This past weekend, Justin and I traveled to Marysville, PA, just north of Harrisburg, for the VisitPA.com Festival and Rassin’ Weekend (formerly known as the Stage Race). It was a great time that lived up to its name.

The venue was an idyllic wooded farm belonging to race promoter Mike Kuhn’s inlaws, the Oesterlings, that had most of us dreaming of living on a similar spread, sitting out on the deck with a laptop “working,” taking a dip in the pond, hanging out in the barn or the chicken coop that had been converted to a workshop.

Mike had built an impressive array of trails snaking all through the 99 acres – a map of them would no doubt look like a pile of spaghetti. Riding the race course was an adventure in sudden sharp turns and logs. What better way to check it out, I figured, than to enter Friday night’s Lupine time trial and see it for the first time at night, alone, with a timer and people shouting “Go! Go!” to add to the drama? Fortunately I didn’t break myself or my bike.

Saturday’s “rassin’ ” action continued with a 12-hour team relay and a 9-hour solo event. Those brave souls who endured that video game-like course for so many laps are the definition of honch. The racing crowd was a diverse mix of everyone from kids on up to retirees, but was heavy on the fast guys and girls, with lots of drama. Mike Kuhn is not only the race promoter, but the director for the dominant VisitPA.com team (including Rob Lichtenwalner and other fast dudes), who battled it out with other pro teams like Bike Line, Bikesport (friends of the Rag from SSWC08 adventures), the up-and-coming juniors of CycleSports/Fast Forward Racing, and “Euro” Aaron Snyder of the Scott East Coast team (recently back from the USA Cycling U23 Development Camp in Germany).

To keep things from getting too serious, the weekend also included a rockin’ cover band and a couple of kegs of Victory brew on Saturday evening, which led to some nice and relaxed socializing. Sunday the fast folks were at it again in the Short Track XC race, turning some incredible lap times despite having thrashed the course twice already. After that was a highly-entertaining slow downhill race that revealed who’d been practicing their trackstands, and the old-school traditional bike toss.

All in all, this was a true grass-roots event (and not just because there was a fair amount of grass on the course), one that combined the best parts of mountain bike culture. I was able to interview some of the key players involved for an upcoming feature in Dirt Rag.

By the way, Justin and I stopped by the Tröegs brewery for a tour on our way up on Friday. Why not check out our office beer sponsor, since it was so convenient? Seeing what all those big tanks are for, exactly, was entertaining and instructive (more on that later), and Chris Trogner himself poured us some samples of their work. The fine folks at Tröegs then pointed us in the direction of Appalacian Brewing Co. not far away for some lunch and more brew sampling. Fortunately the farm at Marysville was not far from these adventures, or we might have had to stop for a nap.

Check out our Gallery for more photos of the Festival.

Ray’s MTB Park has announced that new Subaru Dirt Room is now open for action this summer and fall, during the time period that the indoor park is closed for re-construction and expansion. The 10,000 sq.ft. dirt room has something to offer all levels of dirt jumpers—with a variety of tabletops, berms, rollers, and hips. The room is built for jumping and does not include any of the ladders, teeter totters or drops found in Ray’s indoor park. An outdoor extension connecting the dirt room into a fenced courtyard extends the jump lines, when the Cleveland weather permits. The Subaru Dirt Room also has a patio and BBQ for chillin’ and grillin’ between runs. There is also a small pro shop with tubes, chains, and other merchandise.

Hours of operation are Thursday and Friday from 4:00 p.m. until 11:00 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from noon until 11:00 p.m. Admission is $12.00 for an all-day pass. Visit www.raysmtb.com for more information.

For the month of July, 2009  the  Bicycle Times Buddha T-shirt will be on sale for $12.50—that’s $5.00 off the regular price.

Perfect for your everyday cycling adventure, the Bicycle Times T-Shirt is camel colored, 6 ounce, 100% preshrunk cotton shirt featuring our “Buddha on a Bike” full color graphic with Bicycle Times logo. Available in size S-XXL. Click here to order….

On Wednesday, July 1st at 5:30 p.m. the City of Santa Barbara, California’s Front Country Trails Multi-Jurisdictional (FCTMJ) Task Force will hold the first public hearing since the Jesusita Fire. The agenda for this meeting, which will be held at City Hall, will include a review of trails affected by the Jesusita Fire and discussion on when they may be re-opened.  It is unknown if the Task Force will make a recommendation on re-opening the trails.  More information about the meeting agenda is available at the FCTMJ Task Force website.

Interested mountain bikers are encouraged to attend the FCTMJ Task Force meeting and offer their comments. The Multi-use Trails Coalition—an organization dedicated to maintaining equal and safe front country trail access for all trail users while promoting outreach and education efforts, and providing an independent voice for responsible mountain cycling and other trail use in the Santa Barbara community— will have representation at the meeting and the organization will post a meeting summary on their website.

The Dirt Rag Mega Event Calendar is chock full of action for the month of July. Find an event near you and join the fun.

For the first time since 2005, the USA will host a UCI Mountain Bike World Cup event when the series finale rolls into Windham Mountain Resort in New York on August 28-29th, 2010. Windham will offer cross-country, downhill, and four-cross competitors one last chance to hone their game before heading to Mont-Saint-Anne, Quebec for the 2010 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, slated for August 31st – September 5th.

“We are very excited to have a UCI World Cup in the U.S. again,” said USA Cycling’s Mountain Bike Events & Program Director Kelli Lusk. “Rick and his crew at Windham have shown great enthusiasm and support of mountain biking in the United States with their successful bid.” For more information regarding mountain biking at Windham visit www.windhammountainbike.com.

The 2010 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup will include six rounds each for the cross-country, downhill, and four-cross disciplines.

2010 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Calendar
April 24-25: World Cup XCO #1, Dalby Forest, Great Britain
May 1-2: World Cup XCO #2 & 4X #1, Houffalize, Belgium
May 15-16: World Cup DHI #1 & 4X #2, Maribor, Slovenia
May 22-23: World Cup XCO #3, Offenburg, Germany
June 5-6: World Cup DHI #2 & 4X #3, Fort William Great Britain
June 19-20: World Cup DHI #3 & 4X #4, Schladming, Austria
June 7-10: European Continental Championships, Haifa, Israel
July 24-25: World Cup XCO #4 and DHI #4, Champéry, Switzerland
July 31 - August 1: World Cup XCO #5, DHI #5 and 4X #5, Val di Sole, Italy
August 8: World Marathon Championships, St. Wendel, Germany
August 28-29: World Cup XCO #5, DHI #6, and 4X #6, Windham, New York, USA
August 31-September 5: World XCO, DHI, & 4X Championships, Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec