Pittsburgh MTB Festival

[DirtRagArt]

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ran a nice story promoting the Allegheny County Parks Mountain Bike Fest this Sunday: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06225/712656-51.stm

[Spatafore]

I'll be at North Park for this Sunday, definitely!

Will there be a group ride that will take us over to North Ridge dr. for the hill there?

[Xteife]

I'll be at Deer Lakes on Weds or Harrison Hills on Thurs. I haven't hit HH this year, so I'm leaning toward it. I'll be on the SS 29er if you want to introduce yourself...

[Spatafore]

Jeff,

What should we expect at the festival this weekend? Is it going to be organized to the extent of having tents, people there to answer any questions, and literature/memorabilia for a more "Everyone welcome atmosphere". Or is it going to be a mass of group rides?

I am trying to give my girlfriend an idea of what to expect as she will be with me at the parks and has just got into riding.

[DirtRagArt]

Actually, I know very little about it. I don't even think I'll be making it to any of the rides, but you never know. I imagine there will be beginner-level rides, though.

[Xteife]

It seems like there will just be the various rides at the parks with free(?) post-ride festivities. From the PORC ride emails, I got the impression that there will be separate groups for different riding levels at each park. They simply said "All levels" instead of the usual "3/C" (Intermediate pace/Intermediate technical), etc. We'll see...

[drumbum]

So apparently things have been going well. I attended Deer Lakes on Wednesday and we had around 100 people show up. There were a couple intermediate rides, and a couple beginner rides. Some were faster, slower, longer, etc.

Really had a great time. Got to meet some new folks and got a nice workout in.

I may be at the Hartwood ride tomorrow; who knows?

[Xteife]

I don't know the final count, but the Harrison Hills ride had a good turnout. Not nearly the amount of Deer Lakes though. Ride was a little short, but I had a good time. Don't know if I'll make Hartwood tomorrow. Great park though...

[drumbum]

I don't know the final count, but the Harrison Hills ride had a good turnout. Not nearly the amount of Deer Lakes though. Ride was a little short, but I had a good time. Don't know if I'll make Hartwood tomorrow. Great park though...

At Deer Lakes, who was your ride leader?

[Xteife]

No, sorry, I wasn't at Deer Lakes, even though I live 5 minutes from there. I just heard from PORC guys, etc that there were at least 85. I rode the faster crew at Harrison though...

[David1013]

Hey there!
I did warn you fast guys that it would be slow on the ups and fast on the downs at Harrison Hills. :cool:
The festival seemed like a great idea, it was nice to meet so many new mountain bikers.
Does anyone have any pics posted anywhere?

[Xteife]

Hey Dave! I was the one on the green single 29er. name's Gerald. Thanks for leading.

Definitely a great idea and good turn-out to boot. Hopefully Mike C. and whomeverelse posts those pics somewhere and lets us know where they are. I think I was in at least one. Damn, each group shoulda got disposable cameras and got pics along the way. Woulda been cool to have... Especially one of that dude who crashed along that treacherous stretch and ended up going over the edge.

[drumbum]

Speaking of pictures, a county park manager @ Deer Lakes whom I didn't recognize (wasn't Andy) came and took some pictures, and ask to put them in the paper. Anyone see these?

[Xteife]

I can't find any pictures anywhere. I emailed Mike though. He oughta know if any get posted anywhere. I'll check back in when he replies...

[Xteife]

Reply from Mike C (event organizer):

"I am in the process of getting them all together. We will contact you via the PTAG email list that you should have signed up for at the fest. You can always sign up to get on the email list via the bike pittsburgh / ptag web page. I am happy to hear that you had a great time. Even with all of the hassles of organizing it, I had a great time too."

[Spatafore]

I took my girlfriend to Hartwood Sunday and rode with her instead of the group. It was her first time riding in the woods and she stuck it out for 2.5 hours! She was even clearing logs at the end! Now she wants to go somewhere to ride this weekend.

I swapped tires on my park bike and rode it there while letting her ride my XC rig and the park bike was a blast out there.

[Xteife]

I once had aspirations of converting my wife into a hardcore mtb chick. The first time out at Boyce, she crashed and cried. That was the end of that... The mint GT Ricochet still hangs in the barn. Someday, it'll be worth big $$$ on eBay.

[drumbum]

Here's another write-up from the event:
http://pittsburghmountainbiking.com/2006/08/more_fest_news.html

[Xteife]

Onorato huh? Wow. That's cool.

[Mauriceman]

Here's Dan Onorato popping a wheelie in the parking lot before the ride. I do have a full report by Mike Connors to put up, but I'm still short of photos.