It is with a heavy heart that I bring you the news that Scott Hodge, owner of Addictive Cycles in Braselton, GA and beloved member of the southeastern mountain biking community, was injured in a motorcycle accident. The following post, taken from the Addictive Cycles website, sums up the situation:

In case you haven’t heard, Scott Hodge was in a motorcycle accident Thursday, Oct. 16th. Scott suffered the following injuries from the motorcycle crash: C6 vertebrae fracture, C7 fractured in half but is not separating, C5 is also fractured and causing the most pain but it will heal on its own. Healing time for the fractures is estimated at 3 to 6 months. His lungs are bruised which has made breathing a little difficult, one broken rib and his hip is sore and bruised from hitting the pavement.

Those interested in more specific details may click on over to Scott Hodge’s personal blog.

In case you haven’t figured it out by now, bike shop owners are not rock stars. Scott does not have medical insurance, but his friend Namrita O’Dea has set up a PayPal account to accept donations to help him and his family out. There are also some benefit rides in the works. Go to the Addictive Cycles website for a link to the donation page, and to stay posted on any upcoming fundraising events.

I was not exaggerating above when I wrote that Scott Hodge is a beloved member of the mountain bike community. For a sample of the comments from his friends, visit this thread on the National Mountain Bike Forum.

I have my own personal Scott Hodge story. Upon the completion of the first of two laps at the 2008 SSUSA race, the promoters had the racers chug either a beer or a root beer, before continuing onto the second lap. As I straddled my bike, chugging my root beer, I heard another rider roll in behind me. Then I saw a hand grab my water bottle from its cage and toss the bottle to the ground.

“Hey,” I said as I whirled around to see an unfamiliar face sporting an impish grin.

“Just trying to slow you down a bit,” was the reply from the rider, who turned out to be none other than Scott Hodge.

“Well, there’s not much to worry about from me,” I said, before draining the last bits of sugary fluid from the brown bottle.

It turned out that Scott and I rode most of that second lap together, with me glued to his rear wheel, watching in amazement as he piloted his fixed-gear rig through the twisty singletrack. My jaw dropped the first time I saw him lock up his rear wheel and skid through a sharp downhill left-hander. Did I just see that?!? All I could do was shout encouragement, and I soon lost any urge to attempt a pass. The Scott Hodge show was worth the price of admission, and I had the best seat in the house.

Please, help a brother out and click here and make a donation to Scott’s medical fund.

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll recall that Eastern Woods Research is back in business, and that they have been working on translating the handling and heritage of their 26″ OWB (Original Woods Bike) to a 29″ wheeled platform.

And they’ve done it! EWR Bikes recently introduced the OWB29er. One of that first batch is in my hot little hands, for the sake of Dirt Rag product testing. As I type this report, I’ve had the bike for a grand-total of 24 hours, with that time spent building, photographing and documenting the specifications of this fine-looking steed.

EWR Bikes offers the OWB29er in medium or large frame sizes for $1,395.00, including a Salsa Liplock seatpost clamp. The front end is made from True Temper Supertherm heat-treated/double butted tubing, and the rear end is made from Dedacciai A.B.T. double butted stays.

EWR Bikes OWB29er Geometry

• Head Tube Angle: 70.75° (engineered for 100mm fork)
• Seat Tube Angle: 73.5°
• Top Tube Length: 23.7″ (medium), 24.6″ (large)
• BB Height: 12.25″
• Chainstay Length: 17.43″

The boyz at EWR Bikes tell me that my medium frame weighs in at 5.65 lbs. I was not able to verify that, as my test frame came dressed with a solid suite of trail-worthy components. My test bike tipped the Dirt Rag scales at 26.8lbs. outfitted per below:

• Fork: RockShox Reba Team 29″ with Maxle QR (20mm)
• Wheels: Hope Pro II F/R hubs laced to notubes.com ZTR Arch 29er rims
• Cranks/BB: Truvativ Noir
• Brakes: Avid Elixir
• Rear D: SRAM X9
• Front D: SRAM X9
• Shifter: SRAM X9 trigger
• Cassette: SRAM PG 990
• Tires: Kenda Karma 29×2.2 L3R Pro
• Headset: Chris King
• Seatpost: Thomson Elite
• Seatpost QR: Salsa Liplock
• Saddle: Selle Italia C2
• Handlebars: Truvativ Team Carbon Riserbar (oversized)
• Stem: Truvativ Team (Al)
• Chain: SARM PC 991
• Grips: ODI lock-on

No riding—yet. That’ll come soon enough, and I promise to blog my experiences as the miles accumulate. In the meantime, I’ll share a bunch of out-of-the-box photos. Click on the thumbnails below to view full-sized images.

The IMBA State Rep program is being restructured as IMBA Regional Leadership Councils (RLC). IMBA RLC will work within a region, generally consisting of several states, to increase community support for mountain biking, enhance grassroots club capacity, and access untapped economic resources through events, training, and active networking. IMBA says that the RLC will be their first step in creating the capacity and political will necessary to overcome old challenges while they capitalize on new opportunities.

IMBA invites mountain bikers and advocates to become involved in the RLC movement. If you are interested in building great trails, and have the leadership skills and the desire to make a difference, IMBA encourages you to apply to be a part of your Regional Leadership Council. To apply or to learn more about the RLC click here.

