain made for cool temperatures—perfect for late night blogging.

The drama is supposed to happen on the race course, not in the parking lot. On a hot and dry June day I pulled into the Neshaminy High School parking lot in plenty of time for the Guy’s Racing Neshaminy Classic. After getting checked in, I kitted up and started my warmup circling the parking lot. The night before I had put a new Maxxis Crossmark tire on the front, with Stans sealant, and while riding across the parking lot mid-warmup I thought I heard a leak. I bent over the front wheel and tried to locate the source of the sputtering sound, but I couldn’t figure it out. Then I saw what looked like oil on my rim. The lower seal on my Maverick SC32 fork decided to head south and was spraying fork oil right onto my disc brake rotor and caliper. A few curses later I was rummaging through my toolbox. I managed to pull out some old brake pads and proceeded to use my towel to try and clean the rotor and brake caliper as best I could. With new pads fitted, it made a screeching sound that would make Hitchcock proud, and even slowed the bike a bit. I jammed the seal back into the fork and pumped some extra air into the spring to keep it from slamming the bottom. With 5 minutes left before the start, I spun my legs out a bit and tried to relax.

Photo by Ed McDaniel

The course was a 6 mile loop of twisty turns and short steep climbs, we would do a prolog and 3 laps for 20 miles total. It seemed to be a good singlespeed course, only the flat grass start would be challenging. We had 4 singlespeed riders on the Elite starting line, the most yet this season. I went with a 32×18 on my 29’er and it proved to be a good choice with no forced run-ups. I got a reasonable start and dropped into the singletrack around 10^th place, right behind singlespeed master Topher Valenti (Bike Sport). The prolog section was fast and fun. Tight corners, log piles, wood bridges, and roots worked to hold your attention. Half way through the first main lap, I was riding down I slight downhill covered in roots when I suddenly felt my cranks freewheel. Somehow I had dropped my chain, on a singlespeed! Since I busted my crankarm in the last race, I had replaced it temporarily with an old geared one. When I tried to hand-pedal the chain back on, I kept catching it on the damn studs for the granny gear. After losing a minute, and getting passed by the whole Elite field, I got moving again. After the race I discovered a disturbing lack of roundness in my chainring.

The rest of the race flowed perfectly. I had a blast trying to keep my momentum and reeling in riders. The course really suited a singlespeed well and reminded me of riding at the Plateau in Philly. I was able to keep pace with the geared riders everywhere on the course, and made my passes on the two longer climbs. By the end of the second lap I was riding behind Andrew Alesio (Fuji Bikes) and felt good. Mike Hebe (VisitPa.com) was on our tail after an earlier crash. I intended to pass Andrew on the last climb, but he saw me coming and got on top of it. He passed fellow singlespeed rider Mike Yozell (VisitPa.com) right before the finish and I came in 10 feet behind Yozell. Good enough for 11^th place. Harlan Price (Fitness Together/IFracing.org) won the Elite class followed closely by Aaron Snyder (Scott Bikes) and with Topher (Bike Sport) being the first singlespeed rider, with an impressive 6^th place finish.

Needless to say this experience has accelerated my quest for a new fork. Over the next few weeks I’ll be sampling the 29’er offerings from Fox, Rock Shox and others, and be making a switch. With my Stans lightweight aluminum rotor doused on oil, I’m taking the opportunity to try something new there as well. Scrub Components has just come up with their own superlight rotor made from a metal matrix material, which I’ll be trying out to compare with the Stans rotor. Keep tuned for the results.

We invite you to join us at the Dirt Rag World Tour stop at the Kenda Bikefest Presented by Dirt Rag, scheduled for July 25–27th in Hancock, MA. If that’s not in the cards, then we’ve got dozens of events listed from coast to coast. Check out the action!

–Karl Rosengarth

The great city of Pittsburgh, PA is celebrating its 250th birthday and a mega-watt of bicycle activities are planned for this weekend. Included in the celebration is the Tour of Pennsylvania, a 420-mile road stage race that began in Philadelphia on June 24th and ends Sunday with a 33-lap circuit race through the streets of downtown Pittsburgh. The after parties are already popping up!

In addition, Bike Pittsburgh, one of our local advocacy groups is also hosting their annual BikeFest from June 27 to July 6th. The events begin on Friday with a Critical Mass followed by CBGB (Community Bike Gathering and Bash) – a fundraiser with donated foods, beverages and music. The festival highlights a variety of rides, depending on stamina and skill, to showcase such things as Pittsburgh’s green buildings ride, a women’s mountain bike ride, bike polo, track racing, local foods ride, and a kids ice cream ride.

Something that was completely unplanned, but has fit in nicely in the grand scheme of celebrating, is Aydin’s record release party this Friday night. For those that don’t know, Dirt Rag’s editor Karen Brooks is also a bad-ass drummer, even if she likes Rush, and her and I have been making music together for almost 7-years with our good friend, psychedelic-accordionist, Mark Russell. The record, yes vinyl, “Cyclones and Honey” is our 2nd full length recording, in addition to a few compilations. You can read about it or listen to it here. BikePgh members get into the show at a discounted rate!

And now that celebrating has taken over my train of thought, let’s raise a glass or ride a wheelie for our bandmate Mark’s first child and son, Charlie Russell. He was born yesterday, June 25th. That should make playing the release show a little easier, since we all won’t be wondering if the call is going to come for him to drop the accordion and rush to the hospital.

Yes, summer is shaping up to be a good time. Keep spinning circles. – Shannon

Here we are back from the wilds of Canada and happy to report that Mountain Biking is alive and well amongst our neighbors north of the border.

This weekend at Chico Racing’s 24 Hours of Summer Solstice we were treated to a slice of what Ontario and greater Canada have to offer in way of great biking trails and singletrack. Albion Hills Conservation Area, just an hour north of downtown Toronto, is 446 hectares (1102 acres) of rolling woods and pine forest converted from uncultivated farmland. We pre-rode the largely singletrack course on Friday with the Princeton Tech team who were on hand through race night to supply support for their light rentals. The course wound it’s way through the park, scaling up to the ridges and dropping back down to the lowlands to several bridged river crossings. It offered up a nice variety of challenges with fast twisting drops and rebounds that were reminiscent of pump tracks and peppered with clean quick straight-aways to open up and make time.

Adam Ruppel and his team of workers and volunteers have done an excellent job of creating a well organized event (the largest 24-hour race in North America) without loosing the spontaneity that allows for giving prizes away for the best bootie shake, a animal show with a barn owl and snake (in separate cages, of course), Chico’s Pirates of Albion mud pit challenge for riders and Misfit Cycles Dance Party stop on course.

Families were in attendance and the Shimano Youth Series offered a tough course for the next generation and young bikers eagerly stepped up to the challenge.

We buckled down to business on Saturday spending the morning spreading the Dirt Rag and handing out Platypus Big Zip bladders, Genuine Innovations Nano CO2 inflators, Jagwire shift and brake cable kits, and Seal Line Urban totes to new and renewing subscribers. Noon start time saw a lull in the business and Justin took the time to snap some pictures of the of the teams en masse on an absolutely beautiful Canadian blue sky day…

…that turned a little grey and rainy later. By nightfall the riders were faced with heavy downpours, mud slicks and other night hazards. Luckily the lightening, feared to shut down the course, held off until late Sunday. Instead, lightening and pea sized hail, shut down traffic across all four lanes on the QEW while drivers struggled to cram as many cars as possible under the sheltering overpasses.

On a personal note, I have a renewed sense of respect for all participates in endurance racing. This weekend was a new experience for me and there were moments that will stay with me. Waking in my tent to early predawn mist and fog on Sunday, listening to riders sweep by and downshift as they approached the final small climb to the finish line is lingering moment of sweetness in an epic weekend.

Check out our photo gallery. Words by Amanda Zimmerman.
Photos by Justin Steiner.

The Mountain’s Edge 2008 Cactus Cup is scheduled for September 19th – 21st, 2008 in Las Vegas, NV. The latest incarnation of this venerable event sticks with the tried and true Cactus Cup formula, combining a three-day festival and a mountain bike stage race. The event takes place on the weekend preceding the annual Interbike trade show and outdoor demo, which begins on September 22nd.

Pro and Semi-Pro racers will compete in a stage-race format, involving the Exploration Peak Time Trial, Super D, Fat Tire Criterium and Cottonwood Cross County. Expert, Sport and Beginner category riders will compete for individual honors in each of the events. A children’s race is also planned. Registration is set to open July 1st at www.cactuscuplasvegas.com (limited information was posted as of this report).

Activities will be based at Mountain’s Edge, a master-planned community located in southwest Las Vegas at Buffalo Drive and Blue Diamond Highway. The Mountain’s Edge Cactus Cup is produced by Swagger, an event management organization that currently produces over forty criterium events, including the Twilight Criterium in Athens, GA.

The Mountain’s Edge 2008 Cactus Cup is a fundraiser for the HERA Women’s Cancer Foundation and the Animal Foundation located in Las Vegas.

–Karl Rosengarth