Everyone loves wool, so we are offering a second Merino wool blend sock, but with a shorter 5″ cuff. Made by SockGuy and manufactured in the USA from 50% Merino Wool and 50% polypropylene. It features our Dirt Rag stacked logo in olive with an orange flame. Available in size XS, S/M, L/XL, and XXL $11.00. Get some before the cooler temperatures get to your dogs. Order here….

It’s fall outside and right now we’re sewing up the last bits on the next Dirt Rag going off to press. Issue 139 will be the last of this year.  It’s hard to believe that this is about it for 2008.

Looking back, the past summer has been chalk full of adventures, both personal and professional. In June, Justin Steiner and I made a foray into Canada to check out the 24 Hours of Summer Solstice in Bolton, Ontario. It was my first time camping since I was a kid! In July, the entire Dirt Rag office headed out to Kenda Bikefest in Hancock, Massachusetts, our first crack at presenting a major bike festival. It was my second time camping and my first experience huddled in a flimsy tent in a lightening/rain storm. I was certain we would all be struck by lightning or swept away in the flash floods. Luckily the sun returned in the morning and dried out the venue quickly, making for a fantastic three-day festival. I didn’t make it out on the trails nearly as much as I wanted to this season, but enough to see advancement in my skills on a mountain bike. Dare I say, taking a few more risks this year? And as the summer was winding down we all packed up again and headed for Vegas and Interbike where my colleagues introduced me to my first bit of serious city riding-bike messenger style- through construction and traffic in downtown Vegas…at night! This fall, I’ve also had chance to reconnect with family and friends. And for the first time in my life I think I know what I want to do when I grow up! I’m also closing out my second year as Dirt Rag’s Art Director. Each time I think I’m getting the hang of the job they up the ante on me!

2009 will start a new chapter of the Dirt Rag story with the advent of the first Bicycle Times issue in March. We hope you will enjoy and contribute to this new title as you have with Dirt Rag. All and all, it looks to be a very busy next year for the staff, but we are excited about extending our horizons to include the daily disciplines of the average bicycle rider. Right now I’m going to take a deep breath and enjoy the next two weeks before we start gearing up for the next production schedule!

I’m including a small gallery of photos from places I’ve ridden and things I’ve seen on the trails this year. Hope you enjoy them.

Unknown rider at the first water crossing at Kenda Bikefest.  -photo Dan Zimmerman

Doe and fawn check out Dirt Rag Headquarters backyard.  -photo Amanda Zimmerman

Getting around on Maui,  photo by Dan Zimmerman

Andrew supervises as Justin, Karen and Eric assemble the Dirt Rag Interbike Booth. -photo by Amanda Zimmerman

Baby Raccoon on the Pittsburgh Jail Trail. -photo Bill Muldoon

Manhattan. Any given day of the week. -photo Amanda Zimmerman

Karen finds a friend. -photo Justin Steiner

Promontory Point on Herr’s Island. Pittsburgh.-photo by Bill Muldoon

Fall Ride. Alline (1 of 7) and me (5 of 7). -photo by Bill Muldoon

Dirt Rag will be loading up the van and heading to Cleveland, OH for the Ray’s MTB Indoor Park grand re-opening weekend on November 1st – 2nd, 2008. We’ll have a booth set up on site, and the finalists from the Ray’s/Dirt Rag photo contest will have their photos hanging in the SRAM lounge area, where attendees will be able to vote for their favorite.

For 1st place Pabst is putting up $1000 for travel to the park, Ray is providing 2 nights lodging and 2-3 day passes to the park. Fisher has a Mullet SS for the winning entry, and the winning photograph will be published in Dirt Rag.

2nd place has a solid list of prizes also, the first being a newly redesigned 2009 RockShox Reba fork. Ray is once again stepping up with lodging for 2 nights and another pair of 3-day passes and Dirt Rag will publish the photo.

3rd place will be set-up with a SRAM X-9 drivetrain,(shifters, front & rear derailleurs, chain and cassette). Once again Ray will provide a pair of 3-day passes and Dirt Rag will print the photo in a future issue.

Inside Out Pro Invitational
The Inside Out Pro Invitational is a new and unique event being held in conjunction with the 5th annual grand re-opening celebration at Ray’s on October 31st through November 2nd. Riders will be competing for a $6,000 cash purse on a track consisting of jumps, drops and berms with a target length of approximately 2 minutes.

Course
The track will start on the roof of Ray’s and will bring outdoor elements of the park into play, before blasting into the park for the second half of the race.  Once the riders enter the building they will race on the expert jump line before finishing on the Gary Fisher pump track.

Qualifying
The field will be limited to 40 athletes and qualifying will take place Friday morning and afternoon. Each rider will receive two runs to post their fastest time.  The top eight riders advance to the finals.

Finals
The top eight riders advance to the finals that will take place during the grand opening BBQ on Saturday. Each rider will get two runs to post their fastest time.

Purse
Top eight qualifiers receive cash prizes:
1st $2000, 2nd $1200, 3rd $800, 4th $600, 5th $500, 6th $400, 7th $300, 8th $200.

For more information on The Inside Out Pro Invitational contact Jeff Lenosky.